Agricultural support model: towards long-term viability

Abstract

Over the recent decades the EU CAP was criticized and the reform of direct payments was underlined as an important challenge empowering desired changes. The research challenges a problem of the national support model improvement in order to promote a welfare-orientated agriculture and ensure viability of family farms. The article aims to evaluate the relevance of the Lithuanian direct payments’ model for the period 2015–2020 and propose recommendations on the development of support model. The analysis of literature on viability and the CAP issues was conducted stressing the importance of the selected viability concept for agricultural policy development. The synthesis of previous research, calculus of variations and legislation analysis were employed to estimate the relevance of current direct payments’ model in Lithuania and identify the revision of redistributive payments as possible development directions aiming to ensure long-run viability of agriculture. The recommendations on the development of the current support model are based on the estimation of impact and the comparative analysis of the selected alternatives.