European Union Farm Research Articles

Economic, Social, and Environmental Factors Impacting Resilience and Disturbances of Lithuanian Family Farms

Climate change, changes in the natural environment, changing markets, price volatility, etc. pose tension and threats to the future of European Union farms. The uncertain future of family farms requires farm resilience—the ability to survive, adapt, and grow in the face of turbulent change. The limited resilience of family farms has become an important concern for rural and agricultural policy. The main goal of this work is to identify disturbances affecting Lithuanian family farms, assess their influence, investigate the general resilience of Lithuanian family farms, propose measures to reduce the vulnerability of farms, and increase the general resilience and sustainability. We used a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods to conduct the research. Survey research was conducted using a semi-structured expert interview in which various types of variables were collected. The survey questionnaire, consisting of 38 groups of questions, was sent by email to 500 randomly selected family farmers in January 2024 and collected in the same month. The statistical analysis of the data from the 205 duly filled-out questionnaires was carried out using correlation analysis. In this article, we apply the concept of general resilience of the family farm in the direction of robustness, adaptability, and transformability. We identify the main factors influencing the general resilience of the family farm and study the main attributes of the resilience of family farms. We find some links between family farm characteristics, vulnerability factors, and general resilience capabilities, and we make several proposals to increase family farms’ resilience. The obtained results prove that higher education, larger farm sizes, higher agricultural sales, and employment of permanent workers are associated with better resilience. Furthermore, increasing environmentally friendly practices positively impacts resilience. Older farms and farmers, longer durations of farming activity, and risk-averse behaviors tend to decrease resilience. Due to local and global circumstances, economic and social changes have occurred very quickly in recent years, so the results obtained in the study may not be valid in the long term. Similar surveys after several years will be necessary to study the resilience of Lithuanian farms, including deeper economic analyses that evaluate factors such as price sensitivity, the level of farm debt, and market access.

Smallholder farms in the sustainable food transition: A critical examination of the new Common Agricultural Policy

AbstractAlmost two thirds of working farms in the European Union are considered smallholder farms. These farms play a crucial role in local food production, rural development, maintaining agrobiodiversity, and promoting cultural heritage. Despite this, agricultural policies have consistently supported on‐farm intensification, specialisation, enlargement, and mechanisation of agricultural production. These policies have been in turn commonly justified through food security and agricultural efficiency arguments. Considering the European Union's Farm to Fork Strategy and the Green Deal's aims of transitioning towards sustainable food systems, this article presents a novel empirical analysis of the legal position of small farmers in the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of 2023. This analysis outlines the critical but complex position of smallholder farmers in the National Strategic Plans of 10 Member States. The reformed CAP increasingly acknowledges the important role of smallholder farmers in moving towards sustainable food systems. However, in this article, we question the CAP's sufficiency for improving the legal position of smallholders, promoting (economic) viability and harnessing the sustainability potential of smallholder farms.

Defining the maximum nitrogen surplus in water management plans to recover nitrate polluted aquifers in Spain

Nitrate pollution in aquifers is a global concern. Spain has developed a national strategy to recover nitrate polluted aquifers aligned with the European Union (EU) policies, specifically through the water planning under the EU Water Framework Directive. River basin management plans use PATRICAL model results to define the maximum nitrogen surplus in each polluted aquifer for the first time. The maximum nitrogen surplus allows to reach the good status in each aquifer and the model provides the number of years required.Around 30% of the aquifers in Spain is currently heavily polluted by nitrates. Model results show that 90% of these aquifers can be recovered in next 6–12 years by increasing nitrogen use efficiency and reducing nitrogen losses around 50%, which is in line with the EU Farm to Fork Strategy. The remaining aquifers require additional reductions to achieve the good status. In Spain this increase in nitrogen efficiency can be obtained with different measures including 30% reduction of current fertilization.

