Livestock Production In Metropolitan Areas – Changes In Scale And Structure

The main aim of the studies was to identify and assess the changes in the organisation and scale of livestock production of farms operating within varying distance from the cores of metropolitan areas (MA). The studies covered production units specializing in animal production and mixed farms that participated in the FADN system over an uninterrupted period between 2004 and 2016. The results show that, in the study group of commercial farms operating in areas bordering MA cores, there is a clear reduction of both the numbers of herds and the scale of livestock production. The group of farms located outside metropolitan areas was characterised by a relatively high share of permanent crops and high density of pigs. The intensity of agricultural production organisation increased as the distance from the cores of metropolitan areas grew. It confirms the concept of reversed Thȕnen rings formulated by Sinclair and known in the theory of economics, according to which production results and productivity per unit area increases with the distance from city centres. The conducted analyses confirm the general trend of withdrawal of farmers operating near cities from animal production and a clear extensification of farm organization.