Environmental awareness and attitudes of farmers with environmental commitments

Environmental education for adults living in rural areas can be considered both from a theoretical point of view and practical-learning. The article describes a study to identify ecological awareness of farmers on agri-environment schemes. Activities of Selected Agricultural Advisory Centres were presented as an example of training for adults in the countryside. An attempt was made to assess activities in terms of the shaping of farmers’ pro-environmental attitudes. The results obtained will be used to determine the educational needs for local farming communities. The results highlight the poor environmental awareness of the farmers researched. The shaping of adult attitudes towards the environment is founded in school. Deficiencies in education do not foster later development of favourable habits towards the natural environment. While conducting lively educational activities, Agricultural Advisory Centres aim mainly at vocational training. Education about the natural environment is not an objective in itself but is focussed towards economic goals. Lack of cooperation between AACs and schools makes it difficult to introduce the concept of lifelong education.