Energy as a Factor of Investment Attractiveness of Regions for Agricultural Enterprises

Abstract

The aim of the article is to identify and assess the relationship between the investment attractiveness of regions for agricultural enterprises and the energy factor. Classical theories of the location of agriculture emphasise the importance of the market factor. The energy factor has so far been ignored, despite the global trend related to the increasing importance of production scales and rising energy consumption in agriculture. There are also no methodological proposals that allow a comprehensive assessment of the investment attractiveness of regions for agricultural enterprises, taking into account the leading location factors. The article presents the author’s methodological model based on the weight-correlation method of valorisation of investment attractiveness of regions for economic entities that invest in agricultural production. It contains a sub-aggregate describing the energy factor. This proposal is a contribution to the theory of the location of agriculture in the field of location factor analysis. The developed methodological model is used to explain location decisions of agricultural enterprises at the regional level. Access to energy as well as energy management increase locational advantages and reduce the economic risk of carrying out agricultural activities in economic units, which contributes to an increase in the sustainability of agricultural production. This is especially true in areas dominated in the past by state-owned and cooperative enterprises, which are the dominant group of enterprises in this area after privatization. The proposed methodology was positively verified on the example of Polish regions, as a significant influence of the energy factor on investment attractiveness at the local level was demonstrated.