EFFICIENCY OF POLISH DAIRY FARMS COMPARED TO SELECTED FARMS FROM OTHER
COUNTRIES OF THE EUROPE AN UNION
The objective of the studies was to assess the efficiency of the functioning of Polish dairy farms (Type 45) against a background of similar farms from the selected European Union countries and to determine their ability to compete. The studies covered farms from the following countries: Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, Austria, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands and France. The analyzed data covered the 10-year period from 2006 to 2015. The source of research materials were data from farms from the European FADN . In order to measure effectiveness, the Malmquista productivity index was used. In the analyzed farms there was a slight decrease in productivity of the Malmquista index (by 0.3%). The decrease in the productivity value of dairy farms was caused by a drop in technical progress by 0.4% with an increase in technical efficiency by 0.2%. Slight changes in productivity were a consequence of the functioning of milk quotas in the EU. This mechanism effectively limited the increase in milk production, so the producers could only optimize the inputs.