Profit Efficiency in EU FADN Farms under Different Types of Agriculture

The aim of the paper was to assess the profit efficiency in representative farms in FADN regions operating in various types of agriculture. For this purpose, clusters of FADN regions with relatively similar dominant types of agriculture were selected on the basis of their partial productivity indicators. Then, efficiency indicators were calculated for each region, using various types of DEA models. The data were adapted from FADN and covered the 2004 and 2015 period. On the basis of analysis conducted in the article, it was found that the farms located in Mediterranean regions were the most efficient. At the same time, in the cluster covering the regions with the most modern agriculture, the efficiency was at a very low level. Farms in most regions operated under the conditions of decreasing economies of scale, although the efficiency of scale itself improved. Moreover, in contrast to 2004, an increase in efficiency in relation to the best practice frontier was observed in 2015

Agricultural income and prices. The interdependence of selected phenomena in Poland compared to EU-15 member states

The aim of this paper was to analyze the changes in various agricultural income measures in Poland since 2004 as compared to the situation of the EU-15 member states. Another objectivewas to examine the mentioned changes against prices. The main source of income data was the FADN database. Incomes of agricultural holdings in Poland are significantly lower than of those in most of the analyzed member states; however, this is the result of their smaller average area – their efficiency per hectare is relatively high. Polish agricultural holdings are also characterized by their comparatively small dependence on payments (although this is growing). Agricultural incomes are highly unstable, which refers to changes in price relations. This instability is particularly evident in countries with smaller farms and, thus, lower income per farm

Can a pursuit of productivity be reconciled with sustainable practices in small-scale farming? – Evidence from central and eastern Europe.

Small farms constitute the vast majority of agricultural holdings in the world. Therefore, there are the questions of how the small farm sector should evolve and whether economic and environmental goals can be pursued simultaneously. The main objective of this article is to identify potential improvements (a non-radial inefficiency slack) in small farms in Central and Eastern Europe with different types of farming under an environmentally adjusted production function. Based on this, potential development pathways for small farms are assumed. A hybrid data envelopment analysis meta-frontier super-efficiency model with environmental proxies reflecting biodiversity (i.e. crops diversity, grassland, orchards, vineyards) and undesirable outputs (such as soil organic matter loss and GHG sources) and an uncontrollable policy input is used on a country-representative sample of 2320 small farms in four countries: Poland, Romania, Serbia, and Moldova. We found that the more technically efficient small farms are also usually more sustainable when socially desirable criteria were considered. Crops small farms can evolve in two directions: “landscape guardians” and “artisanal (traditional) framers.” Livestock farms could either maintain the status quo or choose an exit pathway. Mixed farms are likely to become landscape guardians, while a sustainable intensification path is open for 20% of farms that specialize in permanent crops

Drivers for farmland value revisited: adapting the returns discount model (RDM) to the sustainable paradigm

In recent studies many researchers have identified non-agricultural attributes of land that significantly contribute to its value. They claim that the increasing proportion of the value of land may now be explained by environmental amenities in rural areas. On the other hand, mainstream economics says that farmland values are determined by the discounted stream of returns (present value model). The main aim of this work was to adapt neoclassical concept of the Returns Discount Model (RDM) of Saphiro–Gordon type to the case of a land market in Poland. We introduced a modified RDM (i.e. the multilevel variance component model) to answer whether it remains applicable to the valuation of farmland in the context of sustainable agriculture. It was found that in spite of the growing role of non-productive functions of agriculture the improved RDM continues to perform well as a tool to assess changes in land price

The analysis of the level of Treg lymphocytes in the blood of patients with endometrial cancer before and after the surgery — preliminary study

