This study investigated direct energy consumption and land performance under two different methods of farming—organic and conventional. The aim of our study was to examine the performance of farmers in the Czech Republic and identify the differences between organic and conventional farming regarding food safety and direct energy consumption. Based on the data from the Farm Accountancy Data Network of the EU, we measured the performance of both organic and conventional farmers in terms of product per unit of land and direct energy consumption per unit of product regarding the natural condition of the farm localization. Our findings show that organic farms produce lower output with less direct energy per unit of land; however, they need more direct energy for one unit of production. We found that a product from organic agriculture consumes 1.7-fold greater direct energy than a conventional product. The worse the natural conditions for farming, the broader the difference between organic and conventional regimes regarding their performance and energy consumption. Our conclusions may help shape agricultural policy in the Czech Republic, where organic farming is receiving systematic political support, leading to an increase in the proportion of organically farmed arable land.

The paper aims to explore the relationship between size, production orientation, and performance in the Czech agriculture and to answer the research question as to what extent a farm size and a product orientation of farm do matter in relation to its productivity and profitability. We use data from FADN CZ database (Farm Accountancy Data Network—Czech Republic) of conventional farms oriented on fieldcrops production, milk production, other grazing livestock and mixed production, and we cover the period from 2015–2020. Pursuing an econometric approach (ANOVA and multivariate regression analysis), we test productivity and profitability differentiation among the different-sized and different production orientation companies. Finally, subsidies and their effects on different groups of companies are assessed. The findings from testing our empirical model indicate that very large farms have statistically significantly higher total factor productivity than large farms, which perform better than medium and small farms. Average productivity of large-size farms compared to small and medium farms is 1.4 times higher in terms of total factor productivity, more than two times higher in terms of agricultural land productivity, and 3.2 times higher in terms of labour productivity. The findings show that farms with field production statistically significantly outperform farms with orientation on other grazing livestock and mixed production. Different levels of productivity are translated into differentiation in the profitability. The highest profitability ratios are achieved by large farms followed by very large, medium, and small ones. The assessment of ratio of subsidies to agricultural production shows that small farms received 2.3 times higher agricultural subsidies per unit of agricultural production compared to very large farms.

The aim of this paper is to investigate socio-economic development drivers of NUTS 3 regions in the Czech Republic. The aim is fulfilled by examination of the relationship between one of the regional development factors – the companies’ size structure and the development of the region from both socio and economic views. We derive from the theory of diversification and prior empirical findings, and empirically test the role of companies’ size in regional development. We use a balanced dataset of 14 regions covering the years 2000 – 2016 that provides the information about regions’ socio-economic performance in terms of GDP and unemployment rate. We hypothesise that unemployment rate in the regions with higher share of small firms is less sensitive to the general trend of the whole economy. However, the higher share of small firms leads to improved regional GDP. Our findings confirm that small firms accelerate economic growth while playing a role of a social stabiliser in Czech regions. Our conclusions could help in designing the regional policy in the Czech Republic.

This paper deals with the analysis of the trends in costs and revenues of selected agricultural products grown and bred under the conditions of organic agriculture. The analysis of the trends in revenues and costs is performed for the cattle breeding, beef cows and for the plant production of spelt, oat and potatoes. Costs are evaluated in the relationship with the direct and indirect costs. Revenues are traced with the help of per hectare yield, efficiency and market prices. Data of the selected file of the organically farming companies for the controlled commodities are compared with the same commodities of the selected file of the conventionally farming companies worked by the Research Institute of Agricultural Economics (RIAE) in Prague.Key words: organic farming, prices and costs, beef cows, cattle fattening, spelt, oat, potatoes Abstrakt: Příspěvek je zaměřen na analýzu vývoje výnosů a nákladů u vybraných zemědělských produktů pěstovaných a chovaných v ekologických podmínkách hospodaření. Analýza vývoje výnosů a nákladů je provedena u výkrmu skotu, v chovu krav bez tržní produkce mléka a u rostlinných produktů pšenice špaldy, ovsa a brambor. Nákladovost je posuzována ve vazbě na přímé a nepřímé náklady. Výnosnost je sledována pomocí hektarových výnosů, užitkovosti a tržních cen. Údaje výběrového souboru ekologicky podnikajících subjektů u sledovaných komodit jsou porovnávány se stejnými komoditami z výběrového souboru konvenčně hospodařících podniků zpracovávaných VÚZE v Praze.Klíčová slova: ekologické zemědělství, ceny a náklady, krávy bez tržní produkce mléka, výkrm skotu, pšenice špalda, oves, brambory Supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (Grant No. MSM 6215648904 "Czech economy in the process of integration and globalization and the development of agrarian sector and sector of services in new conditions of the European integrated market").

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