THE CONDITIONS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF DAIRY FARMS IN POLAND AND LITHUANIA

The main objective of the survey was to display the economic situation of farms specialising in milk production in Poland and Lithuania, the changes that followed their accession to the European Union, and to determine the developmental potential of these farms. The survey covered the years 2004-2008. Lithuanian farms had higher intensity of animal production and proved to be more competitive in terms of farm income; the level was higher by 29.8%. However, Polish farms had higher intensity of crop production and profitability of land (over 50%) and productive assets (by 84.3 percentage points). Proprietary structure of Polish and Lithuanian farms were not favourable, but in Poland the share of low mobility of fixed assets was greater, resulting in a much lower efficiency of capital (more than 2-fold). The presence of the two countries in the EU favourably influenced the development of dairy farms, and helped to improve their competitiveness. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]