Small piggeries are disappearing from the map of Poland. Polish pork is becoming the domain of giants

In 2025, nearly 4.3 thousand people died in Poland. herds of pigs. At the beginning of January this year. there were approximately 43.5 thousand of them, containing over 9.2 million pigs. Data show that pig production is slowly shifting towards large farms – informed the press office of the Gobarto Hodowca group.

Gobarto Breeder, a company that is part of the Gobarto Group, one of the largest Polish producers and suppliers of pork in the country, conducted an analysis of the pig market for 2025 based on data from the Agency for Restructuring and Modernization of Agriculture.

Decline in herd numbers

According to ARiMR data, as of January 2, 2026, there were 43,574 herds in Poland, keeping a total of 9,285,161 pigs. Last year, 4,297 herds were eliminated, while the herd increased by 75,887 animals.

As Gobarto Hodowla points out, the decline in the number of herds has affected all farm size ranges up to 1,000 animals and is widespread, with not only the smallest farms going out of business, but also clearly commercial farms. In the range from 101 to 1,000 pigs, the number of herds decreased by 305 (a decrease of 3.2%).

The only exception to this rule are the largest farms with more than 1,000 inhabitants. pigs. In this segment, the number of herds increased by 103, or 4.9%, which clearly shows that some farmers, contrary to the trend of liquidation, decide to professionalize production. As a result, the structure of Polish pig breeding is moving very slowly but consistently towards a model based on a smaller number of larger farms – noted Piotr Karnas, director of pig development at Gobarto Breeder

However, as the company's analysts point out, declines in pig numbers occurred in all herd groups except the largest herds, above 1,000. pieces.

“Polish pig production is undergoing profound reconstruction”

Moreover, there is a regional concentration of production, there are regions losing and regions taking over production. Decreases were recorded in the Łódź Voivodeship, Silesia Voivodeship, Opole Voivodeship, Małopolska Voivodeship, Świętokrzyskie, Lower Silesia and Lublin. The largest increase in population was recorded in the Masovian and Greater Poland voivodeships. The population also increased in the province. Warmian-Masurian, Kuyavian-Pomeranian, West Pomeranian and Lubuskie.

“The year 2025 confirmed that Polish pig production is not so much shrinking, but undergoing profound reconstruction. The number of herds is falling in all voivodeships without exception, and the burden of production is increasingly shifting towards large, specialized farms. The future of domestic production will depend on whether well-organized farms will have conditions for further development and investment, because today they are the foundation of food security and the competitiveness of Polish pork,” he concluded. Karnassus. (PAP)

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