Kontekst innowacji w grupach producentów rolnych

The main objective of the study described in the article is to identify and evaluate the context of shaping innovation in agricultural producer groups. The groups were perceived as a starting point to establish a network of farms within which the emergence of open innovation would be favoured. The context of innovation in groups of farmers was referred to the classical stakeholder theory based on closed innovation (Joseph Shumpeter) and open innovation promoted in collaborative networks by contemporary theorists (Henry Chesbrough and Clayton Christiansen, Everett M. Rogers). A secondary objective of the study was to answer a question whether the state of intragroup relations was a prerequisite for enhancing innovation on farms, taking into account the change of relations between different profiles of production, indicators of group dynamics, assessment of relations with the cooperating institutions. The study was conducted in 2015 among groups of agricultural producers of the Lesser Poland (Małopolska) province, by applying the method of direct interview. The results show the greatest commitment to innovation in the horticultural groups if they feature stable (unchanging) intra-group relations, average group indicators and a large number of co operating institutions.