# Sugar Beet Profitability in Lubelskie Province, Poland
## 4 Discussion  
### Discussion of Results  
Figure 1 shows the direct costs for the years 2020, 2021, and 2022. Seed costs in 2020-2022 held a similar value. Crop protection product costs decreased slightly in 2022 compared to 2021. Fertilizer costs increased year-on-year, with a particularly large increase in 2022. The profitability of sugar beet cultivation in 2020 was also strongly influenced by direct costs (38.69%), among which the cost of fertilizers had a share of 15.87%, the cost of seeds a share of 10.88%, and the cost of plant protection products a share of 10.94%. After mineral fertilizer costs, the costs of plant protection products are those with the greatest impact on the amount of direct costs, and the profitability of sugar beet production largely depends on them as well [44]. Seed costs, on the other hand, have the smallest share in direct costs, but their size depends on the variety sown on the plantation. Studies confirm that the yield of sugar beets depends on the variety used and its resistance to fungal diseases found in sugar beets [45,46]. Figure 2 shows indirect costs for the years 2020, 2021, and 2022. Indirect costs increased between 2020 and 2022, with the largest increase occurring in 2022. In particular, overhead costs increased. While in 2020 and 2021 overhead costs were significantly less than the cost of services and owner/operator labor costs, in 2022 they surpassed them. Cultivation and protection costs have the largest share of indirect costs. Indirect costs accounted for 61.31% of total costs (Table 1) and were higher than direct costs (Figure 3), and among them the following had the largest share: cultivation and plant protection costs--a share of 22.98%, costs of sugar beet sowing and harvesting services and liming--a share of 15.92%, overhead costs-a share of 5.27%, costs of own labor--a share of 13.13%. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Year**} & **Cost of Unit Production * (1 dt in USD)** & **Cost of Unit Production * (1 dt in PLN)** & **Profitability Index * (1)** \\ \hline
2020 & 3.80 & 14.27 & 1.31 \\
2021 & 3.74 & 15.19 & 1.31 \\
2022 & 5.32 & 23.41 & 1.1 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
* Values calculated taking into account: the value of by-product production-pulp, as well as the area subsidy and sugar subsidy, without taking into account the mineral fertilizer subsidy, which was one-time and applied only in 2021 and 2022.  
\end{table} 
Table 4: Values of production profitability index and unit cost of production in 2020–2022. Figure 1: Direct costs. 1—Seeds, 2—Total plant protection products expenses, 3—Total fertilizer expenses. Figure 3: Distribution of revenue from sugar beet production (2020/2021). Figure 2: Indirect costs. 1—Total services costs, 2—Owner/operator labor costs, 3—Total overhead costs, 4—Total cultivation and protection costs. Figure 3 shows the distribution of revenue from sugar beet production. An analysis of revenue from sugar beet production in the 2020/2021 season shows that 76.53% of revenue was absorbed by sugar beet production costs in the following proportions: 29.61% was absorbed by indirect costs, and 46.92% by direct costs. The income accounted for 23.47% of the revenue generated from sugar beet production (Figure 3). The profitability of sugar beet production in the analyzed 2020/2021 season (income of 2187.90 PLN) increased by 587.59 PLN compared to 2019/2020 (1600.31 PLN) [26]. This was mainly due to an increase in the price for sugar beets of PLN 3.12 compared to the previous season and a decrease in the share of direct and indirect costs equally of 0.57% [26]. A favorable financial result from sugar beet cultivation for growers increases the ability to restore farm assets and investments. It should be stated that the positive financial result from sugar beet cultivation is ensured by the sugar surcharge per hectare of sugar beet cultivation amounting to PLN 1516.30 and the direct payment per hectare amounting to PLN 471.64.