Churches and religious organisations as beneficiaries of the Common Agricultural Policy in Poland

Łukasz Wiśniewski; Roman Rudnicki; Paweł Wiśniewski

doi:10.31648/aspal.11593

Published: 2026-04-30

Vol. 25 No. 1 (2026)

Churches and religious organisations as beneficiaries of the Common Agricultural Policy in Poland

Łukasz Wiśniewski

, Roman Rudnicki , Paweł Wiśniewski

Acta Scientiarum Polonorum Administratio Locorum

Section: Articles

https://doi.org/10.31648/aspal.11593

Abstract

Motives: The use of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) funds is an interesting research topic. A good and relatively rare source of information on this subject is the list of CAP beneficiaries published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. An interesting group of entities receiving payments for the use of agricultural land are churches and religious organizations. The conducted research sheds light on the process of absorbing EU funds, particularly its spatial diversification.
Aim: The objective of this study is to identify and explain the spatial variation in CAP subsidies given to the agricultural land used by churches and religious organisations in Poland.
Results: Churches and religious organisations are one of many categories (types) of beneficiaries of EU CAP in Poland. Reference to the amount of subsidies obtained by churches and religious associations allows one to state that, on a national scale, it is a rather marginal phenomenon (approximately 0.8% of the total amount of CAP payments in 2022), while its geographical variation is derived from former historical and political processes.

Keywords:

CAP beneficiaries, subsidies, churches and religious organisations, agriculture, farm, Poland

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Wiśniewski, Łukasz, Rudnicki, R., & Wiśniewski, P. (2026). Churches and religious organisations as beneficiaries of the Common Agricultural Policy in Poland. Acta Scientiarum Polonorum Administratio Locorum, 25(1), 185–208. https://doi.org/10.31648/aspal.11593

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