Assessment of the use of services in agriculture of the EU countries based on input-output tables
ENAs a general economic pattern, the importance of services grows as the economy develops. This is also true for economic processes inside the agricultural sector. The use of services is a measure of modernity, and may substitute capital expenditure. Both the basic research task and the purpose of this paper is to identify the extent of differences in accessing services in the agriculture of EU countries. The study was based on input-output tables with a spatial distribution of services by type at country level. As regards the timeframes for this study, the most recent available data from 2000, 2005 and 2010 was used. Over that period, most of the EU countries reported growth of the service sector’s contribution to the supply of agricultural materials, which is consistent with the progressive evolution of the agri-food sector. However, between 2005 and 2010, some countries saw a decline in the share of services. This could be caused by the decisions to purchase more efficient, state-of-the-art machinery and equipment which enabled substituting purchased services with own labor. The key services delivered to the agricultural sector were financial, insurance, professional, scientific, technical and veterinary services and, in EU-10 countries, transport services. Key words: agriculture, services, supply of materials, input-output table.
