Young farmers’ support under the Common Agricultural Policy and sustainability of rural regions: Evidence from Lithuania

Balezentis, Tomas ^[1] ; Ribasauskiene, Erika ^[1] ; Morkunas, Mangirdas ^[2] ; Volkov, Artiom ^[1] ; Streimikiene, Dalia ^[1] ; Toma, Pierluigi ^[3]
1. [1] Lithuanian Institute of Agrarian Economics
  
  Lithuanian Institute of Agrarian Economics
  
  Lituania
2. [2] Mykolas Romeris University
  
  Mykolas Romeris University
  
  Lituania
3. [3] University of Salento
  
  University of Salento
  
  Lecce, Italia
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Localización: Land use policy: The International Journal Covering All Aspects of Land Use, ISSN 0264-8377, ISSN-e 1873-5754, Nº. 94, 2020
Idioma: inglés
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Resumen
- The present study examines the influence of young farmers’ support system including both direct payments for young farmers and rural development measures initiatives under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) on the sustainability of rural regions. The intentions and decisions taken by young farmers in Lithuania are analysed within the rural sustainability concept. The empirical analysis relies on the questionnaire survey. In order to disentangle the possible effects of the CAP support on the farming sustainability (as it is perceived by the young farmers), we consider payments for farm establishment and expansion along with support for advisory services. The results show that young farmers’ support system under the CAP has the strongest perceived effect on income support in Lithuania without significant differences across different groups of farmers. The effect on investments is significantly lower for crop farms if opposed to the other farming types. Still, the results also indicate that environmental awareness of Lithuanian farmers is rather low as the demand for such advisory services appeared to be relatively low. The relatively high demand for advisory services on the business plan preparation suggests low levels of business administration and marketing skills among the young farmers, which indicates the need for development of the social dimension.