Changes in the Structure of Crop Production in Slovakia after 2004 Using an Example of Selected Crops

Abstract

Spatial changes in the structure of crop production have the potential to impact economics and food security in Slovakia. The objective of this study was to analyze the modification of harvested areas, the production and yields of selected crops—cereals, oilseeds, and perennial forages—and their food and non-food use from 2004 to 2020. The results indicated that an increase in the cultivation of large-scale crops (cereals and oilseeds) has occurred at the expense of crops produced for food. Changes in the structure of plant production indicate negative risk factor that reduce the competitiveness of the agricultural sector and threaten Slovakia’s food security. Moran’s global and Moran’s local autocorrelation index were used in the synthesis of the findings. A spatial autocorrelation analysis of the harvest areas of selected crops was used as a practical approach to locate statistically significant areas with high or low crop harvest. This manifested itself as positive spatial autocorrelation.