Rola procesów globalizacji i integracji europejskiej w kształtowaniu się łańcuchów dostaw żywności
Role of globalisation and European integration processes in shaping food supply chains

Summary/Abstract: Contemporary food chains remain under the influence of two coexisting phenomena: globalisation and integration. On the one hand, globalisation has introduced standardisation and unification of production, and on the other hand, in the context of increased competition in the global food market, there have been implemented activities directed to the diversification of assortment, to the improvement of food quality and safety and to the diversification of its sales channels. These and other actions are supported among others by the agricultural policy of the EU member states, which in this way try to face adverse effects of globalisation, such as the unification of consumption, the disappearance of small entrepreneurship and the gradual depreciation of agriculture against other sectors of the economy. Among many priorities of the revised EU’s agricultural policy a special place is taken by the promotion of short supply chains, which allows to cope with the negative changes associated with globalisation, including the domination of international corporations in agri-food sector, present at various stages of the food chain. Its particularly important and critical link is the agriculture, situated at the beginning of the food system, and therefore the least advantageous in more and more expanding supply chains. In addition, the shortening of these chains, apart from direct benefits – of financial nature for agricultural producers – brings many others, considered at the global level, and thus perceptible by the present and future generations, preserving and developing existing forms of activity in rural areas and counteracting the degradation of natural environment. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the impact of globalisation and European integration processes on the development of food supply chains. Therefore, the concept and structure of supply chains and their evolution over the years determined by these processes are going to be presented. For the preparation of the publication, the descriptive method and literature analysis were used.

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