In an individual economy, the optimal size of an orchard is determined by the efficiency of machines and tools, Without which modern fruit production is inconceivable. They are tractors, sprayers, rotary mowers, fertilizer spreaders, trailers and platforms, forklifts, sorting to fruit, and in the near future, machines for mechanized crown cutting, and, at least for some fruit plants, machines for mechanized fruit harvesting. It is also necessary to have your own cold store for storing winter fruit, or the possibility of using – on the basis of participation – from collective cold stores. All the above-mentioned machines and devices are very expensive. It pays to buy them only on condition, that they are fully used. Looking ahead and taking into account the performance of current and future machines necessary for fruit production, an area court should be considered an optimal unit in an individual economy 15-20 he has. Due to the large fragmentation of farms in Poland, there are few farmers with such a large acreage of land.
It is for this reason that fruit science put forward the concept, establishing block orchards or joining fruit producers into cultivation groups.
There are already hundreds of block orchards and orchard cultivation complexes all over the country, anyway, benefiting from many credit facilities and facilities in the supply of means of production. Investment outlays for establishment 1 ha of the orchard and operating costs are much lower, and the production and economic effects are higher in this group of orchards than in small individual area orchards, independently conducted.
