Abstract: Sunflower production is growing rapidly in Ukraine, which has a direct impact on the efficiency of the entire crop sector and agribusiness in general. Such trends are caused by the high profitability of its cultivation. In 2020, its level of profitability reached 39.4 %, which is twice as high as the profitability of cereals and legumes. For the period 2012–2020, this figure did not fall below 23.5 %.

It is known that sunflower has a negative effect on other crops as a precursor in crop rotation, on the one hand reducing plant access to essential minerals and moisture, and on the other — increasing the cost of crop care. Sunflower creates a negative external effect, which is expressed in losses and additional costs and is manifested in the future, so it is transferred to other crops, reducing the efficiency of their cultivation and increasing the efficiency of sunflower. Thus, the larger the share of sunflower in crop rotation, the more efficient it will be compared to other crops.

The paper presents the substantiation of the methodology and the results of the assessment of the negative consequences of sunflower cultivation for subsequent crops in crop rotation. The calculation of this external cumulative effect in the form of additional costs and losses for the first subsequent crop rotation for the studied agricultural enterprise. The influence of the calculated reduced total costs on the results of the assessment of the economic efficiency of sunflower production in an agricultural enterprise as an alternative cost of its production is also determined.

If we take into account the external effect of growing sunflower on the next crop in crop rotation, the indicators of profit, profit per 1 ha and profitability are significantly reduced.