Investment in machinery, equipment and means of transport in Polish agriculture, 2009-2012: example of FADN region 785 (Pomorze i Mazury)

In the paper the scale of investment in agricultural equipment in Poland in the years 2009-2012 is investigated. The research concentrates on FADN region 785 as it has on average the largest farms in Poland. Thus its agriculture is the most advanced in terms of convergence with EU-15 agriculture and presents the highest potential to compete on the European Union (EU) market. Investment in machinery, equipment and means of transport is the most common kind of investment projects and the fi rst that is undertaken by farmers who wish to develop their farms. The results show that although the average scale of investment is growing it is still insuffi cient given the average level of usage of fi xed assets in Polish agriculture. The EU co-fi nanced support for investment can be seen as an additional source of investment fi nance, with only about 12 per cent of farms making use of public support in their investment projects. The average value of such investment is several times higher than in the case of farms using other sources of fi nancing their investments. Most investment projects are fi nanced from own resources – retained profi ts.