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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Agri-food Clusters as an Opportunity for Development of Border Rural Areas

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Cooperation within the framework of euroregions of the European Union is an answer to challenges posed by global economy and not merely an instrument to reduce negative external effects which exist in peripheral areas. In the long-term perspective, cooperation should serve to: ensure stability of natural capital, dissemination of knowledge and innovation as well as break the convention of simple industrialization thanks to the feedback of network economy. The sole meeting point of the three processes is a territory, the delineation of which should be executed by social actors capable of identifying resources that are available on it. The authors of the article present the justification of the thesis that in rural areas of Opole Province and the areas of the Czech Republic which are complementary to the former, there can be established a functional area generating intelligent specializations in agriculture. Identification of the conditions behind this process has been carried out on the basis of survey research conducted in commercial farms based in Opole Region. The presented data indicate that the agriculture of the Region generate potential of cooperation, which – owing to a variety of institutional solutions – is able to contribute to establishing a functional area with different ecosystems of business activity within the framework of bio-economy.