Factors affecting the farm sustainability in Lithuania - Статья

Agriculture plays an important role in many countries economy in terms of its potential to influence a wide range of issues that are related to sustainable development, including the economy, employment, food security, trade flows, poverty, human health, climate change, the use of natural resources (especially land and water), and biodiversity. As noted, current situation in agriculture is characterized by declining rates of growth in productivity, a decreasing share of global agricultural exports from developing countries, an increase in the use of agrochemicals, resulting in negative impacts on human health, ecosystems, and biodiversity, increasing levels of greenhouse gas emissions and, the inequitable distribution of benefits among countries and among different segments of societies within countries [17]. According to FAO [5] the family and the farm are linked, coevolve and combine economic, environmental, social and cultural functions. The focus of international organisations on agricultural sustainability has prompted emergence of studies in this area and, as noted by C. Schader et al. [15], sustainable development has become one of the most frequently used frameworks for analysing the agricultural and food sector in a comprehensive and holistic way. However, as argued by M. Astier et al. [1], most formal sustainability analyses are only applied to regional, national, or global scales. Moreover, indicators used for assessment are not applicable enough to initiate changes in farms that would lead to mitigation of negative impact on natural resources by farms, improve social responsibility, etc. The most commonly-used data source for evaluation of farms economic, social and environment sustainability is farmers questionnaire, employing structured questionnaire or/and in-depth interview (e.g. X. Sauvenier et al. [14]; V. Urutyan and C. Thalman [18]; J. Jalilian [10]; etc.). Studies of this kind, however, are difficult to repeat and compare, as they are time and money intensive, involving only a small number of farms studied simultaneously. In the recent years, researchers (e.g. D. Longhitano et al. [11]; H.A.B. Van der Meulen et al. [19]; A.P. Barnes and S.G. Thomson [2]; M. Ryan et al. [13]; etc.) suggested employing the available databases as information sources, such as the EU Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN). Analysis of literature on application of FADN data to farms sustainability assessment showed that D.B. Westbury et al. [22] emphasized the importance of this database on formation of the environmental indicators; to the contrary, M. Ryan et al. [13] narrowed the approach towards environmental assessment; S. Van Passel and M. Meul [20] did not develop the social indicators; H.A.B. Van der Meulen et al. [19], A.P. Barnes and S.G. Thompson [2] used FADN data only for a certain farming type of farms sustainability assessment; D. Longhitano et al. [11] emphasized regional context in the study. Empirical studies on farm sustainability have been conducted in Belgium [14], Spain [8], Iran [10], the Netherlands [19], Armenia [18], Greece [4], Tuscany region in Italy [11], Scotland [2], Ireland [13] and etc. In Lithuania, farm sustainability has been analysed from the perspective of ecological farming only [3; 16]. The objectives of the article. The aim of the article is to perform factors affecting the farm sustainability in Lithuania. Objectives of the study are to frame an assessment methodology based on FADN data; to assess family farm sustainability and to reveal the relationship between calculated farm relative sustainability index and factors influencing it. Methodology. The farm relative sustainability index (FRSI) has been developed for this study following the OECD handbook for constructing composite indicators [12]. The set of guidelines, the succession of stages and methods used are universal and applicable for analysis at micro-level. The principles of Bellagio, SMART and other indicator selection principles have been considered during formation of the set of indicators. Based on the sets of indicators and the rationale behind their selection in earlier studies of farm sustainability and the analysis of FADN variables, the final sets of indicators were identified (Table 1). Table 1. Farm sustainability indicators and their weights based on factor analysis Economic indicators FA weight Labour productivity: farm gross value added per annual work unit (EUR/AWU) 0.15 Capital productivity: ratio of farm gross value added (at basic price) to the capital 0.09 Land productivity: farm gross value added (at basic price) per hectare of UAA (EUR/ha) 0.16 Solvency: ratio of farm total assets to total liabilities 0.09 Farm income: family farm income per family work unit (EUR/FWU) 0.09 Fixed capital formation: investment in long-term assets per hectare of UAA (EUR/ha) 0.15 Farm diversification: ratio of revenue from other gainful activities to total farm revenue (per cent) 0.15 Farm risk management: rat