Abstract:

The aim of the study was to assess the relationships between the environmental awareness of dairy farmers, the extent of pro-environmental practices and the economic performance of dairy farms in Poland, taking into account differences in their structural and production conditions.

The study was carried out in 2021–2024 and covered 207 dairy farms in three purposively selected voivodeships (provinces) – Lower Silesian, Subcarpathian and Podlaskie – representing diverse production conditions in terms of scale, intensity, herd management and technology.

The number of practices applied was analysed with a Poisson model, and farm income per cow, per litre of milk and per annual work unit (AWU) with linear regression models including region and year fixed effects. Although 89.3% of farmers declared a sense of responsibility for the environment, the average farm applied 1.90 of the nine practices analysed. Only the perception of agriculture as a source of pollution was associated with the number of practices (IRR=1.08; p=0.008); sense of responsibility and self-assessed knowledge of the Code of Good Agricultural Practice were not. The number of practices was not significantly related to any income measure. Milk yield was associated with income per cow and per AWU, and herd size was also associated with income per AWU. Financial incentives were indicated by 64.3% of respondents as a factor that would encourage change. These findings suggest that the transition from awareness to action requires combining advisory services that identify specific environmental pressures with instruments compensating for implementation costs.