MAIN DRIVERS OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES' AGRICULTURE IN 2005-2013: SPECIALIZATION AND LAND CONCENTRATION

The paper deals with growth and productivity advantages of specialized farms by physical size in EU10 (Central and East European Countries, CEECs) and makes a comparison between EU10 and EU27/15 average using EUROSTAT data in the period of 2005-2013. Focus is given to exploring the level and development of such indicators as change in number of specialized farms, land (Utilized Agricultural Area, UAA) and labor (Agricultural Work Unit, AWU) use on input side; average farm size by land and labor use. On output side area, labor and total productivity were analyzed. Paper gives a dynamic analysis of all these indicators pointing out what farm sizes give a more stable ground for increasing growth and productivity at a higher speed supporting to improve competitiveness of CEECs' agriculture. It was concluded that specialization in farming in EU10 offered a more survival path having physical size bigger than non-specialized farms and, in relative term, pushed less labor out from the sector than non-specialized farms did. Specialized farms in EU10 have increased both labor and area productivity at a higher speed than non-specialized farms in all three productivity indicators except in Poland where it was opposite and, in Estonia in total farm output. Largest specialized farms more than doubled production in 7 out of EU10.