FARMERS’ SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY TO LOCAL COMMUNITY: DOES EDUCATION MATTER?

Abstract

The agrarian discourse of social responsibility as a scientific paradigm is rarely addressed in research. Thus the problem arise how to apply the paradigm of social responsibility to the agrarian discourse so that it could help disclose farmers’ social responsibility to local community and it’s affecting factors. The aim of this study is to propose a methodology for assessing the social responsibility of farmers to local communities with regard to education and to explore further possibilities of its application. The research is based on original empirical data collected through structured telephone interviews from 1108 Lithuanian farmers in January-February 2017. The results of the study confirm that the agrarian discourse of social responsibility as a scientific paradigm is applicable to disclose farmer’s social responsibility to local community with regard to education. Assessment of other factors affecting farmer’s social responsibility is on demand for future research.