Economic outcomes in relation to farmers’ age in the Czech Republic

Abstract

The current paper aims to assess farming enterprise outcomes in the Czech Republic from a socio-economic perspective. The relationship between the age of a farms’ managers and its economic results has been analysed for 1 351 farms using the FADN (Farm Accountancy Data Network) database in order to determine whether farms’ economic results differ on the basis of the age of their managers. Our analysis confirms that there is indeed a correlation between manager age and a farming enterprise’s economic results. The results have been analysed in detail according to the age groups of managers and farm owners, farm specialization, and farm size. The farm net value added per annual work unit reached the best values in businesses managed by young farmers in crop production (EUR 34 445) and young farmers in large enterprises (EUR 43 400). The oldest farmers, specializing in milk production, had the highest level of indebtedness (0.39). The data reveal that the age of farmers is inversely proportional to the level of indebtedness, with level of debt decreasing with increasing farmer age. A Mann-Whitney U test (with Bonferroni correction) confirms a statistically significant difference between young farmers and the remaining three age groups in the ratio of production to cost.