Current and future glyphosate use in European agriculture

AbstractThere has been a longstanding and contentious debate about the future of glyphosate use in the European Union (EU). In November 2023, the European Commission approved the renewal of the use registration for glyphosate for a further 10 years. Nevertheless, the EU Farm to Fork strategy calls for a 50% reduction in pesticide use by 2030. In November 2022, the European Weed Research Society organised a 2 day workshop to identify critical glyphosate uses in current EU cropping systems and to review the availability of glyphosate alternatives. Workshop participants identified four current, critical uses in EU cropping systems; control and management of perennial weeds, weed control in conservation agriculture, vegetation management in tree and vine crops and herbicide resistance management. There are few herbicide alternatives that provide effective, economic, broad‐spectrum control of weeds, particularly perennial weeds. Mechanical weed control, and in particular, soil cultivation is the most obvious glyphosate alternative. However, this is not possible in conservation agriculture systems and, in general, increased soil cultivation has negative impacts for soil health. Emerging technologies for precision weed control can enable more targeted use of glyphosate, greatly reducing use rates. These technologies also facilitate the use and development of alternative targeted physical weed control (e.g. tillage, lasers, electricity), reducing the energy and environmental costs of these approaches. In tree crops, the use of organic and inorganic mulches can reduce the need for glyphosate use. In general, reduced use of glyphosate will require an even greater focus on integrated weed management to reduce weed establishment in agroecosystems, increase weed management diversity and limit the use of alternative resistance‐prone herbicides.

Determinants of Financial Security of European Union Farms—A Factor Analysis Model Approach

The objective of this study was to assess the level of financial security of farms and identify its determinants based on factor analysis. The data used in this research were obtained from the European FADN (Farm Accountancy Data Network). Factor analysis (FA) was employed to reduce the number of variables that potentially determine the financial security of farms. The results indicate that the surveyed entities maintained financial security between 2014 and 2021. This study suggests that it is necessary to examine these factors separately for farms engaged in crop farming and animal production. The results obtained for all farms were less satisfactory than those that took into account the specifics of agricultural production. This study addresses a gap in the literature by including highly correlated variables in the analysis of the determinants of financial security. Factor analysis is used to reduce the number of variables without losing important information. Firstly, seventeen variables related to the financial security of all farms were assigned to six factors. These were income and self-financing of operations; area and subsidies; long-term investments and financial decisions consequences; economic size, taxes, and non-breeding livestocks; investment activity; and inputs, stock, short-term loans, and labor. Then, the determinants of the financial security of farms were examined, taking into account the specialization of activities. For crop-producing farms, six factors were identified, including three that were identical to those for all farms: income and self-financing of operations; long-term investment and financial decisions consequences; and investment activity. In addition, the following items were specified: area, subsidies, non-breeding livestocks, and taxes; economic size, inputs, and labor; and stock and short-term loans. The correlated variables in the case of livestock production combined into factors in a different way. In this case, four factors were distinguished: economic size, non-breeding livestocks, income, and self-financing of operations; operational activities of animal production; long-term investment and financial decisions consequences; and investment activity. Financial security is a complex matter that can be affected by a range of factors related to agricultural activities.

9.A. Round table: From science to reality: the potential of food environments as a gamechanger

