Return on Equity in Dairy Farms from Selected EU Countries: Assessment Based on the DuPont Model in Years 2004–2020

The European Union dairy sector plays a significant role in supplying dairy products to consumers all over the world. The aim of this study was to examine changes in the return on equity as one of the main financial indicators determining the economic viability of EU dairy farms in the years 2004–2020. The analysis based on the DuPont model was used to determine the main drivers of return on equity in dairy farms from the five studied EU countries. The research results show that (1) the lowest return on equity in the years 2004–2020 was calculated for average farms from the Netherlands, and the reason for this phenomenon was the use of significant assets in the production, mainly resources that are very expensive in the Netherlands—land and human labor; (2) the highest return on equity was characteristic of dairy farms from France, and the factor strongly determining the favorable value of this ratio was the high degree of financing assets with low-interest loans and credits; (3) despite the lowest production potential and small scale of milk production, average Polish farms in the years 2004–2020 were characterized by a relatively high return on equity, which ranged from 4.97% to 14.9%.