Investments of Czech farms located in less favoured areas after EU accession

Abstract

This paper investigates the development and structure of the fixed assets of Czech farms and their investment behaviour. We use data from a long-term (2003–2016) survey of farms and categorise farms into three groups according to their share of agricultural land in less favoured areas. The development of tangible fixed assets and their structural development points to the importance of investments to agricultural holdings. Above all, there is an extensive trend of investing in the land, but purchases of land are likely to affect the growth of the relative age of tangible fixed assets, especially the obsolescence of buildings that are not sufficiently modernised by farms. Results of the accelerated model indicate that there is an absence of soft budget constraints but a presence of capital imperfections and high importance of both operating and investment subsidies when deciding on investments in fixed assets.