Green Growth in Agriculture in the European Union: Myth or Reality?

Abstract

Purpose: The concept of green growth gained in importance as a result of the recent financial and economic downturn. In the opinion of many experts it is a potential way of achieving a long-term goal, that is, sustainable development. An essential role in the context of green growth is attributed to the agricultural sector. The authors attempted to establish a synthetic measure of the level of green growth in agriculture. Design/Methodology/Approach: Research was carried out based on the taxonomic linear ordering method. The reference years 2000-2017 were chosen due to data availability on Eurostat, FAO and OECD database. Due to the existing information gap, 25 EU countries were accepted for analysis. Findings: The analysis showed that Poland is characterized by the highest level of green growth in agriculture, while Cyprus received the lowest rating. Generalizing the results of the study, it can be stated that the level of 'greening' agriculture in European Union countries is insufficient. Practical Implications: The results fill in the existing information gap by providing an answer to the fundamental question: How can green growth in agriculture be evaluated synthetically? The proposed method advances the OECD approach by adding evaluation metrics to assess the performance of each country relative to other jurisdictions by indicator and by a synthetic measure. This allows countries to clearly identify areas where their performance is weak and to prioritize their mitigation measures accordingly. Originality/Value: The proposed method advances the OECD approach by adding evaluation metrics to assess the performance of each country relative to other jurisdictions by indicator and by a synthetic measure. This allows countries to clearly identify areas where their performance is weak and to prioritize their mitigation measures accordingly.