Regional Determinants of the Development of Short Food Supply Chains in Poland

Magdalena Raftowicz () and Bartosz Korabiewski
Additional contact information
Magdalena Raftowicz: Institute of Spatial Management, Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences, 50-375 Wrocław, Poland
Bartosz Korabiewski: Institute of Geography and Regional Development, University of Wrocław, 50-137 Wrocław, Poland

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 21, 1-27

Abstract: This study investigates the regional drivers shaping the development of short food supply chains (SFSCs). SFSCs are increasingly recognized as sustainable alternatives to industrial food systems; however, their development dynamics at the regional level remain poorly understood. Drawing on structured interviews and surveys with regional agricultural institutions, combined with official statistical data, we applied Spearman’s rank correlation to test five hypotheses related to structural, institutional, historical, and demand-related factors across 16 provinces in Poland. The results revealed weak or statistically non-significant associations between most of the analyzed factors and the development of SFSCs, with the notable exception of a strong correlation with urban population size. These findings challenge conventional assumptions about the role of agrarian or policy conditions in supporting localized food systems and suggest that regional food policy should focus more on enhancing urban–rural linkages and consumer engagement to foster sustainable food supply models.

Keywords: short food supply chains (SFSCs); regional determinants; Poland (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/21/9772/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/21/9772/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:21:p:9772-:d:1785937

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().