Looking from the perspective of the importance of beekeeping production for agriculture, and its impact on production sustainability, biodiversity and food security, research on food self-sufficiency in the honey market is important. The aim of this article was to assess food self-sufficiency in the honey market in Poland in terms of the sustainability of production. The research covered the years 2002–2023. The research material consisted of secondary sources of information from the FAOSTAT 2024 database, reports of the Institute of Horticulture, Department of Beekeeping in Puławy, and market reports of IERiGŻ-PIB. The research used dynamic indicators, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, self-sufficiency ratios (SSR) and intra-industry trade (IIT) indicators. The analysis showed that Poland is not food self-sufficient in honey production. Environmental issues and related food security will be important for a change in the model of beekeeping in Poland, as this sector plays an important role in maintaining sustainability and biodiversity; hence, the assessment of food self-sufficiency in honey production should be treated broadly, including the benefits for agriculture.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on selected beekeeping farms, as well as to compare the experience of chosen Polish beekeepers with the impact of the pandemic on beekeeping in other countries, as shown in the literature. Methods: The study was conducted using a literature review and questionnaire interview (n = 36) among beekeepers in the Mazowieckie and Warmińsko-Mazurskie provinces according to a 5-level Likert scale. Responses on industry topics were correlated with opinions on the positive and negative impact of the pandemic on beekeeping using the Pearson correlation. Results: Approximately 60% of respondents said that the pandemic had little or even no impact on their beekeeping activities. This may have been related to the peculiarities of Polish beekeeping, which is not dependent on seasonal labor. There were also moderate correlations between negative opinions on the impact of the pandemic and a lack of contact with other beekeepers and the seasonality of production and related sales as well as between opinions on the time-consuming nature of production and the positive impact of the pandemic on the beekeeping market. Conclusions: It was stated that beekeepers proved to be more resilient to supply chain breakdowns compared to beekeeper experiences in countries such as Canada and the UK. The nature of beekeepers’ marketing channels may affect the speed with which they can sell their goods. The impact of the pandemic on Polish beekeepers has not been previously studied.

This study presents a scoping literature review, supported by the bibliometric tools, of blockchain...

This study examines the evolving role of canola biofuel in achieving energy security, analyzing its historical significance, current challenges, and prospects. Once a dominant feedstock for biodiesel production in Europe, canola biofuel is facing a decline in relevance due to the emergence of second- and third-generation biofuels, which offer greater economic and environmental advantages. The research highlights key factors influencing this shift, including high production costs, resource-intensive cultivation, and suboptimal life cycle environmental performance. Through correlation and causality analyses, the study finds no definitive relationship between oil prices and the frequency of scientific publications on canola biofuels, suggesting other drivers, such as policy and technological advancements, play a more significant role. Despite its diminishing prominence, canola biofuel retains value in energy diversification and rural agricultural support, due to geographic, policy, and investment constraints. The findings emphasize the need for prioritizing the development of more sustainable and efficient biofuel technologies to address global energy and environmental challenges.

The EU–Mercosur Partnership Agreement (EMPA), whose ratification process started following the European Commission’s decision on 3 September 2025, is one of the EU’s most comprehensive trade agreements. From the outset, it raised serious concerns among environmental organizations about the risk of accelerating deforestation in the Amazon, potentially exacerbated by the liberalization of trade in agricultural products. This article analyzes the problem of enforcing the environmental provisions of the agreement in the context of deforestation. We argue that the effectiveness of these clauses is fundamentally undermined by two interrelated challenges: the limitations of the legal mechanisms enshrined in the agreement and the increasing ambiguity of data used to monitor deforestation. Using statistical analysis of time series (2002–2024)—including Student’s t-test for dependent samples, Spearman rank correlation, and trend regression models—the nature and trend of increasing divergence between two major indicators of deforestation, namely the official Brazilian PRODES and the Global Forest Watch (GFW), were quantified. The results show a systematic and statistically significant discrepancy between indicators, which has structurally widened since 2015. This fundamental ambiguity of data creates a serious “enforcement gap”, allowing us to challenge the scale of the violations and may, in practice, prevent the effective application of the environmental clauses of the agreement, undermining the EU’s policy objectives related to the EUDR and the Green Deal. The article also outlines institutional options to address this enforcement gap by strengthening the transparency, consistency, and evidentiary use of deforestation data in the implementation of the agreement.