THE EFFICIENCY OF ENERGY CONSUMPTION ON FARMS IN LATVIA .

ABSTRACT This paper aims to explore the efficiency of energy consumption on farms of different economic sizes in Latvia. Burning fossil fuels to satisfy a continuously growing demand for energy created by the industry, transport and households has been a cause of concern for several decades. It has been widely acknowledged as one of the major reasons for a massive increase in greenhouse gas emissions, a dramatic rise of global temperature and ongoing climate changes. Since farms use energy not only directly by operating machinery and equipment but also indirectly by utilizing energy-intensive fertilizers, pesticides and other chemicals, nowadays, the agricultural sector meets a serious challenge of devising and employing sustainable methods of production to enhance the efficiency of consumed energy. Although this topic has been high on the agenda for researchers, policy-makers, national, international, governmental and non-governmental organizations, little attention has been paid to a comparative analysis of the efficiency of energy consumption across various farms in Latvia. This paper attempts to fill this gap in the literature by examining the consumption of energy per hectare of the utilised agricultural area and per livestock unit over the years since Latvia’s accession to the EU in 2004. The paper adopted a mixed-method approach by integrating and interpreting the results of quantitative and qualitative data analysis. A statistical analysis was based on data obtained from SUDAT - a national component of the EU Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) in Latvia. Research shows that the efficiency of energy consumption significantly differs between farms of various economic sizes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]