Methods of Measuring Diversity of Structures

Abstract The goal of the study is to determine the differentiation of production types of agricultural holdings in Poland based on the dynamics of changes, spatial differentiation and processes of convergence/divergence in comparison to EU countries. Analyzed materials consist of the data of holdings monitored by the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) system between 2014 – 2017. This analysis encompasses the following types of agricultural holdings specializing in: field crops (1), vegetable crops (2), vineyards (3), other permanent crops (4), rearing dairy cows (5), rearing grazing animals (6), rearing granivores (7) and mixed production (8). For the analysis of empirical material, we used multidimensional statistical methods, e.g. Lorenz curves, Gini index and Grade Correspondence Analysis (GCA). The study has shown a high differentiation of structures of production holdings in Poland and a strong convergence to other EU countries.