ACTA SCIENTIARUM POLONORUM - SGGW

100 J. Sosnowski, G.A. Ciepiela2007] point out that a very important element influencing the decision about running agritouristactivities is the age of the farm owners. The results of this study indicate that thisactivity is undertaken mainly by people raging in age from 40 to 50 (Figure 1), who areopen to changes and innovations. The second largest group were people of fifty to sixtyyears of age. A significant part in the study was the population in their thirties and forties.Also, farmers over sixty took part in the study. It is worth noting that farms run by peopleunder 30 can be found only in two districts of Siedlce Region.Another important feature of agri-tourist farms is education. In the literature [Kobyłecki2003], it is noted that those with secondary or higher education are more open to the situationof “sharing” family life with others, often strangers. In general, they have goodinterpersonal skills and they are polite. Such personality traits should also characterizethe farm owner’s family members, because tourism, as a form of leisure on the farm, involvessocial interaction between the whole farmer’s family and tourists. Farms in all thedistricts of Siedlce Region are mostly run by people with secondary education (Figure 2).There were only in a few cases, in the farms located in the district of Minsk and Łosice,of farmers with higher education engaged in agritourism.In the opinion of many authors [Gąsiorowska and Zarzecka 2006, Żbikowski et al.2006], agrotourism, as an additional activity carried out on a farm, should be the domainof small and medium-sized farms, where agricultural production is an insufficient sourceof income for the farmer.From the research by Balińska and Sikorska-Wolak [2001], conducted in the Valleyof the Bug, it appears that the average size of farms in the region amounted to 11.9 ha.The results of this study show that the agritourist farms acreage of Siedlce Region wasvery diverse. The average size of these farms was 7.07 ha. While analyzing the size ofagritourist farms (Figure 3), it should be noted that the territorially largest ones belongedto the district of Mińsk and Garwolin (an average of over 8 ha); while the smallest holdingswere in the district of Sokołów (5.78 ha).100%80%60%40%20%0%16.650.216.616.653.346.612282832631.220.837.810.222.222.255.614.214.2sokoowski siedlecki wgrowski osicki miski garwoliski57.414.2up to 30 years between 30 and 40 years between 40 and 50 yearsbetween 50 and 60 years over 60 yearsFig. 1.Rys. 1.Source:Źródło:The age structure of farm owners in various districts of the region of Siedlce (means fromfarms)Struktura wieku właścicieli gospodarstw w poszczególnych powiatach regionu siedleckiego(średnia z gospodarstw)Authors’ research.Badania własne.Acta Sci. Pol.