Competitiveness of the Polish Fruit Farms

The paper presents competitiveness and efficiency of the Polish fruit farms against similar farms from selected European Union countries. The analysis covered farms specialising in fruit trees and bushes covered by FADN monitoring in 2007-2009 and 2011-2013. Competitiveness of the researched fruit farms was determined by competitiveness index calculated as a ratio of farm income to costs of using own factors of production: land, labour and capital (as in: W. Kleinhanss). Whereas effectiveness was described by the index of productivity of land, assets and labour. Competitive abilities were demonstrated by Polish fruit farms with economic size of EUR 25-50 thousand of SO and EUR 50-100 thousand of SO and area of 17.70 ha of UAA and 38.80 ha of UAA, respectively. These abilities were also demonstrated by Hungarian farms of the clases of EUR 50-500 thousand of SO, Romanian – EUR 100-500 thousand of SO, German – EUR 50-500 thousand of SO, French – EUR 25-50 thousand of SO, Italian – EUR 500 thousand of SO and more, and Spanish – EUR 100-500 thousand of SO. Area of competitive fruit farms from Western European countries was lower than that of the Polish farms in corresponding economic size classes.

competitiveness of the Polish fruit farms trees and bushes (excluding vines and olives) covered by the FADN 2 monitoring system as type 36. The share in fruit production (in 2013) in the EU and their location were taken as the criteria for selection of countries. Table 1 presents the share of Poland in production of fruit and vegetables in the EU. Research of efficiency and competitiveness of fruit farms was held in two periods. The first one covered only the Polish fruit farms between 2008 and 2014. Whereas the second covered assessment of the Polish fruit farms at the background of similar farms from selected EU countries in two periods: 2007-2009 and 2011-2013. In the first period the assessment was held against the Hungarian and German farms, while in the second -additionally against French, Italian and Romanian farms.
the year 2013 was the last year for which the european FaDn data were available (at the moment of the analysis FADN data for years later than 2013 were not available). Research covered farms broken down into classes by UAA of farms, considering the economic size expressed in the Standard Output (SO) value in EUR thousand per farm. Six of the following economic size classes were separated: very small EUR 2-<8 thousand; small EUR 8-<25 thousand; medium-small EUR 25-<50 thousand; medium-large EUR 50-<100 thousand; large EUR 100-<500 thousand and very large >= EUR 500 thousand of SO. Table 2 gives figures for farms covered by research in respective countries. The number of researched farms was different and the research did not cover farms from all economic size classes. Italy had the fullest representation of farms, as it had farms in all size classes, while German farms had the weakest representation -only in the class of EUR 50-100 thousand of SO and EUR 100-500 thou-2 FADN -Farm Accountancy Data Network. sand of SO. The Polish fruit farms were noted in the first four classes. No data for farms in some classes followed from the fact that the participation of farmers in the research was voluntary and the minimum number of farms in a group was 15. The analysis was based on average values for the researched three-year period which was justified by low variability. The characteristic of researched farms was based on calculated indices concerning the production potential, production organisation, costs and effects 3 . The competitiveness index (Wk), as in Kleinhanss (2015), was used to determine the farm competitiveness level.
The competitiveness index (times) was determined as the quotient of income from a farm and the sum of estimated costs of use of own factors of production: own labour, land and capital (equation 1) 4 . The value of the competitiveness index Wk>=1 points to complete coverage with income of the costs of own factors of production, while Wk<1 to incomplete coverage with income of the costs. Following Kleinhanss, further Wk classification was assumed, differentiating the classes as below: Wk (-) -for negative Dzgr (Wk1); 0<Wk<1 -partial coverage of costs of own factors of production (Wk2); 1=Wk<2 -complete coverage of costs of own factors of production (Wk3); Wk>=2 -twofold or 3 Full list of indices was given in the work by Ziętara and Sobierajewska (2012). 4 The cost of own labour of farmers and their family members was determined at the level of cost of hired labour in similar economic size classes. The cost of use of own land was set at the level of rental fee in given economic size classes. The costs of own capital were taken at the level of interest rate on long-term government bonds. competitiveness of the Polish fruit farms higher coverage of costs of own factors of production (Wk4). The competitiveness index Wk4 points to complete competitive ability of a farm. This statement complies with the opinion of Biswanger, who argues that an enterprise able to develop should achieve profit rate two-time higher than interest rate on loans (Biswanger, 2014).
where: Wk -competitiveness index, Dzgr -farm income, kwz -opportunity cost of own land, kwp -opportunity cost of own labour, kwk -opportunity cost of own capital (excluding own land).
