Between the Social and Economic Dimensions of Sustainability in Rural Areas—In Search of Farmers’ Quality of Life
Life quality is an important indicator of sustainable development. Farmers’ quality of life strongly affects the farm’s viability. The main goal of this study was to identify the relationships between three main components of farmers’ quality of life: economic situation...
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doaj-12534ec841b64a1ab1cd754717c6e7e82020-11-25T01:35:55ZengMDPI AGSustainability2071-10502019-12-0112114810.3390/su12010148su12010148Between the Social and Economic Dimensions of Sustainability in Rural Areas—In Search of Farmers’ Quality of LifeAgnieszka Wojewódzka-Wiewiórska0Anna Kłoczko-Gajewska1Piotr Sulewski2Department of Development Policy and Marketing, Institute of Economics and Finance, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, 02-787 Warsaw, PolandDepartment of Economics and Economic Policy, Institute of Economics and Finance, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, 02-787 Warsaw, PolandDepartment of Economics and Organization of Enterprises, Institute of Economics and Finance, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, 02-787 Warsaw, PolandLife quality is an important indicator of sustainable development. Farmers’ quality of life strongly affects the farm’s viability. The main goal of this study was to identify the relationships between three main components of farmers’ quality of life: economic situation, living conditions, and mental comfort. In the first phase of the study, the theoretical model representing potential relationships between quality of life components was constructed, and in the second phase the relationships were verified with the use of the structural equation modelling method. The sample consisted of 600 farmers participating in the Polish Farm Accountancy Data Framework (FADN). In the analyses, data from the FADN database and data obtained during supplementary interviews with farmers were used. The analyses revealed that living conditions are significantly and positively correlated with the economic situation and mental comfort, while mental comfort turned out to be negatively correlated with the economic situation. It was concluded that future agricultural and rural development policies should be more focused on the social dimension of sustainable development than before, particularly considering the fact that a farmer’s higher engagement in the improvement of their family’s economic condition might result in lowering their mental comfort due to the stress and work overload.https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/1/148quality of lifefarmersrural areassustainability |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Agnieszka Wojewódzka-Wiewiórska Anna Kłoczko-Gajewska Piotr Sulewski |
spellingShingle |
Agnieszka Wojewódzka-Wiewiórska Anna Kłoczko-Gajewska Piotr Sulewski Between the Social and Economic Dimensions of Sustainability in Rural Areas—In Search of Farmers’ Quality of Life Sustainability quality of life farmers rural areas sustainability |
author_facet |
Agnieszka Wojewódzka-Wiewiórska Anna Kłoczko-Gajewska Piotr Sulewski |
author_sort |
Agnieszka Wojewódzka-Wiewiórska |
title |
Between the Social and Economic Dimensions of Sustainability in Rural Areas—In Search of Farmers’ Quality of Life |
title_short |
Between the Social and Economic Dimensions of Sustainability in Rural Areas—In Search of Farmers’ Quality of Life |
title_full |
Between the Social and Economic Dimensions of Sustainability in Rural Areas—In Search of Farmers’ Quality of Life |
title_fullStr |
Between the Social and Economic Dimensions of Sustainability in Rural Areas—In Search of Farmers’ Quality of Life |
title_full_unstemmed |
Between the Social and Economic Dimensions of Sustainability in Rural Areas—In Search of Farmers’ Quality of Life |
title_sort |
between the social and economic dimensions of sustainability in rural areas—in search of farmers’ quality of life |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Sustainability |
issn |
2071-1050 |
publishDate |
2019-12-01 |
description |
Life quality is an important indicator of sustainable development. Farmers’ quality of life strongly affects the farm’s viability. The main goal of this study was to identify the relationships between three main components of farmers’ quality of life: economic situation, living conditions, and mental comfort. In the first phase of the study, the theoretical model representing potential relationships between quality of life components was constructed, and in the second phase the relationships were verified with the use of the structural equation modelling method. The sample consisted of 600 farmers participating in the Polish Farm Accountancy Data Framework (FADN). In the analyses, data from the FADN database and data obtained during supplementary interviews with farmers were used. The analyses revealed that living conditions are significantly and positively correlated with the economic situation and mental comfort, while mental comfort turned out to be negatively correlated with the economic situation. It was concluded that future agricultural and rural development policies should be more focused on the social dimension of sustainable development than before, particularly considering the fact that a farmer’s higher engagement in the improvement of their family’s economic condition might result in lowering their mental comfort due to the stress and work overload. |
topic |
quality of life farmers rural areas sustainability |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/1/148 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT agnieszkawojewodzkawiewiorska betweenthesocialandeconomicdimensionsofsustainabilityinruralareasinsearchoffarmersqualityoflife AT annakłoczkogajewska betweenthesocialandeconomicdimensionsofsustainabilityinruralareasinsearchoffarmersqualityoflife AT piotrsulewski betweenthesocialandeconomicdimensionsofsustainabilityinruralareasinsearchoffarmersqualityoflife |
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