The income of farmers and their families is the base for consumption, savings, and investment. However, apart from its level and adequate ratios to the income of the agricultural population, its stability is also important. This very thesis is the main axis of the analysis of the income situation of Polish farmers participating in the FADN from 2004 to 2018. Its documentation is also one of the main aims of this paper. To do this from the right theoretical perspective, theinitial part of the paper presents the schemes of this income calculation and its determinants, as well as issues related to measuring income risk and the factors which affect it. Both static and dynamic approaches were used in this part of the paper. The other, thoroughly empirical and retrospective part of the paper focuses on the relationships between income and budget support, economic size, production type, and spatial location of agricultural farms. The importance of non-agricultural income was also shown, although relevant information in the FADN is not very extensive. The identification of the risk-income strategy should also be treated as a preliminary approach to the analyzed issue.

Income level is a key indicator of the standard of living and the economic efficiency of undertaken activities. This paper aims to evaluate the earnings of Polish dairy farmers compared to those in other economic sectors between 2005 and 2022. The analysis covered 1688 family-run farms that participated continuously in the FADN system throughout the study period, with particular emphasis on farms that expanded their dairy cow herds. The remuneration for the labour of farmers and their families was estimated ex post by subtracting the opportunity costs of owned land and capital from farm income. The alternative cost of engaging one’s own land was determined on the basis of actual rental prices for farmland occurring in the surveyed farm groups in the years analysed. This information is collected in the FADN system from which the studied group of farms was drawn. The basis for determining the alternative cost of involvement of own capital was the average interest rates on deposits for households, concluded for a period of 6 months to 1 year inclusive, reported by the National Bank of Poland. The analysed population was divided into seven groups based on the number of dairy cows maintained. The analysis focused on two three-year reference periods: 2005–2007 and 2020–2022. The results were compared with average salaries and wages in non-agricultural sectors of the economy. Structural changes in agriculture, increased productivity, and the expansion of production scale in dairy farms indicate a growing professionalisation of the sector. The rise in farm incomes during the analysed period contributed to a significant increase in the remuneration for farmers’ and their families’ labour. The highest growth in remuneration was observed among farms with the greatest production potential and scale. While in 2005–2007 the remuneration for labour in dairy farms was lower than in non-agricultural sectors, this situation changed in 2020–2022. During this latter period, the average remuneration for labour on dairy farms slightly exceeded the average salary and wages in other sectors of the economy.