**Agriculture or Brown Coal: The Usability of Resources in the Local Development of Krobia Commune** The article presents the concept of "embedding," a new perspective on the potential for local development of rural areas based on existing endogenous resources and mechanisms that stimulate the community. In this context, the conditions and resources of a typical agricultural commune, Krobia, located in the south-western part of the Wielkopolskie Voivodeship, are shown, which contribute to its local and regional development. Krobia commune is also an area where potentially workable deposits of brown coal (lignite) occur. However, there is a lack of social acceptance for the vision of coal mining. The establishment of an open-pit mine on this territory would bring many negative consequences for the well-developed agriculture, and consequently for the local community. The article highlights ways to strengthen "embedding" so that the added value from the residents' farming activities (agricultural and non-agricultural) remains on the commune's territory and serves its further development. Key words: concept of embedding, resource utility, local development, Krobia commune. **Introduction** The development of a specific area is based on local resources, which can be material (raw materials, products, environmental assets) and non-material (relations, skills and abilities, links, culture). Resources and goods are strongly associated with the region's specificity, are something unique, creating possibilities for residents' activities. These are factors with a diverse way of affecting local development. Usually, one of them has a high value, which may be the result of natural or externally stimulated processes. Recognizing the uniqueness and assigning value to what is rare, specific, and local is a departure from the development paradigm that assumes mass and uniform production. Local development is based on the spatial form of the concept of embedding, which means linking subjects to a specific area and processes occurring there. According to K. Stachowiak (2011, p. 89), it combines elements of other forms of embedding – cultural, political, or institutional – which are limited to a specific territory. Z. Chojnicki (1999, p. 318) defines the territory as "an area of the Earth's surface along with its material, natural, and artificial content, effectively controlled by a community." In reality, all these forms of embedding are connected and rarely occur separately, which results from the complexity and multidimensionality of social life. Thanks to the concept of embedding, the value of locality and the quality of resources valued are also available beyond the area of occurrence and are available on a larger scale, often outside the place of production. Development based on the concept of embedding takes place in the commune of Krobia, where local resources, good farming traditions, and preserved high agricultural culture make it one of the leaders in the production of high-quality food in the Wielkopolskie**Agriculture or Brown Coal: The Usability of Resources in the Local Development of Krobia Commune** The article presents the concept of "embedding," a new perspective on the potential for local development of rural areas based on existing endogenous resources and mechanisms that stimulate the community. In this context, the conditions and resources of a typical agricultural commune, Krobia, located in the south-western part of the Wielkopolskie Voivodeship, are shown, which contribute to its local and regional development. Krobia commune is also an area where potentially workable deposits of brown coal (lignite) occur. However, there is a lack of social acceptance for the vision of coal mining. The establishment of an open-pit mine on this territory would bring many negative consequences for the well-developed agriculture, and consequently for the local community. The article highlights ways to strengthen "embedding" so that the added value from the residents' farming activities (agricultural and non-agricultural) remains on the commune's territory and serves its further development. Key words: concept of embedding, resource utility, local development, Krobia commune. **Introduction** The development of a specific area is based on local resources, which can be material (raw materials, products, environmental assets) and non-material (relations, skills and abilities, links, culture). Resources and goods are strongly associated with the region's specificity, are something unique, creating possibilities for residents' activities. These are factors with a diverse way of affecting local development. Usually, one of them has a high value, which may be the result of natural or externally stimulated processes. Recognizing the uniqueness and assigning value to what is rare, specific, and local is a departure from the development paradigm that assumes mass and uniform production. Local development is based on the spatial form of the concept of embedding, which means linking subjects to a specific area and processes occurring there. According to K. Stachowiak (2011, p. 89), it combines elements of other forms of embedding – cultural, political, or institutional – which are limited to a specific territory. Z. Chojnicki (1999, p. 318) defines the territory as "an area of the Earth's surface along with its material, natural, and artificial content, effectively controlled by a community." In reality, all these forms of embedding are connected and rarely occur separately, which results from the complexity and multidimensionality of social life. Thanks to the concept of embedding, the value of locality and the quality of resources valued are also available beyond the area of occurrence and are available on a larger scale, often outside the place of production. Development based on the concept of embedding takes place in the commune of Krobia, where local resources, good farming traditions, and preserved high agricultural culture make it one of the leaders in the production of high-quality food in the Wielkopolskie