INVESTMENTS LIMITING NEGATIVE IMPACT OF FARMS ON THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE AND AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITY EFFICIENCY

Abstract

The article attempts to evaluate the technical efficiency of farms that in 2015-2016 carried out an investment aimed at reducing pollution of the natural environment with nitrates from agricultural sources. Due to the type of the investment carried out, two groups of farms were distinguished. The first group were farms that carried out adaptive investments for the construction or extension of manure plates or slurry tanks. The second group, on the other hand, were farms investing in the construction of barns and piggeries along with buildings for collecting natural fertilizers. The source of data for the analysis were farms keeping accounting for the Polish FADN in 2014-2019. The results of the analysis showed that the investments carried out in both groups undoubtedly contributed to the significant development of the farms. Income per 1 working person from a farming family (1 FWU) increased in both groups by 95.3% and 78.5%, respectively in 2014-2019. Changes in technical efficiency, measured with the Malmquist index, showed an improvement in efficiency in both groups, but only in the group of farms investing in new buildings the changes were favorable both in terms of efficiency improvement and technological progress. Ultimately, measurement of efficiency showed its increase in the group investing in buildings by 0.7% and in the case of new livestock buildings by 3.4%.