Bio-economic household modelling for agricultural intensification

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kruseman, G.

2000-01-01

This study contributes to the quest for sustainable agricultural intensification through the development of a quantitative bio-economic modelling framework that allows assessment of new technology and policy measures in terms of household welfare and sustainability indicators. The main aim

Effects of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on World Agriculture, Food Consumption, and Economic Welfare

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Darwin, R.

2004-01-01

Because of many uncertainties, quantitative estimates of agriculturally related economic impacts of greenhouse gas emissions are often given low confidence. A major source of uncertainty is our inability to accurately project future changes in economic activity, emissions, and climate. This paper focuses on two issues. First, to what extent do variable projections of climate generate uncertainty in agriculturally related economic impacts? Second, to what extent do agriculturally related economic impacts of greenhouse gas emissions depend on economic conditions at the time of impacts? Results indicate that uncertainty due to variable projections of climate is fairly large for most of the economic effects evaluated in this analysis. Results also indicate that economic conditions at the time of impact influence the direction and size of as well as the confidence in the economic effects of identical projections of greenhouse gas impacts. The economic variable that behaves most consistently in this analysis is world crop production. Increases in mean global temperature, for example, cause world crop production to decrease on average under both 1990 and improved economic conditions and in both instances the confidence with respect to variable projections of climate is medium (e.g., 67%) or greater. In addition and as expected, CO2 fertilization causes world crop production to increase on average under 1990 and improved economic conditions. These results suggest that crop production may be a fairly robust indicator of the potential impacts of greenhouse gas emissions. A somewhat unexpected finding is that improved economic conditions are not necessarily a panacea to potential greenhouse-gas-induced damages, particularly at the region level. In fact, in some regions, impacts of climate change or CO2 fertilization that are beneficial under current economic conditions may be detrimental under improved economic conditions (relative to the new economic base). Australia plus

78 FR 52496 - Meeting Notice of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-08-23

..., Education, and Economics Advisory Board AGENCY: Research, Education, and Economics, Office of the Secretary... Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board. DATES: The National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and [[Page 52497

A Comparative Analysis of the Impact of Agricultural Exports on Economic Growth of ECOWAS Countries

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Richardson Kojo Edeme

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Towards the acceleration of the attainment of sustainable growth, most countries have focused on agricultural exports as a means of driving their economy. Developing countries of Africa are highly dependent on the agricultural sector and agricultural exports are a major determinant of economic growth of these countries. However, the impact of agricultural exports on economic growth of ECOWAS countries remains unclear. This study therefore evaluates the impact of agricultural exports on the economic growth of fifteen ECOWAS countries using panel data for the period 1980–2013. Variables employed are labour force participation rate, capital stock, agricultural exports, non-agricultural exports, inflation and economic growth. The results of the fixed-effect model show that agricultural exports have not impacted significantly on the economic growth of ECOWAS countries such as Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria with respect to the Republic of Benin, which is the selected baseline. The study also analysed the country combined effect of the agricultural exports and found that it was significant but the rate of impact was weak. The study recommends, among others, that even though agricultural exports had a significant impact on economic growth, there is still a need for ECOWAS governments to improve their agricultural sector as its significance is more noticeable in some countries such as Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria.

Precision Agriculture Technologies Positively Contributing to GHG Emissions Mitigation, Farm Productivity and Economics

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Athanasios Balafoutis

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Agriculture is one of the economic sectors that affect climate change contributing to greenhouse gas emissions directly and indirectly. There is a trend of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions reduction, but any practice in this direction should not affect negatively farm productivity and economics because this would limit its implementation, due to the high global food and feed demand and the competitive environment in this sector. Precision agriculture practices using high-tech equipment has the ability to reduce agricultural inputs by site-specific applications, as it better target inputs to spatial and temporal needs of the fields, which can result in lower greenhouse gas emissions. Precision agriculture can also have a positive impact on farm productivity and economics, as it provides higher or equal yields with lower production cost than conventional practices. In this work, precision agriculture technologies that have the potential to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions are presented providing a short description of the technology and the impacts that have been reported in literature on greenhouse gases reduction and the associated impacts on farm productivity and economics. The technologies presented span all agricultural practices, including variable rate sowing/planting, fertilizing, spraying, weeding and irrigation.

Agricultural Trade and Economic Growth in East African Community ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

East African Community states, as many other states in the region, depend largely on agricultural activities to boost their economic growth and create employment. Up to 80 per cent of the populace depends on agriculture directly and indirectly for food, employment and income, while about 40 million people in EAC suffer ...

Studies investigating economic, agricultural-economic and demographic factors influencing land use dynamics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mora, R.; San Juan, C.

2009-01-01

In this paper, we review studies investigating economic, agricultural-economic and demographic factors influencing land use dynamics, making special emphasis on the policy framework in the European Union. We find several conclusions, among which the following should be emphasized. First, this review highlights the existence of different methodologies to build up models to identify the effects of policy reforms affecting land use and desertification. Second, use of micro data to set up an econometric-process simulation model of land use has already been used with success. Third, in the geographical distribution of land use, prices drive all short and long-rung processes. Finally, logistic models have recently been used to study micro decisions at the agricultural sector to identify relative rents and land characteristics such as location and soil fertility as main determinants of land use patters. (Author) 8 refs.

77 FR 64794 - Cancellation of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-10-23

... Cancellation of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board Meeting AGENCY: Research, Education, and Economics, USDA. ACTION: Notice of intent to cancel meeting. SUMMARY: The meeting of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board...

78 FR 25691 - Meeting Notice of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-05-02

... Meeting Notice of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board AGENCY: Research, Education, and Economics, USDA. ACTION: Notice of meeting. SUMMARY: In accordance with...) announces a meeting of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory...

Economic activity in agriculture in the perspective of embeddedness theory: The case of Poland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dudek Michał

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The paper presents the concept of embeddedness of economic activity in relation to agriculture. In this perspective, economic activity can be considered dependent on cognitive structures, structures of social relations, culture, and political institutions. It has been concluded that the idea of embeddedness can be an interesting and useful analytical tool for the analysis of economic activity undertaken by farmers. The article presents an analysis of the state of the art, as well uses selected information and data on the methodology of panel surveys carried out by the Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics - National Research Institute. Based on the analysis of the embeddedness theory, it is argued that embeddedness is not a coherent theoretical concept but rather a potential framework for investigating various economic issues. One of these issues is agricultural activity. Embeddedness framework constitutes a scheme which could organize an alternative approach to economic actions to mainstream agriculture economics.

471 socio-economic factors influencing agricultural radio

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Osondu

The study examined socio economic factors influencing agricultural radio programme FILIN. MAINOMA in ... statistics such as, Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMC) and Chi-Square analysis. (χ. 2). .... of fish farmers association while one third. (22.22%) ... problems of language barrier and 6.00% of the.

Long and Short Run Dynamics of Agricultural and Petroleum Sectors in the Economic Growth of Nigeria

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Okunola Akinbode Michael

2017-06-01

Full Text Available This study examined the economic relationship among agriculture and petroleum sectors and growth of Nigeria’s economy as well as the effects of these two key sectors on the economic growth. The Bound (ARDL test which was used to examine the long-run relationship among the variables revealed that there is a long-run relationship among agricultural and petroleum sectors and economic growth. In the short run, both sectors have positive significant relationship with the economic growth. While for every 1% change in agricultural productivity there is about 60.89% change on economic growth, petroleum sector had about 37.07% change effect. Thus, agriculture contributes more than the petroleum sector in the short run. In the long-run, both sectors also have positive relationship with economic growth. Agriculture in the long-run also contribute more than the petroleum sector. While a 1% change in agricultural productivity effects a 53.49% increase in economic growth, petroleum sector increases GDP by 43.71%. However, in the long-run, while agriculture is significant at 5%, petroleum sector is significant at 10%. In conclusion, the positive relationship of both sectors with economic growth shows that they are rather economically complimentary than competitive that the actions and inactions of the government have made them look.

FISCAL EFFECTIVENESS UNDER REGIONAL ECONOMIC INTEGRATION: INDONESIAN AGRICULTURAL PERFORMANCE CASE

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Nasrudin Nasrudin

2013-04-01

Full Text Available AbstractThis paper investigates the effectiveness of fiscal policy in boosting agricultural sector performance and seeks the most effective policy in the presence of regional economic integration. It predicts the effectiveness of fiscal policy on the agricultural sector performance in four periods; the new order regime, the economic crisis, and pre and post China Free Trade Area (CAFTA. It also predicts the impact of fiscal policy on agricultural sector performance when CAFTA is fully implemented. It finds that fiscal policy is more effective in the optimum allocation of expenditures. It also finds that the agricultural sector can grow faster when the portion of capital expenditure increases.Keywords: Fiscal effectiveness, economic integration, agricultureJEL Classification Numbers: E62, F15, Q17AbstrakMakalah ini menyelidiki efektivitas kebijakan fiskal dalam mendorong kinerja sektor pertanian dan mencari kebijakan yang paling efektif dengan adanya integrasi ekonomi regional. Makalah ini memprediksi efektivitas kebijakan fiskal dalam meningkatkan kinerja sektor pertanian dalam empat periode; rezim orde baru, krisis ekonomi, sebelum pelaksanaan China Free Trade Area (CAFTA, dan setelah pelaksanaan CAFTA. Makalah ini juga memprediksi dampak kebijakan fiskal terhadap kinerja sektor pertanian saat CAFTA sepenuhnya dilaksanakan. Hasil analisis menemukan bahwa kebijakan fiskal lebih efektif dalam alokasi optimal dari pengeluaran. Analisis juga menemukan bahwa sektor pertanian dapat tumbuh lebih cepat ketika porsi peningkatan belanja modal meningkat.Keywords: Efektivitas fiskal, integrasi ekonomi, pertanianJEL Classification Numbers: E62, F15, Q17

Agriculture and greenhouse effect: economic regulation of cross impacts and combination of agricultural and environmental policies - analysis for the France and extension to the european union. Economic analysis of the interactions agriculture- greenhouse effect

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jayet, P.A.

2002-09-01

The objectives of the research program are: the impacts evaluation of a double relation climate - agriculture on the agricultural production and the greenhouse gases emission; the compatibility of agricultural policies and environmental policies of the sector. Simulations are realized at a regional scale with a coupling of economical and biophysical models (manure spreading, cultivation yield). (A.L.B.)

Climate Change Effects on Agriculture: Economic Responses to Biophysical Shocks

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, Gerald C.; Valin, Hugo; Sands, Ronald D.; Havlik, Petr; Ahammad, Helal; Deryng, Delphine; Elliott, Joshua; Fujimori, Shinichiro; Hasegawa, Tomoko; Heyhoe, Edwina

2014-01-01

Agricultural production is sensitive to weather and thus directly affected by climate change. Plausible estimates of these climate change impacts require combined use of climate, crop, and economic models. Results from previous studies vary substantially due to differences in models, scenarios, and data. This paper is part of a collective effort to systematically integrate these three types of models. We focus on the economic component of the assessment, investigating how nine global economic models of agriculture represent endogenous responses to seven standardized climate change scenarios produced by two climate and five crop models. These responses include adjustments in yields, area, consumption, and international trade. We apply biophysical shocks derived from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's representative concentration pathway with end-of-century radiative forcing of 8.5 W/m(sup 2). The mean biophysical yield effect with no incremental CO2 fertilization is a 17% reduction globally by 2050 relative to a scenario with unchanging climate. Endogenous economic responses reduce yield loss to 11%, increase area of major crops by 11%, and reduce consumption by 3%. Agricultural production, cropland area, trade, and prices show the greatest degree of variability in response to climate change, and consumption the lowest. The sources of these differences include model structure and specification; in particular, model assumptions about ease of land use conversion, intensification, and trade. This study identifies where models disagree on the relative responses to climate shocks and highlights research activities needed to improve the representation of agricultural adaptation responses to climate change.

76 FR 13124 - Notice of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-10

... Notice of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board Meeting AGENCY: Research, Education, and Economics, USDA. ACTION: Notice of meeting. SUMMARY: In accordance with...) announces a meeting of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory...

75 FR 12171 - Notice of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-03-15

... Notice of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board Meeting AGENCY: Research, Education, and Economics, USDA. ACTION: Notice of meeting. SUMMARY: In accordance with... announces a meeting of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory...

75 FR 61692 - Notice of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-06

... Notice of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board Meeting AGENCY: Research, Education, and Economics, USDA. ACTION: Notice of meeting. SUMMARY: In accordance with...) announces a meeting of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory...

Socio-economic issues of promotion and labour motivation in agricultural organizations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vladimir Nikiforovich Belkin

2011-12-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses the typical labour stimulation system in Russian agricultural enterprises, based on the tariff-salary system. It is shown that this scheme inevitably leads to equal wage distribution between all workers except piece-workers: this causes demotivation of time-worker, professionals and managers. Internal economic mechanism built on the basis of tariff-salary system does not correspond to market conditions. To solve the urgent problems of labour stimulation in the Russian agricultural companies in terms of market, a labour evaluation and payment system called «Rost» is suggested. It is already implemented in a number of agricultural enterprises of Perm and Chelyabinsk regions, showing high economic and social efficiency.

Integrated economic and environmental analysis of agricultural straw reuse in edible fungi industry

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Wencong Lu

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Background China currently faces severe environmental pollution caused by burning agricultural straw; thus, resource utilization of these straws has become an urgent policy and practical objective for the Chinese government. Methods This study develops a bio-economic model, namely, “straw resource utilization for fungi in China (SRUFIC,” on the basis of a field survey of an edible fungi plant in Zhejiang, China, to investigate an integrated economic and environmental performance of straw reuse in fungi production. Five scenarios, which cover changes in the production scale, wage level, and price fluctuations of the main product and inputs, are simulated. Results Results reveal that (1 the pilot plant potentially provides enhanced economic benefits and disposes added agricultural residues by adjusting its production strategy; (2 the economic performance is most sensitive to fungi price fluctuations, whereas the environmental performance is more sensitive to production scale and price of fungi than other factors; (3 expanding the production scale can be the most efficient means of improving the performance of a plant economically and environmentally. Discussion Overall, agricultural straw reuse in the edible fungi industry can not only reduce the environmental risk derived from burning abandoned straws but also introduce economic benefits. Thus, the straw reuse in the fungi industry should be practiced in China, and specific economic incentive policies, such as price support or subsidies, must be implemented to promote the utilization of agricultural straws in the fungi industry.

Enhancing agricultural value chain for economic diversification in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study examined how enhancing the agricultural value chain can contribute to rapid economic diversification in Nigeria within the period of 1981-2015. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model was employed as the econometric method of estimation. The inferences were drawn at 5% significant level. The result ...

Contributions of Agriculture to Economic Fluctuations in Romania

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Anca DACHIN

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Globalization and European integration could be advantages for the development of agriculture in Romania, which still holds a high relative position in the economy and has structures of business organization and employment that do not match the European model. Based on the empirical analysis of available data, the paper presents changes of the Romanian agriculture in the last two decades and their influence on the whole economy, by pointing out three important fields of macroeconomic fluctuations: gross domestic product, prices and employment. The extended size of the subsistence component in the agricultural sector keeps the dependence of production variations on the natural conditions, strongly influenced by climate changes, while inducing significant variations in the GDP, but is also a solution to soften the social effects of the economic crisis.

Energy use for economic growth: A trivariate analysis from Tunisian agriculture sector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sebri, Maamar; Abid, Mehdi

2012-01-01

Following the importance of energy in the agrarian economies, the investigation of the causal relationship between energy consumption in agriculture sector and economic growth has a fundamental role in implementing suitable policies. This paper examines the causal relationship between energy consumption and agricultural value added, controlling for trade openness, in Tunisia from 1980 to 2007. The relationship is investigated at aggregated as well as disaggregated components of energy consumption, including oil and electricity. Using Granger's technique, it is shown that various results are obtained regarding the direction of causality between competing variables. Nevertheless, the most common finding suggest that trade openness and both aggregated and disaggregated energy consumption Granger causes agricultural value added. Therefore, the energy-led growth and trade-led growth hypotheses are supported in the Tunisian agriculture sector. An important policy implication resulting from this study is that energy can be considered as a limiting factor to agriculture value added and, therefore, shocks to energy supply would have a negative impact onto agriculture performance. Furthermore, trade liberalization seems to be a stimulus factor to the Tunisian agriculture development. - Highlights: ► We study the energy consumption-economic growth nexus of Tunisian agriculture sector. ► We use Johansen's cointegration approach and Granger causality. ► Energy consumption can be considered as limiting factor to agricultural performance. ► Electrical energy will represent an important input to agricultural production growth.

Agricultural Economics and Qualitative Research: Incompatible Paradigms?

OpenAIRE

Vera Bitsch

2000-01-01

The disciplinary paradigm of agricultural economics emphasizes rational behavior in a world constrained by scarce resources. The research practice focuses on the quantitative modeling of optimization behavior. These models, though, only offer limited support to practitioners in solving real-world problems. Qualitative research approaches contribute to this task, particularly with research in developing countries. Participatory action research was introduced in the seventies; case studies have...

Economic intelligence and intellectual capital in agriculture competitiveness: Case study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nešković Slobodan

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The process of globalization in the last few decades conditioned the many technological, economic and social changes which have transformed the world market of agricultural products and the impact on the competitive environment. In the modern world, creating material value in agricultural production more and more the result of the intangible factors and production is increasingly based on knowledge, skills and innovation of employees. In the industrial age the necessary resources to achieve competitive advantages were capital, natural resources and work, while in today's knowledge-based economy the importance is on the information, innovation, knowledge, intellectual capital and intellectual property - that have become the foundation of creating all other values. These values are, because of their great importance in achieving the modern competitive advantages, very often the target of economic intelligence and therefore require all available forms of protection. The sector of agricultural production can make a significant contribution to improving the overall national competitiveness if it is based on intellectual capital as evidenced by the country with highly developed agriculture. However, by observing global changes can be concluded that Serbia in this sector has unused potential for growth and development.

Water Market-scale Agricultural Planning: Promoting Competing Water Resource Use Efficiency Through Agro-Economics

Science.gov (United States)

Delorit, J. D.; Block, P. J.

2017-12-01

Where strong water rights law and corresponding markets exist as a coupled econo-legal mechanism, water rights holders are permitted to trade allocations to promote economic water resource use efficiency. In locations where hydrologic uncertainty drives the assignment of annual per-water right allocation values by water resource managers, collaborative water resource decision making by water rights holders, specifically those involved in agricultural production, can result in both resource and economic Pareto efficiency. Such is the case in semi-arid North Chile, where interactions between representative farmer groups, treated as competitive bilateral monopolies, and modeled at water market-scale, can provide both price and water right allocation distribution signals for unregulated, temporary water right leasing markets. For the range of feasible per-water right allocation values, a coupled agricultural-economic model is developed to describe the equilibrium distribution of water, the corresponding market price of water rights and the net surplus generated by collaboration between competing agricultural uses. Further, this research describes a per-water right inflection point for allocations where economic efficiency is not possible, and where price negotiation among competing agricultural uses is required. An investigation of the effects of water right supply and demand inequality at the market-scale is completed to characterize optimal market performance under existing water rights law. The broader insights of this research suggest that water rights holders engaged in agriculture can achieve economic benefits from forming crop-type cooperatives and by accurately assessing the economic value of allocation.

Economic importance of bats in agriculture

Science.gov (United States)

Boyles, Justin G.; Cryan, Paul M.; McCracken, Gary F.; Kunz, Thomas H.

2011-01-01

White-nose syndrome (WNS) and the increased development of wind-power facilities are threatening populations of insectivorous bats in North America. Bats are voracious predators of nocturnal insects, including many crop and forest pests. We present here analyses suggesting that loss of bats in North America could lead to agricultural losses estimated at more than $3.7 billion/year. Urgent efforts are needed to educate the public and policy-makers about the ecological and economic importance of insectivorous bats and to provide practical conservation solutions.

Water as an economic good in irrigated agriculture: theory and practice

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hellegers, P.J.G.J.; Perry, C.J.

2004-01-01

This report describes the results of the Water Valuation and Pricing project, which aims to provide insight into the relevance of economics to typical problems found in irrigated agriculture. It first considers the theoretical basis for the use of economic instruments, then considers their

Integrating predictive information into an agro-economic model to guide agricultural management

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Y.; Block, P.

2016-12-01

Skillful season-ahead climate predictions linked with responsive agricultural planning and management have the potential to reduce losses, if adopted by farmers, particularly for rainfed-dominated agriculture such as in Ethiopia. Precipitation predictions during the growing season in major agricultural regions of Ethiopia are used to generate predicted climate yield factors, which reflect the influence of precipitation amounts on crop yields and serve as inputs into an agro-economic model. The adapted model, originally developed by the International Food Policy Research Institute, produces outputs of economic indices (GDP, poverty rates, etc.) at zonal and national levels. Forecast-based approaches, in which farmers' actions are in response to forecasted conditions, are compared with no-forecast approaches in which farmers follow business as usual practices, expecting "average" climate conditions. The effects of farmer adoption rates, including the potential for reduced uptake due to poor predictions, and increasing forecast lead-time on economic outputs are also explored. Preliminary results indicate superior gains under forecast-based approaches.

The Role of Agriculture on the Recent Brazilian Economic Growth

OpenAIRE

Spolador, Humberto Francisco Silva; Roe, Terry L.

2012-01-01

This paper investigates the contribution of the Brazilian agriculture to economic growth of the Brazilian economy. It draws upon the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) data base, and other time series data to construct a multi-sector Ramsey model that shows the transition growth of the Brazilian agricultural sector and its effects on growth of the Brazilian economy, with particular emphasis given to the years 1994–2010.

Agricultural producers’ groups in the Czech Republic: introductory review and discussion of the problem area economic performance measurement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jan Vavřina

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Each company is surrounded by the micro- and macro-environment affecting also its economic performance. These factors are not only individual accounting entries, but also analytical inputs as the internal company processes, management of costs or short-term financial decisions and specifically in the case of agriculture within the EU also the public subsidy schemes implemented through the EU Common Agricultural Policy. Groups of agricultural producers are created as a response to current market dynamics and the opportunity for each agricultural enterprise regardless the size. In this paper, the basis for agricultural cooperation is provided, traditional economic performance measures are presented and their applicability on the sample of agricultural producers’ groups and wholesale entities is empirically verified. Wholesale entities are analysed by its business activity and performance features to consider whether they are suitable peer group for comparing economic performance of examined agricultural producers’ group. Since the economic performance of agricultural producers’ groups directly affects the economic performance of all participating entities, and vice versa, their economic performance measurement may involve specific constraints. According to the structure and characteristics of agricultural producers’ groups may be inferred that whilst the common performance measurement techniques are applicable on the majority of companies, agricultural producers’ groups represent specific entities and therefore need adjusted performance measurement approach.

THE PERSPECTIVE OF AGRICULTURE IN THE CONTEXT OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT POTENTIAL IN VRANCEA COUNTY

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RĂDULESCU CARMEN VALENTINA

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Agriculture is an important field and also a priority of Romania's development. In this regard, providing food for population is a factor that ensures the specificity of agriculture. For this reason, we can consider that agriculture is a starting point for the socio-economic development of the country. Romania is recognized, at European and international level, for its experience in cultivating natural and traditional products. The agricultural area offers the possibility of supplying raw materials for both the population and for the manufacturing industry. It is aimed that the organization of the agricultural area to be made so that the lands that have agricultural destination to be used as rationally as possible. Also, it is important to introduce in the agricultural circuit all the unused lands. The fragmentation of the agricultural land is a disadvantage in the process of rational organization of agricultural area. Efficient use of land, as a requirement of the intensive and durable agriculture is a complex activity that involves conservation activities and soil improvement. Due to the role that they have, the approach of the aspects referring to the medium and big farms has to be different from the approaches referring to the small farms. If the farms from the first category take into account the agriculture as a business, the small farms are important for the rural area by oferring food and social security and means of traditional production that contributes to the environment conservation. Romania's economic recovery can be achieved based on the attention that has to be given to this field. Being an important factor of social stability and of the maintainance of the ecological balance, agriculture enjoys an increasing attention worldwide. The supply and the demand of food determines the use of agricultural resources. The article presents the current situation of agriculture, at national and regional levels. Through this analysis, we

Great economic crisis in Polish agriculture - a remainder and caution

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Wiesław Musiał

2009-01-01

Full Text Available The work presents chosen aspects of the course of the so-called great economic crisis which took place in 1929-1933 in economy, including agricultural sector. The results of the crisis in the sphere of agricultural production, the use of production means and concerning shaping of the price level and price relationships were discussed. Attention was paid to the state intervention measures aimed to diminish the range of crisis in agriculture and reasons of their low efficiency. It was demonstrated that the crisis was very deep and beside the economy involved also the social, cultural and political spheres.

PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS IN DESIGN OF AGRICULTURAL PROGRAMMING IN RADIO TEOCELO, VERACRUZ

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antolin Silvestre Martiñón-Martínez

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The mass media, are an important complement in the agricultural extension, however, radio is the most economical mass media, so their potential is huge especially in rural areas. The present study was carried out at a community radio station (Radio Teocelo, with coffee producers, in three municipalities in the area Center of Veracruz, it should be noted that the radio has an audience formed mainly by agricultural producers, also this medium has been used for agricultural extension by the UNCADER (training unit for Rural Development, through an agricultural program called "The Moon in Uncader", with mainly technical information, however, it is necessary to propose relevant socio-economic issues that may be part of an optional agricultural programming, and/or complement the technical programming that is transmitted by the agricultural program. The study found a positive attitude to the proposed socio-economic issues, since most was obtained 80% of positive responses, highlighting the transmission of information on: marketing, government programs, visits to successful producers and transmission of successful cases of successful producers, also adopted a positive attitude for the program is disseminated by mass media mainly Teocelo Radio and are willing to personally spread mainly with friends.

Exempting Food and Agriculture Products from U.S. Economic Sanctions: Status and Implementation

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Jurenas, Remy

2005-01-01

.... economic sanctions against certain countries. In completing action on the FY2001 agriculture appropriations bill, Congress codified the lifting of unilateral sanctions on commercial sales of food, agricultural commodities, medicine, and medical...

Agricultural and Social Resiliency of Small-Scale Agriculture to Economic and Climatic Shocks: A Comparison of Subsistence versus Market-Based Agricultural Approaches in Rural Guatemala

Science.gov (United States)

Malard, J. J.; Melgar-Quiñonez, H.; Pineda, P.; Gálvez, J.; Adamowski, J. F.

2014-12-01

Agricultural production is heavily dependent not only on climate but also on markets as well as on the social and community systems managing the agroecosystem. In addition, the ultimate goal of agricultural production, human food security, is also affected not only by net agricultural production but also by similar economic and social factors. These complex feedbacks assume a particular importance in the case of smallholder farms in the tropics, where alternative rural development policies have led to different and contrasting agricultural management systems. Current approaches at comparing such systems generally study their environmental, economic or social components in isolation, potentially missing important interconnections. This research uses a participatory systems dynamics modelling (SDM) framework to compare two small-scale agricultural approaches in rural Guatemala which differ in their social, economic and ecosystem management decisions. The first case study community, in Quiché, has adopted a subsistence-based system that aims to use low levels of outside inputs to produce food for their own consumption, while the second, in Sololá, has opted for market-based agriculture that uses high input levels to obtain marketable crops in order to assure income for the purchase of food and other necessities. Each of these systems has its respective vulnerabilities; while the Sololá community suffers from more environmental degradation issues (soils and pests), the Quiché community, given lower monetary incomes, is more vulnerable to events whose responses require a significant monetary expenditure. Through the SDM approach, we incorporate local stakeholder knowledge of the respective systems, including biophysical and socioeconomic variables, into a joint biophysical and socioeconomic model for each community. These models then allow for the comparison of the resilience of both types of socio-agroecosystems in the face of climatic, economic and biological

Institutional Affiliation of Contributors to the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 1973–83

OpenAIRE

James R. Simpson; John T. Steele

1985-01-01

History of reviews of contributions to the American Journal of Agricultural Economics are examined. Total pages, pages per capita all faculty, and per teaching research faculty of contributors to the American Journal of Agricultural Economics for 1979–83 are reported for land grant institutions. Rankings are provided. There are also averages for 1973–79 and 1980–83.

Towards an integrated economic assessment of climate change impacts on agriculture

Science.gov (United States)

Lotze-Campen, H.; Piontek, F.; Stevanovic, M.; Popp, A.; Bauer, N.; Dietrich, J.; Mueller, C.; Schmitz, C.

