The Role of Marketing in Shaping the Development of the Market of Organic Farming Products in Poland

The natural environment is one of the areas of sustainable development. The implementation of the goals of sustainable development is associated with the creation of conditions supporting ecological behaviours as well as the greening of consumption. It cannot be ignored that the implementation of behavioural marketing concepts contributed to the development of excessive consumerism, whereas the use of marketing innovations by enterprises with high strategic potential and dominant market position often translated into shortening product life cycles. In this context, there arises a research question concerning the role that marketing has to perform nowadays, and the challenges to its concept, resulting from sustainable development. The paper is based on literature studies and the results of an empirical research that was performed on a sample of 140 entities shaping the offer of organic farming products in Poland. The study included both organic farming entities and entities dealing with the distribution of organic farming products in Poland. The goal of the paper is to show the role of marketing as a multi-paradigmatic concept in shaping the development of the market of organic farming products in Poland. The analysis of the research results aimed at identifying the reasons for introducing organic farming products by distributors into their offer, as well as showing the nature of the relationships between producers and distributors of organic farming products in Poland. The analysis of the research results shows that the relationships between producers and distributors of organic farming products in Poland are perceived by both parties as long-term and based on trust. Special attention is also paid to the hierarchy of factors stimulating the development of sales of organic farming products in Poland. Identification of stimulants for the development of the market of organic farming products indicates the great importance of marketing in this area because the main factors of development of this market are of marketing nature or are inherently related to marketing.