ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Does Being Located in Less-Favored Areas Weaken
the Profitability of Polish Farm Households?
Empirical Evidence
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1
Corporate Finance Department, Faculty of Economics and Sociology, University of Łódź, Łódź, Poland
2
Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics, National Research Institute, Warsaw, Poland
3
Central Banking and Financial Intermediation Department, Faculty of Economics and Sociology,
University of Łódź, Łódź, Poland
Submission date: 2017-12-07
Final revision date: 2018-02-26
Acceptance date: 2018-03-03
Online publication date: 2019-01-09
Publication date: 2019-03-01
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2019;28(4):2331-2343
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ABSTRACT
Detailed analysis of Hill [1] based on EU FADN data indicate that the level of “incomes of farms
in LFAs was lower than those in non-LFAs, even after including the special payments that the former
receive.” The following question arises as to whether being located on less-favored areas may alter
significantly the financial efficiency of farms and whether it is possible to identify such measures that
would improve financial efficiency at a farm level and preserve the environmental value of the LFA
and implement sustainable development policies. The article proposes an analysis of profitability
according to criteria regarding being located on LFA, taking into account the peculiarities of production
orientation. This is an important issue, not only from a scientific point of view but also an important
element for agricultural policy and the issue of subsidies to agricultural holdings located in areas of
environmental constraints. We confirmed that in Poland in 2009-2014 the farms located on LFAs
significantly differentiate the financial efficiency of farms and are significantly less profitable assets and
use financial resources less effectively than farms located in favorable areas. We also proved that farms
located on LFAs that specialize in crop productions are described by the highest profitability.