THE STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN SLOVAK AGRICULTURE AFTER ACCESSION TO THE EUROPEAN UNION

The main objective of this scientific paper is to present development trends in the agricultural sector after the accession of Slovak Republic to the European Union. The results are based on database of the Slovak Statistical Office, as well as of the Information Letters of Slovak Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The time horizon involves the years 2000–2015. The focus is given on the agriculture's contribution to the national economy, as well as to the development of production structures and to the trade with agri-food commodities. Stemming from this, the indicators that reflect the state and development in the sector are related first of all, to the share of agriculture on GDP, the share of agri-food sector on Slovak foreign trade, to the economic results in agricultural farms and enterprises, to the acreage of utilized agricultural area, gross agricultural production and to the share of food, beverage and tobacco on consumers spending, Furthermore, the analysis is carried out in relation to the number of agricultural enterprises, their division according to legal forms. Specific attention is dedicated to the employment, age and educational structure of employees. The achieved results are confirming that the EU accession had the positive impact on the development of foreign trade, on the growth of a crop production, as well as on the farm profitability. However, less favourable was the development in the animal production in which had been noted significant production declines.