Structural Change and Distribution of Support in Hungarian Agriculture following EU Accession: A Preliminary FADN Analysis

This paper, whilst preliminary and descriptive, highlights some significant changes in the structure of the Hungarian national farm around the time of EU accession, based on an examination of farm-level data. Between 2002 and 2005 gross value of total production changes little, but direct agricultural subsidies nearly double. There is a marked shift in favour of arable farming, which affects both private farms and economic organisations. Arable farms increase their share of total subsidies by 20 percentage points over the three years, at the expense of most animal and mixed farms. Overall, the distribution of subsidies, whilst highly unequal, is slightly less unequal in 2005.