Nowoczesne i tradycyjne kanały zbytu - determinanty i skutki wyboru sposobu sprzedaży mleka przez producentów w Polsce

The EU accession and integration process - including CAP implementation - has been the most important driving force behind dairy sector restructuring in Poland in the last decade. Simultaneously to changes taking place in production sphere new trends have been observable with respect to milk usage and marketing channel choices made by farmers. The main purpose of the article was analysis concerning determinants of market channel choices of dairy farmers and impacts of these choices on the farms’ financial situation. It was found that changing the marketing channel from deliveries to the collection point (traditional channel) for direct milk collection at the farm (modern channel) positively affects farms’ financial situation. Entering the modern marketing channel seems to be conditioned by the exogenous rather than endogenous factors. Neither human capital nor households’ initial physical assets are the decisive factors. It is rather access to funds that would allow for undertaking necessary adjustments. Given that farms’ financial capital endowments are limited, the marketing channel choice is crucially dependent on having access to external funds.