RESEARCH ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE IN THE EUROPEAN UNION. A STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS BY GEOGRAPHICAL GROUPS OF COUNTRIES

Innovation in agriculture is responding to the requirements of increasing the competitiveness of the agricultural sector in national and international markets, in conditions of increasing social and political pressures to combat climate change and ensure food security. The aim of the research is to highlight the development level of agriculture in the European Union, by geographical groups of countries. The research methodology is based on a comparative analysis of the various absolute and relative indicators of economic efficiency, environmental impact and innovative capacity of European agriculture. The results showed important disparities between analysed regions for all the indicators evaluated. Thus, Scandinavian countries have been noted by very high levels of indicators: production per standard agricultural production unit; work productivity; the degree of renewable energy resources use; the degree of investment in research and development activities. However, agriculture in these countries exerts a strong pressure on the environment, generating significant amounts of greenhouse gases and high energy consumption. On the opposite side, we find for most of the indicators, the countries of South Eastern Europe. From an economic point of view, these countries get the lowest labour productivity and average output per agricultural production unit, but from the point of view of their environmental impact, the agriculture of these countries exerts less pressure on the environment. Regarding the innovative potential of the agriculture of these countries, we have noted a very low share of the R&D expenditures in the agricultural value added.