Covid-19 Pandemic and Changes in the Size and Structure of Agricultural Production in Poland

The aim of the article is to present the changes that have occurred in agricultural production during the COVID-19 pandemic. The subject of the research were the changes in household expenses, food exports and imports, purchases and the volume of agricultural production. The study covers the years 2017-2021, of which the years 2020-2021 constitute the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data on GDP, the size and structure of household consumption, exports and imports of food, purchase of agricultural products and agricultural production, as well as prices of food products come from the Central Statistical Office. The study analyzed the structure and dynamics of selected values characterizing households and the agri-food sector. The results obtained indicate that changes in the functioning of the economy, as well as sanitary and administrative restrictions imposed on society during the COVID-19 pandemic may have contributed to an increase in the volume and value of agricultural production and to a change in its product structure. The greater beneficiary of this crisis situation was plant production, where the level of demand from households was relatively consistent with the intensity of the pandemic. However, a negative effect of the pandemic was an increase in the risk of conducting agricultural activities. Changes in consumer preferences related to changes in the severity of the effects of the pandemic and sanitary restrictions on the trade in food products have reduced the level of stability in running farms and exposed them to potential losses resulting from, among others, the inability to sell the produced production.