Human Capital in the Polish Agricultural Sector Post Accession to the European Union

In general, knowledge and information resources play a very important role in successful competition on local, regional, domestic and international markets. This has also been relevant to the Polish agricultural sector post accession to the European Union, as it has been confronted with the highly developed agricultural sectors of many other member states. Human capital is not only a source of innovativeness, but it is also an important factor for all transformations. As far as agriculture is concerned, human capital has become important for the improvement of management results, especially those corresponding to aspects of the management and organization of production factors: i.e. land and capital. It should also be noted that there is a relationship in agriculture between the quality of human capital, as determined by features of the farm manager, and the implementation of new developments. For a better educated farmer it is easier to implement innovation at his farm, with respect to investment in biological and technical material as well as changes in the organizational and technological spheres. This paper identifies and examines both the resources and selected features of human capital in Polish agriculture in the context of its competitiveness. An analysis is presented of employment levels in the rural economy, farmers' education levels, their experience and professional knowledge and access to information. Data sources include the Central Statistical Office and questionnaires carried out among farm managers in the Lublin region.