Between Passion and Rejection – Attitudes to Farming among Young University Graduates in Rural Areas of Poland

Abstract

The aim of the article is to analyse the significance of farming and agriculture in the lives of young rural university graduates in Poland. Their educational and professional choices are discussed. How many of them graduated from agricultural higher education institutions and agricultural disciplines? Do such decisions translate into taking up farming after having completed the studies? What are the reasons that young people with higher education living in rural areas may be or may not be interested in farming? Another objective is to identify the main factors potentially “pulling” them towards agriculture and those “pushing” them out of this sector. The article is based on 92 in-depth interviews with university graduates aged 25–34 and 27 in-depth interviews with competent local informants conducted in ten purposely selected rural municipalities across Poland. The results show that farming and agriculture are more present in young university graduates than their educational and professional choices suggest. However, the interviews reflect the dominance of the modernisation paradigm shaping the perceptions of farmers and agriculture in Poland.

Organic Milk Production Sector in Poland: Driving the Potential to Meet Future Market, Societal and Environmental Challenges

“…In Poland, milk production is often undertaken by older generations, who have inherited the farm from their parents and still run their agricultural holding based on tradition, a sense of duty and an attachment to the land of their forefathers [69]. Poland belongs to the group of EU countries with the lowest ratios of substitution of labor with capital and a relatively small contribution of paid employment in dairy farms [70].…”

Rolnictwo miejskie w światowym i polskim piśmiennictwie oraz w dokumentach planistycznych wybranych miast Polski

“…Kathrin Specht oraz Esther Sanyé-Mengual (2017) wykazały, że największą barierą implementacji miejskiej agrokultury jest brak wiedzy na jej temat oraz ogólnie negatywne nastawienie do działalności, które stanowią nowość. W warunkach polskich, jak zauważa Ilona Matysiak (2021), sporym problemem może być również negatywne nastawienie do rolnictwa. Zdaniem tej badaczki, w polskim społeczeństwie (głównie w miastach) nadal dominują stereotypy przedstawiające rolnictwo jako mało wydajny i archaiczny sektor gospodarczy.…”