This paper defines competitiveness as the ability of a farm to develop. Farm gets such an ability, when the income from a farm twice covers the costs of own factors of production. This approach is different from the traditional definition of competitiveness which terms it as getting advantage (in terms of costs, price, quality, etc.) against the competition. Authors earlier termed competitive abilities of farms using the category of "entrepreneur's profit" 5 (Ziętara and Zieliński, 2015). But doubts arose whether the former approach was correct. Farms do not compete directly on the EU and global market; trade companies compete on the markets. Therefore, determining competitiveness of a farm as an ability of a farm to develop under market conditions of a given country seems valid.

Place and significance of fruit farming in the Polish agriculture
Fruit production plays a major part in the Polish agriculture, despite a minor share in the utilised agricultural area (UAA). In 2010-2014, this share was below 3% (2.76-2.97%), but the share of fruit in the commercial production of agriculture was over two-times higher (5.5-6.9%). This was preconditioned rather by the value of commercial production from fruit farming per 1 ha of UAA than from plant production (PLN 1.81-2.49 thousand per ha of UAA). Fruit and their products were a vital component of export. In 2010-2014, its value increased from EUR 1159.4 million to EUR 1907.0 million, i.e. by 64.5%. Most of fruit and their products (approx. 68%) were exported to the European Union (Table 3). 5 Entrepreneur's profit was calculated as a difference between the farm income and opportunity costs of use of own factors of production (labour, land and capital).  Fruit production notes processes of production concentration which is evidenced by decreasing number of orchards (Table 4). The greatest drop in the number of these farms (74%) took place in 2002-2010 -from 316.7 thousand in 2002 to 81.7 thousand in 2010. In the next period (2010-2013), the drop amounted to approx. 22%. The number of fruit farms dropped the most in the group of small farms up to 1 ha (in 2002-2013 from 261 thousand to 3.9 thousand, i.e. by 98%). What increased was the number of farms above 1 ha (by 6.3%), especially of farms above 5 ha (by 109%). As a result of these processes, the average area of a fruit farm increased from 3.6 ha in 2002 to 6.23 ha in 2013 (approx. 73%). The occurring concentration processes should be assessed as positive because they are an evidence of professionalization of fruit farming.

Competitiveness of the Polish fruit farms in 2008-2014
The analysis was based on data from farms covered by the Polish FADN monitoring system in 2008-2014. Adoption of this period resulted from availability of source data. Assessment of efficiency of competitiveness of the researched fruit farms was done given the farm size expressed in UAA. According to this criterion, 6 fruit farm classes were separated. Table 5 gives respective figures. The area of researched fruit farms in respective classes was stable in subsequent years. In the class of the smallest farms (up to 5 ha) it was from 3.8 ha in 2008 to 4.3 ha in 2011. In the next classes, the average farm size was at the level of, respectively: 7.6, 14, 24, 39 and 100 ha. Analysis of figures in Table 6 points to a major variability of economic results in respective years (the worst were years: 2008 and 2014).
In these years none of the farms, irrespective of the size, showed economic abilities; the competitiveness index Wk was below 1 which indicates lack of development abilities. Farms of the two smallest classes (up to 5 ha and 5-10 ha) did not have development abilities in all of the analysed years. The competitiveness index was below 1. The situation improved in 2010-2013, because all fruit farms of more than 10 ha were characterised by development abilities, including farms of above 50 ha which can be considered as competitive (the Wk index was above 2).
Concluding the remarks made so far, it should be stated that the competitiveness index accurately determines competitive abilities of farms. It is closely correlated with the level of "entrepreneur's profit". Negative "entrepreneur's profit" (loss) causes that the value of the competitiveness index is below 1. However, achievement of farm income at parity level does not predetermine the competitive abilities of a farm.   Wk for them amounted to 0.81 (Ziętara and Sobierajewska, 2012). Table 6 presents the numbers characterising competitive abilities of fruit farms in the second period (2011)(2012)(2013). It results from them that all the farms from researched countries in the following classes had no competitive abilities: <EUR 8 thousand and EUR 8-25 thousand of SO. From the next class, EUR 25-50 thousand of SO, Hungarian, Italian and Spanish farms did not show such abilities. In the class of EUR 50-100 thousand of SO, French, Italian and Spanish farms had no competitive abilities and in the class of EUR 100-500 thousand of SO -Dutch and Italian farms.
There is a close link between Wk and the entrepreneur's profit. The aforementioned groups of non-competitive farms were excluded from further analyses. The numbers given in Table 6 show that competitive abilities in the economic size class of EUR 25-50 thousand of SO were noted for Polish and French fruit farms, in class of EUR 50-100 thousand of SO -Polish, Hungarian and German farms, while in the class of EUR 100-500 thousand of SO -Hungarian, German and Spanish farms as well as Italian farms in the class of =< EUR 500 thousand of SO. Fully competitive were only the Romanian farms in the class of EUR 100-500 thousand.  A question arises: what are the organisational and economic characteristics of farms able to compete and competitive? The next Table 7 shows the relevant numbers. Given the fact that fully competitive were only the Romanian farms in the class of EUR 100-500 thousand of SO, they were not separately analysed.
