Poland's agricultural sector is vital for European and Global market because it produces a variety of agricultural, horticultural and animal origin products. The surface area of agricultural land in Poland is 15.4 million ha, which constitutes nearly 50% of the total area of the country.

Agriculture in Poland has always been an important part of the country's economy. Out of the 18.727 million hectares (46.28 million acres) of agricultural land (about 60 percent of Poland's total area), 14.413 million hectares (35.62 million acres) were used for crop cultivation, 265 thousand hectares (650 thousand acres) for orchards, and about 4,048,500 hectares (10,004,000 acres) for meadows and pastures in 1989. In most areas, soil and climatic conditions favored a mixed type of farming.

In 1989 Poland was the second-largest producer of rye and potatoes in the world. The latter were used as vegetables, as fodder for pigs, and in the production of industrial starch and alcohol. The country occupied sixth place in the world in sugar-beet, milk, and pig production. The quantity and quality of agricultural land ensured self-sufficiency and made considerable quantities of various agricultural products and processed foodstuffs available for export.