Accumulation of assets in farms covered by the FADN farm accountancy system in Poland – the economic and eco-efficiency context

Abstract

Summary The primary objective of the article is to identify the accumulation processes in farms in Poland based on the economic size as well as the context of eco-efficiency (from the perspective of Environmental Sustainable Value). In addition, the importance of subsidies in generating accumulation was specified and the context of eco-efficiency was taken into account. Analysis of the environmental context was carried out with the use of the assessment of subsidies for public goods and return to cost ratio (RTC) based on the concept of Sustainable Value (SV). Cross-analysis has shown that with the transition to groups of farms with an increasing economic size, the situation was more favourable from the perspective of the accumulation rate and its level per 1 ha. Subsidies play a significant role in shaping accumulation. It was observed that the higher rate of accumulation associated with the transition to groups of farms with greater economic strength is accompanied by an increase in eco-efficiency through the prism of the RTC indicator. Larger (but not the largest) farms are more efficient in using the transformation of environmental inputs into production output, which does not mean that they exert an absolutely lower environmental pressure.