Ecological optimisation of vegetable production as a factor of the industry capitalisation

Purpose. The paper aims to present the concept and methodology for identifying ecologically and economically consistent parameters of production processes in vegetable growing. Methodology / approach. The research methodology assumes that crop production efficiency can be assessed by the carbon balance, where such a balance can have a specific economic expression as one of the efficiency criteria. The above is proposed to be carried out on the basis of the authors’ approach to assessing ecologically and economically consistent parameters of production processes in vegetable growing by the dynamics and balance of soil organic matter (humus). Results. The paper presents the results of the study of environmental problems of modern vegetable production, which provided the basis for a new interpretation of productivity, costs, efficiency, and balance of the industry. This interpretation was carried out on the basis of actual material on the industry operation in Ukraine as a whole and on the example of individual enterprises of the Vinnytsia region. On this basis, a complex – ecological and economic – criterion of production efficiency was proposed, as well as possible ways to solve the problem of environmental risks through the formation of a special type of management. One of the results was the empirical reflection of the processes of using and reproducing fertility as a capital-forming factor of long-term investment action in industry models. Originality / scientific novelty. For the first time, a description of the dynamics of Ukrainian vegetable production over the last 35 years was carried out as a separate, original model based on the following variables: productivity, manufacturability (costs and payback of fertilisers), weighted average indicators of annual mineralisation and humification, as well as the general balance of reproducing soil fertility in the production process. This model allows for the assessment of industry environmental risks and the justification of recommendations on the possibility of their minimisation. For the first time, the parameters of the positive impact of the transition to a market model of vegetable production were described using the criterion of soil fertility reproduction. Practical value / implications. Assessment, modelling, and forecasting of ecologically and economically consistent parameters of production processes in vegetable growing, in addition to scientific interest, is considered as a direct tool for maximising the efficiency of the vegetable market as a whole. In particular, the proposed approach is the basis for substantiating the structure (ratio of crops) and parameters (fertilisation, productivity, costs, efficiency) of vegetable production within the defined limitations of environmental management.