It has been shown in previous studies that transaction costs (TC) of agri-environmental policy measures often are very large both in absolute terms and as a share of payments. As agri-environmental policy measures make up an increasingly large share of agricultural policies, not least within the European Union, it is becoming ever more important to improve the knowledge about the factors determining the level of transaction costs. This paper investigates the TC determinants of one Swedish agri-environmental policy measure. More specifically, it aims to investigate if the level of TC is attributable to economic factors, such as pasture density and distances, or if political factors, such as lobby groups and political majorities at the county level, influence the costs. To evaluate if the results are robust with respect to alterations in model specifications, a version of the extreme bounds analysis is applied. Although initial results indicate that political parties influence the level of transaction costs, the extreme bounds analysis reveals that those results are fragile. It shows that five of the economic variables are robust with respect to model specifications, but none of the political variables is.

One of the most challenging issues of EU agriculture is viability of farmers’ and family farms. These farms used to play a major role in new member states. However, the last decades are characterized by the significant decrease in the number of farmers’ farms. The paper deals with the issues of these farms’ viability and the role of support. A literature review on viability concept and indicators justify the selection of socio-economic viability criteria for the survey. The findings are based on the results of Lithuanian farmers’ opinion survey. The analysis of the selected socio-economic criteria of viability shows that crop production farms are characterized as the most viable. According to the survey results, the farms with less than 30 ha, and the farms operated by farmers aged 60 and older belong to the most vulnerable group. These farms are non-viable in the long-run. The risk estimation of staying in agricultural business if support is abolished for viable and non-viable farms shows dependence of farm’s behaviour and viability status.