Changes and trends in grain production in Lithuania after accession to the EU

The aim of this paper is to disclose the main changes and trends of Lithuanian grain production. Using quantitative statistical methods, the paper proposes an economic analysis of grain production changes in the period 2004-2015. This analysis revealed that the importance of grain sector in terms of the share of gross agricultural output has increased in Lithuania. Over the analysed period the yielding capacity of grain and the area under crops went on increasing. These in turn lead to an increase of the usable production by 2.2 times, the beginning stocks by 54% and self-sufficiency level reached 318%. In 2015 just 31% of the usable production has been used for domestic needs, as compare to 2004, decreased by more than 50 percentage points. Over the period exports of grain increased significantly by 6.2 times. This confirmed the improved competitiveness of the grain sector. The Common Agricultural Policy direct payment scheme was favourable to grain farms, as the farm net income per family work unit gained by family farms specialist in cereals, oilseeds and protein crops was even by 2.0 times higher than the average in all farms. In order to ensure the income these farms need to use internal or/and external risk management measures