The role of structural changes in increasing competitiveness of Baltic dairy farms

The paper provides analysis of dairy farms in the Baltic States, their development since accessing EU. During this period the specialisation level has increased but the total number of farms has fast reduced. The total economic indicators increased until 2007, but they still significantly lag behind Western Europe. Big investment has been made, but in the result, the cost level has not reduced but even increased, which has several reasons. Thus many farms were not ready to survive the economic downturn. The results of the research allow concluding that when planning future support for dairy industry the main attention should be paid to introducing cost competitive technologies, supporting cooperation in the purchase and use of fixed assets; it is necessary to educate farmers in efficient business management, as well as to facilitate integration of milk producing and processing enterprises