Crop and Livestock Insurance as Risk Management Instrments in Polish Agriculture Compared to the EU Regulations

Risk management in agricultural production is currently one of the objectives of the Common Agricultural Policy. In order to secure the income of agricultural producers certain forms of support at both the EU and the national levels have been established, including making subsidized crop and livestock insurance contracts. The paper aims at determining the condition of the mentioned insurance contracts in Poland and answering the question to what extent a certain insurance system implemented by the national legislator serves its purpose as a risk management instrument. The conclusion is that as for compulsory contracts, since their scope is limited compared to the EU regulations, they are still not an effective measure, which partly results from the application of ad hoc support by the State. The legislative solutions in that regard should, hopefully, bring some positive developments.