On the Way to Sustainable Agriculture—Eco-Efficiency of Polish Commercial Farms

Marlena Gołaś, Piotr Sulewski, Adam Wąs, Anna Kłoczko-Gajewska and Kinga Pogodzińska
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Marlena Gołaś: Institute of Economics and Finances, Warsaw University of Life Sciences-SGGW, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland
Piotr Sulewski: Institute of Economics and Finances, Warsaw University of Life Sciences-SGGW, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland
Adam Wąs: Institute of Economics and Finances, Warsaw University of Life Sciences-SGGW, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland
Anna Kłoczko-Gajewska: Institute of Economics and Finances, Warsaw University of Life Sciences-SGGW, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland
Kinga Pogodzińska: Institute of Economics and Finances, Warsaw University of Life Sciences-SGGW, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland

Agriculture, 2020, vol. 10, issue 10, 1-24

Abstract: The negative impact of agriculture on the natural environment is not a new issue. One of the ideas to overcome this problem is the eco-efficiency concept, analyzing the agricultural output in relation, not only to traditional inputs, but to the environmental impact, as well. This paper aims at calculating the eco-efficiency of Polish commercial farms, based on a representative sample of 601 farms participating in the Polish Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN). To assess the eco-efficiency of the farms, variables illustrating traditional inputs (land, labor, capital), as well as variables reflecting the environmental pressure of the surveyed farms (greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and nitrogen and phosphorus surpluses) were used. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) revealed that, on average, farms could reduce their inputs by almost a quarter without reducing their outputs. Additionally, it was revealed that incorporating externalities of agricultural production into analyses decreases the diversity of the farm population in terms of efficiency measures. According to the analyses, more eco-efficient farms are characterized by larger utilized agricultural area (UAA), higher production value, and higher intensity of chemical inputs per 1 ha, but at the same time by lower amounts of inputs used per production unit. Moreover, more eco-efficient farms achieved higher farm incomes in many terms: total, per 1 ha of UAA, and per 1 EUR of production value.

Keywords: eco-efficiency; nutrient surplus; GHG emissions; sustainable agriculture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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