Animal husbandry in ecological farms in the aspect of sustainable development

Abstract

The objective of the current paper was to estimate the scale of animal husbandry in ecological farms in Poland. The share of ecological farms increased from 2.7% in 2010 to 3.82% in 2014 in Poland. The number of organic producers reached 21020 farms after their conversion at the end of 2014. Only 17.37% of ecological farms confirmed their involvement of animal husbandry. Disparities between the provinces were significant, ranging from 5.3% in Lubuskie to 72.61% in Malopolskie. The largest group of livestock keepers from amongst the ecological producers was made up of those that kept dairy cattle (9.1%),followed by beef cattle (6.8%) and layers (10.3%), whilst the least were those keeping goats and hoses. The largest herds (20.6 individuals), in respect of dairy cattle, were kept by ecological farmers from Zachodniopomorskie.