Polish Agriculture Against Selected States of the European Union

The aim of the article is to present selected issues concerning the economic situation of Polish agriculture against other countries of the European Union. A comparative study of the statistical data was conducted for the years 2005-2010. The importance of agriculture in the Polish economy is still significant but decreasing. The contribution of agriculture in generating value added in 2009 amounted to 3.3%. This is by 0.9 percentage points less than in 2005. This sector of economy has a greater significance when one takes employment into account. Agriculture is the basic source of income for 15% of workers, and considering agriculture as an additional source of income, the contribution amounts to almost 28%. Polish agriculture is still characterised by a significant farm fragmentation and high employment in agriculture. It hinders accumulation of capital and investing in agriculture. The agricultural model of the European Union's highly developed states does not seem achievable in Poland earlier than in the next 30 years.