Assessment of the efficiency of Lithuanian dairy farms of different economic sizes.

This study aims at assessing the efficiency of Lithuanian dairy farms of different economic sizes, and at observing changes in this efficiency over a period of time. In order to achieve this aim, three groups of indicators, namely resource, input and result ones, were used for the analysis. On the basis of information available from the Farm Accountancy Data Network, these indicators were calculated for the years 2013, 2015 and 2017. The results of the analysis revealed that the least efficient dairy farms in terms of all three groups of indicators were the smallest ones (those of the economic size of EUR 2-<8 thousand of standard production). As the economic size of dairy farms increased, the efficiency of dairy farms also increased, and the most efficient dairy farms were the medium and larger ones (those of the economic size of EUR 25-<50 and 50-<100 thousand of standard production). However, the efficiency of the largest dairy farms (those of the economic size of EUR 100-<500 thousand of standard production) was already lower than that of the medium and larger ones and close to the efficiency of the smallest dairy farms.