Abstract. Th e study evaluated the importance of agricultural production structures for economic effi ciency and environmental sustainability of farms. For this purpose, multivariate methods were used: ordering and data envelopment analysis (DEA). Th e study is based on accounting data from the farms of intensive agriculture in Wielkopolska Province, collected by the Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics in Warsaw in [2004][2005][2006][2007][2008][2009]. It was demonstrated that diversifi ed farms achieve similar economic effi ciency indicators as specialized farms. At the same time it was proven that the farms with production specializing in breeding cattle, implement their function of "guardians of the countryside" in the same degree or even better. Th us, the main hypothesis of the study formulated on the basis of studying literature was rejected. It said that: specialized farms achieve higher economic effi ciency with lower environmental sustainability of the production than diversifi ed farms. In the diversifi ed farms there is higher environmental sustainability of production at lower economic effi ciency than in specialized farms.
The aim of this article is to indicate the rationale for the development of the bioeconomy in selected EU countries depending on their overall level of economic development. The research was based on four highly developed countries, i.e., Germany, France, Finland and Denmark, and four medium-developed countries, i.e., Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, and Slovakia for the period 2001–2018. Renewable energy consumption, biomass and agricultural production were analysed as determinants of the bioeconomy development. The question was also answered whether differences in terms of measures determining the level of bioeconomy development between countries with different levels of economic development during the studied period are decreasing or increasing, using sigma (σ)-convergence coefficients. It is shown that the development of the bioeconomy of the studied countries is related to their level of economic development. In the middle economically developed countries, real opportunities for the development of the bioeconomy are noted, through a high share of agriculture in national income; and in highly developed countries—high spending on research and development and the growth of eco-innovation, which contributes to maintaining a development advantage between these groups of countries.
Willard Cochrane was the first to introduce the notion that farmers are on a market treadmill, which, in spite of their constant efforts to improve productivity, wears away any profits that might result. Therefore, the essence of the treadmill is that agricultural income does not grow in line with the increase in productivity. Although reasons of this phenomenon are economic in nature, it has caused a serious social problem, i.e., the relative deprivation of farmers’ income. Solving this problem is crucial for ensuring sustainable farming in its social dimension. The aim of the article was, firstly, to answer the question to what extent the concept of the market treadmill in agriculture is still valid for European countries; and secondly, to develop a sectoral model of agricultural income that would test whether the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has been successfully struggling with the Cochrane’s treadmill. The authors carried out panel research in a group of 25 countries over the years 1980–2015 in various subperiods. The main conclusion was that the traditionally understood market treadmill has lost significance in Europe, which might be advocated as a long-term value-added aspect of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) emissions are an important global issue as air pollutants lead to approximately 7 million deaths per year (World Health Organization). In an attempt to combat this global threat, countries in the European Union (EU) allocate relatively large funds for environmental policies. The main goal of this paper is to assess the long-term efficiency of the EU countries’ environmental policy in reducing the pressure of particulates pollution on the natural environment. For this purpose, multilevel panel regression models based on seminal within–between specification are used. The models are run for a panel of 25 EU countries for the years 2004–2016. In the investigations, we tried to capture the effect of the share of utilized agricultural area (UAA) in non-urban areas of the analyzed countries, as it may potentially influence policy efficiency. It was found that environmental spending in all main categories (pollution abatement, biodiversity, R&D, and environmental protection) had a significant impact on decreasing pollution pressure; however, the policy was more efficient in countries which had a lower share of UAA in their non-urban areas. The study emphasized that the impact of “pollution abatement” expenditure may be underestimated in basic panel models.
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