Farmers’ knowledge of sustainable potato cultivation techniques in Poland

Abstract

The research was aimed at determining the farmers’ knowledge about sustainable agricultural techniques in potato cultivation by identifying their personal, social, economic and communication characteristics. In addition, the intention of research was to find a connection between the farmer's knowledge of potato cultivation in sustainable agricultural techniques and independent variables that characterize the farmers. These studies were based on primary data collected in the years 2014–2016 on a representative sample of 152 potato producers in the Mazovian province. A standardized structure questionnaire was used to collect the field data through personal interviews. The questionnaire consisted of two parts: the first part contained independent variables (age, level of education, marital status, occupation, sex, source of income), while the second one consisted of an assessment test of potato producer knowledge on sustainable agricultural techniques. The results showed that knowledge about potato cultivation for sustainable agricultural techniques is medium with a low tendency. Among the socio-economic variables, the level of education and occupation were the most important factors influencing the knowledge of a farmer-producer of potato with sustainable agricultural techniques in the studied area. The significant differences occurred between knowledge about potato cultivation for sustainable agricultural techniques according to variables in categories (age, level of education and profession). Only three independent variables had a significant link to the adoption of innovation in agriculture: source of income, level of education and occupation.