Abstract Food environments have the potential to shift our food system towards a health-oriented system that puts the health of people and planet at its core. Today, however, food systems and dietary patterns are unsustainable, as unhealthy diets have become the leading cause of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and premature deaths in the European Union (EU). The over-reliance of the EU on individual consumer responsibility, expecting them to make healthy and sustainable food choices in an environment where unhealthy food is ubiquitous and heavily promoted, particularly to children, has proven largely ineffective to shift diets at population level. Consumers are constantly influenced by the context in which they purchase food and which shapes their choices towards calory-dense and high in fat, sugar and salt foods (HFSS). Understood as the “physical, economic, political and socio-cultural context in which consumers engage with the food system to make their decisions about acquiring, preparing and consuming food” (HLPE, 2017), food environments should be reconfigured so that healthy and sustainable choices become easier and more likely. This will not only promote better health for all, but also contribute to the transition towards a greener economy, offering opportunities within the food system. This workshop aims to explore the potential of food environments as a gamechanger for promoting better health for all and thereby assess the potential of the EU's Farm to Fork Strategy (2020) and Europe's Beating Cancer Plan (2021) as they relate to the prevention of obesity and other-diet related diseases. The first presentation will consider the implications of the commercial determinants of health in the degradation of food environments, highlighting that the European Union and its Member States can no longer delegate the responsibility to promote health for all to private sector actors. The second presentation will reflect on the scientific research on food environments and consumer behaviour. The third presentation will provide a compendium of public policies that, together, could contribute to the promotion of healthier food environments. The fourth presentation will consider specifically the regulation of food marketing to children to protect them from its established harmful impact. It will conclude with a roundtable discussion Key messages • Food environments should be shaped in a way that the sustainable and healthy food choice is the most affordable, accessible, and attractive, especially for children and vulnerable groups. • Food environments have the potential to prevent NCDs and create sustainable and healthy diets. Governments should assume their regulatory duties and offer protection from vested interests and CDoH. Speakers/Panelists Stefanie Vandevijvere Sciensano, Brussels, Belgium Alba Gil European Public Health Alliance, Brussels, Belgium Emma Calvert BEUC, Brussels, Belgium

Fertiliser cost prediction in European Union farms: Machine-learning approaches through artificial neural networks

Abstract Machine-learning methodologies are part of the artificial intelligence approaches with several applications in different fields of science and dimensions of human life. These techniques appear in the frameworks of the digital transition, where smart technologies bring relevant contributions, such as improving the efficiency of the economic sectors. This is particularly important for sectors such as agriculture to deal with the challenges created in the context of climate changes. On the other hand, machine-learning approaches are not easy to implement, considering the complexity of the algorithms associated. Taking this into account, the main objective of this research is to present a model to predict fertiliser costs in the European Union (EU) farms through artificial neural network analysis. This assessment may provide relevant information for farmers and policymakers in the current scenario where the concerns are to identify strategies to mitigate the environmental impacts, including those from the agricultural sector and the respective use of chemical resources. To achieve these objectives, statistical information for the EU agricultural regions from the Farm Accountancy Data Network was considered for the period 2018–2020. The findings obtained show relative errors between 0.040 and 0.074 (showing good accuracy) and the importance of the total utilised agricultural area and the total output to predict the fertiliser costs.

Profitability and financial performance of European Union farms: An analysis at both regional and national levels

AbstractAgriculture has always been a sector with several specificities that call for adjusted interventions from public institutions through agricultural policies. This is not an exception for the context in the European Union where the Common Agricultural Policy has had more impact in some contexts than the national agricultural policies of the member-states. In turn, the profit margins are, in general, narrow and this needs specific financial and economic management. However, the financial, economic instruments, and indicators for farming are, often, ignored, or at least, not sufficiently analysed. From this perspective, the main objective of this study is to assess the net working capital framework across European Union countries and regions, including assessments through types of farming and economic size. Another objective is to analyse the impacts from financial indicators (current ratio, current assets-to-total assets ratio, current liabilities-to-total assets ratio, and debt-to-total assets ratio) on profitability (return on assets) and financial performance (return on equity). For this purpose, data from the Farm Accountancy Data Network were considered, for the period 2004–2018. These data were worked through descriptive analysis, spatial autocorrelation approaches, and panel data regressions. As main conclusions, it is worth noting the diversity of financial realities across the European farming sector and the null impacts from the liquidity ratio on the farms’ performance.

