Regional and structural development of specialized farms in central and eastern european countries (2005-2016)

Abstract

This paper analyses the structural development of farm specialization in Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs/EU-102) over the 2005-2016 period with a special focus on regional aspects of such development. We look at the number, land, labour and production of ten specialization types of farming in each of the EU-10 countries using EUROSTAT data, and compare these with the EU-15/27 averages. We conclude that the number of specialized farms in EU-10 declined to a lesser than in the EU-15 but doubled the production against 30 per cent growth in EU-15. The growth of production shows strong regional differences from 50 per cent to 200 in EU-10 and, offering more jobs in three countries in 2016 than in 2005. Cereal farms more than tripled production closing the gap to EU-15 average from two third to 50 per cent. In 2016, already over 75 per cent of the production of specialized farms in CEECs came from TOP 3 specializations (dairy, cereal and pig), well above EU-15 average (55 per cent). From 2005 until 2016 growth of area, labour and total productivity of specialized farms in EU-10 well exceeded that of EU-15. Their levels, however, were still only around 43 per cent, 25 per cent and 20 per cent of that of EU-15 in 2016. The ratio between the highest and lowest productivity levels within EU-10 is 3.8 with respect to area, 5.2 with respect to labour, and 35.4 with respect to total productivity in 2016 and shows clearly the extent of scattering in the productivity of specialized farms in EU-10 countries.