The supply-side of the organic food market in the light of relations between farmers and distributors

Abstract

Organic farming is one of the main directions of the EU’s farm-to-fork strategy in connection with the European Green Deal. In Poland, organic farming developed dynamically from the accession to the European Union until 2013 and then slowed down. This is a good reason to investigate the conditions affecting the supply side of organic food, especially that the distribution system hardly absorbs the production potential of Polish organic farming. There are few studies with in-depth analysis of relationships between farms and distributors. The research objectives adopted in this paper are the assessment of the intensity of the relations between farmers and organic food distributors. The analysis is based on desk research and the results of a survey of 120 owners of certified organic farms and 120 representatives of shops offering organic products. The results of the analysis show that there are many shops that are supplied by farmers (with a high intensity of relations with farmers) and, at the same time, few farmers selling their products to shops (with a low intensity of relations). Along with the low intensity of farmers’ relations with food processors, this is one of the main barriers to supply development.