Trade-off between the economic and environmental sustainability in Czech dual farm structure

Abstract

Agricultural holdings select goals in various areas when setting their strategic objectives. Economic objectives tend to be viewed as strategic because of the requirement to maximise economic profit for the owners. Since there is significant interaction between agricultural holdings and the environment, it is also important to monitor the environmental aspects of farming. The article seeks to draw on unique multicriteria assessment to compare the compatibility of economic and environmental objectives at 1 189 agricultural holdings in the Czech Republic, broken down by farming specialisation and economic size on the basis of figures from the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN). A trade-off between environmental sustainability and economic performance occurs primarily among farming specialisation categories, where we found two extremes – intensive field cropping with high economic performance and low environmental sustainability, and, at the other end of the scale, extensive cattle farming with lower economic performance and high environmental sustainability. Within the farming specialisation categories, however, there was no significant correlation, with the exception of milk production, where the use of soil organic matter, a higher proportion of soil improving crops (for fodder) and greening made a positive contribution to the higher economic performance of farms.