Stabilizing European Union farm incomes in the era of climate change

AbstractNo reliable supports protect European Union (EU) farmers from the catastrophic risks arising from extreme weather events, which are expected to increase in frequency and severity due to climate change. We compare alternative EU safety net policies to reduce farm income downside risks, which are transparent, predictable, and fair and operate with indices on an EU Member State (MS) level. Simulations with a tailored global model of a series of historic yield shocks as observed over past decades serve as a test bed to quantify the costs and benefits of these policies across EU MS using various risk metrics. The results highlight properties of and rankings among these polices useful for guiding future policy design and assessment.

Break-even point analysis for milk production - Selected EU countries

Unstable conditions in the milk market in the Czech Republic (CR) and in the European Union (EU), mainly due to volatility of milk prices, are increasing pressure on dairy farmers to maximise production at the lowest possible production costs. Break-even point (BEP) analysis is a useful tool in dairy herd management for determining minimum requirements for profitability. BEP values for milk yield and milk price were calculated based on data obtained from 95 dairy farms in the CR. BEP values were estimated also for another eight EU countries based upon production and cost data from the EU Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN). With the milk price ranging from EUR 28 to EUR 38 per 100 L and while excluding subsidies, zero profitability would be achieved on Czech dairy farms with milk yields ranging from 6 706 L to 13 151 L per cow and from 7 450 L to 14 088 L per cow in Czech Fleckvieh (C) and Holstein (H) herds, respectively. In order to achieve 5% profitability, the milk yield would need to increase by 21%. Considerable variability exists among EU countries in estimated BEP values depending upon average milk yields, input prices, and milk prices in different countries.

Efficiency of the European Union farm types: Scenarios with and without the 2013 CAP measures

Abstract The European Union Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) publishes data for the representative farms of several European Union (EU) farm types, regions and countries. In this database, the published data for the farm types allow us to assess several agricultural policies. In fact, the FADN publishes data for the EU farming types and there are not many studies about these fields in the whole European context. This study aims to bring novelty for the whole spectrum of stakeholder types in these domains. The analysis of these impacts may bring relevant insights, especially, for adjustments in the design of future strategies and plans. We analyse the evolution of the EU farm types in the last two decades with significant scenario changes like two large common agricultural policy (CAP) reforms (2003 and 2013) and suggest new approaches to the design for future measures. Statistical information from the FADN over the period 2004–2018 is considered. In addition, efficiency and productivity assessments are carried out, to assess the implications of the most recent instruments of the CAP. The results show that the policy instruments in the framework of the 2013 CAP justify the use of more inputs (or at least at higher costs) for the same level of output. In fact, the subsidies given to the farmers since 2014 mask the inefficiencies underlying some farm types. A significant decrease in the total factor productivity confirmed this trend, despite positive growth rates for the total verified output for several farm types over the period.

The farm to fork strategy and the digital transformation of the agrifood sector—An assessment from the perspective of innovation systems

AbstractThe article assesses the European Union's Farm to Fork (F2F) strategy from the perspective of innovation systems, focusing on digital technologies in agriculture. It employs the Technical Innovation Systems framework to analyze how the policies proposed in the F2F strategy affect essential functions of the innovation system. The analysis shows that the F2F strategy significantly contributes to innovation system performance by providing a clear and coherent agenda and various concrete measures designed to support innovation, knowledge and skill development. However, the strategy falls short in creating favorable market conditions for innovative technologies and building legitimacy with farmers as the most important user group.

Food security implications for low‐ and middle‐income countries under agricultural input reduction: The case of the European Union's farm to fork and biodiversity strategies

AbstractPolicies that restrict the use of agricultural inputs have been shown to reduce output, farmers' incomes, and increase food prices, which could ultimately lead to more food insecurity. In this paper, we consider the EU Farm to Fork Strategy's proposed reductions of agricultural inputs on food security in 77 low‐ and middle‐income countries under two implementation scenarios: EU‐only and Global. Our findings indicate that compared with the status quo, each scenario results in a net increase in food insecurity, which ranges from 30 million (EU‐only) to 171 million (Global) by 2030.

