Investment Support and Farm Performance in th SUovav Republic

We investigated total effects farm investment support provided under the CAP II pillar on efficiency and productivity changes of the Slovak farms over the period 2004-2012. Overall effects of investment support on productivity and efficiency we estimated using Data Envelopment Analysis approach and Malmquist indices. Net effects of investment support were assessed by Propensity Score Matching and Difference-in-Difference methods. We found positive effects of investment support in the large Slovak farms by size. Farms were focused on catching up the competitors. Managerial efficiency growth contributed to positive development of farm technical efficiency. There was however, insufficient adaptation of new technologies. Investment support had significant effect in beneficiary farms specialised on crop production after the SR accession to the EU. We found positive net effects of investment support on average costs decline. The investment support could be targeted to adoption of new technologies and to smaller farms with low capital endowment.