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This study aims to identify the conditions for the development of social farming in the province of Mazovia, and to present the opportunities and barriers to the establishment of care farms in Poland. The study involved the method of desk-based literature review and the method of descriptive statistics. The paper provides an analysis of various forms of social farming functioning in the European Union and discusses the possible directions of care farming development depending on the degree of involvement of various institutions. In addition, the study focuses on the most important conditions for the development of care farms in the province of Mazovia, which include the dichotomy of socio-economic development, the spatial polarization of demographic processes and the ageing population. In 2013, the ageing index (the number of persons aged 65+ per 1,000 children aged 0-14) for the province of Mazovia was 993, however, it is expected that in 2035 it will be 1,758, and in 2050 it will reach 2,382. In 2050, the proportion of people aged 65+ in the population of Poland will reach 32.7%. Consequently, the demand for certain services e.g. in the field of health care and social care will be increasing. Unfavourable demographic processes like depopulation and undesirable processes affecting the age structure will mainly affect districts located in the peripheral areas of the province. Even though, currently there are not any care farms operating in Mazovia, there seems to be a great interest in this form of economic activity.

Subject and purpose of work: The aim of this article is to present selected aspects of agricultural advisory services in Poland as one of the most important cells of knowledge transfer influencing the development of agriculture and rural areas. Materials and methods: Based on the analysis of the available literature and existing legislative acts an attempt was made to discuss the changes that had occurred both in terms of the organization of agricultural extension in Poland, as well as in the substantive content dealt with by advisory services. Based on secondary sources the noticeable tendency of changes in the agricultural counselling system in Poland have also been defined. Results : In this paper special attention has been paid to the need of creating such an agricultural extension system in which all the institutions and organizations forming it would have conditions to develop effective forms of cooperation aimed at the development of rural areas. Conclusions : Since agricultural extension centres are not able to perform all the tasks imposed on them there appears a chance for the new entities, e.g. private consulting firms.-----Przedmiot i cel pracy: Celem artykułu jest przedstawienie wybranych aspektów doradztwa rolniczego w Polsce jako jednego z ważniejszych ogniw transferu wiedzy wpływających na rozwój rolnictwa i obszarów wiejskich. Materiały i metody: Na podstawie analizy dostępnej literatury i obowiązujących aktów prawnych podjęto próbę przedstawienia zmian, jakie zachodziły zarówno pod względem zorganizowania doradztwa rolniczego w Polsce, jak i w treściach merytorycznych realizowanych przez służby doradcze. Na podstawie źródeł wtórnych określono także zauważalne tendencje zmian w systemie doradztwa rolniczego w Polsce. Wyniki : W artykule szczególną uwagę zwrócono na potrzebę stworzenia takiego systemu doradztwa rolniczego, tak by wszystkie instytucje i organizacje go tworzące miały warunki do wypracowania skutecznych form współpracy na rzecz rozwoju obszarów wiejskich. Wnioski : Ośrodki doradztwa rolniczego nie mają możliwości realizacji wszystkich nakładanych na nie zadań i pojawia się szansa dla nowych podmiotów np. prywatnych firm doradczych.