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After the European Union (EU) was left by the United Kingdom (UK), a free trade area was established between these economies. Although bilateral trade in all goods is tariff-free, regulatory requirements make exports more costly and burdensome. We used a partial equilibrium model to analyze the implications of Brexit for agricultural exports from Visegrad countries (Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia). We assess trade creation and trade diversion effects resulting from an increase in non-tariff measures and border costs for 4-digit agricultural products identified as sensitive in each of the Visegrad countries. The simulations reveal that exports of sensitive products from Visegrad countries to the UK could decrease by up to 20%. While the macroeconomic importance of this change is not significant, for the producers of the sensitive goods such export losses are substantial., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Accession of Poland to the European Single Market generated trade creation and diversion effects, which in turn resulted in a high degree of concentration of the Polish foreign trade in agri-food products with other EU countries. On the one hand, a high share of export to the markets of countries with a stable market economy is a confirmation of the Polish agri-food sector's capacity to compete on the foreign markets. On the other hand, when considering limited capability to increase food demand in the EU it provides grounds for the assumption that further export expansion to a considerable extent will depend on the potential expansion of sale to non-EU markets. In this context significant issues include diversification of target markets and search for prospective markets outside the EU, while they also determine directions of an advantageous export specialization. In the period up to 2021 the USA was the fourth non-EU export partner of Poland in the agri-food sector after the United Kingdom, Ukraine and Russia. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the level of comparative advantages of the Polish agri-food sector on the EU and US markets in 2004–2021 using Widodo's products mapping technique. The study used statistical data from the ComExt database of the European Statistical Office (Eurostat). The conducted studies showed Polish export specializations in the transatlantic trade, as confirmed by high comparative advantages, as well as a positive and steadily improving trade balances for food preparations, including meat, cereal, fruit and vegetable, as well as confectionery preparations, and less processed animal origin products (meat and offal as well as dairy produce). Poland had a disadvantageous competitive position in trade of products complementary in relation to domestic production, which import was necessary. In view of the comparative cost theory the directions of the realized export specialization were rational and should be maintained. While in trade with the other EU countries the competitive position of the Polish agri-food sector was weakened, it was strengthened on the US market. In view of the considerable EU market saturation the improved competitive capacity in the non-EU markets is a positive development, which is a promising finding particularly in the long-term perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was: (i) to complete and verify the prior review of research on alien plants conducted in Poland and the practical use of their results, and (ii) to attempt to assess the contribution of the research from the area of Poland to the research conducted on an international level. The analysis was performed based on the information gathered during a literature search which covered the last 200 years, using over 1400 publications out of the 3000 which were available in the pool. As a result, the main areas of biological sciences in the context of the research undertaken on alien plants in Poland (distribution, ecology and biology of the species), the most common thematic studies (new species, new localities, and lists of alien species), and the most often investigated species, as well as tendencies over time were indicated. Although studies on the migration and distribution of alien plants in Poland have over 100 years of tradition, and the part of the studies conducted by Polish researchers contributes to the international scale research, it is still necessary to further analyse many issues and answer numerous questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]