Green Growth in Agriculture: Long-Term Evidence from European Union Countries

Vlada Vitunskienė () and Lina Lauraitienė
Additional contact information
Vlada Vitunskienė: Faculty of Bioeconomy Development, Vytautas Magnus University, K. Donelaičio Str. 58, 44248 Kaunas, Lithuania
Lina Lauraitienė: Faculty of Bioeconomy Development, Vytautas Magnus University, K. Donelaičio Str. 58, 44248 Kaunas, Lithuania

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 3, 1-24

Abstract: In agriculture, the relationship between economic growth and environmental pressures is complex and difficult to measure and compare between countries. This study had two objectives; the first was to build a new green growth accounting framework for agriculture in relation to natural capital and air pollution, and the second was to assess the long-term green growth of agriculture in EU countries. The data for EU27 from 2005 to 2021 were collected and used in the empirical analysis of green growth in agriculture. The findings showed positive real growth in agriculture from both the economic growth and green growth perspectives in most EU countries in the long term. Slow changes in air pollution (expressed in net GHG emissions from agriculture) and in natural capital (expressed in quality-adjusted agricultural land) did not have a significant impact on green growth in agriculture. The empirical analysis also revealed that most EU countries increasingly rely on technological progress to promote agricultural growth, and half of them rely on investments in produced capital. Labour input only made a positive contribution to agricultural growth in Ireland and Malta. This study will significantly contribute to improving the measure of green growth in agriculture, and the results of the empirical analysis will be used by policymakers and economists.

Keywords: agriculture; green growth; environmentally adjusted multifactor productivity (EAMFP); pollution-adjusted GVA; quality-adjusted agricultural land (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/3/1011/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/3/1011/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:3:p:1011-:d:1577692

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().