Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 19 ISSUE 4
Written by Mahdiyeh SAEI, Hossein MORADI SHARE BABAK

Population aging phenomena are noticed in many branches of the economy. The human factor plays a very important role in the manufacturing processes of enterprises. Its importance is also currently significant in many sectors of the national economy and in the economic development of local communities, regions and countries. Not only the population, but also age and the related ability to work are important. In the knowledge-based economy, formal and informal qualifications of employees, their level of education and professional experience are also very important. All these factors affect the competitiveness of the business entities in which they work and which they manage. The aging of the population with a large intensity also negatively affects the development of agriculture and rural areas. However, they can also become a reason for developing previously unknown forms of activity, e.g. care farms.The research carried out concerned the group of owners of small farms operating in south-eastern Poland. They were implemented as part of the SALSA project "Small farms, small food and sustainable food and nutrition security". As indicated by the conducted research, most of the small farms were managed by people at a mature or older age. The share of people aged up to 40 years was at the level of 20.2%. This shows that young people are mostly not interested in running small farms. The level of education of farmers was also low, which was particularly evident in older age groups. Many older farmers also spoke negatively about the future of their farms, which was often associated with the lack of successors. The presented results prove the existence of many problems resulting from the aging of small farm owners and the need to undertake remedial actions.

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