Between Passion and Rejection – Attitudes Towards Agriculture Among Young University Graduates in Rural Areas in Poland

Ilona Matysiak

Village and Agriculture (Wieś i Rolnictwo), 2021, vol. 190, issue 01

Abstract: The main objective of the article is to analyze the importance of agriculture in the lives of young graduates of higher education living in rural areas in Poland. Their educational and professional choices are discussed. How many of them graduated from agricultural universities and fields of study belonging to the discipline of agricultural sciences? Do these decisions translate into undertaking agricultural activities after graduation? For what reasons can young rural residents with higher education be interested in agricultural activities? Another objective of the article is to identify the main factors potentially "pulling" this type of young people to agriculture and "pushing" them away from this sector. The basis of the empirical part of the text is 92 individual in-depth interviews with young graduates of higher education aged 25-34 and 27 interviews with competent local informants, conducted in 10 purposefully selected rural communes located in different parts of Poland. The results show that agriculture is more present in the lives of young rural residents with higher education than one could expect from their educational and professional choices. At the same time, the interviews reflect the dominance of the modernization paradigm, which shapes the social perception of farmers and agriculture in Poland. The article is based on outcomes of the research project “The role of the cultural capital of young rural inhabitants in the contemporary processes of transformation of the rural areas in Poland”, funded by the National Science Center based on decision no. DEC-2013/11/D/HS6/04574

Keywords: Community/Rural/Urban; Development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:polvaa:344667

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.344667

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