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Abstract
This article attempts to determine significance of
differences among young and older farmers’ judgments
on selected performance aspects of two EU paying
agencies in Poland, namely Agency for Restructuring
and Modernization of Agriculture (ARMA) and
Agricultural Market Agency (AMA). The survey across
Poland was conducted in late 2006 on a total of 194
respondents. The Likert-scale questionnaires were used
to obtain data responses regarding the performance of
the agencies. The sampling unit was the individual farm,
the respondent being the person in charge of managing
the farm and being customer of both agencies. The
following hypotheses were set up for the study: 1. The
young and older farmers’ perceptions of the government
agencies impact on economic situation of agricultural
holding are not significantly different; 2. The
perceptions of young and older farmers of the
government agencies’ role performance are not
significantly different. These hypotheses have been
empirically tested using the Z-test. Hypothesis no 2 was
rejected for two agencies whereas Hypothesis no 1 was
rejected for one agency (AMA). Study reveals that both
young and older respondents are more familiar with
ARMA (responsible, among others, for the direct
payments to farmers) than with AMA (responsible for
market measures). The overall results of the present
study suggest that on average Polish young farmers are
more knowledgeable about Government agencies and
more critical of the agencies performance than older
farmers. Consequently, policy makers, Government and
its agencies should more carefully look into some
problems facing young people in Polish farming.