This article addresses the issue of public support for the development of renewable energy and the assessment of this support from the perspective of farmers in Eastern Poland. Since it is a region characterized by a relatively high share of agriculture in the economy, a diversified structure of this sector, and at the same time, a region with a relatively high level of energy poverty, it can be considered a good example for illustrating the research problem. To achieve the goal, surveys were carried out covering 519 farms. Upon the consideration of a literature review and the research results of other authors, the collected opinions of the owners of these farms regarding the motivators encouraging them to invest in renewable energy technologies and the assessment of the role of the state in supporting energy transformation allowed for the formulation of conclusions. The research results indicate that renewable energy technologies are present in 47% of the surveyed farms, while in 36% of them, investments were financed from farmers’ own funds. This means that the possibility of obtaining support from public funds is not a necessary condition for implementing renewable energy investments.

The article attempts to evaluate the efficiency of the farm tax functions and to demonstrate that the farm tax does not serve any of the functions it was assigned to serve. Following the theory of taxation, it was assumed that these functions shall include: the fiscal, redistributive and the stimulating function. In order to achieve the objective and to verify the hypothesis, methods such as: studies of literature on the subject, analysis of the data contained in the reports of the local authorities, the FADN data analysis and the causal analysis were used. The carried out studies shown that the current farm tax structure does not ensure an effective implementation of its functions. It is evidenced by the fact that the farm tax is an income source for communes characterized by low efficiency since its share in the total income does not exceed 3% and the share in the own income – 2%. The redistributive function of the tax may be realized, but only when taking into account the income of farmers and other social groups. Redistribution does not occur within the sector. In turn, the incentives built into the tax structure do not encourage farmers to take the desired actions.

The aim of this paper was to analyze reasons and a range of changes in agricultural land areas due to allocation them for non-agricultural purposes across a period of 1990-2015 in Poland. This phenomena has not been sufficiently considered till now. Lack of this knowledge does not allow effective reduction of the decline of agricultural land by appropriate legislation and administrative action, especially on urban areas. In Poland, a significant proportion of agricultural land is allocated annually for non-agricultural purposes, which is connected with their permanent withdrawal from agricultural production. The permanent decline in the area of agricultural land in the country has been observed since the beginning of the systemic transformation. The dominant direction of the land withdrawal for non-agricultural purposes is their allocation to housing construction. In 1995 the Law on the protection of agricultural and forest land was introduced. This law includes strengthened economic tools for the protection of agricultural land in the form of mandatory charges for the withdrawal of agricultural land showing the best soil quality. This has led to a significant reduction in agricultural land use withdrawal. However, accelerated regional development following the accession of Poland to the EU and, then, the need to expand technical infrastructure resulted in several amendments to the 1995 Act, significantly weakened the protection of agricultural and forest land. It seems that the land as the unrepeatable good should be strictly covered by more respect and protection than ever before, especially in areas with the highest production value.

The article discusses the importance of evaluation in shaping effective public policies. Its purpose is to answer the question of whether and in what conditions evaluations can be a tool for improving the efficiency of public policies. The article has a theoretical nature and is based on studies of both domestic and foreign literature. The analysis presented in the paper shows that from a theoretical point of view the evaluation (along with its methodology and analytical tools) can be an effective instrument for improving the efficiency of public policies. In practice, however, this efficiency mainly depends on such factors as: the model of governance or the mentality of public administration representatives.