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This study presents a comparison of the performance and the ranking of pork producers in 16 countries over the period 2012–2017. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used to make the ranking and identify the best practices among the involved countries (“peers”). For the DEA analysis, the output is aggregated into the category Carcass meat production in sow/year/kg, the inputs into Feed costs, Other variable costs, Labor costs, Depreciation and finance costs. In the first round of evaluation, only Brazil, the USA and The Netherlands were designated as peers. Significant differences between the highest-ranking values (1) and the lowest-ranking values (0.709) showed greater differences between European and non-European pork manufacturers. To get more European countries among the peers, non-European countries the USA and Brazil were excluded from the second round of evaluation. The second round of evaluation indicated that Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain are efficient producers with regard to the given inputs. The ratings of Germany, Italy and France are close to one (with differences of less than 4%); therefore, these countries can also be classified as efficient units. The identification of peers among selected EU producers represents “best practices” in the field.

The European agricultural market has been criticized for its heavy regulations and subsidization. The sugar market is one of the most regulated ones; however, this will change radically in 2017 when the current system of production quotas will end. The aim of this paper is to present the basic characteristics of the EU quota sugar market. The analysis identifi es the main drivers of EU sugar market and their position within the EU sugar market. The paper identifi es especially those drivers/ companies/alliances which take control over the EU sugar production realized under the quota production system. The paper also highlights the level of EU sugar market concentration and also identifi es those countries and companies which are the main leaders in the sugar production area realized under the quota system. Based on the results deriving from the paper, it is possible to characterize the EU sugar market as a heavily concentrated one -nearly 75% (10 mil. tonnes) of the quota is controlled by fi ve multinational companies only; these companies are operating more than 50% of all the available sugar plants located in the EU. These multinational alliances are also in control of the production capacities of their subsidiaries. In most countries, this causes serious problems as the given quota is controlled by one or two producers only. The EU sugar market is extremely concentrated especially if we take into consideration the location of each alliance's headquarters. The majority of production capacities are under (the) control of especially German and French companies. These two countries are also the main benefi ciaries in relation to the EU sugar production quota system.

In addition to industry, transport, and waste management, the agricultural sector is also a major emitter of CO2 emissions. This article focuses on CO2 equivalent emissions from soil in the context of mineral nitrogen fertiliser management. The methodology itself consists of several successive phases, the first of which is to determine basic statistical characteristics for all EU countries, primarily in terms of mineral nitrogen fertiliser consumption, but also in terms of the area of crops grown. EU countries with similar cropping patterns were selected for comparison so that the results could be compared. The results show that there are quite significant differences in CO2 equivalent emissions between countries under similar conditions. At the same time, the values of the marginal increment of CO2 emissions as a function of mineral nitrogen fertiliser consumption were calculated. On the basis of the results of the selected countries, an upper limit in terms of CO2 emissions per hectare of arable land was also determined, and recommendations were made from a national perspective. The emissions themselves can be seen as a negative production externality that is not accounted for in the market mechanism and can thus also distort the price of agricultural production. The methodology used in this paper can be used to set an upper limit on CO2 emissions from soil due to the use of mineral nitrogen fertilisers and can then be used as an indicator for regulating and defining future agricultural policy instruments within the EU, where the objective is to reduce the level of CO2 emissions.

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