European Union farming systems: Insights for a more sustainable land use

AbstractThe diversity of agricultural systems in European Union (EU) regions and countries is vast and vulnerable to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reforms. The CAP instruments have suffered several significant changes over the last decades to take into account the new contexts from the various EU enlargements and problems caused by former measures. This dynamic evolution of the farming system calls for updated assessment to better understand the respective policy impacts and to support the design of new and adjusted instruments. In this context, with this research, the intention is to highlight the most recent characteristics of the EU farming system and to assess the respective impacts from CAP measures. To achieve these aims, we considered statistical information from the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) which was exploited through linear programming models. The main findings reveal that EU subsidies have no implication on the structure of EU farming systems. In other words, the most profitable farming systems are the same whether they were provided with the CAP financial support or not, namely those from the 1st Pillar. On the other hand, the CAP rules condition the farmers' options, sometimes towards adopting a more subsidised production, but with lower margins. These frameworks would not be problematic, if the farming systems were more socially and environmentally sustainable, but this is not always the case. In a future scenario of a farming sector which more regulated by the market and less so by the CAP instruments, the environmental impacts will be more short‐term than medium‐ or long‐term, where the main problem will be with energy consumption.

Influence of the production direction of European Union farms on the level of financial liabilities

Purpose: The main purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between the direction of production of farms in the European Union and the level of their liabilities. Design/methodology/approach: The study period includes the years 2005-2019. Data relating to eight types of farming identified in the FADN database were used to illustrate the directions of production. The conducted research focuses on the following types of liabilities: total, incurred for a period longer than one year and incurred for a period of less than one year with outstanding cash payments. One-way ANOVA variance was used to achieve the research objective. Findings: The conducted research showed that the most common differences in the level of liabilities are between the type of granivores and the types of farms focused on plant production and other permanent crops with farms focused on field crops, horticulture and livestock production. Relatively few differences can be observed in the case of farms targeting the same source of food origin (except for other permanent crops). Originality/value: The obtained results indicate a significant differentiation in the level of liabilities in farms focused on plant and livestock production, which results from the different specificity of their production.

Embedding animal welfare in sustainability assessment: an indicator approach

In line with growing consumer interest in sustainable food production, a number of farm-level sustainability indicator studies have been published in recent years. Despite the importance of animal welfare, many such frameworks fail to adequately take account of it, mostly due to difficulties in accessing suitable data. This paper demonstrates that it is possible to develop indicators of animal welfare that can be embedded within a wider sustainability framework using a representative farm-level dataset such as the European Union (EU) Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) for Ireland, the Teagasc National Farm Survey. The paper presents a set of sustainability indicators for dairy farms in Ireland for the 2014–2017 period and examines the impact of policy reform on sustainability performance. Headline results show that welfare standards on dairy farms in Ireland have remained stable over the period despite the considerable intensification of the dairy sector following EU milk quota removal. Furthermore, dairy farms that have expanded herd size significantly have improved welfare standards more than farms that have not increased production. An analysis of synergies and trade-offs between the various aspects of sustainability reveals that positive correlations exist between welfare standards and economic and environmental performance. The analysis facilitates the identification of win-win farm-level strategies that can be adopted to improve economic, environmental and animal welfare outcomes. The framework developed here presents opportunities for evaluating policy impacts at the farm level on various aspects of sustainability. The use of the FADN demonstrates the capacity to extend such an approach across the EU.

One or many European models of agriculture? How heterogeneity influences income creation among farms in the European Union

Agricultural structures are quite heterogeneous across the European Union (EU), and it is likely that the underlying technology also differs across regions. In this article, we claim that the heterogeneity of agriculture across the EU affects the process of income creation (i.e. the relative importance of the factors of farm income differ for different agricultural models). A panel of farms representative for 125 regions reporting to the EU Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) during the period from 2007 to 2018 is used. In this article, those regions are grouped into three clusters. A system generalised method of moments (GMM) panel estimator is applied to each cluster. The results showed that total factor productivity (TFP), relative prices and agricultural subsidies make different contributions to farm net value added (FNVA). In particular, the income growth of farms in regions dominated by large farms seems to react more to marginal changes of the explanatory variables.

