ECONOMIC RESULTS OF SOCIAL FARMS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

Although still at the beginning of its development in the Czech Republic, social farming has considerable potential for further development and providing benefits for groups of people disadvantaged in the labour market. This paper offers the first comprehensive financial analysis of social farms in the Czech Republic between 2013 and 2017. At the same time, the results of the social farm analysis were compared with other entities operating in farming which are structurally the most similar, i.e. incorporated farms of up to 50 ha. Based on the analysis results, we can state that social farms in the Czech Republic are in a stable position with an improving trend shown over the period under review. The most significant problem of social farms was the low efficiency of selling their own products, since such sales represent a primary source of income. One of the positive findings was a slight surplus management of the subjects under research. Subsidy support from the European Union, which has contributed to the extension of the services provided, was identified as key to the existence as well as further development of social farms in the Czech Republic.