As a consequence of increasing air pollution, the European Commission has decided to introduce special directives laying down the measures to achieve climate and energy neutrality. Renewable energy (RE) sources play an important role in the pursuit of these goals, which has been taken into account in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The aim of this article is to describe patterns and trends in the achievements of the energy policy of European Union (EU) countries in the field of renewable energy in sustainable development. The identification of leaders in this field gives the possibility to analyse actions taken by the governments of these countries and the possible implementation of the introduced solutions on the ground of individual Member States at the regional and national levels. At the beginning Main goal of energy policy on the field of renewable energy sources (RES) is to increase production from environmentally friendly sources that is why trends were determined in order to assess the rate of achievement of the national target for changes the share of energy from renewable sources in total gross energy consumption. Groups of similar countries were then identified on the basis of three indicators corresponding to the targets set in the climate and energy package. In the group of analysed countries, 14 have achieved the 2020 targets and 4 have exceeded the 2030 targets. The main renewable energy sources (RES) are biofuels, wind, and hydropower. In the assessment of the achievement of energy policy targets, the best situation was observed in the case of Denmark, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. These countries have significantly increased the share of renewable energy in total energy consumption. Compared to other EU countries, they have reduced the economy’s energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions the most.

The functioning of various agroecosystems is nowadays shaped by different farming systems, which may impair their functions, as well as being beneficial to them. The benefits include ecosystem services, defined as economic and noneconomic values gained by humans from ecosystems, through supporting soil formation and nutrient circulation, and the impact of agriculture on climate and biodiversity. Their mutual flow and various disturbances depend on the agroecosystem’s management method, which is associated with the type of management of agricultural land (AL) in individual farms. This paper raises a problem of transformation in the structure of three main farming systems in Poland, in 2004–2018, in relation to the implementation of 16 selected ecosystem services and their scale. Special attention was given to organic farming, as the most environmentally friendly and sustainable. The analysis demonstrates the increase in ALs in that type of production during the analyzed period of time. Disparities of transformation associated with the type of agricultural system were noticeable at the regional level, which were presented in 16 Polish voivodeships. The results of the analysis confirm that the organic system, which is an important carrier of various ecosystem services, gained a stable position. Moreover, areas with integrated farming still do not exceed 0.5% of total agricultural lands in such voivodeships. The analysis of factors influencing the deterioration or disappearance of selected environmental services characterizing agricultural systems indicates the need to depart from an intensive conventional management system.

In the Strategic Plan for the CAP 2023-2027, the goal of special importance is the strengthening ecosystem services. Eco-schemes are a new type of direct support intended for farmers taking additional actions to protect the environment and climate. The study undertakes an institutional and environmental assessment of the proposal to withdraw from implementing some of the assumptions included in the eco-schemes. As a result, the criteria for their availability turned out to be inadequate for smallholder farms. Farmers implementing eco-schemes are exposed to additional expenditures or reduced incomes due to the extensification of production. However, they may receive applicable financial compensation on the annual basis. The current, rather complicated system authorizing payments for 2023, meant that relatively not many farmers made such efforts. At the same time, this results in receiving approximately 50% of support from the direct payments comparing to the previous year. In this paper there has been suggested the need for modification of the eco-schemes with the special emphasis on smallholder farms. It was based on two pillars: technological and environmental, with a proposal of requirements that may be relatively easy to meet in practice.

Sowing ratio, NS fertilisation and interactions of Lolium sp. and Festulolium grown in mixtures with Trifolium repens | Beata Grygierzec, Kamila Musial, Lidia Luty | Agricultural Journals

The aim of the work is to assess selected environmental and organizational aspects, as well as the level of changes occurring in farms, and therefore in agriculture in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland. The survey-based research was carried out in 2023. The paper presents state of advancement of selected aspects of the deagrarianisation and deanimalisation processes in the area of 44 communes in the Lesser Poland and Silesian voivodeships. When dividing into two so-called macro-categories, as groups B-C (retarding farms) and C-D (degressive farms), the results indicate predominance of entities from the latter group (65%). This confirms the thesis that in research area there are problems of agrarian and structural changes, which also affect the environment. Especially crucial for the research are issues related to the advancement of deanimisation process, which is an abandonment of animal husbandry. It has a direct influence on development and use of production potential of permanent grasslands and also diversity of crops. The share of farms keeping cattle in all analyzed communes is only approximately 3-7%. It can therefore be concluded that this phenomenon is highly advanced in the majority of farms.