2012-12-01

For a detailed understanding of the effects of climate change on global agricultural production systems, it is essential to consider the variability of climate change patterns as projected by General Circulation Models (GCMs), their bio-physical impact on crops and the response in land-use patterns and markets. So far, approaches that account for the interaction of bio-physical and economic impacts are largely lacking. We present an integrative analysis by using a soft-coupled system of a biophysical impact model (LPJmL, Bondeau et al. 2007), an economically driven land use model (MAgPIE, Lotze-Campen et al. 2008) and an integrated assessment model (ReMIND-R, Leimbach et al. 2010) to study climate change impacts and economic damages in the agricultural sector. First, the dynamic global vegetation and hydrology model LPJmL is used to derive climate change impacts on crop yields for wheat, maize, soy, rice and other major crops. A range of different climate projections is used, taken from the dataset provided by the Intersectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISI-MIP, www.isi-mip.org), which bias-corrected the latest CMIP5 climate data (Taylor et al. 2011). Crop yield impacts cover scenarios with and without CO2 fertilization as well as different Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) and different GCMs. With increasing temperature towards the end of the century yields generally decrease in tropical and subtropical regions, while they tend to benefit in higher latitudes. LPJmL results have been compared to other global crop models in the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP, www.agmip.org). Second, changes in crop yields are analysed with the spatially explicit agro-economic model MAgPIE, which covers their interaction with economic development and changes in food demand. Changes in prices as well as welfare changes of producer and consumer surplus are taken as economic indicators. Due to climate-change related reductions in

Environmental and socio-economic vulnerability of agricultural sector in Armenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Melkonyan, Ani

2014-08-01

Being a mountainous country, Armenia has undergone different kinds of natural disasters, such as droughts, floods, and storms, which have a direct influence on economy and are expected to occur more frequently in terms of climate change, raising the need to estimate economic vulnerability especially in agricultural sector. Agriculture plays a great role in national economy of Armenia, with 21% share in Gross Domestic Production (GDP). For this reason, the estimation of agricultural resources of the country, their vulnerability towards current and future climate, and assessment of economical loss of the agricultural crop production due to climate change are the main goals of the given study. Crop productivity in dependence on climatic elements - temperature, radiation, precipitation, wind field, etc. has been estimated, further on interpolating these relations for future climate conditions using climate projections in the region for the time period of 2011-2040. Data on air temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, wind speed and direction for the period of 1966-2011 have been taken from 30 stations from the measuring network of Armenian State Hydrometeorological Service. Other climatic parameters like potential and actual evapotranspiration, soil temperature and humidity, field capacity, and wilting point have been calculated with the help of an AMBAV/AMBETTI (agroclimatic) model (German Weather Service). The results showed that temperature increase accompanied with evapotranspiration increase and water availability decrease especially in low and mid-low altitudes (where the main national crop production is centralized) caused a significant shift in the phenological phases of crops, which is very important information for effective farming dates, giving an opportunity to raise efficiency of agricultural production through minimizing the yield loss due to unfavorable climatic conditions. With the help of macroeconomical analysis of the crop market, it was

The economics of hybrid power systems for sustainable desert agriculture in Egypt

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kamel, S.M.; Dahl, C.

2005-01-01

Egypt has embarked on an ambitious desert land reclamation program in order to increase total food production. Energy planners for these desert agriculture locations have chosen diesel generation power technology because minimization of the initial capital cost of a power supply system is their top...... priority. This heavy reliance on diesel generation has negative effects on the surrounding environment including soil, groundwater, and air pollution. Although good solar and wind resource prospects exist for the use of cleaner hybrid power systems in certain desert locations, little research has been done...... to investigate the economic potential of such systems in Egypt’s desert agriculture sector. Using optimization software, we assess the economics of hybrid power systems versus the present diesel generation technology in a remote agricultural development area. We also consider the emission reduction advantages...

Economic evaluation of GPS technology in Serbian agriculture

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marković Dragan

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This paper examined the level of savings in the application of the most modern technical systems for satellite guidance and control over performing agricultural operations throughout the season. The exemplary property was Agricultural Corporation Belgrade (PKB, which covers about 21.000 hectares of arable land. The effects of plot shape and direction of movement of tractor-attachment units in calculating the savings from reduced overlapping of adjacent passes were studied. The analysis was carried out of savings per crop (maize, wheat, soybean, sugar beet and alfalfa and the operations for each crop separately, based on the manufacturing technology applied to an exemplary property. Detailed data are shown only for wheat and barley. Comparing the achieved level of savings, the application of guidance for the type of the most economically viable operations was found as well as the needed equipment level of guidance devices and management. In particular, the analysis involved the functional dependence of the economic savings in fuel and inputs for the operations such as mineral fertilizers distribution and chemical plant protection. Tabulated are the data estimates for the degree of anticipated savings for operations related to the five analyzed crops.

76 FR 62755 - National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board Meeting Notice

Science.gov (United States)

2011-10-11

... structure of the Agricultural Research Service, Economic Research Service, National Agricultural Statistics... the full Advisory Board will convene at 8 a.m. with introductory remarks by the Chair of the Advisory... also include a discussion on the impact of National Agricultural Statistic Service reports on grain...

An environmental-economic assessment of genetic modification of agricultural crops

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van den Bergh, J.C.J.M.; Holley, J.M.

2002-01-01

The advantages and disadvantages of genetic modification of organisms in agriculture are reviewed. These relate to the environment, human health, socio-economic effects, population growth, and differential consequences for developed and developing countries. An overall evaluation requires that

Economic Dimensions of Urban Agriculture in the Context of Urban ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Economic Dimensions of Urban Agriculture in the Context of Urban Poverty ... price crisis and the threat of climate change to traditional sources of food security. ... its 2017 call for proposals to establish Cyber Policy Centres in the Global South.

The Refund of Social Insurance Contributions of Disabled Persons Conducting Non-agricultural Economic Activity

OpenAIRE

Marzena Szabłowska-Juckiewicz

2014-01-01

Disabled persons conducting non-agricultural economic activity may apply for the refund of social insurance contributions from the State Fund for Rehabilitation of the Disabled Persons. The exception to the general rule of financing social insurance contributions of persons conducting non-agricultural economic activity by the insured persons themselves, entirely from their own funds, constitutes one of the instruments introduced by the law-maker to enhance vocational activation of disabled pe...

Modelling of Efficiency Change as a Source of Economic Growth in Agriculture

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Bezat-Jarzębowska Agnieszka

2016-12-01

Full Text Available In the paper, the subject of economic growth in agriculture was raised. One of the determinants of this process, namely an efficiency change was under the assessment. The aim of the paper was to evaluate the changes of efficiency in the Polish agriculture. In the study, a stochastic parametric production function was used.

Economic Assessment of Palm Oil Processing in Owerri Agricultural ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The study was on economic analysis of palm oil processing in Owerri Agricultural zone of Imo State, it was designed to determine the costs and returns of palm oil processing in the area of study. Seventy five (75) palm oil processors were randomly sampled from the study location and a structured interview schedule was ...

PRODUCTION, ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF AGRICULTURAL BIOGAS PLANT IN KOSTKOWICE

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Karol Węglarzy

2017-06-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the economic and ecological effect of Kostkowice Agricultural biogas plant based on a four year study carried out on the prototype installation. Agricultural biogas plant is part of the nature of the research conducted for twenty years at the National Research Institute of Animal PIB Experimental Station. Prof. Mieczyslaw Czaja relates to various aspects of environmental protection. It describes the economic justification for the production of energy from waste biomass (manure, slurry, wastes from feeding table, by the characteristics of substrates and products. It was found that agricultural biogas plant in rural areas are an important link in energy security, mainly due to the very high availability. Ecological effect is presented as effect of the installation solutions for the reduction of pollution of water, soil and air. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions through the recycling of environmentally harmful by-products of animal production of electricity and thermal energy, which is a substitute for environmentally harmful fossil fuels. The advantage of substances digestate is odorless, which is important both in an effort to improve the work culture in agriculture and improving living conditions in rural communities and it is an indisputable argument for the use of biomass for energy purposes.

77 FR 58978 - Notice of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-09-25

..., Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board Meeting AGENCY: Research, Education, and Economics, USDA... Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board. DATES: The National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board will meet October 23-25, 2012. The public may file...

The assessing the economic stability of the agricultural organizations of the Kemerovo region

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Sekacheva Vera Mikhailovna

2014-08-01

Full Text Available The main aspects of the essence of economic stability analyzed in this article. The authors define the concept, the problems and the basic criteria for assessing the economic sustainability of the agricultural organizations of the Kemerovo region.

An economic theory-based explanatory model of agricultural land-use patterns: The Netherlands as a case study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Diogo, V.; Koomen, E.; Kuhlman, T.

2015-01-01

An economic theory-based land-use modelling framework is presented aiming to explain the causal link between economic decisions and resulting spatial patterns of agricultural land use. The framework assumes that farmers pursue utility maximisation in agricultural production systems, while

77 FR 11064 - National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2012-02-24

..., Education, and Economics Advisory Board Notice of Meeting AGENCY: Research, Education, and Economics, USDA... Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board. DATES: The National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board will meet March 28-29, 2012. The public may file written...

ORGANIZATIONAL AND ECONOMIC MECHANISM ON THE SUSTAINABLE USE STIMULATION OF AGRICULTURAL APPOINTMENT LAND

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O.P. Atamaniuk

2017-11-01

Full Text Available It is well-known that the use of incentives should lead to an improvement of the existing economic, environmental and social status, to raising the level of economic indicators for the benefit of the person who provides incentives and who is the object of stimulation. The current socio-economic conditions dictate the need to find effective forms of land management and rational land use management, correcting mistakes and resolving existing issues. This is possible only after all agricultural land use is fully provided with the necessary land management works. These issues can be solved by implementing the planning documents for the development of territories (national, regional, local, etc.. They put in place an algorithm of action to address the issue, but the greatest advantage of the proposed development program is the possibility of developing a land management process on agricultural lands. Clear financing of development programs, allows to ensure the implementation of the outlined plans for the implementation of land management works that are necessary on agricultural land. But in the context of the limited economic opportunities of Ukraine, the financing of land management measures provided for by the program should be only partially depending on the possibilities and level of environmental issues of land use.

Use Of Instruments For Environmental Marketing In Economic Activity Of Agricultural Enterprises

OpenAIRE

Oleksiy Shkuratov; Irina Voronetska

2012-01-01

Improved marketing mechanism of agricultural enterprise through the introduction of environmental marketing. Grounded place, tasks and functions of environmental marketing in integrated environmental and economic management.

Optimization of Water Resources and Agricultural Activities for Economic Benefit in Colorado

Science.gov (United States)

LIM, J.; Lall, U.

2017-12-01

The limited water resources available for irrigation are a key constraint for the important agricultural sector of Colorado's economy. As climate change and groundwater depletion reshape these resources, it is essential to understand the economic potential of water resources under different agricultural production practices. This study uses a linear programming optimization at the county spatial scale and annual temporal scales to study the optimal allocation of water withdrawal and crop choices. The model, AWASH, reflects streamflow constraints between different extraction points, six field crops, and a distinct irrigation decision for maize and wheat. The optimized decision variables, under different environmental, social, economic, and physical constraints, provide long-term solutions for ground and surface water distribution and for land use decisions so that the state can generate the maximum net revenue. Colorado, one of the largest agricultural producers, is tested as a case study and the sensitivity on water price and on climate variability is explored.

The Results and Analysis of a National Survey of Agricultural Economics Departmental Libraries

OpenAIRE

Seale, Colleen

1989-01-01

In order for agricultural economists to perform their work and research effectively, it is necessary that they have adequate reference materials, book, journals, documents, and statistical series readily accessible to them. The service of providing these reference and statistical materials to agricultural economists in an academic environment is generally provided by one of two means, through an agricultural economics reference room or through the services of the library system on campus. The...

Leadership Development in Agricultural Economics: Challenges for Academic Units

OpenAIRE

Boland, Michael A.

2009-01-01

Crafting and executing strategy are key tasks to be carried out by a manager of an enterprise. Unit leaders are managers of an academic enterprise called a department. The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of information collected from interviews with unit leaders of departments of agricultural economics and discuss challenges being faced by these unit leaders in March 2009.

Social and economic impact of drought on stakeholders in agriculture

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Armenski Tanja

2014-01-01

Full Text Available According to different relevant climate research water shortage hazard become increasingly frequent natural hazard across Serbia. In Serbia, especially in Vojvodina, drought is a natural hazard with increasing frequency of occurrence. Vojvodina is predominantly agricultural area with 11% of agricultural population. As such agricultural population is highly sensitive to natural hazards, especially to occurrence of drought which is typical for the territory of Vojvodina. Drought has influence on the environment and human activities, i.e. it has social and economic consequences, such as drinking water shortage or decline in crop yield. Therefore this paper has several aims. First goal is to explore socio demographic profiles and agricultural characteristic of agricultural population and stakeholders in research area. Secondly to examine farmers' attitudes to possible damage prevention and adaptive measures to climate change in the sector of agricultural production. Third goal is to analyze respondent's opinion toward drought prediction. Finally the study examines opinion of respondents on the role of government institutions in providing assistance and support to farmers and to agricultural development in the region. In depth semi structural interviewing were carried out. Results show lack of knowledge among respondents that water shortage can be precisely and in time predicted to help agriculture prepare and prevent possible draft damages. As the main problems in agriculture, the local agricultural population lists absence of strategic planning and management of agrarian policy, as well as absence of state support to farmers in agriculture development. Necessary assistance for alleviation of adverse drought consequences includes subsidies for irrigation, improvement and reconstruction of the existing irrigation systems; organized and planned state management of agrarian policy; creating precise methods of forecast of drought periods and timely

SPECIFICATIONS OF ECOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR OF UKRAINE

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Viktor Meglei

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The subject of the author’s research is the processes of development of the agrarian sector of Ukrainian economy by ecological-economic specifications. The methodological justification is based on the use of fundamental principles that reflect the main strategies of agrarian development. The systematic approach to the characteristics of the agrarian system, complex by the structure and functional parameters in interaction with the external environment, is applied. Methods of analysis/synthesis are used for the disclosure of the integral nature of the agrarian environment in the context of management of the main processes. The purpose of the author’s research suggests a consideration of the processes of formation of the agrarian system by economic and environmental interactions as modern dominant in the development of the agrarian sector of Ukraine. The analysis of integral components of agrarian development with the reflection of interactions of the sphere of agrarian production and agrarian relations is carried out. The emphasis is made on the importance of the formation of an effective and promising domestic agricultural policy, in the basis of which is the activation of entrepreneurial initiatives, comprehensive development of the agrarian community, ecologically and socially oriented projects of reproduction of rural territories, innovative strategies of ecological and economic ascension of agriculture in Ukraine. The resource base is considered as the economic basis of agriculture from the standpoint of the main sales markets, the state of transport infrastructure, the growth of world and domestic demand for agrarian raw materials and finished products, and the availability of relatively cheap labour resources. The agrarian production is analysed from ecological positions and influences of natural and climatic factors. The state of individual agro-ecological mismatches in agriculture of Ukraine is explained, as well as the reasons of

Ecological agriculture in South-India : an agro-economic comparison and study of transition

OpenAIRE

Jager, de, A.; Werf, van der, E.

1992-01-01

This report describes two research programmes carried out on ecological agriculture in South-India. Experiences of twelve farmers in transition towards ecological agriculture are described and analysed. The comparative performance of seven farmer pairs, consisting of one ecological and one conventional reference farm, is analysed in relation to agronomic and economic performance

National Economic Development Procedures Manual - Agricultural Flood Damage,

Science.gov (United States)

1987-10-01

based on the conceptual framework of the Economic and Environmental Principles and Guidelines for Water and Related Land Resources Implementation...the planning process and the NED evaluacion ’- ". procedures for agriculture, as described in the P&G, are thei presented. Also identified are some...ood Ioss compu t at ion approach de ’(’ op4 t hie f I ond damage for hypothetical frequency flood events and weights the result to I V- II1. + . IV-11

The economical contracting management in Agricultural Cooperatives: tools for evaluating their performance.

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Rafael Enrique Viña Echevarría

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The economic and management contracts involve strategic actions, legal and operational purposes that make possible to convert the goal of an organization on results that express the fulfillment of the mandates and satisfies customers on the basis of the duties and obligations set out in the negotiating document. This article aims to get inside into the performance evaluation of the management of the recruitment of Agricultural Cooperatives and to reflex about the insufficiencies evidenced in this process. To which we developed a theoretical valuation and economic procurement praxiological showing a group of deficiencies that have impacted in the contracts management The study was able to obtain, process, analyze, interpret and argue the problems associated with economic contracting and justify the need to propose a system of indicators to assess recruitment management Agricultural Cooperatives in the province of Sancti Spiritus, the results revealed the ineffectiveness of the process and the negative impact on the productive base.

ECOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC IMPROVING OF AGRICULTURAL LAND USE ON REGIONAL LEVEL

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Butenko E.

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Land Reform in Ukraine is already a considerable period of time. Priority land reform was to be the formation of land market relations that would ensure continued efficient reallocation of land resources based on market self-regulation. Implementation of large-scale land reforms in these areas has caused huge problems of acute social, economic and environmental. Properly not the rational use and protection of land resources, reproduction of the productive potential of agricultural lands. Particularly acute problem of management and expanded reproduction of land resources as a basis for sustainable development of Ukraine. Pressing problem today is to resolve these matters in accordance with the principles of sustainable development. Particulary attention should be focused on the implementation of integrated land use by solving problems of the rational use of land, an important aspect of which is to optimize land use. Irrational land use system has led to serious environmental consequences, namely the presence of such manifestations of land degradation as erosion, technogenic pollution, secondary alkalinity, flooding and landslides. The high level of tilled land, including hills, a significant expansion of crops cultivated crops and almost complete cessation of work package for soil protection, violation of the cultivation leads to land degradation. The current state of land use Cherkasy region does not meet the requirements of environmental management. Violated environmentally acceptable ratio of arable land, natural grasslands, which adversely affects the stability of agricultural landscapes. Optimizing the efficiency of land use requires evidence-based approach to land. So based on upgraded inventory system and effective land management by taking into account environmental and economic component of their assessment, you can achieve a significant positive impact on the economy of the region and the state as a whole. The current system of land

Connections and economic importance of agriculture and rural tourism

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Petrović Gordana

2015-01-01

Full Text Available In recent years, is often heard that Serbia has very favorable conditions for the development of rural tourism. We are constantly talking about the revival of Serbian villages. However, Serbia has a large number of villages ask questions on how to survive and how to improve the conditions of life in them. Since the creation of adequate conditions for life in the country depends on whether it will be and how it continues to evolve. Recommendations of the World Tourism Organization is the development of rural tourism. The reason for this is the favorable geographical position, varied relief, a pleasant climate, rich flora and fauna, interesting history, traditions, folklore ... should be taken of the fact that the Republic of Serbia has a predominantly rural characteristics, because 85% of the territory consists of rural areas inhabited by some 45-55% of the population. The main activity of the population in rural areas is agriculture, where 23% of the working population works in agriculture and generates about 40% of the total gross national income. Between agriculture and rural tourism there are a lot of permeation and solid connections. This cross-sectoral exchange of the common village. Tourism needed agricultural products throughout the year, and agriculture are required consumers. Rural tourism should be the backbone of economic development to raise living standards in the rural community.

Economic Analysis of Nitrate Source Reductions in California Agriculture

Science.gov (United States)

Medellin-Azuara, J.; Howitt, R.; Rosenstock, T.; Harter, T.; Pettygrove, S. G.; Dzurella, K.; Lund, J. R.

2011-12-01

We present an analytical approach to assess the economic impact of improving nitrogen management practices in California agriculture. We employ positive mathematical programming to calibrate crop production to base input information. The production function representation is a nested constant elasticity of substitution with two nests: one for applied water and one for applied nitrogen. The first nest accounts for the tradeoffs between irrigation efficiency and capital investments in irrigation technology. The second nest represents the tradeoffs between nitrogen application efficiency and the marginal costs of improving nitrogen efficiency. In the production function nest, low elasticities of substitution and water and nitrogen stress constraints keep agricultural crop yields constant despite changes in nitrogen management practices. We use the Tulare Basin, and the Salinas Valley in California's Central Valley and Central Coast respectively as our case studies. Preliminary results show that initial reductions of 25% in nitrogen loads to groundwater may not impose large costs to agricultural crop production as substitution of management inputs results in only small declines in net revenue from farming and total land use. Larger reductions in the nitrogen load to groundwater of 50% imposes larger marginal costs for better nitrogen management inputs and reductions in the area of lower valued crops grown in the study areas. Despite the shortage of data on quantitative effects of improved nitrogen efficiency; our results demonstrate the potential of combining economic and agronomic data into a model that can reflect differences in cost and substitutabilty in nitrogen application methods, that can be used to reduce the quantity of nitrogen leaching into groundwater.

ECOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS OF AGRICULTURAL LAND IN THE REPUBLIC OF KALMYKIA

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G. M. Borlikov

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Aim The aim is to analyze the ecological, economic and social issues of land use and to define organizational and economic measures to improve its effectiveness. Methods. We used scientific methods: comparison, generalization, analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, system methods etc., as well as specific scientific methods: economic and mathematical, statistical, expert assessments, and others. On the basis of these methods we have carried out ecological and geographical, ecological and economic analysis in historical perspective, evaluating the degree of the influence of natural and anthropogenic factors on the degradation of agricultural land and efficiency of land use in general. Thus it revealed that the main problems of land-use issues in Kalmykia and possible ways to resolve the problem. Results. Regional studies of ecological and economic problems of land use, the study of the historical experience of grazing industry, the assessment of the current state of arid areas have allowed developing mechanisms for land management and environmental protection, preventing negative social and economic consequences. Conclusions. The present state of agricultural land in the Republic of Kalmykia has led to a significant change in the direction of deterioration of fragile arid ecosystems, which explains the decrease in the total ecological and socio-economic effects, manifested in the reduction of all benefits received by the population. Solving the problems identified above requires an effective economic mechanism of rational land use and environmental protection in the arid zone, which includes science-based land-use regulations, an effective system of land management, a set of measures to prevent further degradation of natural ecosystems. 

Issues in assessing the economic benefits of ambient ozone control: some examples from agriculture

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Adams, R.M.

1983-01-01

Information on the economic benefits arising from alternative secondary National Ambient Air Quality Standards can provide one measure of regulatory efficiency. If benefits assessments are to be used in assessing regulatory impacts of federal standards as recently ordered by President Ronald Reagan, the economic concept of benefits, the limitations of benefits analysis, and the validity of those estimates needs to be clarified. Some methodological and applied issues which can effect the validity of environmental economic assessments as they pertain to agriculture are reviewed. Recent studies from the assessment literature on agriculture are critiqued with respect to how well they address such issues. An attempt is made to identify potential sources of variability in estimates found within that literature. Finally, implications for performance of future assessments are discussed.

Blue water scarcity and the economic impacts of future agricultural trade and demand

Science.gov (United States)

Schmitz, Christoph; Lotze-Campen, Hermann; Gerten, Dieter; Dietrich, Jan Philipp; Bodirsky, Benjamin; Biewald, Anne; Popp, Alexander

2013-06-01

An increasing demand for agricultural goods affects the pressure on global water resources over the coming decades. In order to quantify these effects, we have developed a new agroeconomic water scarcity indicator, considering explicitly economic processes in the agricultural system. The indicator is based on the water shadow price generated by an economic land use model linked to a global vegetation-hydrology model. Irrigation efficiency is implemented as a dynamic input depending on the level of economic development. We are able to simulate the heterogeneous distribution of water supply and agricultural water demand for irrigation through the spatially explicit representation of agricultural production. This allows in identifying regional hot spots of blue water scarcity and explicit shadow prices for water. We generate scenarios based on moderate policies regarding future trade liberalization and the control of livestock-based consumption, dependent on different population and gross domestic product (GDP) projections. Results indicate increased water scarcity in the future, especially in South Asia, the Middle East, and north Africa. In general, water shadow prices decrease with increasing liberalization, foremost in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. Policies to reduce livestock consumption in developed countries not only lower the domestic pressure on water but also alleviate water scarcity to a large extent in developing countries. It is shown that one of the two policy options would be insufficient for most regions to retain water scarcity in 2045 on levels comparable to 2005.

THE PERSPECTIVE OF AGRICULTURE IN THE CONTEXT OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT POTENTIAL IN VRANCEA COUNTY

OpenAIRE

RADULESCU CARMEN VALENTINA; ANGHELUTA PETRICA SORIN; IOAN ILDIKO

2015-01-01

Agriculture is an important field and also a priority of Romania's development. In this regard, providing food for population is a factor that ensures the specificity of agriculture. For this reason, we can consider that agriculture is a starting point for the socio-economic development of the country. Romania is recognized, at European and international level, for its experience in cultivating natural and traditional products. The agricultural area offers the possibility of suppl...

Green Agriculture - features and agricultural policy measures for the transition to a sustainable agriculture

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cornelia Nistor

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Agriculture is one of the most important economic activities in each country or area, as it is in close correlation with all other the other economic activities, in a whole which must be structured so as to achieve a more efficient planning and organization of the territory. The practice of a traditional agriculture, based on industrialization, affects the natural environment through emissions of pollutants, waste and deforestation which together affects biodiversity. Green Agriculture suppose to empower managers to widespread the use of fertilizers, to improve the crop rotation, to realize a more efficient water consumption, to improve the storage methods and the supply chain of products. Agricultural policies are closely interrelated with environmental policies as agricultural activities have a considerable influence on the environment. The efficiency of agricultural policies is reflected in monetary transfers between agriculture and other economic sectors, in the costs due to the reallocation of the resources between different agricultural and non-agricultural activities and in the realized gains. Currently there is a constant concern of the governments for the transition to a green agriculture, and most countries recognize the importance of achieving sustainable economic development.

Intellectual Properties Rights-A strong determinant of economic growth in agriculture

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Love Kumar Singh

2010-01-01

Full Text Available In the past few decades the subject of intellectual property rights (IPRs has occupied center stage in debates about globalization, economic development and poverty elimination. This study concerns the strengthening of IPRs in the plant breeding industry and its effect on agriculture in India. In India, most of the population relies on agricul-ture for its livelihood. India is self-sufficient in wheat and paddy, but deficient in other agricultural products. Pat-ents are good indicators of research and development output. Patent analysis makes it possible to map out the trend of technological change and life cycle of a technology - growth, development, maturity and decline. Patent infor-mation and patent statistical analysis have been used for examining present, technological status and to forecast future trends. One can determine the directions of corporate R&D and market interests by analyzing patent data. The present study is an attempt to analyze patents granted in India in the field of agriculture and importance of biotechnology-based innovations in agriculture

INFLUENCE SOCIO-ECONOMIC SITUATION ON THE EFFECTIVE USE OF MANPOWER AGRICULTURAL ENTERPRISES

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Oleksandr Lebid

2016-06-01

Full Text Available In the article, the socio-economic condition of the rural population of Ukraine is a potential basis for the formation of labor farms. Analyzes the quantity of the population of Ukraine. The experience of leading countries for the support of public authorities of the agricultural sector. Analyzes the rural development programs of developed countries and derived from their implementation results. The dependence of the social dimension of economic and determined that it is the main and fundamental, and is a driving force for social development. Key words: workforce, personnel, economic and social development, efficiency management, population, economically active population. JEL: Q 00

Economic Performance of SME Agricultural Producers in the Context of Risk Management: Focus on Visegrad 4 Member Countries

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Jan Vavřina

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The long term regulation of the EU agrarian sector via the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP and its respective instruments focuses on the sustainable development both of the agriculture and rural area as a whole. It is needed above all to stress out the equalization instruments of CAP within the context of negative impacts’ diminish of outer sectorial environment in relation with the economic status of agricultural businesses, specifically the small and medium ones. The EU programming period of years 2014-2020 is focused from the view point of the agrarian sector on more efficient CAP to encourage the competitiveness of European farmers. The aforementioned programming period is for agricultural producers from V4 countries the first one when CAP guarantees the maximum amount of operational subsidies for them, of course regarding the respective agreed EU accession treaties. Nevertheless, CAP subsidies cannot be considered to be the key factor of competitiveness within EU single market. The relation between long term increasing of production’s inputs on one hand and the decreasing of agricultural producers’ prices on the other one can be marked as very important negative aspect within the need of farmers’ sustainable competitiveness. So, the direct consequence of a negative influence of aforementioned factor is the subsequent negative direct influence on profitability of agricultural producers. The need for increasing the efficiency of production, marketing and other related processing activities appears to be relevant and inevitable. The business processes are repeated cyclically, that is why there is emerged the need for its systematic and continuous management, measurement, assessment and subsequent changes and optimization. The management of risks has to be involved in the business activities of agricultural businesses regardless their economic size and branch, taking into account possible negative influences. The article aims at

Economic and Financial Evaluation of The Irradiation Facility Unit For Some Egyptian Agricultural Exports

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Amin, S.R.A.

