Externalities of precision farming at Agárdi Farm Kft

Sinka, Anett

Keywords: externalities, multifunctional agriculture, precision farming, competitiveness

To prevent the negative effects of traditional agriculture, Member States have increasingly concentrated on sustainability and the creation of multifunctional agricultural enterprises over the last decade. To make rural development and environmental management an integral part of agriculture, industry practice needs to be changed in several fields. Using brand new methods, updating old or current technologies, as well as adopting procedures tested by others – all these take us a step closer to properly working multifunctional agriculture.
Having considered all these reasons, Agárdi Farm Kft. decided to switch from traditional farming to precision crop farming. Precision crop farming is an attempt to improve economy while also paying attention to environmental aspects and the requirements of environmentally friendly farming. This meets the agro-environmental programme on several points, which the company considers a significant factor of retaining and improving its competitiveness rather than an external requirement. This farming method could be a break-out point for Hungarian agriculture, as it allows up to 40-50% reduction in the amount of pesticides used, resulting in positive externality for the environment.

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