*3.1. Characteristics of the Surveyed Farms*

In the surveyed group of farms in Central Pomerania, nearly 38% of entities, apart from equity capital, used external sources of financing for agricultural activities, in order to improve their financial energy. Liabilities constituted on average 14.4% in the structure of financing sources of the analyzed entities. This is confirmed by the results of studies conducted so far on the high degree of self-financing of farms and their low inclination to (see e.g., [6,95]).

Table 2 presents descriptive statistics of the variables included in the analysis, on the basis of which, the characteristics of the researched farms were made.


**Table 2.** Descriptive statistics of independent variables considered in the model.

Note: No.—number of farms; Share—share of farms in total number of farms (%). Source: Own study.

The average area of a farm was 56.57 ha, with half of the studied population having an area not exceeding 38.02 ha. The minimum area of a farm was 0.88 ha, while the maximum area was 430 ha. The surveyed entities were characterized by a higher average area of agricultural land than the average area of a farm in Poland, which in 2019 amounted to 10.95 ha [96]. The most numerous group were farms with a production value between PLN 32.001 and PLN 100,000 (37.8%). Farm whose production value exceeded PLN 500,000 (6%). More than half of the population (55.2%) had a production value not exceeding PLN 100,000. Most entities were clearly focused on plant production—they constituted almost half of the surveyed group. 28.4% of the surveyed units were multi-directional farms, diversifying their production.

The surveyed farms were managed mainly by men (82.5%). The average age of the farm manager was 47 years. With regard to the level of education, it was found that farms managed by managers with secondary (37.1%) and basic vocational education (35.3%) dominated. One in five respondents declared having higher education. It was also noted that 17.5% of the surveyed farmers had economic education. Almost half of the respondents (49.1%) indicated that they have a successor who will take over the farm in the future.