2014-01-01

Food irradiation technology strongly enhances quarantine, especially that chemical methods to preserve food and agricultural products are completely banned. The technology of food preservation by irradiation helps increasing Egypt’s agricultural exports to foreign markets as these exports become more competitive due to their long shelf life and decrease of loss. Therefore, food irradiation technology helps avoiding economic loss. The present study aims at conducting a financial analysis and economic evaluation for establishing an irradiation unit for some Egypt’s agricultural exports to enhance their competitiveness and help exporters in marketing them. The study also considers the site location of the unit because of the important role it plays in influencing the project size, production capacity, costs and expected profits. The study consists of four sections namely: Section one: This section includes two chapters. Chapter one presents the theoretical framework of the study. Chapter two displays the literature review. Chapter one includes key concepts and terms of irradiation, purpose of food irradiation, types of irradiation units, application in fruits and vegetables irradiation, radiation doses used in irradiating food and requirements for safety of food irradiation. chapter two reveals the literature review of previous research of the topic showing important results and conclusions made of previous studies and research, studies are divided into two parts, part one relate to agricultural exports, as part two links food irradiation technology. Section Two: This section presents a study of irradiating Egypt’s agricultural exports .This section is divided into two chapters; chapter one reveals the economic importance of irradiating agricultural products, and chapter two illustrates different types of irradiation techniques. The results in this section show the advantages of food irradiation technology in terms of marketing, health, environment and cost

Working Conditions of Agricultural Workers: A Reflection of Socio-economic Status

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B.R.K. Sinha

2010-11-01

Full Text Available Working conditions of agricultural workers, like industrial, are one of the burning issues in a developing region. It is related to agricultural activities of the workers and their socio-economic status. Working conditions may be both favourable and unfavourable. Those working conditions which are unfavourable to health may be considered as occupational hazards or as a part of occupational environment. It is generally observed that a large section of the agricultural workers remains engaged in agricultural practices at the time of hunger, thirst, pregnancy (women and even despite their unpleasant state of health, both mental and physical. They also continue to work for more than the prescribed standard hours and also having half-fed. These are not positive or favourable working conditions to their health as they normally cause general weakness, fatigue, stomach disorder, dizziness, headache, loss of energy and some other similar physical, mental and psychological problems. The major driving forces behind as such adverse working conditions and its consequences are the pressure of work, pressure of land owners and of timely completion of works, shortage of manpower, psychological attitude, ignorance, weather constraints, poverty, illiteracy, lack of work related health awareness, lower social and economic status, etc. Such forces compel the workers to be engaged in their agricultural practices under the above circumstance. Adverse working conditions of agricultural workers vary widely with reference to space, time, activities, demographics, society, economy and consequently affect both the mental and physical, social and psychological conditions of the agricultural workers. Persons in varying number in the age groups from 15-34 and 35-49 to 60 & + year were reported working under different types of undesirable working conditions. The people from the S.C. and S.T. categories are the major sufferers as most of them continue their work during

Coupled urbanization and agricultural ecosystem services in Guanzhong-Tianshui Economic Zone.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Z X; Li, J; Zhang, W

2016-08-01

Ecosystems offer material and environmental support for human habitation and development in those areas of the earth where people choose to live. However, urbanization is an inexorable trend of human social development and threatens the health of those ecosystems inhabited by humans. This study calculates the values of NPP (net primary productivity), carbon sequestration, water interception, soil conservation, and agricultural production in the Guanzhong-Tianshui Economic Zone. At the same time, we combined DMSP/OLS (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Operational Line Scanner) night lights remote sensing data and statistical data to analyze the level of urbanization. Quantitative analysis was performed on the interactions between the ecosystem service functions and urbanization based on the calculations of their coupled coordination degrees. The results were the following: (1) The values of NPP, carbon sequestration, and agricultural production showed a trend of increase. However, water interception decreased before increasing, while soil conservation showed the reverse trend; (2) Urbanization levels in the Guanzhong-Tianshui Economic Zone for the last 10 years have proceeded at a fast pace with comprehensive promotion; and (3) Coupled and coupled coordination degrees between urbanization and ecosystem services show increasing trends. This research can provide a theoretical basis for the region's rapid economic development in the balance.

The Impacts and Economic Costs of Climate Change in Agriculture and the Costs and Benefits of Adaptation

Science.gov (United States)

Iglesias, A.; Quiroga, S.; Garrote, L.; Cunningham, R.

2012-04-01

This paper provides monetary estimates of the effects of agricultural adaptation to climate change in Europe. The model computes spatial crop productivity changes as a response to climate change linking biophysical and socioeconomic components. It combines available data sets of crop productivity changes under climate change (Iglesias et al 2011, Ciscar et al 2011), statistical functions of productivity response to water and nitrogen inputs, catchment level water availability, and environmental policy scenarios. Future global change scenarios are derived from several socio-economic futures of representative concentration pathways and regional climate models. The economic valuation is conducted by using GTAP general equilibrium model. The marginal productivity changes has been used as an input for the economic general equilibrium model in order to analyse the economic impact of the agricultural changes induced by climate change in the world. The study also includes the analysis of an adaptive capacity index computed by using the socio-economic results of GTAP. The results are combined to prioritize agricultural adaptation policy needs in Europe.

Agriculture, population, and economic planning in Ethiopia, 1953-1980.

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson, W C; Yamazaki, F

1986-04-01

This paper deals with the economic development of Ethiopia in the 3 decades between 1950 and 1980. In particular, it examines governmental efforts at agricultural planning during this period compared to the actual experience of the country. The dominant forces governing the changes that occurred in this period were accelerated population growth and the declining availability of arable land, which combined to push a fragile, traditional ecosystem to the brink of disaster. Government planning efforts had little impact in the pre-1974 period, since they were too modest and small scale to affect the highly traditional and primitive mode of peasant cultivation. The sweeping structural changes introduced by the new regime since 1974 seem to have mainly adverse effects and to have decreased both productivity and yields. Ethiopia lacks the basic infrastructure and incentive system to create an environment in which technological change is possible. Presumably the declining agricultural growth rate from 1953 to 1974 suggests that the traditional, prerevolution system was failing to create these favorable conditions and hence was losing the race with population growth. The post-1974 revolutionary government's policy has been, in effect, an effort to jump to an advanced phase of agricultural development, and this seems to have been even less successful. These plans have, in all fairness, been hamstrung since 1981 by drought, famine, and civil war, but have probably themselves contributed to the severity of those events. Overall, Ethiopian agricultural planning has not been notably successful. From 1953-1980, total agricultural production is estimated to have grown at a slowly decreasing rate. The collapse of agriculture due to several years of drought obviously cannot be blamed on government planning, but its severity clearly has been at least partly a function of policy failures.

Intellectual Properties Rights-A strong determinant of economic growth in agriculture

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Manju Chaudhary

2010-03-01

Full Text Available

In the past few decades the subject of intellectual property rights (IPRs has occupied center stage in debates about globalization, economic development and poverty elimination. This study concerns the strengthening of IPRs in the plant breeding industry and its effect on agriculture in India. In India, most of the population relies on agriculture for its livelihood. India is self-sufficient in wheat and paddy, but deficient in other agricultural products. Patents are good indicators of research and development output. Patent analysis makes it possible to map out the trend of technological change and life cycle of a technology – growth, development, maturity and decline. Patent information and patent statistical analysis have been used for examining present, technological status and to forecast future trends. One can determine the directions of corporate R&D and market interests by analyzing patent data. The present study is an attempt to analyze patents granted in India in the field of agriculture and importance of biotechnology-based innovations in agriculture

The economics of agricultural subsidies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bosch, R.A.

1985-01-01

PART ONE

1. Agricultural subsidies have been defined as a government induced change of relative prices of goods, services and factors of production in the agricultural sector. These agricultural price changes may result from a large number of different government measures varying

Potential ecological and economic consequences of climate-driven agricultural and silvicultural transformations in central Siberia

Science.gov (United States)

Tchebakova, Nadezhda M.; Zander, Evgeniya V.; Pyzhev, Anton I.; Parfenova, Elena I.; Soja, Amber J.

2014-05-01

Increased warming predicted from general circulation models (GCMs) by the end of the century is expected to dramatically impact Siberian forests. Both natural climate-change-caused disturbance (weather, wildfire, infestation) and anthropogenic disturbance (legal/illegal logging) has increased, and their impact on Siberian boreal forest has been mounting over the last three decades. The Siberian BioClimatic Model (SiBCliM) was used to simulate Siberian forests, and the resultant maps show a severely decreased forest that has shifted northwards and a changed composition. Predicted dryer climates would enhance the risks of high fire danger and thawing permafrost, both of which challenge contemporary ecosystems. Our current goal is to evaluate the ecological and economic consequences of climate warming, to optimise economic loss/gain effects in forestry versus agriculture, to question the relative economic value of supporting forestry, agriculture or a mixed agro-forestry at the southern forest border in central Siberia predicted to undergo the most noticeable landcover and landuse changes. We developed and used forest and agricultural bioclimatic models to predict forest shifts; novel tree species and their climatypes are introduced in a warmer climate and/or potential novel agriculture are introduced with a potential variety of crops by the end of the century. We applied two strategies to estimate climate change effects, motivated by forest disturbance. One is a genetic means of assisting trees and forests to be harmonized with a changing climate by developing management strategies for seed transfer to locations that are best ecologically suited to the genotypes in future climates. The second strategy is the establishment of agricultural lands in new forest-steppe and steppe habitats, because the forests would retreat northwards. Currently, food, forage, and biofuel crops primarily reside in the steppe and forest-steppe zones which are known to have favorable

Soybean development: the impact of a decade of agricultural change on urban and economic growth in Mato Grosso, Brazil.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Richards

Full Text Available In this research we consider the impact of export-driven, soybean agriculture in Mato Grosso on regional economic growth. Here we argue that the soybean sector has served as a motor to the state's economy by increasing the demand for services, housing, and goods, and by providing a source of investment capital to the non-agricultural sector. Specifically, we show that each square kilometer of soybean production supports 2.5 formal sector jobs outside of agriculture, and the equivalent of approximately 150,000US in annual, non-agricultural GDP. We also show that annual gains in non-agricultural employment and GDP are closely tied to soybean profitability, and thus vary from year to year. However, while this article highlights the potential of the agricultural sector as a driver of regional economic growth, it also acknowledges that this growth has been sustained by profits determined by externally set prices and the rate of exchange, and that future growth trajectories will be susceptible to potential currency of market shocks. We also show that while Mato Grosso's economic growth has come at a significant cost to the environment, value added by the agriculture sector, directly and indirectly, has surpassed the value of the CO2-e emitted through land clearings.

Soybean Development: The Impact of a Decade of Agricultural Change on Urban and Economic Growth in Mato Grosso, Brazil

Science.gov (United States)

Richards, Peter; Pellegrina, Heitor; VanWey, Leah; Spera, Stephanie

2015-01-01

In this research we consider the impact of export-driven, soybean agriculture in Mato Grosso on regional economic growth. Here we argue that the soybean sector has served as a motor to the state’s economy by increasing the demand for services, housing, and goods, and by providing a source of investment capital to the non-agricultural sector. Specifically, we show that each square kilometer of soybean production supports 2.5 formal sector jobs outside of agriculture, and the equivalent of approximately 150,000US in annual, non-agricultural GDP. We also show that annual gains in non-agricultural employment and GDP are closely tied to soybean profitability, and thus vary from year to year. However, while this article highlights the potential of the agricultural sector as a driver of regional economic growth, it also acknowledges that this growth has been sustained by profits determined by externally set prices and the rate of exchange, and that future growth trajectories will be susceptible to potential currency of market shocks. We also show that while Mato Grosso’s economic growth has come at a significant cost to the environment, value added by the agriculture sector, directly and indirectly, has surpassed the value of the CO2-e emitted through land clearings. PMID:25919305

Soybean development: the impact of a decade of agricultural change on urban and economic growth in Mato Grosso, Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Richards, Peter; Pellegrina, Heitor; VanWey, Leah; Spera, Stephanie

2014-01-01

In this research we consider the impact of export-driven, soybean agriculture in Mato Grosso on regional economic growth. Here we argue that the soybean sector has served as a motor to the state's economy by increasing the demand for services, housing, and goods, and by providing a source of investment capital to the non-agricultural sector. Specifically, we show that each square kilometer of soybean production supports 2.5 formal sector jobs outside of agriculture, and the equivalent of approximately 150,000US in annual, non-agricultural GDP. We also show that annual gains in non-agricultural employment and GDP are closely tied to soybean profitability, and thus vary from year to year. However, while this article highlights the potential of the agricultural sector as a driver of regional economic growth, it also acknowledges that this growth has been sustained by profits determined by externally set prices and the rate of exchange, and that future growth trajectories will be susceptible to potential currency of market shocks. We also show that while Mato Grosso's economic growth has come at a significant cost to the environment, value added by the agriculture sector, directly and indirectly, has surpassed the value of the CO2-e emitted through land clearings.

Agriculture and greenhouse effect: economic regulation of cross impacts and combination of agricultural and environmental policies - analysis for the France and extension to the european union. Economic analysis of the interactions agriculture- greenhouse effect; Agriculture et effet de serre: regulation economique des impacts croises et combinaison des politiques agricole et environnementale - Analyse pour la France et extension pour l'Union Europeenne. Analyse economique des interactions agriculture - effet de serre

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jayet, P.A

2002-09-15

The objectives of the research program are: the impacts evaluation of a double relation climate - agriculture on the agricultural production and the greenhouse gases emission; the compatibility of agricultural policies and environmental policies of the sector. Simulations are realized at a regional scale with a coupling of economical and biophysical models (manure spreading, cultivation yield). (A.L.B.)

Health, agricultural, and economic effects of adoption of healthy diet recommendations.

Science.gov (United States)

Lock, Karen; Smith, Richard D; Dangour, Alan D; Keogh-Brown, Marcus; Pigatto, Gessuir; Hawkes, Corinna; Fisberg, Regina Mara; Chalabi, Zaid

2010-11-13

Transition to diets that are high in saturated fat and sugar has caused a global public health concern, as the pattern of food consumption is a major modifiable risk factor for chronic non-communicable diseases. Although agri-food systems are intimately associated with this transition, agriculture and health sectors are largely disconnected in their priorities, policy, and analysis, with neither side considering the complex inter-relation between agri-trade, patterns of food consumption, health, and development. We show the importance of connection of these perspectives through estimation of the eff ect of adopting a healthy diet on population health, agricultural production, trade, the economy, and livelihoods,with a computable general equilibrium approach. On the basis of case-studies from the UK and Brazil, we suggest that benefits of a healthy diet policy will vary substantially between different populations, not only because of population dietary intake but also because of agricultural production, trade, and other economic factors.

Virtual land use and agricultural trade. Estimating environmental and socio-economic impacts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wuertenberger, Laura; Koellner, Thomas; Binder, Claudia R.

2006-01-01

Liberalization has caused an increase in the global trade of goods and services. In particular, the value and physical volume of agricultural goods traded have largely increased. As the environmental and social consequences of trade are complex, they are rarely included in the national and international agricultural policies. One reason is that there is a lack of concepts and methods for assessing the environmental and social impacts of trade policies. In this paper we develop a method for quantifying and assessing the land use hidden in the export and import of agricultural goods for the case of Switzerland. For our analysis we focus on arable crops. The first methodological step of our research illustrates the spatial relationship of Switzerland with countries all over the world through the import and export of land use for arable crops. The second step links this spatial dimension with a qualitative assessment of the environmental and socio-economic impacts of agricultural land use. We applied the method to the case of wheat cultivation within Switzerland and import to Switzerland. The major problem we were confronted with was the availability of data, which had both to be reliable and available for the countries wheat is imported from. The results show that the calculation of land use is credible. In spite of the problems related with data availability, the assessment results for each indicator are in agreement with the current situation in the respective countries. In addition, the aggregation seems to accurately reflect the countries' agricultural polices. The developed method is used to estimate the overall environmental and socio-economic impacts of an increase in wheat imports to Switzerland. We argue that this method could be applied for anticipating potential impacts of trade agreements. Still, further research is required for fine-tuning of the utility functions, including a weighting procedure in the aggregation procedure. For practical applications

Systematic framework and measures of economic policy in function of Serbian agriculture improvement requirements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Branko KATIC

2010-12-01

Full Text Available One of the most significant economic activities in Serbia is agriculture, which also represents the base for food industry and some other branches of processing industry. In this field Serbia finds its developmental opportunity in future period. Inclusion of the country in EU, as well as in the World Tourist Organization, implies appropriate preparation and qualification in this field, so there could be more successful deal with rising competitiveness of foreign goods, in conditions of increasing liberalization level of foreign trade. Therefore, domestic regulatory rules must be adjusted to EU regulatory rules, like as concrete measures regarding agriculture and rural development improvement must be adjusted to the measures in the Joint EU Agrarian Policy. Serbian agriculture is in quite bad condition, and financial possibilities of the state, to expedite its development by abundant assets, are still insufficient. In terms of recession, caused by world economic crisis, too, incentive assets reduce, while making business in this field become more and more aggravated. This paper points out, in short, to significance and condition of agriculture in Serbia, on regulatory rules and future plan documents important for this field, as well as on concrete measures, which have to be undertaken in order to improve this activity.

Spatialization of the impacts of the economic regulation of the greenhouse in the agricultural sector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jayet, P.A.

2004-02-01

This report addresses the issue of the spatialization of the impacts of greenhouse gas mitigation policies in the agricultural sector. Generally speaking, the objective is to reach a compromise between large-scale macro-economic modelling approaches - which often overlook the spatial variability of emissions and abatement costs - and field-scale biophysical modelling approaches. The studies carried out in the course of this project rely for the most part on a supply-side oriented economic model of the EU agriculture based on micro-economic concepts, mathematical programming and optimization. The analysis of spatial implications of GHG mitigation polices relies on the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), which allows for spatial integration of the results provided by the economic model. We first carry out a comprehensive assessment of the emission sources of methane and nitrous oxide for the EU agriculture at a regional scale (FADN regions, scale at which data that feed the economic model are available). The abatement supply from the agricultural sector is derived from this assessment by simulating the impact of a first-best instrument (namely an emission tax). We therefore estimate the marginal abatement cost curves for all sources and at the farm-type level. The heterogeneity of abatement costs is discussed both at the regional scale (spatially defined) and at the farm-type level (non spatially-defined). Our results show that the spatial heterogeneity of abatement costs is of crucial importance in the design of GHG mitigation policies. The greater is the heterogeneity of abatement costs, the larger is the efficiency loss associated with non incentive-based instruments. We estimate this efficiency loss in the case of uniform quotas. Down-scaling the economic and environmental results from the FADN-region scale to a finer scale requires the linking of the simulation results with geo-referenced databases and GIS tools. This has been carried out for a test

Ranking agricultural, environmental and natural resource economics journals: A note

OpenAIRE

Halkos, George; Tzeremes, Nickolaos

2012-01-01

This paper by applying Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) ranks for the first time Economics journals in the field of Agricultural, Environmental and Natural Resource. Specifically, by using one composite input and one composite output the paper ranks 32 journals. In addition for the first time three different quality ranking reports have been incorporated to the DEA modelling problem in order to classify the journals into four categories (‘A’ to ‘D’). The results reveal that the journals with t...

Ecological and economic impacts of forest policies: interactions across forestry and agriculture.

Science.gov (United States)

R.J. Alig; D.M. Adams; B.A. McCarl

1998-01-01

A linked model of the US forest and agriculture sectors was used to examine the economic and ecological impacts of two forest policies: a minimum harvest age limitation and a reduced public harvest policy. Simulated private responses to both policies indicate that landowners could undertake a range of adjustments to minimize their welfare impacts, but imposition of...

Linking an economic model for European agriculture with a mechanistic model to estimate nitrogen and carbon losses from arable soils in Europe

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Leip

2008-01-01

Full Text Available A comprehensive assessment of policy impact on greenhouse gas (GHG emissions from agricultural soils requires careful consideration of both socio-economic aspects and the environmental heterogeneity of the landscape. We developed a modelling framework that links the large-scale economic model for agriculture CAPRI (Common Agricultural Policy Regional Impact assessment with the biogeochemistry model DNDC (DeNitrification DeComposition to simulate GHG fluxes, carbon stock changes and the nitrogen budget of agricultural soils in Europe. The framework allows the ex-ante simulation of agricultural or agri-environmental policy impacts on a wide range of environmental problems such as climate change (GHG emissions, air pollution and groundwater pollution. Those environmental impacts can be analyzed in the context of economic and social indicators as calculated by the economic model. The methodology consists of four steps: (i definition of appropriate calculation units that can be considered as homogeneous in terms of economic behaviour and environmental response; (ii downscaling of regional agricultural statistics and farm management information from a CAPRI simulation run into the spatial calculation units; (iii designing environmental model scenarios and model runs; and finally (iv aggregating results for interpretation. We show the first results of the nitrogen budget in croplands in fourteen countries of the European Union and discuss possibilities to improve the detailed assessment of nitrogen and carbon fluxes from European arable soils.

Adaptation of Agricultural and Food Systems to Climate Change: An Economic and Policy Perspective

OpenAIRE

John M. Antle; Susan M. Capalbo

2010-01-01

Adaptation of agricultural and food systems to climate change involves private and public investment decisions in the face of climate and policy uncertainties. The authors present a framework for analysis of adaptation as an investment, based on elements of the economics, finance, and ecological economics literatures. They use this framework to assess critically impact and adaptation studies, and discuss how research could be designed to support public and private investment decisions. They t...

A satellite-driven, client-server hydro-economic model prototype for agricultural water management

Science.gov (United States)

Maneta, Marco; Kimball, John; He, Mingzhu; Payton Gardner, W.

2017-04-01

Anticipating agricultural water demand, land reallocation, and impact on farm revenues associated with different policy or climate constraints is a challenge for water managers and for policy makers. While current integrated decision support systems based on programming methods provide estimates of farmer reaction to external constraints, they have important shortcomings such as the high cost of data collection surveys necessary to calibrate the model, biases associated with inadequate farm sampling, infrequent model updates and recalibration, model overfitting, or their deterministic nature, among other problems. In addition, the administration of water supplies and the generation of policies that promote sustainable agricultural regions depend on more than one bureau or office. Unfortunately, managers from local and regional agencies often use different datasets of variable quality, which complicates coordinated action. To overcome these limitations, we present a client-server, integrated hydro-economic modeling and observation framework driven by satellite remote sensing and other ancillary information from regional monitoring networks. The core of the framework is a stochastic data assimilation system that sequentially ingests remote sensing observations and corrects the parameters of the hydro-economic model at unprecedented spatial and temporal resolutions. An economic model of agricultural production, based on mathematical programming, requires information on crop type and extent, crop yield, crop transpiration and irrigation technology. A regional hydro-climatologic model provides biophysical constraints to an economic model of agricultural production with a level of detail that permits the study of the spatial impact of large- and small-scale water use decisions. Crop type and extent is obtained from the Cropland Data Layer (CDL), which is multi-sensor operational classification of crops maintained by the United States Department of Agriculture. Because

Bio-economic farm modelling for integrated assessment of agricultural and environmental policies: towards re-usability and improved empirical validity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kanellopoulos, A.

2010-01-01

Keywords: integrated assessment, environmental policy, agricultural policy, market liberalization, bio-economic model, farming systems, mathematical programming, maximum entropy estimation, data envelopment analysis, agricultural activity, land use, future studies.

The main objective of

WHAT ARE AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS PH.D. STUDENTS LEARNING ABOUT AGRIBUSINESS RESEARCH METHODS AND SUBJECT AREAS?

OpenAIRE

House, Lisa; Sterns, James A.

2002-01-01

This document contains the PowerPoint presentation given by the authors at the 2002 WCC-72 meetings, regarding what agricultural economics Ph.D students are learning about agribusiness research methods and subject areas.

Landscape diversity and the resilience of agricultural returns: a portfolio analysis of land-use patterns and economic returns from lowland agriculture

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abson David J

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Conventional agriculture is increasingly based on highly specialized, highly productive farms. It has been suggested that 1 this specialization leads to farms that lack resilience to changing market and environmental conditions; and 2 that by decreasing agricultural diversity, the resilience of the farming system also decreases. Methods We used agricultural gross margin (GM forecasts from 1966 to 2010 and remote sensing data from agricultural landscapes in the lowland UK, in conjunction with modern portfolio theory, to test the hypothesis that decreasing land-use diversity results in landscapes that provide higher, but more volatile, economic returns. We considered the role of spatial scale on the expected levels of volatility and resilience of agricultural returns. Results We found that: 1 there was a strong linear trade-off between expected GMs and the expected volatility of those GMs in real lowland agricultural landscapes in the UK; 2 land-use diversification was negatively correlated with expected GMs from agriculture, and positively correlated with decreasing expected volatility in GMs; 3 the resilience of agricultural returns was positively correlated with the diversity of agricultural land use, and the resilience of agricultural returns rose quickly with increased land-holding size at small spatial extents, but this effect diminished after landholdings reached 12,000 hectares. Conclusions Land-use diversity may have an important role in ensuring resilient agricultural returns in the face of uncertain market and environmental conditions, and land-holding size plays a pivotal role in determining the relationships between resilience and returns at a landscape scale. Creating finer-grained land-use patterns based on pre-existing local land uses may increase the resilience of individual farms, while maintaining aggregate yield across landscapes.

AGRICULTURAL POLICIES AND COMPETITION IN WORLD AGRICULTURE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raluca Duma

2011-04-01

Full Text Available Agricultural policies have had a guiding role inagriculture development and implicitly in their marketing. Usually they belongto each state and government and are issued in accordance with their specificclimate, social-economic and cultural background which includes food andgastronomic traditions. Agricultural policies have in view home and foreignmarket demand, as well as the socio-demographic, political and military contextat a certain point in the socio-economic development

Industry and agriculture: Elements of the economic profile of Kladovo municipality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miletić Radmila

2006-01-01

Full Text Available On the basis of spatial differentiation of the natural and socio-economic factors of development, we have seen the structural characteristics of the local industry and local agriculture, as two elements of the economy of Kladovo municipality, and the importance and role of these two elements in the spatial structure of the municipality. Particular attention was devoted in the course of this research, to the possibilities of intensifying the development of the less developed parts of the area. Activation of developmental potentials is directed towards a demographic revitalization and towards the establishment of a stable and progressive social-economic-ecological area, with an identity recognizable in the region. In that sense, we examine the inter-dependence of potentials limitations and risks for a more rapid future development of the municipality of Kladovo.

Evaluating the relative impact of climate and economic changes on forest and agricultural ecosystem services in mountain regions.

Science.gov (United States)

Briner, Simon; Elkin, Ché; Huber, Robert

2013-11-15

Provisioning of ecosystem services (ES) in mountainous regions is predicted to be influenced by i) the direct biophysical impacts of climate change, ii) climate mediated land use change, and iii) socioeconomic driven changes in land use. The relative importance and the spatial distribution of these factors on forest and agricultural derived ES, however, is unclear, making the implementation of ES management schemes difficult. Using an integrated economic-ecological modeling framework, we evaluated the impact of these driving forces on the provision of forest and agricultural ES in a mountain region of southern Switzerland. Results imply that forest ES will be strongly influenced by the direct impact of climate change, but that changes in land use will have a comparatively small impact. The simulation of direct impacts of climate change affects forest ES at all elevations, while land use changes can only be found at high elevations. In contrast, changes to agricultural ES were found to be primarily due to shifts in economic conditions that alter land use and land management. The direct influence of climate change on agriculture is only predicted to be substantial at high elevations, while socioeconomic driven shifts in land use are projected to affect agricultural ES at all elevations. Our simulation results suggest that policy schemes designed to mitigate the negative impact of climate change on forests should focus on suitable adaptive management plans, accelerating adaptation processes for currently forested areas. To maintain provision of agricultural ES policy needs to focus on economic conditions rather than on supporting adaptation to new climate. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Socio-economic scenario development for the assessment of climate change impacts on agricultural land use: a pairwise comparison approach

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Abildtrup, Jens; Audsley, E.; Fekete-Farkas, M.

2006-01-01

Assessment of the vulnerability of agriculture to climate change is strongly dependent on concurrent changes in socio-economic development pathways. This paper presents an integrated approach to the construction of socio-economic scenarios required for the analysis of climate change impacts...... on European agricultural land use. The scenarios are interpreted from the storylines described in the intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) special report on emission scenarios (SRES), which ensures internal consistency between the evolution of socio-economics and climate change. A stepwise...... downscaling procedure based on expert-judgement and pairwise comparison is presented to obtain quantitative socio-economic parameters, e.g. prices and productivity estimates that are input to the ACCELERATES integrated land use model. In the first step, the global driving forces are identified and quantified...

Empirical Analyses in Agricultural and Resource Economics

OpenAIRE

Stevens, Andrew William

2017-01-01

Agriculture has played a profound and unique role in humanity's development. We are dependent on agriculture for the vast majority of our food supply, and have so far been successful at increasing agricultural production to meet rising demand. At the same time, agriculture is the largest and most direct way that humans have altered our planet's landscape and natural environment. Indeed, over half of all land in the United States is used for some agricultural purpose. In this dissertation, I e...

