Innovations or Modernisation? The Implementation of Agricultural Progress in Individual Farms in the Region of Lower Silesia
Innovations or Modernisation? The Implementation of Agricultural Progress in Individual Farms in the Region of Lower Silesia

Author(s): Barbara Szczepańska, Jacek Szczepański
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Economy
Published by: Vysoká škola ekonomická v Praze
Keywords: Innovation; agricultural progress; biological progress; individual farms; lower Silesia; Poland
Summary/Abstract: Purpose: This article concerns the implementation of agricultural progress in individual farms. Itsaim is an attempt to answer the question whether the development of Polish individual farms takesplace through absorbing innovations of biological type or through modernisation expressed in thepurchase of new agricultural machinery. Design/methodology/approach: A holistic approach to studying agricultural progress wasapplied. The data comes from quantitative surveys conducted among individual farmerswho manage farms from 5 to 300 ha. 200 structured interviews with farmers were conducted(124 questions). The data analysed comes from surveys conducted in 2013 in Lower Silesia. Findings: The farmers declared that after Poland's accession to the EU, first of all, they madechanges in the field of applied plant protection products, in equipping the machinery park and onlyat the end of changes in the use of new varieties of agricultural plants. There are two ways ofexplaining this state of affairs: 1) The productivity and competitiveness of agriculture is determinedby farms over 20 ha, there are less than 10% of them. In other farms, their owners combine farmwork with commercial work or social sources (The Characteristics of Agricultural Holdings 2010:56). 2) The tractors have been before - but are also today a factor significantly affecting the statusof a good farmer in the rural community. Research/practical implications: The studies have shown little knowledge about biologicalprogress. Farmers do not share about benefits resulting from the application of biologicalinnovations, they do not know that kind of programs. Originality/value: The work presents its author’s own research which is an attempt to analysethe process of implementing agricultural progress in farms.

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