The area of fruit farms able to compete was highly differentiated between the examined countries and showed a link with economic size. In the countries of Western Europe it was lower than for farms of Eastern Europe. In the class of EUR 25-50 thousand of SO the area for Poland was at 17.70 ha, while for France, it was at only 8.10 ha of UAA and in the class of EUR 50-100 thousand of SO the area of Polish and Hungarian farms was close to each other (respectively, 38. Problems of Agricultural Economics 38.80 and 32.40 ha of UAA, respectively. In the largest class of EUR 500 thousand of SO and more, there were only Italian farms that used 93.50 ha of UAA. The share of leased land was also differentiated. It showed an upward trend along with a growth in economic size of farms. In the economic size classes of EUR 25-100 thousand of SO, the share of leased land was from 10.40% (Poland) to 54.60% (France). For Hungarian and German farms it was 14.50% and 25.10%, accordingly. In class of EUR 100-500 thousand of SO it was much higher -from 43.50% (Germany) to 88.20% (France). The only exceptions were Italy and Spain, where the share of leased land was at the level of, respectively, 23.4% and 25.8%.
Total labour input in AWU per farm increased along with a growth in economic size of farms and were lower for farms from Western Europe. For Polish and Hungarian farms in economic size classes of EUR 25-100 thousand of SO they ranged from 3 (Hungary) to 4.4 (Poland) AWU, while for French and German farms they were at the level of 1.8 and 1.9 AWU, accordingly (by approx. 50% lower). In the class of EUR 100-500 thousand of SO the labour inputs on Hungarian and Romanian farms were at approx. 10 AWU per farm, while on German, French and Spanish farms -approx. 4.5 AWU and were lower by 55% than in the first group. The share of own labour was also differentiated and it dropped along with a growth in economic size of farms. For German and French farms in the class of EUR 25-100 thousand of SO, it was approx. 65%, by approx. 22 percentage points more than on Polish and Hungarian farms. In the class of EUR 100-500 thousand there was a much lower share of own labour in total inputs. For Hungarian and Romanian farms it was at the level of, respectively, 5.10% and 4.3%, while for German, French and Spanish farms -from 27.4% to 35.80%. For Italian farms, the share of own labour in the highest class was at the level of 11.40%.
The value of assets per 1 ha of UAA was negatively correlated with the economic size of farms. In the class of EUR 25-50 thousand of SO on Polish farms it came close to that of French farms and amounted to approx. EUR 18 thousand per ha of UAA. In the remaining classes it was lower and included in the range from EUR 4.6 thousand (Romania) to EUR 16.10 thousand per ha of UAA (Spain). The only exception were German farms where the value of assets in the classes of EUR 25-50 thousand and EUR 50-100 thousand of SO was, accordingly, EUR 49.50 thousand and EUR 35.80 thousand per ha of UAA. It reached an exceptionally high level in the highest class on Italian farms -EUR 51.10 thousand per ha of UAA.
A characteristic feature of fruit farms able to develop is a major share of the area of orchards in the UAA (Table 7). For all of the researched farms it exceeded 50% (most often ranging from 60% to 80%). The largest number of orchards was on Polish farms in the class of EUR 25-50 thousand of SO, and Italian farms in the class of EUR 500 thousand of SO and more, respectively, 81.8% and 82.7%, and the number was the lowest on French farms in the class of EUR 100-500 thousand of SO -51.7%. The high share of orchards in the UAA was reflected in the production structure, in which plant production predominated. Its share on all farms exceeded 90%, except for German farms where it was lower and amounted to, respectively, 84% and 88% in the class of EUR 50-500 thousand of SO (Ziętara and Sobierajewska, 2016). There was a clear differentiation in the level of production intensity determined by the volume of costs in total per 1 ha of UAA. For Polish, Hungarian and Romanian farms these costs were approximated (from EUR 1.50 thousand in Romania to EUR 2.85 thousand per ha in Hungary) and lower than for the remaining farms. For Italian and Spanish farms these were higher -within the range of EUR 3-4 thousand per ha of UAA. Definitely the highest level of production intensity was typical of fruit farms in Germany and France, where total costs per 1 ha of UAA were EUR 6.8-8.9 thousand per ha, around 3 times more than for Polish, Hungarian and Romanian farms (Ziętara and Sobierajewska, 2016).
Land productivity determined by the production value per 1 ha of UAA for Polish, Hungarian and Romanian farms was similar (from EUR 1.88 thousand to EUR 3.65 thousand per ha) and lower than for fruit farms of other countries. The lowest land productivity was typical of Spanish farms (EUR 4.26 thousand per ha), it was much higher for German and French farms, respectively, EUR 7.43 thousand and EUR 11.40 thousand per ha. The highest was typical of Italian farms where it was EUR 25.21 thousand per ha in the class of EUR 500 thousand of SO and more.