On Rural Financial and Accounting Work under the Background of Rapid Agricultural Economic Development

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Yaozheng; TANG

2013-01-01

Under the background of rapid agricultural economic development,rural financial and accounting work is of great significance. From rural accounting management system,rural accountant allocation and rural accounting training,this paper analyzes current situations of rural accounting work in China. In rural financial and accounting work,there are following problems. ( 1) Accounting behavior is not standard,and basic accounting work is to be further strengthened; ( 2) Internal control is not perfect and implementation of supervision mechanism is formalized; ( 3) Few people manipulate accounting behavior and accounting information is not transparent. In view of these problems,it puts forward countermeasures for improving rural accounting work: ( 1) establishing perfect agricultural accounting system; ( 2) regulating fund management order; ( 3) promoting computerized agricultural financial and accounting work; ( 4) improving professional and comprehensive quality of rural accountants.

ECONOMIC ESSENCE AND COMPONENTS OF FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF AGRICULTURAL SECTOR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Volodymyr Matskiv

2015-11-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the paper is scientific grounding of theoretical and methodological approaches to the fundamental principles of the functioning of the existing system of financial support of the agrarian sector in Ukraine and its potential areas of its improvement through the construction of new effective financing mechanisms. Methodology. In the study the following methods are used: a comparative and morphological methods – to reveal the content and development of scientific thoughts about the interpretation of the concept of «financial support»; methods of systematization and generalization – to determine the functionality of the agricultural sector and the need of its financial support and to reveal the features of its functioning; systemic method – to construct a model of the implementation of agricultural sector financial support; logical method – for a consistent generalization of theoretical and practical scientific research statements. Results. Investigation of formation and development of the doctrine of financial support and systematization of scientific thoughts about its essence gives the opportunity to consider the content of the studied category in terms of the functional approach. Interpretation of the term “financial support” comes down to the statement that the formation of the theoretical foundations of the essence and the economic nature of financial support is a result of the achievements of several generations of scientists, each of whom invested a significant contribution to the development of the theory of the studied concept. This allowed us to analyze the term «financial providing» and to summarize the existing approaches in the light of the activities of the agricultural sector. In terms of functionality we found that financial support as a phenomenon can be seen in the context of its unique significance in the development of the economy. Practical implications. It was determined that the problems of

Biomass or biomess? - a comment on the paper by Anders Lunnan (Agriculture-based biomass energy supply - a survey of economics issues)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bolin, Olof

1997-01-01

A response to Lunnan's paper (Energy Policy, Vol. 25, No. 6, 1997), on economic issues surrounding agriculture-based biomass energy supplies is presented. This author argues that, despite Lunnan's gloomy forecasts for the economic prospects of agriculture-based bioenergy, the future of the industry will be decided in the political arena based on agricultural policy. Bioenergy production can best be promoted, it is argued, by reducing farmland prices. Caution is urged in placing too great a financial burden on farmers, however, and consumers of food or energy and tax-payers must share the risk of investment in these new technologies. (UK)

Ethics, sustainability and logistics in agricultural and agri-food economics research

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Pietro Pulina

2012-07-01

Full Text Available This study analyzes the changes osberved in the agri-food system with the advent of logistical management of the flow of goods and information along the food supply chain. Agri-food functions and responsibilities towards society are also analyzed. This field of research has been widely explored in recent years following the development of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR certification in agri-business. The analysis starts by examining the coherence of the ethical basis of human choices in a homo oeconomicus framework in which social relationships are merely exploitable activities. CSR development is then studied in the light of the new stakeholder theory for firms. The main fields of economic research into sustainable development and the most important goals achieved are examined and the methodological perspectives of agricultural economics research will also be discussed.

Potential economic effects of climate change on Finnish agriculture

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L. KETTUNEN

2008-12-01

Full Text Available In the assessment of the economic effects of climate change, changes in returns and costs have to be taken into consideration. Changes in returns are mainly caused by changes in the yield level. Costs are determined by various factors. Harvesting conditions may improve as the temperatures are higher. However, an increasing need for disease and pest control results in higher costs. Various extensive studies have indicated that rising temperatures with the CO2 fertilizing effect increase the crop potential in Finland. From the economic point of view an increase in yield level is highly significant, because the increase in costs remains quite small. A 10% increase in the yield level raises the farm income by about 6%. Because agriculture is supported in many ways either directly or indirectly, the rise in income level may be offset by lowering the support. Consequently, farmers may not benefit from an increase in the yield level, but the benefit will go to the state economy. However, an increase in the yield level resulting from rising temperatures is advantageous to the national economy, regardless of whether the benefit goes to the farmers or to the state.;

Managing of transaction costs of agricultural enterprises in the context of raising the level of economic security of the company

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Odnoshevnaya Olga Aleksandrovna

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the article deals with the analysis of the concept transaction costs incurred by the agricultural enterprise in the course of their activities. To investigate the effect of transaction costs in the context of improving the economic security of the enterprise. Elements scientific novelty. As element of scientific novelty in the work optimization structure of the formative groups of transaction costs agriculture costs for enterprises is presented . With a view of the effectiveness increase business processes management in the enterprise optimization and provision expenses we consider it necessary to the select transaction costs in separate classification group. As a result of conducted work been detected was the number of research transaction costs agriculture enterprise and recommended conducted work such costs of recommended way. Theoretically was studied classification features of transaction costs for agricultural enterprises, as a condition for the full impact of their recording and that the state of economic security. The practical significance. For the study, the results justified the conclusion that the transaction costs – is a special category of costs, which requires a separate account management for the improvement of its economic security.

Agricultural climate impacts assessment for economic modeling and decision support

Science.gov (United States)

Thomson, A. M.; Izaurralde, R. C.; Beach, R.; Zhang, X.; Zhao, K.; Monier, E.

2013-12-01

A range of approaches can be used in the application of climate change projections to agricultural impacts assessment. Climate projections can be used directly to drive crop models, which in turn can be used to provide inputs for agricultural economic or integrated assessment models. These model applications, and the transfer of information between models, must be guided by the state of the science. But the methodology must also account for the specific needs of stakeholders and the intended use of model results beyond pure scientific inquiry, including meeting the requirements of agencies responsible for designing and assessing policies, programs, and regulations. Here we present methodology and results of two climate impacts studies that applied climate model projections from CMIP3 and from the EPA Climate Impacts and Risk Analysis (CIRA) project in a crop model (EPIC - Environmental Policy Indicator Climate) in order to generate estimates of changes in crop productivity for use in an agricultural economic model for the United States (FASOM - Forest and Agricultural Sector Optimization Model). The FASOM model is a forward-looking dynamic model of the US forest and agricultural sector used to assess market responses to changing productivity of alternative land uses. The first study, focused on climate change impacts on the UDSA crop insurance program, was designed to use available daily climate projections from the CMIP3 archive. The decision to focus on daily data for this application limited the climate model and time period selection significantly; however for the intended purpose of assessing impacts on crop insurance payments, consideration of extreme event frequency was critical for assessing periodic crop failures. In a second, coordinated impacts study designed to assess the relative difference in climate impacts under a no-mitigation policy and different future climate mitigation scenarios, the stakeholder specifically requested an assessment of a

The Influence of Groundwater Depletion from Irrigated Agriculture on the Tradeoffs between Ecosystem Services and Economic Returns.

Science.gov (United States)

Kovacs, Kent; West, Grant

2016-01-01

An irrigated agricultural landscape experiencing groundwater overdraft generates economic returns and a suite of ecosystem services (in particular, groundwater supply, greenhouse gases reduction, and surface water quality). Alternative land cover choices indicate tradeoffs among the value of ecosystem services created and the economic returns. These tradeoffs are explored using efficiency frontiers that determine the least value in ecosystem services that must be given up to generate additional economic returns. Agricultural producers may switch to irrigation with surface water using on-farm reservoirs and tail water recovery systems in response to groundwater overdraft, and this has consequences for the bundle of ecosystem service values and economic returns achievable from the landscape. Planning that accounts for both ecosystem service value and economic returns can achieve more value for society, as does the adoption of reservoirs though lowering the costs of irrigation, increasing groundwater levels, and reducing fuel combustion and associated GHG emissions from groundwater pumping. Sensitivity analyses of per unit value of ecosystem services, crop prices, and the groundwater and water purification model parameters indicate tradeoff among ecosystems service values, such as the use of a high-end social cost of carbon ultimately lowers groundwater supply and water purification value by more than 15%.

The Influence of Groundwater Depletion from Irrigated Agriculture on the Tradeoffs between Ecosystem Services and Economic Returns.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kent Kovacs

Full Text Available An irrigated agricultural landscape experiencing groundwater overdraft generates economic returns and a suite of ecosystem services (in particular, groundwater supply, greenhouse gases reduction, and surface water quality. Alternative land cover choices indicate tradeoffs among the value of ecosystem services created and the economic returns. These tradeoffs are explored using efficiency frontiers that determine the least value in ecosystem services that must be given up to generate additional economic returns. Agricultural producers may switch to irrigation with surface water using on-farm reservoirs and tail water recovery systems in response to groundwater overdraft, and this has consequences for the bundle of ecosystem service values and economic returns achievable from the landscape. Planning that accounts for both ecosystem service value and economic returns can achieve more value for society, as does the adoption of reservoirs though lowering the costs of irrigation, increasing groundwater levels, and reducing fuel combustion and associated GHG emissions from groundwater pumping. Sensitivity analyses of per unit value of ecosystem services, crop prices, and the groundwater and water purification model parameters indicate tradeoff among ecosystems service values, such as the use of a high-end social cost of carbon ultimately lowers groundwater supply and water purification value by more than 15%.

Profitability Analysis for Agricultural Investment Projects

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Florina Oana VIRLANUTA

2011-11-01

Full Text Available In agriculture production is based on a process both economically as well as the biological one, the work results are influenced, more than any branch of economic, natural and climatic conditions are subject to higher risk and permanently. Due to the features of production in agriculture, we believe that it is necessary such as performance agricultural units to be assessed under a system of specific indicators. The correct assessment units are closely related agricultural economic-financial investment in agriculture. In the following we present and analyze a complex system of specific performance indicators of the extremely for assessing agricultural units.

The agricultural policy of Serbia and common agricultural policy

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Stanković Milica

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The agricultural sector has a relatively high importance in the economic structure of Serbia. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP, Common Agricultural Policy is one of the main policies of the European Union. It is very important to point out the fundamental principles and objectives of the Common Agricultural Policy. Harmonization of the national agricultural policy of Serbia with the Common Agricultural Policy and acceptance of its mechanisms is crucial for the development of the agricultural sector as a whole.

Assessing the economic impacts of agricultural carbon sequestration: Terraces and agroforestry in the Peruvian Andes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Antle, J.M.; Stoorvogel, J.J.; Valdivia, R.O.

2007-01-01

There is an increasing demand for information about the economic impact of agricultural carbon (C) sequestration in the developing world, but as yet no studies have assessed the potential for farmers in the highland tropics to participate in C contracts. In this paper we show how an

ECOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC DYNAMICS OF THE SHUNDE AGRICULTURAL SYSTEM UNDER CHINA'S SMALL CITY DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

Science.gov (United States)

The development of small cities has been adopted as the main strategy to make full use of extra labor in the rural areas of China. The ecological and economic consequences of this development will affect over 100 million people and change the organization of agricultural systems ...

An economic optimal-control evaluation of achieving/maintaining ground-water quality contaminated from nonpoint agricultural sources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cole, G.V.

1991-01-01

This study developed a methodology that may be used to dynamically examine the producer/consumer conflict related to nonpoint agricultural chemical contamination of a regional ground-water resource. Available means of obtaining acceptable ground-water quality included pollution-prevention techniques (restricting agricultural-chemical inputs or changing crop-production practices) and end-of-pipe abatement methods. Objectives were to select an agricultural chemical contaminant, estimate the regional agricultural costs associated with restricting the use of the selected chemical, estimate the economic costs associated with point-of-use ground-water contaminant removal and determine the least-cost method for obtaining water quality. The nitrate chemical derived from nitrogen fertilizer was selected as the contaminate. A three-county study area was identified in the Northwest part of Tennessee. Results indicated that agriculture was financially responsible for obtaining clean point-of-use water only when the cost of filtering increased substantially or the population in the region was much larger than currently existed

Journal of Agricultural Research and Development

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The Journal of Agricultural Research and Development aims at publishing research reports, short communications, Critical Reviews in Agricultural Economics and Farm Management, Agronomy, Forestry, Animal Science, Food Technology, Soil Science, Home Economics, Agricultural Extension, Rural development, ...

Did the Establishment of Poyang Lake Eco-Economic Zone Increase Agricultural Labor Productivity in Jiangxi Province, China?

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Tao Wu

2015-12-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we take the establishment of Poyang Lake Eco-Economic Zone in 2009 as a quasi-natural experiment, to evaluate its influence on the agricultural labor productivity in Jiangxi Province, China. The estimation results of the DID method show that the establishment of the zone reduced agricultural labor productivity by 3.1%, lowering farmers’ net income by 2.5% and reducing the agricultural GDP by 3.6%. Furthermore, this negative effect has increased year after year since 2009. However, the heterogeneity analysis implies that the agricultural labor productivities of all cities in Jiangxi Province will ultimately converge. We find that the lack of agricultural R&D activities and the abuse of chemical fertilizers may be the main reasons behind the negative influence of the policy, by examining two possible transmission channels—the R&D investment and technological substitution. Corresponding policy implications are also provided.

7. Food and agriculture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Livernash, R.

1992-01-01

Global food production has increased substantially over the past two decades, but factors such as population pressures and environmental degradation are undermining agriculture's current condition and future prospects. This chapter discusses the following: global trends; production trends (livestock and fisheries); per capita production trends (population density and agriculture); environmental trends (soil degradation, inputs of fertilizers, pesticides, and freshwater); economic trends (agricultural commodity prices, declining investment in irrigation, World Bank lending); trade liberalization and the Gatt negotiations; conventional agriculture and alternative agriculture; problems with the conventional model (on-farm impacts, off-farm impacts); agricultural policies - creating a new environment; policy impacts - distorted price structures; new policy options (reducing input subsidies, land conservation programs, management agreements, taxes, fees, and tax incentives, strengthening regulations, subsidizing conversion); the economics of alternative agriculture

Analysis of the Factor Endowments and Agricultural Trade for Economic Cooperation in Northeast Asia

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Myong Keun Eor

2004-06-01

, Japan and Korea are at different stages of economic development and have huge differences in income levels that would result in different consumer's tastes in each country. Accordingly, diverse measures of agricultural cooperation could be sought including continuous introduction of new products, differentiation of existing products, technological transfer, and production sharing among the countries in the region. If these measures for the cooperation could contribute to establishing systems for intra-industry division of labor in agricultural sector, social welfare will apparently increase through the trade creation and diversions in the region.

Socio-economic impacts of irrigated agriculture in Mbarali District of south west Tanzania

Science.gov (United States)

Mwakalila, Shadrack

Irrigation has been found to be central in curbing food scarcity not only in Tanzania but also in many other developing countries. It has been proved that continued reliability on rainfall in agriculture cannot sustain the increase in population. This study examines the impacts of smallholder irrigated agriculture in improving social and economic benefits in Igurusi Ward of Mbarali District which is located in the southern-western part of Tanzania. The study applies the Participatory Rural Appraisal Framework for data collection. The study was confined to five villages in Igurusi ward which are Majenje, Igurusi, Chamoto, Uhambule and Mahango. The study examined critically paddy production for smallholder farmers that practice irrigation and those who cultivates rain-fed paddy. The study examined both existing traditional and modern irrigation systems. It was found that, most of the respondents (79%) practice irrigated agriculture in paddy production while the remaining 21% practice rain-fed agriculture. Forty percent of households that practice irrigated agriculture harvest paddy two seasons per year. The return to labour in paddy production for smallholder farmers who irrigate their paddy fields is about US 2.5/manday which is above the poverty line of US 1.0/day. The smallest return to labour (US $ 0.85/manday) is obtained by an average smallholder farmer who cultivates rain-fed paddy using hand hoe and family labour. The potential implication of the current irrigation systems is that if irrigation is managed properly it may lead to sustainable increases in small farmer’s productivity and income, thus alleviating rural poverty.

Socio-Economic Implications of Drought in the Agricultural Sector and the State Economy

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Jadwiga R. Ziolkowska

2016-09-01

Full Text Available In 2011, the most severe drought in Texas history caused $7.62 billion in losses in the agricultural sector alone. This paper analyzes ripple effects of the 2011 drought in Texas agriculture on the entire state economy retrospectively in an effort to foster discussion on targeted mitigation measures in the long term. By using an Input-Output and social accounting matrix model, direct effects on livestock, cotton, sorghum, wheat, corn, hay, and timber production, as well as indirect effects on other related sectors, and finally induced effects from changing consumers behavior have been estimated. According to the results, the 2011 drought caused economic losses of $16.9 billion in the entire Texas economy and increased the unemployment by around 166,895 people. The agricultural sector alone lost around 106,000 jobs. The cotton farming experienced 91% of revenue losses (as compared to 2010, while the livestock production lost 32% in revenue. The decreased production yields and limited market supply directly influence market prices for those products, which might create additional spillover effects on export and import quantities. The presented analysis can be helpful for designing policies to launch mitigation programs for drought events in the future.

Economic scale of utilization of radiation (2): agriculture. Comparison between Japan and the U.S.A.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kume, Tamikazu [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Takasaki, Gunma (Japan). Takasaki Radiation Chemistry Research Establishment; Amano, Etsuo [Fukui Prefectural Univ., Research Center for Bioresources Dept., Awara, Fukui (Japan); Nakanishi, Tomoko M. [Tokyo Univ., Graduate School of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Tokyo (Japan); Chino, Mitsuo [Akita Prefectural Univ., Faculty of Bioresource Sciences, Akita (Japan)

2002-10-01

The economic scale of the application of radiation in the field of agriculture in Japan was estimated from public documents to be about 964M$ (million dollars) in 1997. In the food irradiation, an amount of 15,000t of potatoes irradiated per year in Hokkaido was estimated to be worth 16M$. Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) used for combating losses due to the melon fly in the mainly Okinawa region produced as much as 70M$ in benefits. Production of rice using varieties developed by mutation breeding was about 3% of overall production in Japan and the economic scale was 774M$. Radioisotope (RI) utilized in laboratory work, environmental analysis and chronology was accounted to be as high as 24M$. The relative ratios of radiation processing (136M$), mutation breeding (804M$) and RI utilization (24M$) were 14%, 83%, and 3%, respectively. The economic scale surveys in food irradiation and mutation breeding were extended to the United Sates of America (hereinafter abbreviated as U.S.A. or U.S.) for a direct comparison to the situation in Japan. As to maximum estimation, it amounted to be 3.2b$ (billion dollars) for food irradiation and 11.2b$ for mutation breeding. The economic scale for agriculture products within our scope was 14.5b$ for the U.S. and about 0.8b$ for Japan, implying that the former is larger in magnitude by a factor of about 18. (author)

Economic scale of utilization of radiation (2): agriculture. Comparison between Japan and the U.S.A

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kume, Tamikazu; Nakanishi, Tomoko M.; Chino, Mitsuo

2002-01-01

The economic scale of the application of radiation in the field of agriculture in Japan was estimated from public documents to be about 964M$ (million dollars) in 1997. In the food irradiation, an amount of 15,000t of potatoes irradiated per year in Hokkaido was estimated to be worth 16M$. Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) used for combating losses due to the melon fly in the mainly Okinawa region produced as much as 70M$ in benefits. Production of rice using varieties developed by mutation breeding was about 3% of overall production in Japan and the economic scale was 774M$. Radioisotope (RI) utilized in laboratory work, environmental analysis and chronology was accounted to be as high as 24M$. The relative ratios of radiation processing (136M$), mutation breeding (804M$) and RI utilization (24M$) were 14%, 83%, and 3%, respectively. The economic scale surveys in food irradiation and mutation breeding were extended to the United Sates of America (hereinafter abbreviated as U.S.A. or U.S.) for a direct comparison to the situation in Japan. As to maximum estimation, it amounted to be 3.2b$ (billion dollars) for food irradiation and 11.2b$ for mutation breeding. The economic scale for agriculture products within our scope was 14.5b$ for the U.S. and about 0.8b$ for Japan, implying that the former is larger in magnitude by a factor of about 18. (author)

On Rural Financial and Accounting Work under the Background of Rapid Agricultural Economic Development

OpenAIRE

Tang, Yaozheng

2013-01-01

Under the background of rapid agricultural economic development, rural financial and accounting work is of great significance. From rural accounting management system, rural accountant allocation and rural accounting training, this paper analyzes current situations of rural accounting work in China. In rural financial and accounting work, there are following problems. (1) Accounting behavior is not standard, and basic accounting work is to be further strengthened; (2) Internal control is not ...

Managing forest and marginal agricultural land for multiple tradeoffs : compromising on economic, carbon and structural biodiversity objectives

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Krcmar, E.; Kooten, van G.C.; Vertinsky, I.

2005-01-01

In this paper, we use compromise programming to solve a multiple-objective land use and forest management planning model. Long- and short- (`fast¿) term carbon uptake, maintenance of structural diversity, and economic (net returns to forestry and agriculture) objectives are simultaneously achieved

Economic Feasibility of Irrigated Agricultural Land Use Buffers to Reduce Groundwater Nitrate in Rural Drinking Water Sources

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Megan M. Mayzelle

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Agricultural irrigation leachate is often the largest source for aquifer recharge in semi-arid groundwater basins, but contamination from fertilizers and other agro-chemicals may degrade the quality of groundwater. Affected communities are frequently economically disadvantaged, and water supply alternatives may be too costly. This study aimed to demonstrate that, when addressing these issues, environmental sustainability and market profitability are not incompatible. We investigated the viability of two low impact crops, alfalfa and vineyards, and new recharge basins as an alternative land use in recharge buffer zones around affected communities using an integrated hydrologic, socio-geographic, and economic analysis. In the southern Central Valley, California, study area, alfalfa and vineyards currently constitute 30% of all buffer zone cropland. Economic analyses of alternative land use scenarios indicate a wide range of revenue outcomes. Sector output gains and potential cost saving through land use conversion and resulting flood control result in gains of at least $2.3 billion, as compared to costs of $0.3 to $0.7 billion for treatment options over a 20 year period. Buffer zones would maintain the economic integrity of the region and concur with prevailing policy options. Thus, managed agricultural recharge buffer zones are a potentially attractive option for communities facing financial constraint and needing to diversify their portfolio of policy and infrastructure approaches to meet drinking water quality objectives.

ORGANIZATIONAL AND ECONOMIC ASSUMPTIONS OF IMPROVEMENT INNOVATIVE MECHANISM OF UKRAINIAN AGRICULTURAL SECTOR

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O. Bogdan

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The article analyzes the structure of the potential of innovative development of the of ukrainian agroindustrial sector. There was studied scientific potential and agribusiness production capacity in order to identify significant disparities hamper scientific and industrial cooperation. The author considers the market and the state priorities of innovation and constructed cross-section. The recommendations for areas of improvement of the innovative development organizational-economic mechanism of the sector, which will enhance the competitiveness of agribusiness sector, providing a high level of scientific and technological development of the agricultural sector as one of the priorities in Ukraine.

Journal of Agriculture and Social Research (JASR)

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Journal of Agriculture and Social Research (JASR), a biannual journal, is an official publication of Agricultural Volunteers of Nigeria (AgVON). The journal considers articles from the following areas: Agriculture, Home Economics/Food science, forestry, wildlife and fisheries, environment and waste management, economics, ...

The Economic Impacts of Climate Change on Agriculture: New Damage Functions from a Meta-Analsis and the GGCMI

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, F. C.; Baldos, U. L. C.; Hertel, T. W.; Diaz, D.

2016-12-01

Substantial advances have been made in recent years in understanding the effects of climate change on agriculture, but this is not currently represented in economic models used to quantify the benefits of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, the science regarding climate change impacts on agriculture in these models dates to the early 1990s or before. In this paper we derive new economic damage functions for the agricultural sector based on two methods for aggregating current scientific understanding of the impacts of warming on yields. We first present a new meta-analysis based on a review of the agronomic literature performed for the IPCC 5th Assessment Report and compare results from this approach with findings from the AgMIP Global Gridded Crop Model Intercomparison (GGCMI). We find yield impacts implied by the meta-analysis are generally more negative than those from the GGCMI, particularly at higher latitudes, but show substantial agreement in many areas. We then use both yield products as input to the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) computable general equilibrium (CGE) model in order to estimate the welfare consequences of these yield shocks and to produce two new economic damage functions. These damage functions are consistently more negative than the current representation of agricultural damages in Integrated Asessment Models (IAMs), in some cases substantially so. Replacing the existing damage functions with those based on more recent science increases the social cost of carbon (SCC) by between 43% (GGCMI) and 143% (Meta-Analysis). In addition to presenting a new mutli-crop, multi-model gridded yield impact prouct that complements the GGCMI, this is also the first end-to-end study that directly links the biophysical impacts of climate change to the SCC, something we believe essential to improving the integrity of IAMs going forward.

[Ecological agriculture: future of Good Agriculture Practice of Chinese materia medica].

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Lan-ping; Zhou, Liang-yun; Mo, Ge; Wang, Sheng; Huang, Lu-qi

2015-09-01

Based on the ecological and economic problems in Good Agriculture Practice (GAP) of Chinese material medica, we introduced the origin, concept, features and operative technology of eco-agriculture worldwide, emphasizing its modes on different biological levels of landscape, ecosystem, community, population, individual and gene in China. And on this basis, we analyzed the background and current situation of eco-agriculture of Chinese materia medica, and proposed its development ideas and key tasks, including: (1) Analysis and planning of the production pattern of Chinese material medica national wide. (2) Typical features extraction of regional agriculture of Chinese materia medica. (3) Investigation of the interaction and its mechanism between typical Chinese materia medica in each region and the micro-ecology of rhizosphere soil. (4) Study on technology of eco-agriculture of Chinese materia medica. (5) Extraction and solidification of eco-agriculture modes of Chinese materia medica. (6) Study on the theory of eco-agriculture of Chinese materia medica. Also we pointed out that GAP and eco-agriculture of Chinese material medica are both different and relative, but they are not contradictory with their own features. It is an irresistible trend to promote eco-agriculture in the GAP of Chinese material medica and coordinate ecological and economic development.

ECONOMIC BACKGROUND CROP ROTATION AS A WAY TO PREVENT THE DEGRADATION OF AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPES

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Shevchenko O.

2017-05-01

recommended rotation of soil saturation with large crops of grasses and crops of solid cover, which makes it possible to avoid or minimize the growing row crops. Introduce a rotation of soil combined with contour reclamation of the territory, which includes, band allocation of agricultural crops, construction of various water-regulating structures meadow to the degree of degradation of soil and the steepness of the slope. This limits the fields are projected across the slope or parallel horizontally, and to combat deflation - across the direction of prevailing winds. The study crop rotation over time as a way of preventing the degradation of agricultural landscapes allowed to establish scientifically grounded crop rotation not only performs reclamation feature - provides protection from degradation of the soil and creates a favorable ecological environment in agricultural landscapes, but also can have significant economic efficiency. By comparison the actual amount of sales of crop considering the cost of its production in the administrative districts of Kyiv region (2703,4 million UAH with a forecast value of crop production while maintaining a crop pattern in the rotation with a corresponding set of crops (3075,8 million UAH proved that the economic effect of the introduction of scientifically grounded crop rotations in the region will be about 372,4 million USD, and additional income from 1 hectare of crop area – 322,8 USD. It is proved that, in addition to rotation for a successful fight against land degradation on lands occupied in agriculture also need to implement complex soil conservation measures to protect soil from degradation. To determine the economically justified soil conservation measures were examined the economic impact and effectiveness of each in current market conditions.

A statistical analysis of aggregates of the total economic account for agriculture of the Czech Republic in 1998–2003

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Božena Bodečková

2005-01-01

Full Text Available Results of the statistical analysis of the of the total economic aggregate account for the Czech Republic enabled, in addition to the quantification of its performance, also to asses the developmental tendencies of economic phenomena under study. From this point of view, the most important were the data obtained within the framework of studies on the total output of Czech agricultural industry. Among the major indicators of the production intensity, the level of intermediate consumption was explored as well. This analysis involved also an exact estimation of both gross and net added value because such an analysis enables to express the the final economic effect of agriculture within the framework of the national economy as a whole. A complex approach to the solution of these problems is presented on the base of studies on the structure of both plant and animal production and of the total intermediate consumption

Agricultural experts’ attitude towards precision agriculture: Evidence from Guilan Agricultural Organization, Northern Iran

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Mohammad Sadegh Allahyari

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Identifying factors that influence the attitudes of agricultural experts regarding precision agriculture plays an important role in developing, promoting and establishing precision agriculture. The aim of this study was to identify factors affecting the attitudes of agricultural experts regarding the implementation of precision agriculture. A descriptive research design was employed as the research method. A research-made questionnaire was used to examine the agricultural experts’ attitude toward precision agriculture. Internal consistency was demonstrated with a coefficient alpha of 0.87, and the content and face validity of the instrument was confirmed by a panel of experts. The results show that technical, economic and accessibility factors accounted for 55% of the changes in attitudes towards precision agriculture. The findings revealed that there were no significant differences between participants in terms of gender, field of study, extension education, age, experience, organizational position and attitudes, while education levels had a significant effect on the respondent’s attitudes.

