Ownership succession plainning. Study of agricultural farms in Silesian voivodeoship

Abstract

The problem of succession has been more and more frequent in investigations concerning the future of agricultural farms in Poland. The reducing number of inhabitants, ageing society and a declining number of new births are only some of the factors which highlight this problem. The focus of the study was on the agricultural farms in the case of accidental events such as death or serious illness that makes it impossible for the owner to make representations and sign on behalf of the business solely. These problems are critical from the standpoint of ensuring the continuous operation of the farm. The study was carried out with using a questionnaire and analysis of the independence of the Chi-square test (χ2). Most of the farmers studied think about what would happen in the case of their permanent loss of ability to manage the farm, and especially in the case of their sudden death. The opportunities for presence of other negative events such as serious illnesses seem to be neglected by those who manage agricultural farms. This is likely to be due to the psychological reluctance to think and prepare for such difficult scenarios. The study also demonstrated the lack of correlation between the size of agricultural farm and securing farmers against the accidental events. A moderate relationship was observed only at the level of general planning of the future of the agricultural farm. One of the popular forms among the owners of agricultural farms was establishment of a kind of mortis causa plenipotentiary