Productivity of assets was less differentiated: on all farms except for the French ones it ranged from 0.19 (Polish farms) to 0.45 (Romanian farms). On French farms it was, accordingly, 0.64 and 0.71 in the class of EUR 25-50 thousand of SO and EUR 100-500 thousand of SO, thus it was much higher.
Labour productivity determined by the production value per 1 AWU, similar on Polish, Hungarian and Romanian farms (from EUR 18 thousand to EUR 27 thousand per AWU) was twice lower for farms of the countries of Western Europe, where it reached from EUR 37 thousand to EUR 58 thousand per AWU. It was the lowest on Polish farms where it was at EUR 18 thousand per AWU, while its highest level was noted for German farms (EUR 58 thousand per AWU) (Ziętara and Sobierajewska, 2016).

conclusions
Poland is a major fruit producer in the European Union. In 2013, Poland was ranked fourth -with the share of fruit at the level of 6.7% -behind countries such as Spain, Italy and France. Additionally, Poland was an absolute leader in the production of apples, with the share of 26.3%. The fruit production in Poland covered strong concentration processes: in 2002-2013 the number of fruit farms dropped by 73%. Consequently, the average area of a fruit farm increased from 3.61 ha to 6.23 ha.
Competitive abilities were demonstrated by Polish fruit farms with economic size of EUR 25-50 thousand of SO and EUR 50-100 thousand of SO, which used, respectively, 17.70 and 38.89 ha of UAA. Competitive abilities were also demonstrated by French farms from the class of EUR 25-50 thousand of SO; Hungarian and German farms from the class of EUR 50-100 thousand of SO; Hungarian, Romanian, German, French and Spanish farms from the class of EUR 100-500 thousand of SO and Italian farms from the class of EUR 500 thousand of SO and more.
There was a principal difference in the production potential between fruit farms from the countries of Eastern Europe (Poland, Hungary, Romania) and -----Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2986009 farms from the countries of Western Europe (Germany, the Netherlands, France, Italy and Spain): • The farms from the first group had larger UAA. In the class of EUR 25-50 thousand of SO, UAA of Polish farms had 17.7 ha, which was over two times more than for French farms; the class of EUR 50-100 thousand of SO, UAA of Polish and Hungarian farms occupied approx. 40 ha -over four times more than for German farms; in the class of EUR 100-500 thousand of SO Hungarian and Romanian farms had 95 and 115 ha of UAA, accordingly, while German, French and Spanish from 22 to 39 ha of UAA. • The analysed farms used leased land to a different degree. The share of leased land increased along with a growth in the economic size and was much higher for farms from the countries of Eastern Europe. In the the case of farms in the class of EUR 25-100 thousand of SO it amounted to, respectively, 10% and 14%, while in the class of EUR 100-500 thousand of SO on Hungarian and Romanian farms it was at approx. 60%, and on French -88%. • The value of assets showed a downward trend along with a growth in the economic size of a farm. There were no clear differences between the analysed groups of farms in the field. Definitely the highest value of assets was typical for farms from Germany and Italy (within the range of EUR 36-51 thousand per ha of UAA), in the remaining groups of farms it was lower: from EUR 4.6 thousand (Romania) to EUR 19.2 thousand (Poland) per ha of UAA. • Production organisation, determined by the share of orchards in UAA, was similar for all of the researched farms (over 70%). The only exception were French farms of economic size of EUR 100-500 thousand of SO, where orchards occupied 52%. Production structure was similar for all of them -it was predominated by plant production with the share of over 85%. • There were differences in the production intensity level. Total costs per 1 ha of UAA for all farms, apart from the German and French ones, were at the level from EUR 1.5 thousand per ha (Hungary, Romania) to EUR 3.87 thousand per ha (Italy). For German and French farms it ranged from EUR 6.84 thousand to EUR 8.96 thousand per ha and was over twice higher than the costs on other farms. • Land productivity determined by the production value per 1 ha of UAA for Polish, Hungarian and Romanian farms ranged from EUR 1.88 thousand to EUR 3.65 thousand per ha, which was over three times lower than for German, French and Italian farms, where it ranged from EUR 9.4 thousand to EUR 25.21 thousand per ha. • Productivity of assets showed lower level of differentiation. It was similar for Polish, Hungarian, German, Italian and Spanish farms (from 0.17 to 0.36) and much higher only for French farms (0.64 and 0.71). • Labour productivity for Polish, Hungarian and Romanian farms (from EUR 17.82 thousand to EUR 27 thousand per AWU) was two times lower than for other countries.