Farms in the less favoured area conditions in Slovakia

Abstract

The paper deals with the management of agricultural businesses that operate in low-production conditions known as the LFA (Less Favoured Areas). Under these conditions, there are more than half of farms - legal entities. The past analyses have suggested that these farms are gaining more support funds, but objectively their costs are higher. The disparity is reflected in almost half of the loss-making farms, with worse results achieved more by agricultural cooperatives than by business companies. In the terms of the measures implemented in the rural development plan, the LFA farms apply multifunctional production structures. Slovak farms operating in the LFA conditions in the EU do not achieve the performance of the average LFA farms in the EU-25; however, they neither receive the amount of supports received by these farms in the Union.