The EU's Agenda 2000 reform for the agricultural sector. Environmental and economic effects in Denmark

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wier, Mette; Andersen, Johnny M.; Jensen, Joergen D.; Jensen, Thomas C.

2002-01-01

The Agenda 2000 reform, agreed on by the EU government leaders in the spring of 1999, implies considerable changes in EU agricultural policy. The reform involves both reductions in price support and compensations in the form of hectare and animal support. The Agenda 2000 reform may have considerable environmental and economic effects, and in this article we assess these effects. Within an integrated model system, we calculate environmental effects (changes in nitrogen loading in the terrestrial environment and the Danish marine waters, changes in oxygen concentrations in the inner Danish marine waters, and changes in emissions of the greenhouse gases (methane and nitrous oxide)), as well as economic effects (effects on private consumption, GDP, the balance of payments, and employment). The results indicate that the Agenda 2000 reform has significant economic costs but almost no effects on the environment - either positive or negative

Ethical, social, environmental and economic issues in animal agriculture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kesavan, P.C.; Swaminathan, M.S.

2005-01-01

Livestock are vital to subsistence farming and sustainable livelihood in most developing countries. Of India's population of one billion people, more than 70 percent live in the rural areas. India also has more than 30 percent of the world's bovine population. This has resulted in not only egalitarian ownership of cattle, but also in an almost inseparable cultural and symbiotic relationship between rural families and their farm animals, particularly large ruminants. It is against this scenario that the ethical, social and environmental issues of gene-based technologies need to be carefully evaluated. The use of transgenic cows with modified milk composition or for any other purpose has little economic benefit in a system of 'production by masses', as typifies India and a few other developing countries, compared with 'mass production' systems in developed countries. Rather, the use of rDNA technology for developing drought-resistant fodder and forage crops is likely to bring immediate relief to most regions. Cattle, particularly in India, have poor quality feeds and this results in poor nutrition, with production of large amounts of methane. Irnmunocastration -through biotechnological means would also be advantageous. Developing countries like India need sustainable livelihood security, and, in this regard, gene-based technologies in animal agriculture seem more to raise ethical, social and environmental concerns, rather than being likely to transform 'subsistence farming' into vibrant agribusiness. Ethical issues concerning animal welfare, rights and integrity are also discussed, in addition to social, environmental and economic issues. (author)

Generic Certificates. Agricultural Economic Report Number 594.

Science.gov (United States)

Glauber, Joseph W.

The Food Security Act of 1985 authorizes the U.S. Department of Agriculture to issue generic certificates in lieu of cash payments due to program participants and merchants of agricultural products under provisions of several programs. The certificates may be used to acquire stocks held as collateral on government loans or owned by the Commodity…

Women’s Socio-economic Contribution to Agriculture and Livestock Activities in Rural Areas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pınar AYVAZOĞLU DEMİR

2017-07-01

Full Text Available In this study, it was aimed to define women’s contributions to agriculture and stockbreeding in central villages of Kars province where is an important stockbreeding area with its livestock existence. The data provided from the survey conducted with 210 women chosen by simple random sampling method constituted the research material. In accordance with the data obtained from the study, it was stated that women in the area spend an average of 4.5 hours a day by stock breeding. It was determined that 37.6% women prepare feed, 40% women feed the animals, 51% women clean stables, 85.2% women make cowpat and 89.5% of them milk. As a result, it is determined that employing and promoting women who play a crucial role in agriculture and livestock activities in working status, giving instructional seminars about animal production and supporting their socio-economic status are important in terms of having qualified livestock production.

Renewable energy from pyrolysis using crops and agricultural residuals: An economic and environmental evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kung, Chih-Chun; Zhang, Ning

2015-01-01

This study examines pyrolysis-based electricity generation and ethanol production using various crops and agricultural residuals in Taiwan. It analyzes the net economic and environmental effects within the framework of the Extended Taiwanese Agricultural Sector Model by incorporating ongoing and potential gasoline, coal and GHG (greenhouse gas) prices. The study discusses the effects of agricultural shifts, which have several important implications for the Taiwanese bioenergy development. First, the cost of collecting rice straw is much lower than the production cost of other energy crops, implying that the efficient use of agricultural waste may eventually result in positive social effects in terms of farmers' revenue, the renewable energy supply and GHG emissions offset. Second, farmers with idle land usually suffer a lower steady income. Encouraging the development of the renewable energy industry increases the demand of raw feedstocks, which involves converting the idle land into cultivation and increasing farmers' revenue. Third, agricultural waste is usually burned and emits CO_2, which accelerates the global climate shift. Approximately one third of emissions could be offset by rice straw-based bioenergy in certain cases. Turning this waste into bioenergy, which offsets net GHG emissions, has positive effects on the climate change mitigation. - Highlights: • Pyrolyzing rice straw provides considerable energy supply (max 4.68 billion kWh). • High emission offset when combined with rice straw (max 2.73 million tons). • Affordable government subsidy ($204 million a year). • Collection and transportation costs of wastes could impact the result significantly.

The benefits of improved technologies in agricultural aviation. [economic impact and aircraft configurations

Science.gov (United States)

1978-01-01

The economic benefits attributable to a variety of potential technological improvements in agricultural aviation are discussed. Topics covered include: the ag-air industry, the data base used to estimate the potential benefits and a summary of the potential benefits from technological improvements; ag-air activities in the United States; foreign ag-air activities; major ag-air aircraft is use and manufacturers' sales and distribution networks; and estimates of the benefits to the United States of proposed technological improvements to the aircraft and dispersal equipment. A bibliography of references is appended.

Threats to agriculture at the extensive and intensive margins : economic analyses of selected land-use issues in the U.S. West and British Columbia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Eagle, A.J.

2009-01-01

Key Words Agriculture-environment interactions, economic modelling, sage grouse, yellow starthistle, urban-rural fringe, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), farmland conservation, direct marketing Agricultural land uses are frequently challenged by competing land demands for urban uses and for

Clustering of agricultural enterprises

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Michaela Beranová

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Agricultural business is a very specific branch which is characterized by very low financial performance while this characteristic is given mainly by external factors as market pricing of agricultural commodities on one side, and production costs of agricultural commodities on the other side. This way, agricultural enterprises recognize negative values of gross margin in the Profit and Loss Statement but positive value of operating profit after even there are items of costs which are deducted. These results are derived from agricultural production subsidies which are recognized as income in the P/L Statement. In connection with this fact, the government subsidies are a substantial component of financial performance of agricultural enterprises.Primary research proceeded on the statistical sample of one hundred agricultural companies, has shown that also other specifics influencing financial performance of these businesses exist here. In order to determine the influences, the cluster analysis has been applied at using more than 10 variables. This approach has led to construction of clusters (groups of agricultural business entities with different characteristics of the group. The objective of this paper is to identify the main determinants of financial performance of agricultural enterprises and to determine their influences under different economic characteristics of these business entities. For this purpose, the regression analysis has been subsequently applied on the groups of companies coming out from the cluster analysis. Besides the operating profit which is the main driving force of financial performance measured with the economic value added (EVA in agricultural enterprises, also capital structure and cost of capital have been observed as very strong influences on financial performance but these factors have different directions of their influence on the economic value added under different financial characteristics of agricultural

Life Cycle Based Evaluation of Environmental and Economic Impacts of Agricultural Productions in the Mediterranean Area

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Elena Tamburini

2015-03-01

Full Text Available In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA applied to estimate the cradle-to-grave environmental impact of agricultural products or processes. Furthermore, including in the analysis an economic evaluation, from the perspective of an integrated life cycle approach, appears nowadays as a fundamental improvement. In particular, Life Cycle Costing (LCC, is a method that could integrate financial data and cost information with metrics of life cycle approaches. In this study, LCA in conjunction with LCC methods were used, with the aim to evaluate the main cost drivers—environmental and economic—of five widely diffused and market-valued agricultural productions (organic tomato and pear, integrated wheat, apple and chicory and to combine the results in order to understand the long-term externalities impacts of agricultural productions. Data obtained in local assessment show a wide margin of improvement of resources management at farms level in the short-term, but also allow for the investigation of future effects of environmental impacts not expressed in product price on the market. Reaching a real sustainable model for agriculture could be a value added approach firstly for farmers, but also for all the people who live in rural areas or use agricultural products.

Analysis of legal and economic aspects of precipitation weather derivatives for Serbian agricultural sector

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Veselinović Janko

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Weather derivatives are not present in Serbia nor in the neighbouring countries and have no significant application in the European Union, either. Weather derivatives originated in the USA, where the market for these instruments is most developed, in terms of both economy and law. However, positive effects of their application, through the decrease of influence of unfavourable weather conditions on agricultural crops, are a good basis for their further study. The most common reasons for their absence from our financial market are their complexity and the inexistence of prerequisites for their introduction. This paper analyses legal and economic aspects of weather derivatives, as forms of financial derivatives, as well as weather derivative contracts concluded with the aim of hedging against precipitation exposure. The goal of the analysis is to find an optimal contract structure, but also the conditions that have to be met in order for its signing to be economically justified for both contractual parties, as well as the creation of preconditions for this weather derivative contract to be the instrument of trade on the financial market. The paper also analyses normative frameworks for the conclusion of these derivative contracts, as well as the necessity to educate market participants, which refers both to agricultural producers and financial institutions. Furthermore, it emphasizes the difference in relation to the classical contract of insurance against drought risk.

An Approach to Determining the Market for Academic Positions: Application to the Discipline of Agricultural Economics

Science.gov (United States)

Farrell, Terence; Casavant, Ken; Jessup, Eric

2007-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to present issues that are relevant to pursuing an academic career in the chosen discipline of each student. The application will be a general case study of agricultural economics. The analytical model will be used to evaluate options for Ph.D. graduates in a supply and demand context. The first issue presented is a…

Economic feasibility of CHP facilities fueled by biomass from unused agriculture land: Case of Croatia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pfeifer, Antun; Dominković, Dominik Franjo; Ćosić, Boris; Duić, Neven

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Potential of unused agricultural land for biomass and fruit production is assessed. • Technical and energy potential of biomass from SRC and fruit pruning is calculated. • Economic feasibility of CHP plants utilizing biomass from SRC is presented for Croatia. • Sensitivity analysis and recommendations for shift toward feasibility are provided. - Abstract: In this paper, the energy potential of biomass from growing short rotation coppice on unused agricultural land in the Republic of Croatia is used to investigate the feasibility of Combined Heat and Power (CHP) facilities fueled by such biomass. Large areas of agricultural land that remain unused for food crops, represent significant potential for growing biomass that could be used for energy. This biomass could be used to supply power plants of up to 15 MW_e in accordance with heat demands of the chosen locations. The methodology for regional energy potential assessment was elaborated in previous work and is now used to investigate the conditions in which such energy facilities could be feasible. The overall potential of biomass from short rotation coppice cultivated on unused agricultural land in the scenarios with 30% of the area is up to 10 PJ/year. The added value of fruit trees pruning biomass represents an incentive for the development of fruit production on such agricultural land. Sensitivity analysis was conducted for several parameters: cost of biomass, investment costs in CHP systems and combined change in biomass and technology cost.

Economic and environmental performance of alternative policy measures to reduce nutrient surpluses in Finnish agriculture

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H. LEHTONEN

2008-12-01

Full Text Available This paper provides an economic sector level analysis of the effectiveness of different policy measures in decreasing nitrogen (N and phosphorus (P surpluses from agriculture in order to reduce nutrient runoff from agricultural fields to watercourses and to improve water quality of surface waters. Assuming no changes in the EU level policies after CAP reform 2003 we focus on national level policy measures such as full or partial de-coupling of national support from production, payments for reduced nutrient surpluses of N and P, and N fertiliser tax. None of the analysed policy measures is superior one with respect to environmental performance, since full decoupling of national support would be the most effective in reducing P surpluses while payment for reduced nutrient surplus performed best with respect to N surpluses. Economic performance (farmers’ compliance cost per %-reduction of N or P surplus of full and partial de-coupling of national support is clearly better than that of specialised agri-environmental policy instruments, because both decoupling scenarios result in the increase of farmers’ income in comparison to base scenario, and thus compliance costs are in fact negative in these two cases. Our analysis confirms the fact that the overall policy package matters a lot for the effectiveness of agrienvironmental policy measures. Environmental performance of agri-environmental policy measures may be significantly reduced, if they are implemented jointly with production coupled income support policies. Thus, in order to increase the effectiveness of agri-environmental policy measures agricultural income support policies should be decoupled from production and this alone would bring substantial reduction in nutrient surpluses.;

DEVELOPMENT OF THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR FROM MOLDOVA THROUGH AGRICULTURE LOANS

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Aliona SARGO

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Financial institutions present on the market become more attentive when they have to give loans to the agriculture sector. The lack of necessary guarantees the low profit registered in agricultural district, economy instability and other things had and continue to have a negative impact on the evolution of agricultural sector, this being seen as one with a high level of risk. Commercial banks use less own funds for lending to agriculture and especially when the loans are guaranteed from various funds, programs or foreign donor agencies. Farmers find it difficult to bank loans because of collateral amount required is too high. However, commercial banks in Moldova provide agricultural loans, thus increasing the economic efficiency of agriculture.

African Journals Online: Agriculture & Food Sciences

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Uganda Journal of Agricultural Sciences. The Journal publishes peer reviewed papers with the aim of sharing new developments in the agricultural and environmental sciences which include forestry, fisheries, livestock, crops, environment, biotechnology, agricultural economics, agricultural engineering. The readership of ...

Economic and social impacts of nuclear accidents on the agricultural sector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brenot, J.; Hubert, P.

1997-01-01

The economic and social impact of a major nuclear accident on the agricultural sector are reviewed. The associated costs are evaluated by more or less proper methods depending on the duration and severity of the post accident situation. Calculating such costs is necessary in order to allow farmers, farm-food enterprises, and public authorities to define the indemnification levels as well as to identify means of minimizing the accident consequences. The indemnification procedures are described in a section dedicated to liability issues and the costs due to Chernobyl accident. Concerning the limitation of accident consequences the responsibility falls upon the public authorities. In regard for decision making the existent methods vary according to the situation complexity and proposed objectives. Examples are given to point out the costs and social impact

Sustainable agriculture: a challenge in Bangladesh

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M.A.A. Faroque

2011-12-01

Full Text Available The sustainability of conventional agriculture in Bangladesh is under threat from the continuous degradation of land and water resources, and from declining yields due to indiscriminate use of agro-chemicals. Government is pursuing efforts to promote sustainable agriculture with emphasis on better use of on-farm resources and the reduction of external inputs. This paper presents four dimensions of agricultural sustainability as productivity, environmental stability, economical profitability, and social and economic equity. Six characters were selected to evaluate sustainability. Significant differences were found between the two systems (conventional and sustainable agriculture in crop diversification, soil fertility management, pests and diseases management, use of agro-chemicals and environmental issues. However, no significant variations were found in other indicators such as land-use pattern, crop yield and stability, risk and uncertainties, and food security. Although crop yield and financial return were found to be slightly higher in the conventional system, the economic return and value addition per unit of land did not show any difference. It can be suggested that sustainable agriculture has a tendency towards becoming environmental, economically and socially more sound than conventional agriculture, as it requires considerably less agro-chemicals, adds more organic matter to the soil, provides balanced food, and requires higher local inputs without markedly compromising output and financial benefits. Broad-policy measures, including the creation of mass awareness of adverse health effects of agrochemical-based products, are outlined for the promotion of sustainable agriculture.

Applications of physics in agriculture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jin Zhonghui; Mao Yanlin; Yan Yanlu; Yan Tailai

2002-01-01

The applications of nuclear technology, electro-magnetics, optics, acoustics and ion beam in agriculture and precision agriculture are reviewed. It is shown that the various technologies of physics can reap great economic and ecologic benefits for agriculture, so that agr-technology can maintain continuous development

Microcredit Effect on Agricultural Productivity

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Faculty of Agricultural Sciences Lautech Ogbomoso

Department of Agricultural Economics & Farm Management University of Agriculture, ... This study examines the effect of access to credit on the productivity of rural farming households in Ogun State,. Nigeria. ... agricultural support to export crops, in ... growth and the alleviation of rural poverty ..... Dissertation, Department of.

Environmental marketing within organic agriculture system management

OpenAIRE

O. Shkuratov; V. Kyporenko

2015-01-01

This paper deals with economic content of environmental marketing in the management system organic agriculture that allows operators of organic market to effectively plan the production of organic agricultural products and ensure the optimal balance between social and economic indicators throughout the life cycle of the product. Structural-logical scheme on the formation of environmentally oriented motivation of organic agricultural products consumer behavior has been grounded.

Analysis of methods and models for assessing the direct and indirect economic impacts of CO/sub 2/-induced environmental changes in the agricultural sector of the US economy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Callaway, J.M.; Cronin, F.J.; Currie, J.W.; Tawil, J.

1982-08-01

The overall purpose of this research was to assist the US Department of Energy (DOE) in developing methods for assessing the direct and indirect economic impacts due to the effects of increases in the ambient concentration of CO/sub 2/ on agricultural production. First, a comprehensive literature search was undertaken to determine what types of models and methods have been developed, which could be effectively used to conduct assessments of the direct and indirect economic impacts of CO/sub 2/ buildup. Specific attention was focused upon models and methods for assessing the physical impacts of CO/sub 2/-induced environmental changes on crop yields; national and multi-regional agricultural sector models; and macroeconomic models of the US economy. The second task involved a thorough investigation of the research efforts being conducted by other public and private sector organizations in order to determine how more recent analytical methods being developed outside of DOE could be effectively integrated into a more comprehensive analysis of the direct economic impacts of CO/sub 2/ buildup. The third and final task involved synthesizing the information gathered in the first two tasks into a systematic framework for assessing the direct and indirect economic impacts of CO/sub 2/-induced environmental changes originating in the agricultural sector of the US economy. It is concluded that the direct economic impacts of CO/sub 2/ on the agricultural sector and the indirect economic impacts caused by spillover effects from agriculture to other sectors of the economy will be pervasive; however, the direction and magnitude of these impacts on producers and consumers cannot be determined a priori.

ORGANIZATIONAL AND ECONOMIC BASES OF ENERGY CONSERVATION IN AGRICULTURE

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N. Lisjutchenko

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Russian agricultural production at current stage is very energy intensive. At the cost of agricultural production overall cost of energy resources is growing: in 2000 was 36.5 billion rubles, 2008 - 92 billion rubles, 2009 - 110.6 billion rubles, and in 2010 rose to 119.8 billion rubles, or increased by 3.3 times. The analysis of consumption of the main energy sources for the period from 1990 to 2010 showed a decrease in general and the specific consumption of diesel fuel, gasoline and electricity by 5-7 times. Reducing energy consumption is explained as a forced saving resources because of lack of funds for the acquisition and implementation of agricultural enterprises of energy and resource saving measures (resource-saving technologies in the production process, motor fuel, biofuels and alternative energy sources. To solve this problem State and business in a matter of priority should be to build an effective system of innovation development for agriculture, promote the participation of agricultural science and education system in this process, modernize the domestic agricultural machinery, engineering and technology infrastructure.

Developing Green GDP Accounting for Thai Agricultural Sector Using the Economic Input Output - Life Cycle Assessment to Assess Green Growth

OpenAIRE

Attavanich, Witsanu; Mungkung, Rattanawan; Mahathanaseth, Itthipong; Sanglestsawai, Santi; Jirajari, Athiwatr

2016-01-01

There is no indicator measuring Thailand’s green growth by valuing the resource degradation and environmental damage costs. This article aims to estimate Thailand’s green gross domestic (GDP) that takes into account environmental damage costs with the detailed analysis on the agricultural sector using the Economic Input Output - Life Cycle Assessment (EIO-LCA) approach. The representative product in each sector was selected based on the available life cycle inventory data, economic values and...

NILAI EKONOMI TOTAL KONVERSI LAHAN PERTANIAN DI KABUPATEN SLEMAN (Total Economic Value of the Land Agricultural Conversion in Sleman Regency

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Rika Harini

2013-03-01

Full Text Available ABSTRAK Konversi lahan pertanian untuk  penggunaan non pertanian  merupakan suatu  fenomena yang tidak dapat dihindarkan. Penilaian secara ekonomi maupun lingkungan perlu dilakukan untuk mengetahui tingkat keuntungan secara finansial maupun kelingkungan dari kegiatan  pertanian. Penelitian dilakukan di Kabupaten Sleman  melalui metode survai dengan 90  responden  sebagai sampel penelitian. Wilayah kajian didasarkan pada tingkat konversi lahan pertanian selama  kurun waktu 17 tahun. Melalui Citra Landsat TM 1992, 2000 dan Citra Alos 2009  dapat diketahui luas konversi lahan pertanian  di semua wilayah di Kabupaten Sleman. Analisis data  dilakukan secara  deskriptif  kualitatif maupun kuantitatif dengan  uji statistik melalui model uji Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR dan juga model Total Economic Value (TEV. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahwa terjadi variasi tingkat konversi lahan pertanian  di wilayah Kabupaten Sleman. Hasil perhitungan  dengan metode TEV menunjukkan bahwa pada wilayah zone 1 nilai ekonomi usahatani lahan  sawah lebih rendah dibandingkan dengan wilayah zone 2, sedangkan pada zone 3 nilai ekonomi dari usahatani lahan sawah paling tinggi. Tingkat pencemaran akibat adanya konversi lahan pertanian berdampak pada hasil kegiatan usahatani lahan sawah. Pencemaran yang dianggap paling tinggi oleh petani untuk saat ini adalah pencemaran air, sedangkan untuk pencemaran tanah dan udara belum dirasakan. Konversi lahan juga berdampak terhadap  produksi hasil komoditi lahan sawah. Meskipun hasil produksi komoditas pertanian juga dipengaruhi oleh luas lahan sawah, konversi, teknologi dan produktivitas pada setiap zone wilayah kajian.   ABSTRACT The conversion of agricultural land for non agricultural purposes is a phenomenon that inevitable. Economic and environmental assessment needs to be done to determine the level of profit financially and environmentally of farming activities on the agricultural sector. The study was

Estimation of Economic Value of Use of Wastewater at Agricultural Sector in South of Tehran Province

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Mohammad Reza Sasouli

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Appropriate use of non-conventional water resources including surface runoff and sewage is produced an issue that has emerged as a necessity particularly in Iran. This thread has been created specifically in Tehran. The current study was aimed to investigate the economic value of sewage at Agricultural Sector in South of Tehran with produced approach in the contaminated and clean area. From the results, the average yield of wheat production among the farmers from polluted water was 376 kg ha-1 more than farmers who used clean water. Moreover, the economic value of water was 110 Rials more than farmers who used clean water. According to the results, the total value of wastewater in Tehran in 1405 would be equivalent to 335,480 million Rials. The priorities for interests of irrigation using wastewater from an agricultural perspective suggests that availability and reliability of wastewater than other water sources and low cost of its use is the most important benefit. The next priority result of irrigation with wastewater is increasing crop yield and improving soil fertility. This explains why farmers despite the legal prohibition of the use of untreated sewage continue to utilize this source of irrigation water.

Technical and economical aspects of mass spectrometry in food and agricultural industries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cornu, Ayme

1975-01-01

Mass spectrometry proved to be very useful for solving analytical problems in food and agricultural industries. Its essential properties are: high resolution mass spectrometry allows to find the molecular structure of an isolated compound, even with a very small sample; associated with on line gas chromatographic separation, it gives the possibility to identify a great number of components in a small complex extract; isotope determinations by mass spectrometry give an essential contribution to follow kinetic mechanisms of formation of natural molecules in plant-growing, photosynthesis, fertilization, ..., leading to identification of the origin of foods and beverages. The economical aspect of mass spectrometry is characterized by the cost of investment in instrumentation and the necessary high level of competence of the technicians [fr

Agricultural Technology, Risk, and Gender

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Arndt, Channing; Tarp, Finn

2000-01-01

Interactions between agricultural technology improvements, risk-reducing behavior, and gender roles in agricultural production in Mozambique are examined. The analysis employs a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model that explicitly incorporates key features of the economy. These include......: detailed accounting of marketing margins, home consumption, risk, and gender roles in agricultural production. Our results show that agricultural technology improvements benefit both male and female occupants of rural households. Due to economic interactions, agricultural technology improvements...

The economic metabolism

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Heijman, W.J.M.

1998-01-01

Students in Technical and Agricultural faculties spend only a limited amount of time on general economics, environmental economics and resource economics. However, while their knowledge of economics may be limited, they often have adequate mathematical skills. The objective of The Economic

Long Run Relationship Between Agricultural Production And ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The study sought to estimate the impact of agricultural production on the long run economic growth in Nigeria using the Vector Error Correction Methodology. The result shows that long run relationship exists between agricultural production and economic growth in Nigeria. Among the variables in the model, crop production ...

FSSIM, a bio-economic farm model for simulating the response of EU farming systems to agricultural and environmental policies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Louhichi, K.; Kanellopoulos, A.; Janssen, S.J.C.; Flichman, G.; Blanco, M.; Hengsdijk, H.; Heckelei, T.; Berentsen, P.; Oude Lansink, A.G.J.M.; Ittersum, van M.K.

2010-01-01

The disciplinary nature of most existing farm models as well as the issue specific orientation of most of the studies in agricultural systems research are main reasons for the limited use and re-use of bio-economic modelling for the ex-ante integrated assessment of policy decisions. The objective of

Economic assessment of Dutch agricultural research

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Poppe, K.J.

2008-01-01

To cope with globalisation and other changes in the industry, in the last 20 years the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture has reorganised its system for education, extension and research considerably. It moved away from the concept of a linear process of innovation to that of an agro-innovation system.

Priority Directions of Improving the State Regulation of Agriculture Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniela Konstantinovna Sanakoeva

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The article reviews primary directions for economical regulation of agriculture, for solving problems of insufficient funds of agricultural enterprises. Goals for development of agricultural economics growth and competitive abilities are determined, economical measures for governmental support are described as functions of system for development of agricultural market. The authors reveal the problems of innovational and optimizational model for development of agriculture, and system of state regulative and supportive measures for implementing the innovational model of development by consolidation of self-development mechanisms within revealing of inner economical reserves and activisation of “growth points” for resource potential. The mutual system dependence for mechanisms of taxes and subsidiaries and their influence on budget and socio-economical externalities are analyzed. It is substantiated that the state regulation of agricultural markets must take into account low incomes of small agricultural business, not allowing to accumulate necessary funds for starting cooperation. Due to that, the article specially reviews issues of loan availableness for small agricultural enterprises, including private farmings, peasant farms and cooperatives created by them, and, for this goal, the issues of marketing effectiveness for production of such small forms of agriculture are further reviewed. As a result of research, the authors discovered the necessity for government support of socially important businesses in agriculture, which are not of high profitability and, due to that, are not attractive for investors, but are necessary for saving the traditional rural lifestyle and maintaining important social functions for sustainable development.

Cameroon Journal of Agricultural Science

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Journal Camerounais des Sciences Agricoles The Cameroon Journal of Agricultural Science publishes new information on all aspects of agricultural science – agronomy, breeding, crop protection, economics, rural sociology, forestry and animal science, health and production ...

Book review of Prof.Ph.D. Božidar Petrač: AGRARIAN ECONOMICS, Faculty of Economics in Osijek, 2002

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K. Zmaić

2002-12-01

Full Text Available Author of the book AGRARIAN ECONOMICS is Božidar Petrač, an assocciate professor of the Faculty of Economics in Osijek. The book is composed of 265 pages. This is the first book from agrarian economics field appeared in the Republic of Croatia. Research results obtained by Ph.D. B. Petrač, other domestic and foreign scientists as well as modern aspect of agriculture and agricultural economics development are included in the book. The main parts of the book are as follows: I. Introduction into agrarian economics, II. Conditions of agricultural production, III. Analysis of agricultural production trends in the Republic of Croatia, IV. Agrarian policy. The introductory considerations are characterized by the author’s bases creating for further researches, demarcating and defining main ideas being applied in further analysis. All vital agriculture functions and their contribution to economic development of the Republic of Croatia are analysed completely and in detail. Also Ph.D. B. Petrač has quantified indicators of agriculture development and status in the total economy structure as well as other relevant indicators important for determination of agriculture significance in an economic development. In the second and largest chapter the author explained how volume, structure, intensity and other traits of agricultural production depended on quantitative and qualitative condition characteristics of agricultural production and rationality degree by which these conditions are utilized. Natural conditions, agricultural population, labour force, possessive structure, technical equipment, agricultural production organization, consumption of agricultural products, socio-economic system and other conditions of agricultural activities are discussed in detail. In this way Ph.D. B. Petrač pointed out that aforesaid specificities of agricultural production should be taken into consideration and have a special place in economic policy field. Namely

Economic valuation of water: theoretical considerations and an applications to agriculture in the zambezi basin countries

OpenAIRE

Agudelo Otálvaro, José Ignacio

2001-01-01

This work is concerned with the theoretical background and the methods most frequently used for valuing water in its different uses in general and for the sector of agriculture in particular. It highlights the importance of regarding water as an economic commodity and, consequently, of valuing it adequately. Proper valuation is an instrument-Among others-that allows an efficient allocation and conservation of the resource. Some basic concepts and definitions that economists use in order to co...

