Do farms located in less favoured areas deal with worse income situation? Empirical evidence from Poland

Environmental determinants may increase or decrease the income potential of farms, therefore, research on the income situation of farms located in areas with diversified natural farming conditions may be justified. The main aim of the article was to identify differences in the income situation, as well as to assess income inequalities between farms located in less favoured areas (LFA) and other entities (non-LFA). Changes in the scale of inequality in the years 2014-2021 in farms located in LFA areas can be divided into three main phases: a decline until 2017, a sharp increase in 2018 and another decline from 2019. Income inequality on LFA farms measured by the Gini coefficient in 2014-2021 decreased by 5.5%, while on non-LFA farms by 5.3%. This implies the need for in-depth monitoring of the economic and financial situation of farms located in LFA. An in-depth assessment of income inequalities for individual types of LFA may be important, including from the point of view of shaping new tools in the context of updating the CAP, which emphasises the imperative of improving the resilience of farms.