Determinants of Territorial Dispersion of Integration Relations Between Agriculture and Agri-Food Industry

The study presents factors influencing the integration of agriculture and the food industry in the Podkarpackie voivodeship (region of south-eastern Poland). An analysis of the state of these dependencies in 2005 and 2013 in territorial terms was made, based on data from surveys conducted among agricultural producers. The poviat was adopted as a research unit used for spatial comparison. The scale of impact of the distinguished factors on integration of the food economy in the region was assessed. Value of contracted production in the total value of the agricultural production on the agricultural farm was taken into account when calculating the intensity of these links. Selection of an optimal set of predictors by Hellwig was used to identify determinants of the spatial differentiation of integration links. Quantification of the influence of selected factors on the degree of advancement of integration links was carried out by estimating the relationship between the explained variable and the factors determining its level. The linear form of the regression function was a tool for estimating the links. Presented results prove that the development of the studied links, apart from conditions of the geographical environment, is determined through: the percentage of farms manufacturing mainly on the market, average farm area share of agricultural land in the total area of the farm, and pig housing per 100 ha of agricultural land. As a result, it can be concluded that the progress of agri-food integration depends mainly on the profitability of agricultural production.