Satellite-guided hydro-economic analysis for integrated management and prediction of the impact of droughts on agricultural regions

Science.gov (United States)

Maneta, M. P.; Howitt, R.; Kimball, J. S.

2013-12-01

Agricultural activity can exacerbate or buffer the impact of climate variability, especially droughts, on the hydrologic and socioeconomic conditions of rural areas. Potential negative regional impacts of droughts include impoverishment of agricultural regions, deterioration or overuse of water resources, risk of monoculture, and regional dependence on external food markets. Policies that encourage adequate management practices in the face of adverse climatic events are critical to preserve rural livelihoods and to ensure a sustainable future for agriculture. Diagnosing and managing drought effects on agricultural production, on the social and natural environment, and on limited water resources, is highly complex and interdisciplinary. The challenges that decision-makers face to mitigate the impact of water shortage are social, agronomic, economic and environmental in nature and therefore must be approached from an integrated multidisciplinary point of view. Existing observation technologies, in conjunction with models and assimilation methods open the opportunity for novel interdisciplinary analysis tools to support policy and decision making. We present an integrated modeling and observation framework driven by satellite remote sensing and other ancillary information from regional monitoring networks to enable robust regional assessment and prediction of drought impacts on agricultural production, water resources, management decisions and socioeconomic policy. The core of this framework is a hydroeconomic model of agricultural production that assimilates remote sensing inputs to quantify the amount of land, water, fertilizer and labor farmers allocate for each crop they choose to grow on a seasonal basis in response to changing climatic conditions, including drought. A regional hydroclimatologic model provides biophysical constraints to an economic model of agricultural production based on a class of models referred to as positive mathematical programming (PMP

CAPITALISM, FAMILY AGRICULTURE AND MARKETS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Clério Plein

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to review some approaches to family agriculture and the process of commercialization, as well as seek contemporary theoretical contributions to understand that form of social production with markets. It is a theoretical essay and as main conclusion it is highlighted the important contributions of the New Institutional Economics and New Economic Sociology, which, through the concepts of institutions and rooting, explain the relationship of family agriculture with markets.

The economic impact of more sustainable water use in agriculture: A computable general equilibrium analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Calzadilla, Alvaro; Rehdanz, Katrin; Tol, Richard S. J.

2010-04-01

SummaryAgriculture is the largest consumer of freshwater resources - around 70 percent of all freshwater withdrawals are used for food production. These agricultural products are traded internationally. A full understanding of water use is, therefore, impossible without understanding the international market for food and related products, such as textiles. Based on the global general equilibrium model GTAP-W, we offer a method for investigating the role of green (rain) and blue (irrigation) water resources in agriculture and within the context of international trade. We use future projections of allowable water withdrawals for surface water and groundwater to define two alternative water management scenarios. The first scenario explores a deterioration of current trends and policies in the water sector (water crisis scenario). The second scenario assumes an improvement in policies and trends in the water sector and eliminates groundwater overdraft world-wide, increasing water allocation for the environment (sustainable water use scenario). In both scenarios, welfare gains or losses are not only associated with changes in agricultural water consumption. Under the water crisis scenario, welfare not only rises for regions where water consumption increases (China, South East Asia and the USA). Welfare gains are considerable for Japan and South Korea, Southeast Asia and Western Europe as well. These regions benefit from higher levels of irrigated production and lower food prices. Alternatively, under the sustainable water use scenario, welfare losses not only affect regions where overdrafting is occurring. Welfare decreases in other regions as well. These results indicate that, for water use, there is a clear trade-off between economic welfare and environmental sustainability.

Saline agriculture: A technology for economic utilization and improvement of saline environments (abstract)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aslam, Z.; Malik, K.A.; Khurshid, S.J.; Awan, A.R.; Akram, M.; Hashmi, Z.; Ali, Y.; Gulnaz, A.; Hussain, M.; Hussain, F.

2005-01-01

The salinity problem is one of the severe constraints for agriculture in Pakistan. In a socio-economic and salinity and drainage survey over an area of about 25000 acres of salt-affected land recently, crop production is found to be very low. Livestock is underfed and malnourished. Pakistan has spent and allocated over one billion US dollars on Salinity Control and Reclamation Projects (SCARP), of course, with dubious results. Over the years, a Saline Agriculture Technology has been developed as a cheap alternative at NIAB for comfortably living with salinity and to profitably utilize saline land rather than its reclamation. The soil improvement is a fringe benefit in this approach. The Saline Agriculture Technology has been tested at laboratory level, at field stations and at farms of some progressive farmers. Now we are sharing this technology with farming communities through a 'Saline Agriculture Farmer Participatory Development Project in Pakistan', with assistance from the National Rural Support Programme. The new project has been launched simultaneously in all four provinces of Pakistan on 25000 acres of salt-affected land. Under this project seeds of salt tolerant crop varieties wheat, cotton, rice, castor, brassica and barley and saplings of trees/shrubs, e.g. Acacia ampliceps, A. nilotica, Casuarina glauca, ber, jaman, etc selected for development work in various institutions of Pakistan are being provided to farmers. Know-how on new irrigation techniques like bed-and-corrugation and bed-and-furrow, agronomic practices like laser land leveling, planting on beds and in auger holes and soil/water amendment practices (use of gypsum and mineral acids) are being shared with farmers. These interventions are quite efficient, save water up to 40% and enable farmers to utilize bad quality water. In general, farmers are being familiarized with prevalent animal diseases, nutritional problems and prophylactic techniques. They are being helped in developing Saline

The Role of Vocational Education in Agriculture--Economic Efficiency.

Science.gov (United States)

McMillion, Martin B.

1982-01-01

Vocational agriculture is education for work. By meeting the needs of the economy and the job market, it can meet the needs of the individual. Although human resource development is important, vocational agriculture should focus on job-relevant competencies and cost effectiveness. (SK)

Climate Change and Agricultural Vulnerability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fischer, G.; Shah, M.; Van Velthuizen, H.

2002-08-01

After the introduction Chapter 2 presents details of the ecological-economic analysis based on the FAO/IIASA agro-ecological zones (AEZ) approach for evaluation of biophysical limitations and agricultural production potentials, and IIASA's Basic Linked System (BLS) for analyzing the world's food economy and trade system. The BLS is a global general equilibrium model system for analyzing agricultural policies and food system prospects in an international setting. BLS views national agricultural systems as embedded in national economies, which interact with each other through trade at the international level. The combination of AEZ and BLS provides an integrated ecological-economic framework for the assessment of the impact of climate change. We consider climate scenarios based on experiments with four General Circulation Models (GCM), and we assess the four basic socioeconomic development pathways and emission scenarios as formulated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its Third Assessment Report. Chapter 3 presents the main AEZ results of the impact of climate change on agriculture. Results comprise environmental constraints to crop agriculture; climate variability and the variability of rain-fed cereal production; changes in potential agricultural land; changes in crop-production patterns; and the impact of climate change on cereal-production potential. Chapter 4 discusses the AEZ-BLS integrated ecological-economic analysis of climate change on the world food system. This includes quantification of scale and location of hunger, international agricultural trade, prices, production, land use, etc. It assesses trends in food production, trade, and consumption, and the impact on poverty and hunger of alternative development pathways and varying levels of climate change. Chapter 5 presents the main conclusions and policy implications of this study

Emergy Evaluations of Denmark and Danish Agriculture. Assessing the Limits of Agricultural Systems to Power Society

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Haden, Andrew C [Swedish Univ. of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala (Sweden). Dept. of Rural Development Studies

2003-03-01

As the process of industrialization has run its course over the twentieth century, the relative importance of agriculture as an economic activity and a means of cultural sustenance for nations has declined dramatically. In this thesis, a historical ecological-economic perspective offers insights into both the causes and effects of Danish agriculture's decline in economic importance relative to the economy of Denmark as a whole. Emergy evaluations were made of the national economy and agricultural subsystem of Denmark for the years 1936, 1970 and 1999. Emergy is defined as all the available energy that was used in the work of making a product and expressed in units of one type of energy. In total, six separate emergy analyses were performed. By quantifying the emergy requirements of both a national agricultural system and the economy within which this system is nested, the analysis highlights the changing relationship of these two systems over a temporal scale of 63 years. The ecological sustainability of the studied systems is assessed through the calculation of emergy-based indices and ratios. In accordance with emergy theory, ecological sustainability is considered to be a function of the dependence of a system on renewable emergy, the degree to which the system depends on imported emergy, and the overall load that the system places on the environment. The analysis indicates that as the national economy of Denmark evolved to rely more on the use of nonrenewable emergy and on emergy appropriated through trade to stimulate economic activity and to generate wealth, its sustainability declined, and the importance of the Danish agricultural system to the national economy subsided. While the total amount of emergy supporting the economy of Denmark over the period studied increased substantially, the total emergy supporting agriculture remained relatively constant. Furthermore, though the emergy signature and thermodynamic efficiencies of Danish agricultural production

Journal of Agricultural Research and Development

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The Journal of Agricultural Research and Development aims at publishing research reports, short communications, Critical Reviews in Agricultural Economics and Farm ... Response of Sesamum radiatum Schum vegetable and seed yield to ...

International Journal of Applied Agriculture and Apiculture Research

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The journal publishes current and emerging issues in the following areas: Animal science, crop science, weed science, biological science, food science, Biotechnology in agriculture and apiculture, agricultural extension, agricultural economics, soil science, agricultural technology and aquaculture. It aims to promote the ...

Sustainable agriculture in the picture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brouwer, F.M.; De Bont, C.J.A.M.; Leneman, H.; Van der Meulen, H.A.B.

2004-01-01

Sustainable agriculture in the picture provides a systematic overview of the available data that are relevant for debate on transitions towards sustainable agriculture. Review for the agrocomplex, greenhouse horticulture, dairy farming and pig farming. Indicators on economy, environment, nature, animal welfare, human and animal health. Results achieved in practice for the three dimensions of sustainable agriculture, namely economics ('profit'), ecology ('planet') and socio-cultural ('people') [nl

Development paths of China's agricultural Pharmaceutical industry under Eco-agriculture background.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jinkai; Gong, Liutang; Ji, Xi; Zhang, Jin; Miao, Pei

2014-07-01

Using pesticides has double effects. On one hand, it contributes to pests control and regulates the growth of crops; On the other hand, it does harm to the environment. To develop ecological agriculture should not only emphasize the output level of agriculture to pursuit of economic efficiency, but also need to keep the ecological environment protected and focus on the social benefits during the development of the industry. As a large agricultural country in the world, China is vigorously promoting the development of ecological agriculture, which is bound to put forward to developing the pesticide industry and green ecological development requirements to promote the transformation and upgrading of agricultural pharmaceutical industry. This paper discusses the mechanism of pesticide pollution on the ecological environment and analyzes China's agricultural problems in the pharmaceutical industry. Then study on the development of Chinese green pesticides and try to find the proper paths of agricultural pharmaceutical to achieve industrial upgrading.

Agricultural biotechnology and its contribution to the global knowledge economy.

Science.gov (United States)

Aerni, Philipp

2007-01-01

The theory of neoclassical welfare economics largely shaped international and national agricultural policies during the Cold War period. It treated technology as an exogenous factor that could boost agricultural productivity but not necessarily sustainable agriculture. New growth theory, the economic theory of the new knowledge economy, treats technological change as endogenous and argues that intangible assets such as human capital and knowledge are the drivers of sustainable economic development. In this context, the combined use of agricultural biotechnology and information technology has a great potential, not just to boost economic growth but also to empower people in developing countries and improve the sustainable management of natural resources. This article outlines the major ideas behind new growth theory and explains why agricultural economists and agricultural policy-makers still tend to stick to old welfare economics. Finally, the article uses the case of the Cassava Biotechnology Network (CBN) to illustrate an example of how new growth theory can be applied in the fight against poverty. CBN is a successful interdisciplinary crop research network that makes use of the new knowledge economy to produce new goods that empower the poor and improve the productivity and nutritional quality of cassava. It shows that the potential benefits of agricultural biotechnology go far beyond the already known productivity increases and pesticide use reductions of existing GM crops.

Multifunctionality assessment of urban agriculture in Beijing City, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Jian; Liu, Zhicong; Liu, Yanxu; Hu, Xiaoxu; Wang, An

2015-12-15

As an important approach to the realization of agricultural sustainable development, multifunctionality has become a hot spot in the field of urban agriculture. Taking 13 agricultural counties of Beijing City as the assessing units, this study selects 10 assessing index from ecological, economic and social aspects, determines the index weight using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method, and establishes an index system for the integrated agricultural function. Based on standardized data from agricultural census and remote sensing, the integrated function and multifunctionality of urban agriculture in Beijing City are assessed through the index grade mapping. The results show that agricultural counties with the highest score in ecological, economic, and social function are Yanqing, Changping, and Miyun, respectively; and the greatest disparity among those counties is economic function, followed by social and ecological function. Topography and human disturbance may be the factors that affect integrated agricultural function. The integrated agricultural function of Beijing rises at the beginning then drops later with the increase of mean slope, average altitude, and distance from the city. The whole city behaves balance among ecological, economic, and social functions at the macro level, with 8 out of the 13 counties belonging to ecology-society-economy balanced areas, while no county is dominant in only one of the three functions. On the micro scale, however, different counties have their own functional inclination: Miyun, Yanqing, Mentougou, and Fengtai are ecology-society dominant, and Tongzhou is ecology-economy dominant. The agricultural multifunctionality in Beijing City declines from the north to the south, with Pinggu having the most significant agricultural multifunctionality. The results match up well with the objective condition of Beijing's urban agriculture planning, which has proved the methodological rationality of the assessment to a certain extent

influence of socio-economic characteristics of yam sellers

African Journals Online (AJOL)

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Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension,. Faculty of .... economic characteristics of the yam wholesalers and their influence(s) on the marketing margin of on yam trade. ..... Essentials of Agricultural Economics. University of. Ibadan ...

Ethical, social, environmental and economic issues in animal agriculture

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kesavan, P C; Swaminathan, M S [Research Foundation, Third Cross Street, Taramani Institutional Area, Chennai - 600 113 (India); net, mssrfed@vsnl

2003-07-01

environmental balance and social harmony with the forest, coastal and hill communities of various regions of India. The ethical issues from a technological point of view centre around both gene-based and nongene- based technologies to improve the nutrition, health and productivity of the farm animals. In particular, a reference needs to be made to bovine somatotropin (bST), a natural growth hormone secreted by the anterior pituitary in all animals, with a major effect on the regulation of growth and also milk production. Since the quantities of bST obtained from slaughtered animals are quite small, recombinant DNA technology-based r-bST is produced, and widely used in the USA to increase the milk production by 10% to 20%. Exhaustive evaluation tests conducted in the USA have shown that r-bST has no harmful effects in milk, but a high production of milk makes higher demands on animal physiology, and if an adequate food supply is lacking, negative effects are observed on fertility besides other health problems, especially mastitis and ketosis. Presently, neither r-bST, nor adequate nutritious feed is available for millions of dairy cattle in the developing countries. The economic benefits of 'mass production' over 'production by masses' are obvious; further, the access to the r-bST in the 'mass production' system, but not in the system of 'production by masses' could accentuate the economic disparity. The above-said scenario has further ramifications in view of the implications arising from the WTO-related Agreement on Agriculture. With an array of domestic supports, products of 'mass production' could be dumped into developing countries causing a substantial rise in the already high levels of livelihood and food insecurity. Since the r-DNA based technologies for 'pharming' or for human food are not yet applied to farm animals in the developing countries there are no serious concerns of bio-safety, and violation of ethical norms. In the countries, where animals for human food are

Farm multifunctional diversification and agricultural landscape trasformations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emilio Chiodo

Full Text Available The work aims to analyze changes in agricultural landscape linked to transformations in agricultural productive system. The territory for analysis is situated along the “internal Marche ridge” of the Apennines, in the province of Ancona (Marche region, partly included in the Regional Natural Park “Gola della Rossa e Frassassi”. The work aims at elaborating an investigative methodology which can highlight the transformation of territorial structures and the dynamics that influence management of the territory and landscape in order to provide operative instructions for an integrated elaboration of instruments for urban planning and economic programming, specially for agricultural policies. Multi-functionality and diversification in agriculture are the instruments that can help agriculture to improve the economic value of products and at the same time to improve the quality of territory and landscape.

Emergy Evaluations of Denmark and Danish Agriculture. Assessing the Limits of Agricultural Systems to Power Society

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Haden, Andrew C. [Swedish Univ. of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala (Sweden). Dept. of Rural Development Studies

2003-03-01

As the process of industrialization has run its course over the twentieth century, the relative importance of agriculture as an economic activity and a means of cultural sustenance for nations has declined dramatically. In this thesis, a historical ecological-economic perspective offers insights into both the causes and effects of Danish agriculture's decline in economic importance relative to the economy of Denmark as a whole. Emergy evaluations were made of the national economy and agricultural subsystem of Denmark for the years 1936, 1970 and 1999. Emergy is defined as all the available energy that was used in the work of making a product and expressed in units of one type of energy. In total, six separate emergy analyses were performed. By quantifying the emergy requirements of both a national agricultural system and the economy within which this system is nested, the analysis highlights the changing relationship of these two systems over a temporal scale of 63 years. The ecological sustainability of the studied systems is assessed through the calculation of emergy-based indices and ratios. In accordance with emergy theory, ecological sustainability is considered to be a function of the dependence of a system on renewable emergy, the degree to which the system depends on imported emergy, and the overall load that the system places on the environment. The analysis indicates that as the national economy of Denmark evolved to rely more on the use of nonrenewable emergy and on emergy appropriated through trade to stimulate economic activity and to generate wealth, its sustainability declined, and the importance of the Danish agricultural system to the national economy subsided. While the total amount of emergy supporting the economy of Denmark over the period studied increased substantially, the total emergy supporting agriculture remained relatively constant. Furthermore, though the emergy signature and thermodynamic efficiencies of Danish agricultural

The sustainability of changes in agricultural technology: The carbon, economic and labour implications of mechanisation and synthetic fertiliser use.

Science.gov (United States)

Gathorne-Hardy, Alfred

2016-12-01

New agricultural technologies bring multiple impacts which are hard to predict. Two changes taking place in Indian agriculture are a transition from bullocks to tractors and an associated replacement of manure with synthetic fertilisers. This paper uses primary data to model social, environmental and economic impacts of these transitions in South India. It compares ploughing by bullocks or tractors and the provision of nitrogen from manure or synthetic urea for irrigated rice from the greenhouse gas (GHG), economic and labour perspective. Tractors plough nine times faster than bullocks, use substantially less labour, with no significant difference in GHG emissions. Tractors are twice as costly as bullocks yet remain more popular to hire. The GHG emissions from manure-N paddy are 30 % higher than for urea-N, largely due to the organic matter in manure driving methane emissions. Labour use is significantly higher for manure, and the gender balance is more equal. Manure is substantially more expensive as a source of nutrients compared to synthetic nutrients, yet remains popular when available. This paper demonstrates the need to take a broad approach to analysing the sustainability impacts of new technologies, as trade-offs between different metrics are common.

AGRICULTURE AND CRISIS IN MEXICO: THIRTY YEARS OF NEOLIBERAL ECONOMIC POLITICS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alejandro Ortega Hernández

2010-09-01

Full Text Available An analysis of Mexican agriculture crisis was realized, and empirical evidence was presented in order to prove the relationship between the application of neoliberal politics and the current crisis in the agricultural sector. Our theoretic position states that between the agriculture and industrial sectors has been establish a new relation, as a market economy product, which took place in the application of certain politics in the macroeconomic and agricultural level. The effects brought about by the implementation of that kind of policies have been, among others, increased imports of staple foods, reduced plantings and the yields and in general an overall decrease of national agricultural products; this situation arises in a state of food dependency. It concludes that while such kind of policies remains the agricultural production will not be increased, and Mexico won´t have ensured food security.

Model Evaluation and Uncertainty in Agricultural Impacts Assessments: Results and Strategies from the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP)

Science.gov (United States)

Rosenzweig, C.; Hatfield, J.; Jones, J. W.; Ruane, A. C.

2012-12-01

The Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) is an international effort to assess the state of global agricultural modeling and to understand climate impacts on the agricultural sector. AgMIP connects the climate science, crop modeling, and agricultural economic modeling communities to generate probabilistic projections of current and future climate impacts. The goals of AgMIP are to improve substantially the characterization of risk of hunger and world food security due to climate change and to enhance adaptation capacity in both developing and developed countries. This presentation will describe the general approach of AgMIP, highlight AgMIP efforts to evaluate climate, crop, and economic models, and discuss AgMIP uncertainty assessments. Model evaluation efforts will be outlined using examples from various facets of AgMIP, including climate scenario generation, the wheat crop model intercomparison, and the global agricultural economics model intercomparison being led in collaboration with the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISI-MIP). Strategies developed to quantify uncertainty in each component of AgMIP, as well as the propagation of uncertainty through the climate-crop-economic modeling framework, will be detailed and preliminary uncertainty assessments that highlight crucial areas requiring improved models and data collection will be introduced.

Transition of chaotic motion to a limit cycle by intervention of economic policy: an empirical analysis in agriculture.

Science.gov (United States)

Sakai, Kenshi; Managi, Shunsuke; Vitanov, Nikolay K; Demura, Katsuhiko

2007-04-01

This paper investigates the transition of dynamics observed in an actual real agricultural economic dataset. Lyapunov spectrum analysis is conducted on the data to distinguish deterministic chaos and the limit cycle. Chaotic and periodic oscillation were identified before and after the second oil crisis, respectively. The statitonarity of the time series is investigated using recurrence plots. This shows that government intervention might reduce market instability by removing a chaotic market's long-term unpredictability.

Economic interdependence and complexity: Falaj agriculture and ceramic production in the southeast Arabian iron age

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Magee, P.

1997-01-01

Over the last fifteen years surveys and excavations in the United Arab Emirates and Sultanate of Oman have revealed a widespread and distinctive material culture dating to the late second and first millennium BC. In this paper the results of PIXE-PIGME analysis of ceramics from the Iron II period (1100-600 BC) are presented. In combination with ceramic distribution data, the analysis permits the identification of ceramic production areas. More importantly, however, the analysis, when combined with environmental and subsistence strategy data, provides an insight into the relationship between agricultural intensification and ceramic production and the varying degrees of economic complexity which existed at this time

Agriculture--Agriculture Science--Seed Germination. Kit No. 51. Instructor's Manual [and] Student Learning Activity Guide.

Science.gov (United States)

Cooper, Samuel

An instructor's manual and student activity guide on seed germination are provided in this set of prevocational education materials which focuses on the vocational area of agriculture. (This set of materials is one of ninety-two prevocational education sets arranged around a cluster of seven vocational offerings: agriculture, home economics,…

Investigating the limits of multi functional agriculture as the dominant frame for Green Care in agriculture in Flanders and The Netherlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dessein, J.; Bock, B.B.; Krom, de M.P.M.M.

2013-01-01

European agriculture and rural areas are facing multiple socio-economic changes, including a transition from an agriculture-based to a service-based economy. This restructuring forces agricultural and rural actor-networks to reformulate their (self-)definitions. One reformulation prevailing both in

Climate change and its marginalizing effect on agriculture

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mestre-Sanchis, Fernando [Agriculture and Food Department, University of La Rioja (Spain); Feijoo-Bello, Maria Luisa [Economics Department, University of Zaragoza (Spain)

2009-01-15

The agriculture of some areas considered marginal in the EU agricultural context is being questioned due to its low productivity and growing dependence on economic aid programs Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). This study shows that climate change increases these areas marginalisation of since worsens crop growth conditions. The influence of climate change on the agricultural sector is analyzed using the Multicriteria Decision Paradigm with information provided by the Erosion-Productivity Impact Calculator (EPIC) and a General Circulation Model (GCM) as inputs for multicriteria mathematical programming models. The results obtained show climate change effects on the crop portfolio. Further results suggest that climate change effects are not only economics and environmental, reducing the suitable area for crops, but also social as it causes loss of jobs in the agricultural sector. (author)

Journal of Agriculture, Forestry and the Social Sciences

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The Journal of Agriculture, Forestry and the Social Sciences generally aims to foster progressive partnerships between different stake holders towards sustainable Agriculture. Papers in Animal husbandry, Fisheries, wild life, crop and Soil Science, agricultural economics, Extension, Forestry, environment and papers with a ...

Labor Factor Efficiency in the Agricultural Industry

Science.gov (United States)

R?y, Inna U.; Shakulikova, Gulzada T.; Kozhakhmetova, Gulnar A.; Lashkareva, Olga V.; Bondarenko, Elena G.; Bermukhambetova, Botagoz B.; Baimagambetova, Zamzagul A.; Zhetessova, Mariyam T.; Beketova, Kamar N.; Anafiyaeva, Zhibek

2016-01-01

Agricultural problems associated with prospects of the rural population and agriculture in general have recently become an important factor in the modern economic policy development. The urgency of finding ways to improve the labor resource efficiency in agriculture pursuant to the state tasks is determined by the need to restore the agricultural…

Analysis And Assistant Planning System Ofregional Agricultural Economic Inform

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Jie; Zhang, Junfeng

For the common problems existed in regional development and planning, we try to design a decision support system for assisting regional agricultural development and alignment as a decision-making tool for local government and decision maker. The analysis methods of forecast, comparative advantage, liner programming and statistical analysis are adopted. According to comparative advantage theory, the regional advantage can be determined by calculating and comparing yield advantage index (YAI), Scale advantage index (SAI), Complicated advantage index (CAI). Combining with GIS, agricultural data are presented as a form of graph such as area, bar and pie to uncover the principle and trend for decision-making which can't be found in data table. This system provides assistant decisions for agricultural structure adjustment, agro-forestry development and planning, and can be integrated to information technologies such as RS, AI and so on.

Sustainable Agricultural Marketing Initiatives

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hakan Adanacıoğlu

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Sustainable marketing is a holistic approach that puts equal emphasis on environmental, social equity, and economic concerns in the development of marketing strategies. The purpose of the study is to examine and discuss the sustainable agricultural marketing initiatives practiced throughout the World and Turkey, and to put forth suggestions to further improve the performance of agricultural marketing initiatives in Turkey. Some of the sustainable agricultural marketing initiatives practiced around the world are carried out through civil organizations. Furthermore; some of these initiatives have also launched by farmers, consumers, food processors and retailers. The long-term strategies to increase these initiatives should be determined due to the fact that examples of successful sustainable agricultural marketing initiatives are inadequate and cannot be spread in Turkey. In this context, first of all, the supports provided by the government to improve agricultural marketing systems, such as EU funds for rural development should be compatible with the goals of sustainable marketing. For this purpose, it should be examined whether all proposed projects related to agricultural marketing meet the social, economic, and environmental principles of sustainable marketing. It is important that supporting organizations, especially civil society organisations, should take an active role for faster dissemination and adoption of sustainable agricultural marketing practices in Turkey. These organizations may provide technical assistance in preparing successful project proposals and training to farm groups. In addition, the other organizations, such as local administrations, producers' associations, cooperatives, can contribute to the success of sustainable agricultural marketing initiatives. The use of direct marketing strategies and vertical integration attempts in sustainable agricultural marketing initiatives that will likely be implemented in Turkey is

AGRICULTURE AND AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES IN JAPAN - A MODEL FOR COOPERATIVIZATION OF AGRICULTURE FROM ROMANIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Remus Gherman

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Japan's agriculture provides only a part from the population's needs, in caloric terms Japan must impute 60% of foods. Arable land are few, but are worked very performant, rice being the main crop together with cotton, citrus, sugarcane, wheat, potato, soybean, sugar beet, other vegetables. Widely is practiced sericulture and fisheries, Japan being one of the leading producers of silk from the world and having over 600 ports specialized for fishing. Japanese agriculture has remained behind the industry and services, this trend being manifested after the very high economic growth from 1960-1970. The main focus of the movements from the Japanese cooperative system is represented by the creation of large specialized farms through the replacing of the traditional ones. The most important task of agricultural cooperatives from Japan is meeting the consumption needs of its members. Integrated leadership of Japanese cooperatives of farmers act at all levels, primary, at prefecture level and at national level. Contractual relationships play a decisive role in the integration of Japanese farmers. In Japan there are about 840 agricultural cooperatives very well organized with a balanced planning and efficiently conducted, agricultural cooperative MIKABI being the most developed, mainly focused on the production of mandarins. In Japan there are three large distribution centers of agricultural products, 29 distribution markets controlled by the prefecture and 1,000 local markets. Organization of cooperatives is the pyramid system on three levels: local, prefecture and national (National Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives.

