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Crop production constitutes a significant portion of the EU’s agricultural output and influences land use decisions. Various elements within the crop production system can significantly impact its outcomes. This paper aims to evaluate the environmental and economic performance of crop rotation, catch crops, and different tillage practices in Latvia by analyzing data from case studies, field trials, and field monitoring to identify the potential for improvement towards a more sustainable utilization of agricultural land. Environmental performance was evaluated by focusing on nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), as it is likely to play a significant role in assessing the environmental suitability of crop production according to the Platform on Sustainable Finance. For economic performance, gross margins were calculated. Crop rotation in Latvia tends to be monotonous, with wheat and oilseed rape dominating over 60% of the cultivated area due to their profitability. The findings of this study indicate that achieving a minimum NUE of 70% is challenging. Crop rotations including oilseed rape, particularly the common wheat–oilseed rape rotation, have an average NUE below the threshold, while proper use of catch crops may increase NUE by 7–9%. The three-year field trials on commercial farms yielded divergent findings about the impact of various tillage practices on NUE and gross margin. However, the field trials conducted on the farm practicing reduced tillage for over ten years show higher NUE compared to ploughing. The advantage of reduced tillage was supported by the obtained results indicating lower costs of agrotechnical operations, including less diesel consumption.

Agriculture and manufacture of food products is important source of employment in Latvia. The number of people engaged in agribusiness has considerably decreased over the past years in Latvia. Therefore the paper seeks to analyze the existing situation in utilization of agricultural potential, as well as to evaluate the role of agribusiness potential in maintenance of rural employment in Latvia. The potential is analyzed in the context of the productivity of the persons employed in agribusiness, land use and the self-sufficiency level with the main food products in Latvia. The value added in Latvian agribusiness is very low in comparison with other EU countries, indicating low labour productivity in Latvia. The potential of agricultural land is also not fully utilized in Latvia, which gives basis to consider obtaining of higher agribusiness output in Latvia at the expense of inclusion of additional land resources. The development of the potential of Latvian agribusiness is to be associated with the satisfying of demand for meat in local market and increase in the supply of dairy products on export market. Considering the necessity to reach at least the EU average labour productivity, even the full utilization of agricultural potential is not sufficient for the maintenance of rural employment in Latvia at the level close to current. The decrease in employment in the agribusiness of Latvia cannot be stopped, even more - it is possible that it will continue provoke the decrease also in other sectors of economic activity, namely - sectors of public and private services provided to people in rural space.

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