European integration: The case of agricultural farms in Slovak Republic

This study tries to quantitatively estimate the implication of integration on farms in Slovak republic. The model used for assessment assumes perfect competition and also assumes that farmers are risk neutral. The modelling t echnique applied in this paper is that of linear programming and theoretica l background is based on microeconomic mathematical programming sector mode l derived by McCarl and Spreen. The results show that the integration led to increasing level of farms' pro fitability However if there were no agricultural protection then only the f arms situated in regions with better climatic conditions would survive in c ompetitive environment with no subsidies. Another main result of the study is that current Slovak agricultural policy gives strong support to farms si tuated in regions with worse production conditions in contrast to what it w ould be under Common agricultural policy of EU.