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Business & Economics

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND COMPETENCIES OF DAIRY FARMERS IN LITHUANIA, POLAND AND SLOVENIA
Carolien de Lauwere, Agata Malak-Rawlikowska, Aldona Stalgiene, Marija Klopcic, Abele Kuipers

ABSTRACT. Agriculture in Lithuania, Poland and Slovenia experienced drastic changes after the accession to the EU. Entrepreneurial competencies are demanded to deal with these changes. Therefore, entrepreneurship and competencies of dairy farmers were studied by means of a survey among 334, 334 and 362 dairy farmers in Lithuania, Poland and Slovenia respectively. These countries were considered to reflect farm communities in Central and Eastern European and other similar countries. The study revealed that the dairy farmers in the participating countries still are production oriented as they most often choose expanding dairy production and further specialization in dairy farming as their preferred farm strategies for the upcoming five years. Farmers with higher competence levels were more inclined to change, were more positive about their future, had larger farms, and were more content with their family income and farm results. This indicates that investing in entrepreneurial competencies may help farmers to deal with the challenges they are facing and keep their farms viable .

KEYWORDS:  farmers, entrepreneurship, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia.

JEL classification:  Q12, J24, L26.