Direct payments are one of the most important measure of the Common Agricultural Policy because of majority financial resources allocated for them. Direct payments guarantee minimum income to agricultural producers because of fluctuation agricultural products price in the markets. Regarding relatively large financial resources, it important to assess the impact of direct payments to agricultural producers according to farm size and type of farming. The purpose of the paper is to assess the impact of direct payments to results of agricultural activity. The methods used are as follows: systematic analyses of scientific literature, comparison, generalization and graphical methods, regression analysis. In the paper the overview of scientific literature related to the impact of direct payments to agricultural producers, analysis of the influence of direct payments to agricultural activity both in EU countries, focusing the attention to Lithuanian agriculture is carried out. The results of regression analysis concerning the direct payments impact to different agricultural activity results according to the farm size and farming type are outlined.

The paper aims to evaluate the impact of support on Lithuanian farms investments. Logistic regression, also called a logit model, was used to determine the probability of investing. The regression was estimated on cross-sectional data set of Lithuanian family farms participating in the Farm Accountancy Data Network. It was specified for investments in machinery and equipment. The research showed that support encourages investments in machinery and equipment. However, scenario analysis revealed that the impact of different support scenarios on the probability of investing is relatively small. It was also confirmed the importance of farm characteristics in making investments.