Bioenergy Crop Production in the United States. Potential Quantities, Land Use Changes, and Economic Impacts on the Agricultural Sector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Walsh, Marie E.; Torre Ugarte, D.G. de la; Shapouri, H.; Slinsky, S.P.

2003-01-01

The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Energy jointly analyzed the economic potential for, and impacts of, large-scale bioenergy crop production in the United States. An agricultural sector model (POLYSYS) was modified to include three potential bioenergy crops (switchgrass, hybrid poplar, and willow). At farmgate prices of US $2.44/GJ, an estimated 17 million hectares of bioenergy crops, annually yielding 171 million dry Mg of biomass, could potentially be produced at a profit greater than existing agricultural uses for the land. The estimate assumes high productivity management practices are permitted on Conservation Reserve Program lands. Traditional crops prices are estimated to increase 9 to 14 percent above baseline prices and farm income increases annually by US $6.0 billion above baseline. At farmgate prices of US $1.83/GJ, an estimated 7.9 million hectares of bioenergy crops, annually yielding 55 million dry Mg of biomass, could potentially be produced at a profit greater than existing agricultural uses for the land. The estimate assumes management practices intended to achieve high environmental benefits on Conservation Reserve Program lands. Traditional crops prices are estimated to increase 4 to 9 percent above baseline prices and farm income increases annually by US $2.8 billion above baseline

An economic value of remote-sensing information—Application to agricultural production and maintaining groundwater quality

Science.gov (United States)

Forney, William M.; Raunikar, Ronald P.; Bernknopf, Richard L.; Mishra, Shruti K.

2012-01-01

Does remote-sensing information provide economic benefits to society, and can a value be assigned to those benefits? Can resource management and policy decisions be better informed by coupling past and present Earth observations with groundwater nitrate measurements? Using an integrated assessment approach, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) applied an established conceptual framework to answer these questions, as well as to estimate the value of information (VOI) for remote-sensing imagery. The approach uses moderate-resolution land-imagery (MRLI) data from the Landsat and Advanced Wide Field Sensor satellites that has been classified by the National Agricultural Statistics Service into the Cropland Data Layer (CDL). Within the constraint of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's public health threshold for potable groundwater resources, the USGS modeled the relation between a population of the CDL's land uses and dynamic nitrate (NO3-) contamination of aquifers in a case study region in northeastern Iowa. Employing various multiscaled, multitemporal geospatial datasets with MRLI to maximize the value of agricultural production, the approach develops and uses multiple environmental science models to address dynamic nitrogen loading and transport at specified distances from specific sites (wells) and at landscape scales (for example, across 35 counties and two aquifers). In addition to the ecosystem service of potable groundwater, this effort focuses on the use of MRLI for the management of the major land uses in the study region-the production of corn and soybeans, which can impact groundwater quality. Derived methods and results include (1) economic and dynamic nitrate-pollution models, (2) probabilities of the survival of groundwater, and (3) a VOI for remote sensing. For the northeastern Iowa study region, the marginal benefit of the MRLI VOI (in 2010 dollars) is $858 million ±$197 million annualized, which corresponds to a net present value of $38

The economics of soil C sequestration and agricultural emissions abatement

Science.gov (United States)

Alexander, P.; Paustian, K.; Smith, P.; Moran, D.

2015-04-01

Carbon is a critical component of soil vitality and is crucial to our ability to produce food. Carbon sequestered in soils also provides a further regulating ecosystem service, valued as the avoided damage from global climate change. We consider the demand and supply attributes that underpin and constrain the emergence of a market value for this vital global ecosystem service: markets being what economists regard as the most efficient institutions for allocating scarce resources to the supply and consumption of valuable goods. This paper considers how a potentially large global supply of soil carbon sequestration is reduced by economic and behavioural constraints that impinge on the emergence of markets, and alternative public policies that can efficiently transact demand for the service from private and public sector agents. In essence, this is a case of significant market failure. In the design of alternative policy options, we consider whether soil carbon mitigation is actually cost-effective relative to other measures in agriculture and elsewhere in the economy, and the nature of behavioural incentives that hinder policy options. We suggest that reducing the cost and uncertainties of mitigation through soil-based measures is crucial for improving uptake. Monitoring and auditing processes will also be required to eventually facilitate wide-scale adoption of these measures.

Issue of productivity versus strategies for the development of Polish agricultural sector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zbigniew Floriańczyk

2012-09-01

Full Text Available In the article assessment of economic efficiency of agriculture is discussed from the sustainable development perspective. Basic definitions are outlined and spheres of sustainability related to Polish agriculture characteristics. Concepts of productivity and efficiency measurement are illustrated with the use of recently conducted research. Ability of different measures to reflect most important processes in agriculture sector is discussed. Following, development policies for economy and agricultural sector are reviewed to suggest concept of economic efficiency measurement form the sustainable agriculture perspective.

The economic and environmental consequences of implementing nitrogen-efficient technologies and management practices in agriculture.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Xin; Mauzerall, Denise L; Davidson, Eric A; Kanter, David R; Cai, Ruohong

2015-03-01

Technologies and management practices (TMPs) that reduce the application of nitrogen (N) fertilizer while maintaining crop yields can improve N use efficiency (NUE) and are important tools for meeting the dual challenges of increasing food production and reducing N pollution. However, because farmers operate to maximize their profits, incentives to implement TMPs are limited, and TMP implementation will not always reduce N pollution. Therefore, we have developed the NUE Economic and Environmental impact analytical framework (NUE) to examine the economic and environmental consequences of implementing TMPs in agriculture, with a specific focus on farmer profits, N fertilizer consumption, N losses, and cropland demand. Our analytical analyses show that impact of TMPs on farmers' economic decision-making and the environment is affected by how TMPs change the yield ceiling and the N fertilization rate at the ceiling and by how the prices of TMPs, fertilizer, and crops vary. Technologies and management practices that increase the yield ceiling appear to create a greater economic incentive for farmers than TMPs that do not but may result in higher N application rates and excess N losses. Nevertheless, the negative environmental impacts of certain TMPs could be avoided if their price stays within a range determined by TMP yield response, fertilizer price, and crop price. We use a case study on corn production in the midwestern United States to demonstrate how NUE can be applied to farmers' economic decision-making and policy analysis. Our NUE framework provides an important tool for policymakers to understand how combinations of fertilizer, crop, and TMP prices affect the possibility of achieving win-win outcomes for farmers and the environment. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

Les débouchés énergétiques de l'agriculture de la Communauté Economique Européenne Energy Outlets for Agriculture in the European Economic Community

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Becker J. J.

2006-11-01

Full Text Available L'agriculture de la Communauté Economique Européenne (CEE connaît une crise profonde au niveau de ses débouchés. Ainsi, même dans un contexte où l'indépendance énergétique n'est plus une préoccupation majeure, une production massive d'énergie par l'agriculture reste un projet à priori digne d'intérêt. Cette étude précise les modalités d'application concrètes d'une telle politique et tente une évaluation économique permettant d'apprécier la viabilité d'un tel schéma. Elle présente, en particulier, un positionnement par rapport aux solutions agricoles plus classiques actuellement mises en oeuvre et qui pourtant ne sont guère satisfaisantes. Agriculture in the EEC is in the midst of a deep crisis concerning its outlets. Even in a context where energy independence is no longer a major preoccupation, massive energy production by agriculture is still a problem worthy of interest, a priori. This article specifies concrete procedures for applying such a policy and tries to make an economic evaluation to assess the viability of such a scheme. In particular, it describes a position in relation to the most conventional agricultural solutions now being implemented and that are proving not to be very satisfactory.

irrigated agriculture and poverty reduction in kassena nankana

African Journals Online (AJOL)

User

2010-09-08

Sep 8, 2010 ... a considerable extent, created a platform for employment and high agricultural output. How- ever, the high agricultural output has not ..... District Agriculture Extension Office, and food crop sellers in the Navrongo Central .... pled project farmers were dissatisfied with their household economic situation and ...

Representative Agricultural Pathways: A Trans-Disciplinary Approach to Agricultural Model Inter-comparison, Improvement, Climate Impact Assessment and Stakeholder Engagement

Science.gov (United States)

Antle, J. M.; Valdivia, R. O.; Claessens, L.; Nelson, G. C.; Rosenzweig, C.; Ruane, A. C.; Vervoort, J.

2013-12-01

The global change research community has recognized that new pathway and scenario concepts are needed to implement impact and vulnerability assessment that is logically consistent across local, regional and global scales. For impact and vulnerability assessment, new socio-economic pathway and scenario concepts are being developed. Representative Agricultural Pathways (RAPs) are designed to extend global pathways to provide the detail needed for global and regional assessment of agricultural systems. In addition, research by the Agricultural Model Inter-comparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) shows that RAPs provide a powerful way to engage stakeholders in climate-related research throughout the research process and in communication of research results. RAPs are based on the integrated assessment framework developed by AgMIP. This framework shows that both bio-physical and socio-economic drivers are essential components of agricultural pathways and logically precede the definition of adaptation and mitigation scenarios that embody associated capabilities and challenges. This approach is based on a trans-disciplinary process for designing pathways and then translating them into parameter sets for bio-physical and economic models that are components of agricultural integrated assessments of climate impact, adaptation and mitigation. RAPs must be designed to be part of a logically consistent set of drivers and outcomes from global to regional and local. Global RAPs are designed to be consistent with higher-level global socio-economic pathways, but add key agricultural drivers such as agricultural growth trends that are not specified in more general pathways, as illustrated in a recent inter-comparison of global agricultural models. To create pathways at regional or local scales, further detail is needed. At this level, teams of scientists and other experts with knowledge of the agricultural systems and regions work together through a step-wise process. Experiences

China Report, Economic Affairs

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

1987-01-01

.... This report contains articles from China dealing with Economic Affairs. The Topics include National Affairs and Policy, Foreign Trade and Investment, Economic Zones, Finance and Banking, and Agriculture.

Imperatives for an agricultural green economy in South Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Constansia Musvoto

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Globally, there are social, economic and environmental challenges related to sustainable development; these challenges include climate change, the need to feed a rapidly increasing population, high rates of poverty and environmental degradation. These challenges have forced us to rethink the way in which development takes place, resulting in the emergence of the concept of a �green economy�. A green economy results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing risks to the environment. It is based on principles which integrate social, economic and environmental considerations. South Africa has adopted the principle of green economic growth, and agriculture is one of the sectors that will drive this growth. Agriculture could address some of the sustainable development problems, but there are challenges related to resource availability, environmental impacts of agriculture and climate change. For agriculture to support a green economy it has to be productive, contribute to economic growth and not undermine the environment, social and cultural systems. The information base and policies required to support a green economy in general, and/or an agriculture-supported green economy have not yet been developed, as the green economy is an emerging concept in South Africa as well as globally. The generation of such information requires analysis and synthesis of green economy principles and agricultural imperatives into generic principles and practices for facilitating agriculture�s contribution to the green economy. In this paper, we conduct this analysis and synthesis and highlight the defining aspects of an agricultural green economy.

Global Agricultural Trade and Developing Countries

OpenAIRE

Aksoy, M. Ataman; Beghin, John C.

2005-01-01

Global Agricultural Trade and Developing Countries explores the outstanding issues in global agricultural trade policy and evolving world production and trade patterns. This book presents research findings based on a series of commodity studies of significant economic importance to developing countries. Setting the stage with background chapters and investigations of cross-cutting issues, the authors describe trade and domestic policy regimes affecting agricultural and food markets and analyz...

AFRICAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC REVIEW

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Dr Kazungu

regional trade and the region's economic growth remain unknown. ... knowledge, and therefore, contributes to innovation and economic growth. ... The role of agricultural sector in economic development and welfare improvement in EAC states.

Sustainable agricultural development in a rural area in the Netherlands? Assessing impacts of climate and socio-economic change at farm and landscape level

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Reidsma, P.; Bakker, M.M.; Kanellopoulos, A.; Alam, S.J.; Paas, W.H.; Kros, J.; Vries, de W.

2015-01-01

Changes in climate, technology, policy and prices affect agricultural and rural development. To evaluate whether this development is sustainable, impacts of these multiple drivers need to be assessed for multiple indicators. In a case study area in the Netherlands, a bio-economic farm model, an

China Report, Agriculture, No. 276

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

1983-01-01

Partial Contents: Rural Survey, Economics, Ecology, Agricultural, Historical, Freshwater Fish, Weather Station, Warning, Forestry Productions, Animal Husbandry, Wheat Procurement, Grains, Wheat, Potato, Harvest, Rice...

Preparation Of Charcoal Using Agricultural Wastes | Bogale ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Conclusion: As compared to wood charcoal the charcoal briquette produced from agricultural wastes are economical, environmentally friendly, healthy (no smoke at all) and reduce impact of deforestation. Key words: Pollution, deforestation, extruder, carbonizer, wood charcoal, briquette charcoal, agricultural wastes, ...

The economic value of remote sensing of earth resources from space: An ERTS overview and the value of continuity of service. Volume 3: Intensive use of living resources, agriculture. Part 3: The integrated impact of improved (ERS) information on US agricultural commodities

Science.gov (United States)

Seidel, A. D.

1974-01-01

The economic value of information produced by an assumed operational version of an earth resources survey satellite of the ERTS class is assessed. The theoretical capability of an ERTS system to provide improved agricultural forecasts is analyzed and this analysis is used as a reasonable input to the econometric methods derived by ECON. An econometric investigation into the markets for agricultural commodities is summarized. An overview of the effort including the objectives, scopes, and architecture of the analysis, and the estimation strategy employed is presented. The results and conclusions focus on the economic importance of improved crop forecasts, U.S. exports, and government policy operations. Several promising avenues of further investigation are suggested.

178 Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Ibadan ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Osondu

2014-03-05

Mar 5, 2014 ... they have on directly productive activities such as agriculture ... infrastructure, lack of maintenance culture coupled with ... improve the sector and the whole economy of ... thereby increasing efficiency of production. This may ...

Asymmetry of agricultural water consumption in arid regions during alternating decadal scale wet and dry periods: explanation using behavioral economics

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, Fuqiang

2017-04-01

Increase of human water consumption for agriculture and consequent degradation of the ecological environment is a common feature in many arid regions. Understanding the driving mechanisms behind this phenomenon is of critical importance for regional sustainable development. In this study, analyses of temporal patterns of human water consumption are carried out in three hyper-arid inland basins, i.e., Aral Sea Basin in Central Asia, and the Tarim and Heihe River Basins in Northwestern China. Multi-decadal time series of hydrological and human consumption data are divided into decadal sequences of wet and dry years. During the wet phases, the greater water availability inspires economic expansion and human water consumption experiences growth at a rate faster than that of incoming water. During the dry phases, however, the expanded economy (e.g., irrigation land expansion in an agriculture-based economy) has been managed to sustain or even to increase production by over-exploitation of water with sophisticated technologies. Inability to reduce human water consumption at a rate commensurate with the decrease of incoming water supply leads to serious ecosystem degradation. This asymmetric human water consumption response of society to decadal scale hydrologic variability can be explained in terms of prospect theory drawn from behavioral economics, which states that people tend to be risk averse when facing gains and show risk preference when facing losses. In the three socio-hydrological case studies, direct economic gain/loss has relatively low value but high certainty when compared to indirect economic loss/gain (such as environmental or sustainability loss/gain), which has high value but with high uncertainty. According to prospect theory, people tend to gain direct economic benefits at the expense of environmental degradation and at the risk of system collapse. The outcomes of this study have major implications for water resources management at long time scales

Integrating ICT in Agriculture for Knowledge-Based Economy | Balraj ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... demands the integration of ICT knowledge with agriculture. Already projects such as Agriculture Management Information System (AMIS), and e-Soko (which means electronic marketing) – which provides farmers with the price decision making tools enlightens the path to socio-economic development through agriculture.

Agricultural methanization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2011-01-01

After having briefly outlined the interest of the development of methanization of agricultural by-products in the context of struggle against climate change, and noticed that France is only now developing this sector as some other countries already did, this publication describes the methanization process also called anaerobic digestion, which produces a digestate and biogas. Advantages for the agriculture sector are outlined, as well as drawbacks and recommendations (required specific technical abilities, an attention to the use of energetic crops, an improved economic balance which still depends on public subsidies, competition in the field of waste processing). Actions undertaken by the ADEME are briefly evoked

Agricultural franchising and contribution to achieving objectives of the EU common agricultural policy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stanković Milica

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The Common Agricultural Policy is the oldest, the most complex, the most expensive EU policy and it represents one of the most important drivers of European integration. Agrarian franchising is one of the innovations in the field of franchising, which implementation is still in its infancy and it is necessary to strive for the popularization of this business model. The aim of the paper is to emphasize the importance of agricultural franchising concept development and contribution of implementation of this concept to the achievement of the Common Agricultural Policy objectives and improvement of the agrarian sector as a whole. Special attention is paid on agricultural franchising as a hybrid form of disinvestment in conditions of economic crisis. Based on analysis of advantages and disadvantages of agricultural franchising, we conclude that it has the potential for solving a large number of problems that occur in the agrarian sector, with a particular focus on the importance of agricultural franchising to the achievement of the CAP objectives.

Development performances of agriculture in the Danube region countries

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Gajić Milivoj

2015-01-01

Full Text Available In the recent decades, the Danube Region countries profile their policies towards a more efficient way of exploiting the natural resources of the Danube basin. The Danube can contribute to a better integration of the countries, enhancing economic opportunities through diversification and promotion of rural development. The trend analysis in the agricultural sector of the Danube Region countries refers to the first decade of this century, and it begins with the determination of the agricultural importance in the overall economy. The development performances of agriculture in the Danube Region countries are considered according to the production and export performances of this economic sector, using a comparative approach. The agricultural production growth, level and growth of the partial agricultural productivities - labour and land, as well as the value of exports in relation to engaged labour and agricultural land, are analysed in such a context.

Classification of agricultural assets on the international accounting standard 41 Agriculture Klasyfikacja aktywów pochodzenia rolniczego według MSR 41 Rolnictwo

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Dorota Czerwińska-Kayzer

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Agricultural activity is characterised by dissimilarity and complexity of economic events. Therefore, the assets related to agricultural activity, should be properly classified, as it affects the method of valuation and the company assessment. In the article the classification of agricultural assets has been presented in respect of IAS/IFRS 41 Agriculture.

Survey of the Economic Efficiency of Agricultural Cooperatives in the Buinzahra City and Prioritization of Their Problems Faced in the Management Process and the Marketing System

OpenAIRE

Mohammad Mahdi Mozaffari

2016-01-01

In this study Stochastic Data Envelopment Analysis method was used in order to estimate the economic efficiency of agricultural cooperatives in the Buinzahra city. Moreover, the Analytical Hierarchy Process method and Entropy criteria were used in order to prioritizate the agricultural cooperatives problems of this city in management and marketing system. The required dates were related to the years 2012-2013 during which data were collected by interviewing and completing questionnaires for 4...

World Development Report : Role of Agriculture in Poverty Reduction

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

... inform research debate and development practice in the sector under study. The 2008 Report will address agriculture and rural development. Since the last World Development Report on agriculture was published in 1982, ... Economic Dimensions of Urban Agriculture in the Context of Urban Poverty Reduction Strategies.

Reduced Deforestation and Economic Growth

OpenAIRE

Patrick Doupe

2014-01-01

The clearing of forests for agricultural land and other marketable purposes is a well-trodden path of economic development. With these private benefits from deforestation come external costs: emissions from deforestation currently account for 12 per cent of global carbon emissions. A widespread intervention in reducing emissions from deforestation will affect the paths of agricultural expansion and economic growth of lower income nations. To investigate these processes, this paper presents a ...

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURAL ACCOUNTING AND DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF AGRICULTURAL ACCOUNTING*

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Zeki Doğan

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Agricultural sector, from past to present, had assumed very important duties on economic and social development of societies. It became a globally indispensable and strategic sector due to its various attributes such as: direct/indirect contributions to population nourishment, national income, employment, capital transfers, raw material supply for industry, exportation, biological diversity and ecological balance. Since the dawn of humankind, agricultural sector had gone through a variety of phases in terms of production activities and land proprietorship. Agricultural activities that emerged in the period of hunter-gatherer societies have been superseded by today’s specialized and planned agricultural enterprises utilizing information and technology. Agricultural accounting has also experienced a significant change in parallel with those improvements. This study aims to investigate historical development of agricultural accounting and difficulties encountered during its implementation. Research studies indicate that agricultural assets were initially recorded and inventory controls were performed by Sumerians. Until the Middle Ages, agricultural accounting did not experience any development, whereas it still encounters various difficulties eve

Development of innovation infrastructure of agricultural production Lviv area

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Vasyl Chemerys

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Innovative infrastructure of agrarian production in Lviv Area and basic problems of its development are investigated. On the basis of the conducted cluster analysis in the article six optimum areas are offered clusterizations of agricultural production, which are certain after the criterion of balanced cluster educations. The first area of clusterization is most suitable for development of plant-grower. In particular, in four its districts, almost fourth part of plant-grower products is concentrated in the permanent costs of 2010 year. The second area of clusterization can be identified as mainly stock-raising, as its localization in the districts of foot-hill of area creates favourable terms for the production of meat and milk goods. The third area can be attributed to balanced stock-raising-plant-grower straight, with development of agriculture, oriented to the sale of products to the cities, above all things in Lviv. The fourth area of clusterization can be considered mainly plant-grower-oriented with simultaneous development of the suckling cattle breeding. The fifth area of clusterization, as marked already, can be identified as innovative oriented with predominance of stock-raising and production of goods on an export. A sixth (mountain area of clusterization is the least suitable for development of agriculture (except for the milk and meat cattle breeding. The applied approach is based on the account of ten key indexes which characterize potential of agricultural production development in each districts of Lviv Area: products of plant-grower are in all categories of economic agents; products of stock-raising are in all categories of economic agents; area of agricultural lands which are engaged in an agricultural production area of plough-land of economic agents which are engaged in an agricultural production; sowing areas are in all categories of economic agents; a quantity of cattle is in all categories of economic agents; a quantity of

AFRICAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC REVIEW

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Dr Kazungu

EAC regionalism had no significant effect on agricultural exports of Burundi,. Rwanda and Uganda ... levels and adversely affect the economic growth of agricultural based economies. ...... Master of Arts Thesis, University of Saakatchewan,.

Comprehensive flood economic losses: review of the potential damage and implementation of an agricultural impact model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mao Gwladys

2016-01-01

Full Text Available With an annual loss averaging 580 M€ between 1990 and 2014, floods are the main natural catastrophe (Nat Cat risk for the French Nat Cat compensation scheme. As part of its role in this scheme, the Caisse Centrale de Réassurance (CCR offers state guaranteed reinsurance programs and has been modelling the risk of flooding since 2003. This model is based on the traditional valuation approach of direct tangible costs which pairs a physical model with exposure through damage curves. CCR wishes now to widen the studied damage scope to insured and noninsured economic costs and has been collaborating with the SAF research laboratory from the Institute of Financial and Insurance Sciences (ISFA since 2014. CCR’s model has been used to estimate the insured direct damage to residential and non-residential properties and it is now being developed to include damage to vehicles, agriculture and network infrastructures. Research is also being carried out to take into account business interruptions and indirect losses using an Input-Output model. This article describes the undergoing work on model development to estimate the damage to agriculture.

Structural change and agricultural diversification since China’s reforms

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Lihua Li

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Structural change is considered the major engine in fostering a country’s growth. In the agricultural sector, diversification is the commonly used development strategy to increase rural sector’s flexibility, and to respond to improving technologies and market conditions. This study examined agricultural development and transformation during China’s socio-economic reforms. In particular, it empirically investigated whether the change of China’s agricultural structure is consistent with structural change theory and observed outcomes from other countries. The degree of agricultural diversification was quantitatively measured at a regional scale using the Herfindahl index. An underdeveloped province in northwest China was studied to provide insights into the interaction among structural change, agricultural diversification, and implemented development policies. Aggregate-level analyses suggest that China’s agricultural transformation pattern is consistent with those of other developing countries. A specific provincial-level analysis shows that environmentally and economically disadvantaged regions are slower to diversify their economy than better endorsed regions.

Assessing groundwater pollution hazard changes under different socio-economic and environmental scenarios in an agricultural watershed

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lima, M. Lourdes, E-mail: mlima@mdp.edu.ar [Instituto de Geología de Costas y del Cuaternario, FCEyN, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Funes 3350, Nivel 1, 7600 Mar del Plata (Argentina); Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) (Argentina); Romanelli, Asunción, E-mail: aromanel@mdp.edu.ar [Instituto de Geología de Costas y del Cuaternario, FCEyN, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Funes 3350, Nivel 1, 7600 Mar del Plata (Argentina); Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) (Argentina); Massone, Héctor E., E-mail: hmassone@mdp.edu.ar [Instituto de Geología de Costas y del Cuaternario, FCEyN, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Funes 3350, Nivel 1, 7600 Mar del Plata (Argentina)

2015-10-15

This paper proposes a modeling approach for assessing changes in groundwater pollution hazard under two different socio-economic and environmental scenarios: The first one considers an exponential growth of agriculture land-use (Relegated Sustainability), while the other deals with regional economic growth, taking into account, the restrictions put on natural resources use (Sustainability Reforms). The recent (2011) and forecasted (2030) groundwater pollution hazard is evaluated based on hydrogeological parameters and, the impact of land-use changes in the groundwater system, coupling together a land-use change model (Dyna-CLUE) with a groundwater flow model (MODFLOW), as inputs to a decision system support (EMDS). The Dulce Stream Watershed (Pampa Plain, Argentina) was chosen to test the usefulness and utility of this proposed method. It includes a high level of agricultural activities, significant local extraction of groundwater resources for drinking water and irrigation and extensive available data regarding aquifer features. The Relegated Sustainability Scenario showed a negative change in the aquifer system, increasing (+ 20%; high–very high classes) the contribution to groundwater pollution hazard throughout the watershed. On the other hand, the Sustainability Reforms Scenario displayed more balanced land-use changes with a trend towards sustainability, therefore proposing a more acceptable change in the aquifer system for 2030 with a possible 2% increase (high–very high classes) in groundwater pollution hazard. Results in the recent scenario (2011) showed that 54% of Dulce Stream Watershed still shows a moderate to a very low contribution to groundwater pollution hazard (mainly in the lower area). Therefore, from the point of view of natural resource management, this is a positive aspect, offering possibilities for intervention in order to prevent deterioration and protect this aquifer system. However, since it is quite possible that this aquifer status

GLOBAL CHALLENGES FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN SLOVAKIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Magdalana Bartosova

2013-09-01

Full Text Available The paper is focused on the evaluation of economic, social and environmental challenges of sustainable agriculture. The selected indicators of the economic challenges of sustainable agriculture imply that agriculture in Slovakia is not in long term be able to ensure competitiveness in the European market, gross agricultural output is characterized by a faster decline in animal production than in crop production and the value of import of agri-food commodities is higher than the value of export. According to selected indicators of social challenges of sustainable agriculture the number of persons working in agriculture has decreasing tendency in last years. The evaluation of selected indicators of environmental challenges of sustainable agriculture implies that area of organic agriculture is the most widely applied sub-measure within the measure agri-environmental payments. For ensuring the balance of the three mentioned dimensions of sustainable agriculture is necessary to increase of local production and consumption of local products, to ensure the protection of nature and landscape, to ensure rural development and to increase the employment opportunities in countryside.

Book review of Prof.Ph.D. Božidar Petrač: AGRARIAN ECONOMICS, Faculty of Economics in Osijek, 2002

OpenAIRE

K. Zmaić

2002-01-01

Author of the book AGRARIAN ECONOMICS is Božidar Petrač, an assocciate professor of the Faculty of Economics in Osijek. The book is composed of 265 pages. This is the first book from agrarian economics field appeared in the Republic of Croatia. Research results obtained by Ph.D. B. Petrač, other domestic and foreign scientists as well as modern aspect of agriculture and agricultural economics development are included in the book. The main parts of the book are as follows: I. Introduction into...

LENDING PROJECT IMPACT ON AGRICULTURAL INDIVIDUAL SECTOR DEVELOPMENT IN MOLDOVA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aurelia LITVIN

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Economic development within rural areas of the Republic of Moldova is affected by multiple issues which cross the agricultural individual sector development. One of the main factors that would influence positively the development of agriculture is investment. Investment plays an important role on the country's economy, representing the material support of its economic and social development. It ensures the permanent capital increase, advances the technical and economic efficiency of existing ones and creates new places of employment. In this context, investment is the decisive element of economic growth, of the intensive, qualitative and effective factors promotion.

Research and Demonstration of‘Double-chain’Eco-agricultural Model Standardization and Industrialization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ZHANG Jia-hong

2015-04-01

Full Text Available According to agricultural resource endowment of Jiangsu Province, this paper created kinds of double-chain eco-agricultural model and integrated supporting system based on 'waterfowl, marine lives, aquatic vegetable and paddy rice', 'special food and economic crops with livestock’and‘special food and economic crops with livestock and marine lives’, which were suitable for extension and application in Jiangsu Province. Besides, it set 12 provincial standards and established preliminary technical standard system of‘double-chain’eco-agricultural model. In addition, it explored that‘the leading agricultural enterprises (agricultural co-operatives or family farms+demonstration zones+farmer households’was adopted as operating mechanism of industrialization of eco-agricultural model, which pushed forward rapid development of standardization and industrialization of‘double-chain’eco-agricultural model.