Introduction. The progression of cancer is a complex process involving host-tumour interactions taking place in cancer and in the cancer microenvironment. The tumour remodels the microenvironment into the suppressive profile by various mechanisms. One of the most important elements of this mechanism is the inducing of the infiltration of Treg lymphocytes into cancer and its microenvironment. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the alterations of the Treg cell population in the peripheral blood of patients before and after the surgical treatment for endometrial cancer. Material and methods. For the present study 24 patients with endometrial cancer were recruited. All the patients were treated surgically. The peripheral blood samples were collected from the endometrial cancer patients before operation and three days after the surgical procedure and evaluated using flow cytometry method. Results. CD25+ CD4+ FOXP3+ T cells were found in all the examined peripheral blood samples derived from the endometrial cancer patients in the days before and following applied surgery. We observed differences before and after the applied surgical procedure in patients treated for uterine cancer. The highest number of Treg cells in the peripheral blood was demonstrated before the surgical procedure; it diminished statistically significantly following the surgery. Conclusions. The decrease of the percentage of Treg cells in blood sera in patients following radical surgical treatment might be useful in measuring the radicalism of the treatment. The monitoring of the level of selective immune system suppression related to Treg cell blood serum levels during cancer therapy might support a decision to supplement the standard therapy with immunotherapy or to increase the degree of radicalism of the applied therapy.

INCOME CONVERGENCE IN THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR IN THE CONTEXT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION’S COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY

Agricultural income support is to remain one of the main objectives of the European Union (EU)’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after 2020. Subsidies contribute to increases in income, but the occurrence of income convergence between member states remains questionable. The aim of this article was to assess the phenomenon of convergence of agricultural income (labour factor remuneration) against a background of income in the broader economy. Eurostat data for the years 2001-2019 were used. Convergences were searched for using basic methods (beta and sigma convergence tests), as well as a stochastic framework (Pesaran unit root test) and the robust Phillips and Sul convergence test for comparison. These analyses indicate that there is convergence in the EU’s agricultural sector, specifically in terms of labour compensation, but also that this convergence is merely relative. This means that while countries’ income growth rates converge, their real income levels do not move to the same level. This conclusion may be an argument for the need to further equalise direct payment rates. The Phillips and Sul test results indicate that incomes in the overall economy are characterised by divergence, but it is possible to identify four convergence clubs

Profit Efficiency in EU FADN Farms under Different Types of Agriculture

The aim of the paper was to assess the profit efficiency in representative farms in FADN regions operating in various types of agriculture. For this purpose, clusters of FADN regions with relatively similar dominant types of agriculture were selected on the basis of their partial productivity indicators. Then, efficiency indicators were calculated for each region, using various types of DEA models. The data were adapted from FADN and covered the 2004 and 2015 period. On the basis of analysis conducted in the article, it was found that the farms located in Mediterranean regions were the most efficient. At the same time, in the cluster covering the regions with the most modern agriculture, the efficiency was at a very low level. Farms in most regions operated under the conditions of decreasing economies of scale, although the efficiency of scale itself improved. Moreover, in contrast to 2004, an increase in efficiency in relation to the best practice frontier was observed in 2015

WYBRANE PROBLEMY RACHUNKU DOCHODÓW ROLNICZYCH

Celem opracowania jest identyfikacja podstawowych problemów badawczych w zakresie dochodów rolniczych i ich determinant oraz próba wskazania na potencjalne kierunki rozwoju badań nad dochodami w rolnictwie. Na podstawie przeglądu literatury wskazano na potrzebę precyzyjnego stosowania pojęć dotyczących dochodów, różnice między podstawowymi perspektywami badawczymi i stosowanymi źródłami danych oraz na specyfikę rachunku dochodów spowodowaną kwestią wielozawodowości oraz koegzystencją gospodarstwa rolnego i domowego w przypadku gospodarstw rodzinnych. Wskazano też na możliwości badania dochodu rolniczego w ujęciu regionalnym z uwzględnieniem relacji zasobowych i wykorzystaniem metod analizy finansowej

Nierówności dochodowe w rolnictwie krajów Unii Europejskiej w kontekście koncepcji zrównoważonego rozwoju

In article there is presented the concept of sustainable developement for agriculture. It is mentioned that problem of sustainability may be considered in the context of inequalities in distribution of agricultural income against the differentation in variables such as total ouput, subsidies or total utilised agricultural area. The conducted analysis show that there are significant differences between levels of income inequality in the countries surveyed, and that there is no direct evidence for the intensification of production. Income inequality are in fact usually smaller than in the case of the production The highest level of sustainability and development has been noted in countries with relatively equal distribution of income among farms