Siła finansowa oraz jej uwarunkowania produkcyjno-ekonomiczne w gospodarstwach rolnych Unii Europejskiej

Abstract

Introduction. The purpose of this paper is to identify the financial power and its production and economic determinants in agricultural farms in the European Union. The following research hypotheses are formulated: H1: The most important indicators in the assessment of the financial power of farms are based on the family farm income and on the cash flow, as they allow to diagnose the level of financial resources in the agricultural farm. H2: The financial power of agricultural farms depends on the economic size of the farm. Increase in the economic size, expressed in the values of the Standard Production in euro, is accompanied by improvement in the financial power of agricultural farms. H3: The financial power of agricultural farms depends on the production type of farm. The higher financial power occurs in agricultural farms of single direction of production than in the multidirectional farms. H4: The financial power of farms is positively affected by such determinants as: agricultural area, production, investment, subventions. It is negatively influenced by operating costs, liabilities and paid taxes. Material and methods. The subject of this research are professional agricultural farms leading the agricultural accounting in the European Union, and the object of research is their financial power. The research period covers the years 2004–2015. The main source of secondary material are aggregated FADN data. The most important research methods include cluster analysis, panel data models and logistic regression, as well as selected statistical tests: Kruskal-Wallis, Wald, Breusch-Pagan, Hausman, Kolmogorov-Smirnov with Lilliefors’ Significance, likelihood ratio test and collinearity of variables VIF test. Results and conclusions. In this study, three types of financial power are distinguished: potential, actual and internal. The potential financial power means the ability of a farm to have a satisfactory financial situation in the future based on its income and depreciation reduced by the transfer of products on farm needs. The actual financial power of farm means this ability resulting from cash flow, and the internal financial power equals the actual financial power reduced by subsidies. The impact of exogenous and endogenous circumstances of agricultural production on the financial situation and power of agricultural farms is indicated. It is revealed that the financial power of the agricultural farm results from the impact of quantitative and qualitative factors, both internal and external. Detailed analysis of the financial power of the professional farms included to FADN database reveals that in the individual EU countries the high diversification of farms occurs. This diversity is a valuable strength of agricultural sector. Each entity has the ability to develop in an independent manner using its resources. As a result, rural areas are not only food producers, but also can provide residential, tourist, and environmental services. The circumstances should be created that assure maximum use of this potential of agricultural farms. Conducted research on financial power of farms may become a valuable diagnostic tool, both for farmers and their farms market partners. It is also dedicated for economists dealing with agribusiness, especially. Last but not least, the results of research may be used by practitioners, i.e. agricultural advisors, think tank experts and policymakers that influence the macroeconomic framework for agriculture. Methods of analysis of accounting data can be highly useful especially from the perspective of agricultural policy. Finally, after all agricultural farms are eventually obliged to keep the accounts, these methods become a valuable tool for assessment of the financial situation of individual farms.