R. JONGENEEL and A. TONINI
JONGENEEL, R. and A. TONINI, 2003. Primary dairy production in Poland and Hungary: A structure, conduct, performance approach. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 9: 135–148
The Polish and (in a more limited way) Hungarian dairy farm sectors are analysed through a structure-conduct-performance framework. It is argued that in Poland the transition actually slowed down the restructuring process of farm size as compared to that of the mid 1980s. In the long term, mainly farms with at least 30 cows will survive. In the medium term the farm size structure is expected to show an increased polarisation, with a huge decline in the number of medium-sized farms, an increase in large ones, and a limited decline in small ones. Also in Hungary smallholdings are expected to remain a persistent phenomenon. The authors predict that the total number of Polish dairy farmers in 2010 will be about 570 thousand. Moreover, they argue that farm size reconfiguration in Hungary may proceed faster than in Poland, as the starting distribution is less fragmented. It is emphasised that restructuring in the downstream milk-processing sector, which is stimulated by substantial foreign direct investments, will significantly affect dairy farming. Moreover, the introduction and development of well-functioning land markets is important.