STRUCTURAL CHANGES OF FARMER’S FARMS: CASE STUDY OF LITHUANIA

Abstract

Due to historical circumstances, the development of Lithuanian commercial farmer’s farms is slow; however, farmer’s farms are very important to the vitality of rural areas while developing agricultural commodities and goods. The purpose of this article – to analyze the structural changes in farmer’s farms and present the directions of future development. Structural changes in Lithuanian farmer’s farms during the 2005 – 2015 timeframe were analyzed while looking at the diagnostic indicators, which are the following: the number of farmer’s farms, the structure of farmer’s farms according to their size, the activity units of farmer’s farms, age of farmers, farmer’s farms sources of income. In order to study the statistical data, methods of systemization, logical analysis and generalization were applied. The analysis of the statistical data suggests that the following structural changes are taking place in Lithuanian farmer’s farms: the number of registered farmer’s farms increases and the farmers’ are getting younger. One of the most significant factors causing the structural changes in holdings – the EU financial support for the agricultural development and the changing customer demands. More and more often rural areas perform residential function and new living areas are developed.
There is a predominance of the small farms (up to 10 hectares). This is mainly a result of the reform in agricultural sector at the end of 20th century. Many small agricultural holdings were established due to this reform. However, significant changes occur while choosing and/or combining the activity units of the farm: the number of farms specializing in crops increases, the number of the holdings focusing on livestock and combined farming (crops and livestock) is declining; also, farmer’s farms with diversified income or the activity units grow in number. Limited opportunities to intensify agricultural production in small farmer’s farms caused the fact that activities or income were diversified. The model of family farm remains; however, the relation between activity and the usage of family’s labour in farm activity changes.

Keywords: factors that determine the changes, farmer’s farms, structural changes

Article DOI: http://doi.org/10.15544/RD.2017.151