USE OF AGRICULTURAL SERVICES IN EUROPEAN UNION COUNTRIES

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to assess the use of agricultural services in European Union countries in the context of selected features of agriculture. The Ward’s Method was used to isolate six typological clusters of European Union countries. It may be noticed that clusters with a high levels of fixed capital consumption and total intermediate consumption are characterized by a higher use of services than other clusters. The absence of a noticeable relation between the share of crop output in the structure of agricultural output, or between the labour input and the use of agricultural services can be explained by differences in natural conditions, traditional farming models and preferences in choosing between developing the farm’s own machinery or using services.