Legume-Modified Rotations Deliver Nutrition With Lower Environmental Impact

Introducing legumes to crop rotations could contribute toward healthy and sustainable diet transitions, but the current evidence base is fragmented across studies that evaluate specific aspects of sustainability and nutrition in isolation. Few previous studies have accounted for interactions among crops, or the aggregate nutritional output of rotations, to benchmark the efficiency of modified cropping sequences. We applied life cycle assessment to compare the environmental efficiency of ten rotations across three European climatic zones in terms of delivery of human and livestock nutrition. The introduction of grain legumes into conventional cereal and oilseed rotations delivered human nutrition at lower environmental cost for most of the 16 impact categories studied. In Scotland, the introduction of a legume crop into the typical rotation reduced external nitrogen requirements by almost half to achieve the same human nutrition potential. In terms of livestock nutrition, legume-modified rotations also delivered more digestible protein at lower environmental cost compared with conventional rotations. However, legume-modified rotations delivered less metabolisable energy for livestock per hectare-year in two out of the three zones, and at intermediate environmental cost for one zone. Our results show that choice of functional unit has an important influence on the apparent efficiency of different crop rotations, and highlight a need for more research to develop functional units representing multiple nutritional attributes of crops for livestock feed. Nonetheless, results point to an important role for increased legume cultivation in Europe to contribute to the farm and diet sustainability goals of the European Union's Farm to Fork strategy.

THE DYNAMICS OF HORTICULTURAL FARM NUMBERS IN DIFFERENT ECONOMIC SIZE CLASSES AND CHANGES IN THEIR INCOME IN 2007-2017

The aim of this study is to determine changes in the structure of horticultural farms in EU countries in the years 2007-2017 and their incomes and determine the share of subsidies of the Common Agricultural Policy in the income of horticultural farms in studied groups. Horticultural farms from the European Union Farm Accountancy Data Network (EUFADN) of all EU countries were surveyed. A dynamic analysis of the structure of farm numbers in particular groups of economic size (ES6) was carried out, and then the average change in income and the share of subsidies in income within these groups in 2007 and 2017 were presented. As a result of the conducted research, changes in the number of horticultural farms in various groups of economic size were taken into account and the assumptions concerning the decreasing scale of fragmentation of horticultural farms were confirmed by a decrease in the number of the economically weakest groups and an increase in the number of medium and large farms. It was noted that, in the studied groups, the strongest income growths concerned farms with medium or high economic strength, which may mean that income had a significant impact on the process. Moreover, it results from the conducted research that existing institutional solutions additionally supported the tendency to reduce the scale of fragmentation of horticultural farms in the EU-12 due to the fact that the shares of subsidies were higher in groups with higher economic strength.

Competitiveness of Polish dairy farms in the European Union

This article analyses the competitiveness of dairy farms in Poland in relation to selected EU countries. The competitive advantage of dairy farms was evaluated and compared based on remuneration for family labour. Two variants of the above indicator were calculated: (1) Remuneration for family labour (FL1) as the relationship between farm net income and the farmer’s unpaid labour input, and (2) Remuneration for family labour (FL2) as the relationship between farm net income minus the opportunity costs of own land and capital to the farmer’s unpaid labour input. The calculations were performed based on EU FADN (European Union Farm Accountancy Data Network) data for an average dairy farm in 2005, 2010 and 2016. The study revealed the highest average remuneration for family labour (FL1) in Irish and German dairy farms. The value of the second indicator (FL2) was also highest in Germany, followed by France. The analysis produced interesting results regarding dairy farms in Denmark and the Netherlands which were characterised by the highest scale of production in the evaluated period (high net value added), but very low farm incomes and remuneration for family labour. The study revealed that Polish dairy farms were characterised by average competitiveness relative.