Protected farm status is a special juridical status assigned to farms which comprise a minimum of 5 and maximum of 100 hectares of comparable agricultural area. The basis for granting the status is a 1995 Law on the inheritance of agricultural holdings. The purpose of protected farm status is to enable the acquirer to take over the farm under such conditions that do not burden him too much and to ensure its economic, social and ecological functions. The main characteristic of protected farms is that it may not be physically divided in the case of inheritance. The ownership of protected farm can be transferred by sale, handover, gift contract, contract of subsistence, lifetime maintenance contract, or gift contract in the event of death. With the inquiry of the owners and future acquirers we researched the characteristics of protected farms, their holders and families who live on and cultivate them. We found out that regarding the opinion of respondents a lot of the protected farm do not allow even one person to survive and that the economic capability is very much dependent on the activity of the farm. The results show that the respondents tend to support the special status of the protected farm. In the light of the analysed case law and literature, a clearer definition of the protected farm is necessary, while the protection of the physical and economic integrity of the farm as a production unit should be regulated in a meaningful and fair way.
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