Speakers
Description
The energy transition in agriculture is no longer only an environmental issue; it is increasingly an economic and strategic one. This paper examines how energy cost pressure affects the economic resilience of agricultural holdings in the European Union, with a particular focus on Bulgaria. The study combines Eurostat data on direct energy use in agriculture and forestry, non-household electricity prices, agricultural input price dynamics, and farm structure indicators related to renewable energy equipment, together with farm-level economic evidence from the FSDN public database. Eurostat reports that agriculture and forestry accounted for about 3% of the EU’s total direct energy use in 2023, while oil and petroleum products remained the dominant energy source in the sector. These structural features make farms sensitive to volatility in electricity and fuel markets.
Methodologically, the paper applies a comparative descriptive analysis for EU Member States and a focused assessment of Bulgaria, using trends for the period 2013–2023 where Eurostat data are available and up to 2022 for FSDN indicators. The analysis explores three relationships: first, between energy prices and agricultural input cost pressure; second, between energy use patterns and farm economic performance; and third, between renewable energy uptake at farm level and resilience capacity. The expected contribution is twofold: to identify whether Bulgaria follows broader EU patterns or exhibits a distinct vulnerability profile, and to derive policy-relevant conclusions for improving energy efficiency and adaptive capacity in agriculture. The paper contributes to the debate on sustainable energy engineering by linking farm economics, energy exposure, and data-based evidence for agricultural transition in the EU.