Summary:

The paper presents the results of analyses of economic and investment activities conducted on 53 selected family farms in 2009 and 2010. Obtained results were compared with the respective data assumed in the projects of these farms modernization until 2015.The analyses were conducted to determine the needs and investment possibilities of the studied farms and seek the method of an assessment of investment activity pursued by individual family farms.Farms with an area of between 8 and 150 ha AL (arable lands) were investigated in 2009-2011. Average area of the researched objects was 44.23ha AL in 2009, 45.88ha AL in 2010,whereas in 2015 it will be 49.49ha AL, i.e. it will increase by 11.9%.It was found that with growing farm area the reconstruction needs decrease (depreciation), whereas possibilities of investment activity for development grow. Also potential investment possibilities of farms were estimated and the difference between the real family incomes and the incomes comparable with non-farmer families were added to the incurred investment expenditure.In 2009 average unit reconstruction investment needs were 1140 zł ∙ha-1AL, incurred investment expenditure was 1930 zł ∙ha-1AL , whereas potential investment possibilities were estimated at 3391 zł ∙ha-1AL.Respectively, in 2010 average unit investment needs were 1106 zł ∙ha-1AL, whereas the investment expenditure born was 1687 zł ∙ha-1AL, and the potential investment possibilities 3592 zł ∙ha-1AL. So, on average the studied objects incur higher investment expenses in relation to the reconstruction needs (depreciation), i.e. bear development investment expenses, which potentially could have been even higher. The researched farms incurred unit investment expenses between 7 and 8 times bigger than the average for agriculture in Poland in 2010. They may be representative for conventional development family farms with an area from 12 to 120ha AL.