PUBLIC POLICY IMPACT ON PROSPERITY AND RESILIENCE OF FARMS AND AGRICULTURAL COMPANIES: LITHUANIAN CASE STUDY

Abstract

The CAP support is mostly focused on the technological modernization of farms, linked with production intensification, and weakly focused on the farms prosperity and resilience. As a result farmers and managers of agricultural companies are only a slightly motivated to produce added value and high quality food products, to use short food supply chains addressing constantly changing consumer needs, or to pay much attention on issues related to climate change. The paper findings are based on the Lithuanian case study carried out as a part of the international research project “Rethinking the links between farm modernization, rural development and resilience in a world of increasing demands and finite resources” (RETHINK). The Lithuanian case study was determining farmers’ behaviour and causal factors in decision-making. The research based on the positive research paradigm, case study, content and descriptive analysis, empirical study methods (answers of two groups of experts experts-professionals and experts-farmers), logical and systematical reasoning, graphic presentation, abstracts and other methods. The present paper is examining the impact of political factors on prosperity and resilience on farms and agricultural companies. The political factors have the highest impact for prosperity of the farms and agricultural companies in Lithuania (as compared to the technical – entrepreneurial, ethical - social factors, and intangible values). The support from the EU and the national funds is not fully in line with the current concept of farms’ modernization and agricultural innovation. The public policy influence on the competitiveness of the agricultural sector is more strengthening than weakening. The results show the main elements that farmers believe should be included in the new concept of rural prosperity, as well as the main strategies adopted to reach prosperity divided into the five sub dimensions: development of the rural social infrastructure and implementation of information technologies; strong self-governance, social awareness and partnership; high culture of life and communication; rural employment and job creation in rural areas, population welfare; economic and social viability, ecology and environmental security of the countryside.

Keywords: rural development policy, farms and agriculture companies’ resilience, rural prosperity.

Article DOI: http://doi.org/10.15544/RD.2015.128