Greening of agricultural land as a component of green infrastructure in rural areas in Poland

Abstract

The article aims to assess the spatial differences of the greening effect in Poland with regard to agricultural land, resulting from the introduction of ‘green’ direct payments. An attempt has been made to find the answer to the research question: to what extent has the introduction of greening affected the conservation of biodiversity of agricultural land? As the basis for the spatial analysis of this measure, two indicators were adopted, showing the number of projects implemented as part of the greening as a percentage of the total number of farms with over 10 ha of farmland and the amount of funding received for this purpose per ha of farmland. The spatial scope of the analysis covered the entire country with regions (voivodeships) and poviats (by 314 poviat offices of the Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture) adopted as basic units. The relevant calculations were made in relation to the average value for 2017–2020 by the list of agricultural producers of the Agency
for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture. What was applied was a synthetic indicator of the uptake of greening payments.inancial support positively affected the concentration of the agricultural land receiving greening payments and was observed in north-western and south-eastern Poland. The research shows that in the agricultural land where greater use was made of greening-friendly economic instruments, farmers continue extensive farming. It has a positive impact on preserving the biodiversity of landscapes.