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Impact of economics and agriculture over the environmental protection in Bulgaria;
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... A kind of public good is itself a local culture that is most often associated with agricultural activities. Therefore agriculture is often viewed as a repository of typical local cultures (Stoeva and Valcheva, 2016). They occur in food, agricultural practices, language, music, etc. ...
The production of goods for the market may include aspects of public goods, for example when the production of certain agricultural products or landscapes created by farms are part of a local identity. A kind of public good is the local culture that is often associated with farming.
The aim of the study is to assess the provision of agriculture to the formation of public goods and the factors to optimize this process.
The finding of the research is that the agricultural sector in the Smolyan region is actively involved in the provision of public goods, which are highly appreciated by the local farmers. An important part of the process of provisioning public goods is their proper combination with market goods, which will contribute to gaining a competitive advantage in the region. Farmers expect support from public institutions to explore these competitive advantages. In this way, supporting the development of a business that has the character of private interest will also maintain the public goods in the region.
The research presented in the paper was aimed at analyzing the economic performance of organic farms in the Czech Republic and at evaluating their operation in variants (i.e. including or excluding subsidies). The research was targeted solely at legal entities due to a limited data base. The performance of organic farms (individual kinds of legal entities) was compared by regions with the agricultural enterprises farming conventionally. The organic farms economic profit was as well assessed in relation to their field of activity. Based on the analysis made, the economic situation is more favourable for the organically farming enterprises. Their economic results are actively influenced by subsidies without which an absolute majority of enterprises would be operating at a loss. (When including subsidies in the yields, 84.9% farms of the sample were profitable. On the other hand, while excluding subsidies, 95.7% of the enterprises were loss-making.) Economic success of the farms is influenced - together with subsidies - by the natural and climatic conditions as well as and by their field of activities. The enterprises farming permanent grassland (solely or in combination with a different culture) prevail. A lower intensity of this farming is reflected in the more favourable economic results.
The financial management of conventional, organic, and biodynamic farms was evaluated and compared. It is a highly specific issue filling in the gap namely in the area of economic research of biodynamic agriculture. Biodynamic agriculture is a less widespread concept of agriculture, the management of which meets the requirements of organic agriculture. Organic agriculture has still been gaining in importance in the Czech Republic, the number of organic farms has been growing, and availability of organic products has increased, too. Of the Czech farms receiving subsidies from the EU or state subsidies in 2007-2012, a total of 389 were selected for analysis (273 of which were conventional farms, 112 organic farms, and 4 farms were engaged in biodynamic agriculture). Subsidies, Total Costs, Operating Revenue, Profit and Gross Value Added indicators were selected for evaluation. The individual indicators within groups of companies were compared by means of a t-test. The analysis revealed significant differences in the economic indicators of individual types of farms. It was observed that organic enterprises have better economic results than conventional and biodynamic businesses. Subsidies help all types of farms achieve better results. We may hence assume dependence of these farms on subsidies.
Business modelling facilitates the understanding of value creation logic in organizations in general. Identifying the components of business models based on different criteria helps understanding the fundamentals of business and the position of entrepreneurs and managers in companies. The present research is focused on the definition of a specific business model for the Czech agribusiness sector. Based on the theoretical background and evaluation of selected business models, the aim is to create a new business model, using components which take into account the specifics of this particular industry.
This is a policy paper on the contribution of Portuguese public policies to economic growth and development. Such contribution is mediated by space inasmuch as the effectiveness of public action hinges critically on how policies mobilise regional development drivers. These drivers come out of a digression on economic theory expla-nations for growth and development which also helps to realise that markets trigger contradictory outcomes and assure neither durable progress everywhere nor long-term real convergence. The international evidence on regional development policies tracked herein unveils two facts: governments may also fail and governments can improve their own performance. Translating lessons from scientific knowledge and international empirical evidence to Por-tugal allows us to identify a number of flaws in the Portuguese institutional architecture and to recommend solu-tion avenues to make the economic development of Portuguese territories more inclusive and sustainable. These recommendations bet on place-based sectorally integrated approaches which go through a significant improve-ment in horizontal and vertical governance mechanisms, and the adoption of policy tools headed towards the internalisation of association economies between the three territorial layers of government and the regional devel-opment actors in civil society.
Several influential reports have suggested that one of the most appropriate responses to expected food shortages and ongoing environmental degradation is sustainable intensification, i.e. the increase of food production with at worst no increase in environmental harm, and ideally environmental benefit. Here we sought evidence of sustainable intensification among British farmers by selecting innovative arable, dairy, mixed and upland farms and analysing their own data on yields, inputs and land use and management for 2006 and 2011. The evidence was obtained by interview, and was interpreted in terms of the ecosystem services of food production (GJ ha−1, where area took into account estimated area to grow any imported animal feeds), regulation of climate, air and water quality (modelled emissions of GHGs (CO2e ha−1), ammonia (kg ha−1) and nitrate loss (kg ha−1)) and biodiversity (using an index based on the presence of habitats and management).
Food still is, and will continue to be, a basic issue at every day decision process in human behaviour. Food consumption has been a problematic issue in human history and today is also recognized as a basic pillar for human health and welfare/quality of life. From a global problem up to the middle of the eighties, right now food security is mainly a local issue (however a macro-level approach continued to be necessary for long run perspective and food safety concerns in trade and commercialization). Food and nutritional concerns today still are unforgetable issues on a local base perspective in many regions: the most common problems are related to the access and consumption to achieve the minimum nutritional requirements, but also other dimensions such as production, transformation, distribution and logistical aspects of the ?food equation?, mainly in less developed countries, are crucial aspects to be taken into consideration. Economic effciency from a production perspective in the food sector, measured in terms of output per unit of input (technical and technological innovation) achieved one of the best performances in terms of development in the last 30 years globally and in most regions in the world (few exceptions, like Sub-Sahara countries and some others). The same can not be refered in regard to markets and institutional innovations. In fact, looking at institutions including markets and governments, it is necessary to explore and identify the several observed failures (institutional and governance failures: markets, governmental and others) were science can make a contribution. This is the main purpose of the current research, which is starting based on observed problems and applied solutions with good results in many situations, but also pointing out many other situations were solutions are needed based on the old instruments, but also based on innovative procedures. The method followed explores the basic theoretical approach in production theory and in consumption micro-economic concepts, allowing the introduction of some new proposals in regard to efficiency measures. Adding to those aspects some new questions and models are discussed in regard to the ?institutional/organizational economics? in the actual world, providing support for improvement measures (and policy suggestions). The Brasilien case is explored in more detail (the ?Fome Zero Program?), but also some African examples are used to illustrate that many solutions will have to rely on technological changes, but also on institutional innovations.