THE ROLE OF FINANCING THE ACTIVITIES OF AGRICULTURAL HOLDINGS WITH BORROWED CAPITAL IN THE OPINION OF INDIVIDUAL FARMERS

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present the opinions of farmers about financing agricultural holdings with borrowed capital. The research addressed the purpose of using borrowed capital, its determinants and the assessment of the benefits of its use in the opinions of farmers. The survey was conducted with the use of interview questionnaire in the group of 100 farmers running individual agricultural holdings in the Mazowieckie voivodeship. These entities applied agricultural accounting within FADN system. The criterion for the division of the surveyed units included the economic size expressed in ESU, which allowed taking into account the level of profitability of these entities. The main problem of the management of finance sources, according to the farmers, consisted in the maintenance of financial liquidity on the safe level. The farmers saw benefits of the increase of financing with borrowed capital for the faster modernization of agricultural assets. The farmers choose a conservative financing strategy; preferring long-term financing sources, they wanted to minimise financial risk. The farmers listed the following main determinants of the level of debt: the value of the investment, own contribution required and subsidies to interest on subsidised loans.