Impact assessment of agricultural innovations: a review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juan Carlos Barrientos-Fuentes

2013-04-01

Full Text Available The current conditions of the markets and favorable policies, as well as the progress of science and communications, are promoting further development and diffusion of agricultural innovations, which have effects on different areas of agrarian development. The objective of this paper is to present a review of characteristics of agricultural innovations and their diffusion, adoption and impacts, as well as an update of the types and methods of assessment. Agricultural innovations are not only new or improved products, they are also models and systems, and should have a positive social effect. Innovation areas in developing countries are more concentrated on production and distribution, whereas developed countries concentrate on offering inputs. Investments from the private sector in agricultural innovations are growing faster than those from the public sector. The adoption of innovations is medium-term, and usually less than 100%. The impact of innovations includes intermediate areas, such as institutional, political, scientific and productive areas. The economic efficiency of the investment in innovations is the most often mentioned purpose of impact assessments in the literature. The efficiency analysis (ex-post and its surplus approach is still the most used method for assessing impact of agricultural innovations. Nevertheless, other goals are becoming more important, such as food security, environmental protection and poverty reduction. Livelihood, comprehensive and multidimensional approaches go beyond the economic approach. Moreover, specific models with advantages of prognosis and improved precision are replacing or complementing the classic socio-economic approach

Scenarios for Russian Agricultural Development to 2021

Science.gov (United States)

2011-12-01

Agricultural Policy in Russia: Progress to Date and the Road Forward (Washington, DC: The World Bank,[2002]). 26 Nove, An Economic History of the...governing philosophy and dynamics in order to better understand how they affect the rural economy and agricultural policy . This will facilitate...Skeptics of the current regime might argue that this is an apt description of agricultural policy during the Putin/Medvedev era and therefore evidence that

Diesel Consumption of Agriculture in China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shusen Gui

2012-12-01

Full Text Available As agricultural mechanization accelerates the development of agriculture in China, to control the growth of the resulting energy consumption of mechanized agriculture without negatively affecting economic development has become a major challenge. A systematic analysis of the factors (total power, unit diesel consumption, etc. influencing diesel consumption using the SECA model, combined with simulations on agricultural diesel flows in China between 1996 and 2010 is performed in this work. Seven agricultural subsectors, fifteen categories of agricultural machinery and five farm operations are considered. The results show that farming and transportation are the two largest diesel consumers, accounting for 86.23% of the total diesel consumption in agriculture in 2010. Technological progress has led to a decrease in the unit diesel consumption and an increase in the unit productivity of all machinery, and there is still much potential for future progress. Additionally, the annual average working hours have decreased rapidly for most agricultural machinery, thereby influencing the development of mechanized agriculture.

THE NEED TO IMPROVE PRACTICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM IN AGRICULTURE AND SPECIALIZED INDUSTRY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Romeo Cătălin CREŢU

2015-04-01

Full Text Available In Romania, the establishment of the market economy has required the elaboration and implementation of agricultural, alimentary and nutritional policies, based on scientific criteria, to ensure that the structure of Romanian agriculture would come close to that of the European Union agriculture. Agricultural policy needs to be coherent, flexible and directed towards the economic, social and environmental protection performance. Worldwide practice shows that empiric experience of economic agents does not suffice, but requires plenty of scientific knowledge. The hereby study undertakes to carry out a radiography of the production potential of agricultural operations in Romania and to demonstrate the need for improving practical information systems in agriculture and specialized industry.

Cost Methodology for Biomass Feedstocks: Herbaceous Crops and Agricultural Residues

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Turhollow Jr, Anthony F [ORNL; Webb, Erin [ORNL; Sokhansanj, Shahabaddine [ORNL

2009-12-01

This report describes a set of procedures and assumptions used to estimate production and logistics costs of bioenergy feedstocks from herbaceous crops and agricultural residues. The engineering-economic analysis discussed here is based on methodologies developed by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) and the American Agricultural Economics Association (AAEA). An engineering-economic analysis approach was chosen due to lack of historical cost data for bioenergy feedstocks. Instead, costs are calculated using assumptions for equipment performance, input prices, and yield data derived from equipment manufacturers, research literature, and/or standards. Cost estimates account for fixed and variable costs. Several examples of this costing methodology used to estimate feedstock logistics costs are included at the end of this report.

Developing Livestock Facility Type Information from USDA Agricultural Census Data for Use in Epidemiological and Economic Models

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Melius, C; Robertson, A; Hullinger, P

2006-10-24

The epidemiological and economic modeling of livestock diseases requires knowing the size, location, and operational type of each livestock facility within the US. At the present time, the only national database of livestock facilities that is available to the general public is the USDA's 2002 Agricultural Census data, published by the National Agricultural Statistics Service, herein referred to as the 'NASS data.' The NASS data provides facility data at the county level for various livestock types (i.e., beef cows, milk cows, cattle on feed, other cattle, total hogs and pigs, sheep and lambs, milk goats, and angora goats). However, the number and sizes of facilities for the various livestock types are not independent since some facilities have more than one type of livestock, and some livestock are of more than one type (e.g., 'other cattle' that are being fed for slaughter are also 'cattle on feed'). In addition, any data tabulated by NASS that could identify numbers of animals or other data reported by an individual respondent is suppressed by NASS and coded with a 'D.'. To be useful for epidemiological and economic modeling, the NASS data must be converted into a unique set of facility types (farms having similar operational characteristics). The unique set must not double count facilities or animals. At the same time, it must account for all the animals, including those for which the data has been suppressed. Therefore, several data processing steps are required to work back from the published NASS data to obtain a consistent database for individual livestock operations. This technical report documents data processing steps that were used to convert the NASS data into a national livestock facility database with twenty-eight facility types. The process involves two major steps. The first step defines the rules used to estimate the data that is suppressed within the NASS database. The second step converts the NASS

Analysis on Investment Behavior of Agricultural Sector in China

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Sun Zhuo

2015-01-01

In the process of industrialization, China has been a big agricultural country, and the agricultural sector's economic activities have been playing important role in economic growth. This paper established the investment behavior model of agricultural enterprises on the basis of Chinese practice. And then, the model presented the important factors impacting on investment, such as financing cost, wage, and policy factors,etc. Thirdly, this paper in particular usedR-studio to estimate the impact of financing cost and policy factor on investment and capital accumulation of primary industry sector by gathering the data from 2003 to 2013. The results showed that the official interest rate of loans of financial institutions could be the proxy variable as the financing cost of agricultural enterprises, and the employment level of agricultural enterprises had negative impact on investment. Finally, this paper provided some explanations and suggestions on the basis of above results.

Soil maps, field knowledge, forest inventory and Ecological-Economic Zoning as a basis for agricultural suitability of lands in Minas Gerais elaborated in GIS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vladimir Antonio Silva

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Lands (broader concept than soils, including all elements of the environment: soils, geology, topography, climate, water resources, flora and fauna, and the effects of anthropogenic activities of the state of Minas Gerais are in different soil, climate and socio-economics conditions and suitability for the production of agricultural goods is therefore distinct and mapping of agricultural suitability of the state lands is crucial for planning guided sustainability. Geoprocessing uses geographic information treatment techniques and GIS allows to evaluate geographic phenomena and their interrelationships using digital maps. To evaluate the agricultural suitability of state lands, we used soil maps, field knowledge, forest inventories and databases related to Ecological-Economic Zoning (EEZ of Minas Gerais, to develop a map of land suitability in GIS. To do this, we have combined the maps of soil fertility, water stress, oxygen deficiency, vulnerability to erosion and impediments to mechanization. In terms of geographical expression, the main limiting factor of lands is soil fertility, followed by lack of water, impediments to mechanization and vulnerability to erosion. Regarding agricultural suitability, the group 2 (regular suitability for crops is the most comprehensive, representing 45.13% of the state. For management levels A and B, low and moderate technological level, respectively, the most expressive suitability class is the regular, followed by the restricted class and last, the adequate class, while for the management level C (high technological level the predominant class is the restricted. The predominant most intensive use type is for crops, whose area increases substantially with capital investment and technology (management levels B and C.

Dynamics of renewable energy consumption and economic activities across the agriculture, industry, and service sectors: evidence in the perspective of sustainable development.

Science.gov (United States)

Paramati, Sudharshan Reddy; Apergis, Nicholas; Ummalla, Mallesh

2018-01-01

This study aims to examine the impact of renewable and non-renewable energy consumption on the agriculture, industry, services, and overall economic activities (GDP) across a panel of G20 nations. The study makes use of annual data from 1980 to 2012 on 17 countries of the G20. To achieve the study objectives, we apply several robust panel econometric models which account for cross-sectional dependence and heterogeneity in the analysis. The empirical findings confirm the significant long-run equilibrium relationship among the variables. The long-run elasticities indicate that both renewable and non-renewable energy consumptions have significant positive effect on the economic activities across the sectors and also on the overall economic output. These results also imply that the impact is more from renewable energy on economic activities than that of non-renewable energy. Given that, our results offer significant policy implications. We suggest that the policy makers should aim to initiate effective policies to turn domestic and foreign investments into renewable energy projects. This eventually ensures low carbon emissions and sustainable economic development across the G20 nations.

Agro-Science Journal of Tropical Agriculture, Food, Environment ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

PC USER

1Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension Technology, School of Agriculture and ... farmers redeemed with agro-inputs under the electronic-wallet initiative of the Growth Enhancement Support ... allocative role of price following distortion created by ... the development of a private sector distribution channel.

Working group report on agriculture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stewart, B.

1991-01-01

A summary is provided of the results from a working group investigating the implications of climatic change on agriculture in the Great Plains. The group investigated the current state of knowledge concerning basic understanding of climatic impacts, scales of analysis, impact model validation, lack of integrated modelling, and incomplete and incompatible data sets. Basic understanding of current spatial and temporal climatic variability and its impacts and implications for agricultural production, land resource sustainability, and farm management decisions is imprecise. There is little understanding of the magnitude of potential longer-term changes, timing, likely regional changes, or probability of change. Most models are unvalidated, and knowledge of potential carbon dioxide enrichment effects on crops is very uncertain and the effects are poorly understood. Research should be expanded to develop a better understanding of the critical thresholds and sensitivity of Great Plains agricultural production and economic systems. Holistic methodology should be implemented to integrate weather and climatic information with crop and environmental processes, farm level decision making, and local and regional economic conditions

Agriculture in an industrial framework

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edgar Thomas

1966-12-01

Full Text Available The present shape of agriculture in every country is the result of a complex of past economic, social and political factors. These factors are continuously under pressure from new forces. Today, for better or for worse, the pursuit of economic growth has become the dominant force the world over. In order to achieve and sustain a more rapid rate of growth two things are necessary. The first is to improve productivity within each activity by the greater application of capital, by better technology, by better management and by better organisation. The second is to aim at the optimum allocation of resources between activities by moving resources from less to more productive uses. Pursuing these two paths towards faster growth is releasing two sets of forces which are exerting a radical impact on both the size and the pattern of agriculture. This paper deals with this impact on agriculture in contemporary Britain a highly industrial and a preponderantly urban nation committed to the experiment of running a hybrid economy based on the two pillars of private enterprise and public control.

Economics of trees versus annual crops on marginal agricultural lands

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gupta, T.; Mohan, D.

1982-01-01

The results of a study conducted by the CMA in Rajasthan, selected as one of the major problem states because of its hot, arid and drought-prone character, and its present declining agricultural, livestock and fuelwood production coupled with an expansion of the area under annual crops. The present situation in Rajasthan is described and estimates made of returns from current land based enterprises (annual crops and livestock rearing) in comparison with the expected costs and returns of establishing suitable tree crops in the area. The financial and social feasibility of changing land use from annual to tree crops (while maintaining livestock production) is discussed, together with a consideration of some management and policy issues. Six tree species (Acacia tortilis, Albizzia (Albizia) lebbek, Prosopis cineraria, P. juliflora, Zizyphus species and Leucaena leucocephala) were identified as adaptable for the region and the economics of raising each over 1 felling cycle calculated. Depending on the species and cycle length, net annual returns were Rs 360-3270/ha (using a discount factor of 11%), with an expected return of Rs1680/ha if the species were allocated equally; this is considerably better than the expected returns from annual crops and standing farm trees (Rs-40 to Rs30/ha, with or without including the costs of family labor). Fifteen tables in the text and 9 in appendices give detailed breakdowns of costs and returns. 104 references.

A process-based agricultural model for the irrigated agriculture sector in Alberta, Canada

Science.gov (United States)

Ammar, M. E.; Davies, E. G.

2015-12-01

Connections between land and water, irrigation, agricultural productivity and profitability, policy alternatives, and climate change and variability are complex, poorly understood, and unpredictable. Policy assessment for agriculture presents a large potential for development of broad-based simulation models that can aid assessment and quantification of policy alternatives over longer temporal scales. The Canadian irrigated agriculture sector is concentrated in Alberta, where it represents two thirds of the irrigated land-base in Canada and is the largest consumer of surface water. Despite interest in irrigation expansion, its potential in Alberta is uncertain given a constrained water supply, significant social and economic development and increasing demands for both land and water, and climate change. This paper therefore introduces a system dynamics model as a decision support tool to provide insights into irrigation expansion in Alberta, and into trade-offs and risks associated with that expansion. It is intended to be used by a wide variety of users including researchers, policy analysts and planners, and irrigation managers. A process-based cropping system approach is at the core of the model and uses a water-driven crop growth mechanism described by AquaCrop. The tool goes beyond a representation of crop phenology and cropping systems by permitting assessment and quantification of the broader, long-term consequences of agricultural policies for Alberta's irrigation sector. It also encourages collaboration and provides a degree of transparency that gives confidence in simulation results. The paper focuses on the agricultural component of the systems model, describing the process involved; soil water and nutrients balance, crop growth, and water, temperature, salinity, and nutrients stresses, and how other disciplines can be integrated to account for the effects of interactions and feedbacks in the whole system. In later stages, other components such as

Innovation systems, saving, trust, and economic development in Africa

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pamuk, H.

2014-01-01

The five essays in the dissertation explore the interaction between economic development in Africa and three economic concepts from different fields: decentralized agricultural innovation systems, trust and saving practices. A relatively new view to boost agricultural growth is the implementation of

Potential GHG mitigation options for agriculture in China

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Erda, Lin; Yue, Li; Hongmin, Dong [Agrometeorology Institute, Beijing (China)

1996-12-31

Agriculture contributes more or less to anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}), methane (CH{sub 4}), and nitrous oxide (N{sub 2}O). China`s agriculture accounts for about 5-15% of total emissions for these gases. Land-use changes related to agriculture are not major contributors in China. Mitigation options are available that could result in significant decrease in CH{sub 4} and N{sub 2}O emissions from agricultural systems. If implemented, they are likely to increase crop and animal productivity. Implementation has the potential to decrease CH{sub 4} emissions from rice, ruminants, and animal waste by 4-40%. The key to decreasing N{sub 2}O emissions is improving the efficiency of plant utilization of fertilizer N. This could decrease N{sub 2}O emissions from agriculture by almost 20%. Using animal waste to produce CH{sub 4} for energy and digested manure for fertilizer may at some time be cost effective. Economic analyses of options proposed should show positive economic as well as environmental benefits.

Determinants of Urban Expansion and Agricultural Land Conversion in 25 EU Countries

Science.gov (United States)

Ustaoglu, Eda; Williams, Brendan

2017-10-01

Agricultural land conversion is resulting from ongoing complex interaction between the physical environment, policy settings and socio-economic factors. Case studies of the determinants of agricultural land conversion potentially contribute to the analysis of the main causes of land-use change. This can assist authorities and policy makers in understanding the relative importance of a wide range of factors on urban expansion and associated agricultural land-use change. This paper explores the determinants of agricultural land conversion to urban uses in the studied 25 European Union countries between 2000 and 2006. European-level as well as region-specific land-use changes are studied. The research is using the spatial data adapted from European Corine Land Cover maps of 2000 and 2006 and utilised other European sources regarding socio-economic, natural, geological, climate, and policy-related data. The differences in urbanisation processes observed in different regions in Europe emphasise the regional variations of urban conversion process of agricultural land use. This study identifies a combination of socio-economic drivers, policy-related factors, nature and location-based factors as key influences on agricultural land conversion processes in Europe. Specifically we found that the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) subsidies were influential in curbing urbanisation and reducing agricultural land consumption.

Determinants of Urban Expansion and Agricultural Land Conversion in 25 EU Countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Ustaoglu, Eda; Williams, Brendan

2017-10-01

Agricultural land conversion is resulting from ongoing complex interaction between the physical environment, policy settings and socio-economic factors. Case studies of the determinants of agricultural land conversion potentially contribute to the analysis of the main causes of land-use change. This can assist authorities and policy makers in understanding the relative importance of a wide range of factors on urban expansion and associated agricultural land-use change. This paper explores the determinants of agricultural land conversion to urban uses in the studied 25 European Union countries between 2000 and 2006. European-level as well as region-specific land-use changes are studied. The research is using the spatial data adapted from European Corine Land Cover maps of 2000 and 2006 and utilised other European sources regarding socio-economic, natural, geological, climate, and policy-related data. The differences in urbanisation processes observed in different regions in Europe emphasise the regional variations of urban conversion process of agricultural land use. This study identifies a combination of socio-economic drivers, policy-related factors, nature and location-based factors as key influences on agricultural land conversion processes in Europe. Specifically we found that the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) subsidies were influential in curbing urbanisation and reducing agricultural land consumption.

Climate change and drought risks for agriculture

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Verhagen, J.; Put, M.; Zaal, F.; Keulen, van H.

2004-01-01

Changes in rainfall patterns and risk of crop failure are discussed in this chapter. Agriculture is by far the most important economic activity in the region. The success of this economic activity relies heavily on water availability during the growing season. For rainfed production systems timing

Benefits to world agriculture through remote sensing

Science.gov (United States)

Buffalano, A. C.; Kochanowski, P.

1976-01-01

Remote sensing of agricultural land permits crop classification and mensuration which can lead to improved forecasts of production. This technique is particularly important for nations which do not already have an accurate agricultural reporting system. Better forecasts have important economic effects. International grain traders can make better decisions about when to store, buy, and sell. Farmers can make better planting decisions by taking advantage of production estimates for areas out of phase with their own agricultural calendar. World economic benefits will accrue to both buyers and sellers because of increased food supply and price stabilization. This paper reviews the econometric models used to establish this scenario and estimates the dollar value of benefits for world wheat as 200 million dollars annually for the United States and 300 to 400 million dollars annually for the rest of the world.

Some impacts of the EU accession on the new member states’ agriculture

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Judit KISS

2011-12-01

Full Text Available The main aim of the paper is to analyse the impact of the EU accession on the New Member States’ agriculture with special regard to production, employment, farmers’ income and intra-EU trade in agricultural goods on the basis of the latest statistical data of Eurostat. According to our findings, accession has provided incentives to agricultural production and to utilize natural endowments (mainly agricultural land; however, agricultural employment decrease could not be halted. Nevertheless, the economic situation of the farmers improved due to increasing incomes. Though the enlarged EU provided markets for the NMS agricultural products, the competition on their domestic markets increased significantly, resulting in massive import penetration. Consequently, most of the NMS agricultural trade balance deteriorated considerably. Concerning future prospects, it highly depends on the reformulation of the Common Agricultural Policy, the new budget of the EU and the domestic economic and agricultural situation of the NMS.

Payments under the Common Agricultural Policy as a determinant of development of different types of agricultural holdings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Czyżewski Andrzej

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The main aim of this article was to investigate the influence of payments under the CAP on economic development of different types of farms. The main source of data was FADN database. A period of research covers the years of 2004-2013. The article referred to previous results of research in the field of payments and its role for the economic situation of agricultural holdings. Then the share of payments in agricultural income was examined as well as the use of subsidies on investments. The process of accumulation, both in real and theoretical approach, and influence of this phenomenon on change of economic size were also presented. In addition the paper analysed the changes in return on equity in order to show the changes in economic efficiency of farms. The analyses that were conducted showed a significant role of payments in the formation of incomes and accumulation. On the other hand payments may lead to decrease in efficiency. In long term there is a risk that dependence on payments in functioning of farm will be excessive.

SECTORAL SHARES AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ahmad, Nisar; Naveed, Amjad; Naz, Amber

2013-01-01

believe that structural change is an unimportant side effect of the economic development. On the contrary, economists associated with the World Bank and some others posit that growth is brought about by the changes in sectoral composition. The objective of this study is to empirically test...... the relationship between sectoral shares and economic growth by using the panel data for 20 developed countries. The results of the granger causality suggest that both services and agriculture sectors do granger cause economic growth, whereas industrial sector does not granger cause growth. Reverse causality does...... not hold for any of the three sectors. The results of Barro and Non-Barro regressions along with the set of control variables have suggested that services sector is negatively affecting growth, whereas both industrial and agriculture shares are positively affect economic growth....

Prerequisite for Sustainable Agricultural Development in the Sub ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Saharan Africa in thelast decade or so, a substantial proportion of the people in Africa still live inacute poverty and suffer immensely from inadequate access to economic and social resources. As the agricultural sector dominates the economics of ...

Coupled social and ecological outcomes of agricultural intensification in Costa Rica and the future of biodiversity conservation in tropical agricultural regions

Science.gov (United States)

Sanfiorenzo, A. R.; Waits, L.; Finegan, B.; Shaver, I.; Chain Guadarrama, A.; Cleary, K.; Santiago-Garcia, R.; Hormel, L.; Vierling, L. A.; Bosque-Perez, N.; DeClerck, F.; Fagan, M. E.; Sibelet, N.

2016-12-01

Tropical ecosystem conversion to agriculture has caused widespread habitat loss and created fragmented landscapes composed of remnant forest patches embedded in a matrix of agricultural land uses. Non-traditional agricultural export (NTAE) crops such as pineapple are rapidly replacing multiuse landscapes characterized by a diverse matrix of pasture and smallholder crops with intensive, large-scale, monoculture plantations. Using an interdisciplinary approach, we examine the coupled social and ecological implications of agricultural intensification Guided by frameworks from political economy, landscape ecology and landscape genetics we: (1) describe the social and economic implications of pineapple expansion, specifically the concentration of land, labor and financial resources, (2) quantify pineapple cultivation's spatial characteristics, and (3) assess the effects of pineapple expansion on surrounding forest ecosystems, on the agricultural matrix and on biodiversity conservation. Our results indicate that pineapple production concentrates land, labor, and financial resources, which has a homogenizing effect on the agricultural economy in the study region. This constrains farm-based livelihoods, with larger implications for food security and agricultural diversity. Landscape ecology and genetics analyses further reveal how pineapple production simplifies and homogenizes the agricultural matrix between forest patches, which increase the genetic structure and reduce the genetic diversity of Symphonia globulifera a forest understory tree species. To offset the effects of agricultural intensification on social and environmental systems, we recommend developing landscape level land use planning capacity. Furthermore, agricultural and conservation policy reform is needed to promote landscape heterogeneity and economic diversity within the agricultural sector. Our interdisciplinary research provides a detailed examination of the social and ecological impacts of

Sustainable Food & Sustainable Economics

OpenAIRE

Alvarez, Mavis Dora

2012-01-01

Cuba today is immersed in a very intense process of perfecting its agricultural production structures with the goal of making them more efficient and sustainable in their economic administration and in their social and environmental management. Agricultural cooperatives in Cuba have the responsibility of producing on 73% of the country's farmland. Their contributions are decisive to developing agricultural production and to ensuring more and better food for the population, in addition to redu...

Development of the agricultural insurance market in the Czech Republic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eva Vávrová

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Proactive approach to risk management of agriculture companies is the way to ensure the efficiency of agricultural production even affected by natural disasters, to ensure the continuity of agricultural business and ultimately affect the level of development of rural regions. The instrument that solves the problem of reduction and elimination of risks associated with agricultural production is a systemic approach to the insurance of agricultural production, both crop insurance and livestock insurance, linked to a support program for SME in agriculture.This presented paper aims to identify and discuss the possibility of eliminating risks possibly threate­ning the agricultural production and to analyze forms of covering risks associated with agricultural production on the commercial insurance market in the Czech Republic. The paper analyzes the current situation and current development of the agricultural insurance on the insurance market in the Czech Republic.This paper was written as a part of the research project MSM 6215648904, carried out by the Faculty of Business and Economics, under the title „The Czech economics in the processes of integration and globalization, and the development of the agriculture and service sector in the new conditions of the integrated European market“, following the goals and methodology of the research project.

Greenhouse Gases and Animal Agriculture

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Takahashi, J. (ed.) [Department of Animal Science, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Hokkaido (Japan); Young, B.A. (ed.) [The University of Queensland, Gatton, Queensland 4343 (Australia)

2002-07-01

Reports from interdisciplinary areas including microbiology, biochemistry, animal nutrition, agricultural engineering and economics are integrated in this proceedings. The major theme of this book is environmental preservation by controlling release of undesirable greenhouse gases to realize the sustainable development of animal agriculture. Technology exists for the effective collection of methane generated from anaerobic fermentation of animal effluent and its use as a biomass energy source. Fossil fuel consumption can be reduced and there can be increased use of locally available energy sources. In addition, promoting environmentally-conscious agriculture which does not rely on the chemical fertilizer can be realized by effective use of animal manure and compost products.

Influence of Course Delivery Method and Proctoring on Performance in Introductory Economics

OpenAIRE

Wachenheim, Cheryl J.

2011-01-01

This work was published in the Review of Agricultural Economics. See Wachenheim, C.J. 2009. Final Exam Scores in Introductory Economics Courses: Effect of Course Delivery Method and Proctoring. Review of Agricultural Economics 31(3), pp. 640-652.

Procedure for the evaluation of the Units Producers and Cooperative Agricultural in Holguin territory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mirna Lázara González Velázquez

2016-07-01

Full Text Available The problems related with the economic and financial administration in the Agricultural Cooperatives constitute a permanent challenge for the investigators of the economic sciences. In such a sense, the present investigation is an approach to the topic and he/she has as general objective to design and to apply a procedure for the evaluation of the Units Producers and Cooperative Agricultural starting from the analysis of indicators that show the financial economic situation. The study object is guided in the theoretical thing to the precision and foundation of the agricultural cooperative sector, seen this as a dynamic and complex process. The investigation contains a theoretical mark that approaches the development of the agricultural cooperative sector, systems productive, different conceptions and theoretical focuses, he/she also intends a procedure for the evaluation of the financial economic situation in these organizations with the design of actions according to tipologías guided to mitigate the existent problems. The designed procedure and applied it elevates the possibilities to favor the process of evaluation of the Agricultural Cooperatives, contributing in actions guided to the improvement of their economic-financial development.

A HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF THE COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY

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Cristina BALACEANU

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Agriculture is perceived by the EU as occupying a special place in its economic and social structure, because of its content and its relevance at the level of each individual. Consequently, the EU sustains that the relative poverty of a high proportion of its agricultural and rural population needs a protectionist price policy combined with a long term policy that would aim at its rural development, especially in the peripheral and poorly developed areas. Between EU policies Common Agricultural Policy is regarded as one of the most important. This not only because of the budget for the Union to finance this policy (which is about 50% of the total budget the number of people affected and territory involved, but also the historical importance of delegated sovereign attributes EU Member States to the decision. The importance of the Common Agricultural Policy derives of close links with the single market and economic and monetary union, two key areas of European integration.

The economic impact of multifunctional agriculture in Dutch regions: An input-output model

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Heringa, P.W.; Heide, van der C.M.; Heijman, W.J.M.

2013-01-01

Multifunctional agriculture is a broad concept lacking a precise definition. Moreover, little is known about the societal importance of multifunctional agriculture. This paper is an empirical attempt to fill this gap. To this end, an input-output model was constructed for multifunctional agriculture

Econometric analysis of the impact of agricultural insurance of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Agriculture continues to dominate economic development policy in many ... Agricultural insurance is seen as one of the best strategies to address farm risks and ... The study found that the sampled farmers differ in their use of farm resources ...

TECHNOLOGICAL IMPERATIVE IMPACT OF GLOBALIZATION ON INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

А. Кozlova

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The article highlights the factors influencing agricultural production towards global market. The study consists basic fundamental imperatives of globalization on the agricultural sector in international economic relations. The article analyzes the strategic priorities of the international agricultural sector, which includes financial and credit support, legal aspects, processes and integration of organizational structures. Technological imperatives require a large structural and institutional turn in the Ukrainian economy on the basis of current trends in the global economy, scientific and technical potential. There is a growing importance of organizing and conducting international level in the field of technological forecasting. This type of prediction is considered as backbone component in strategic forecasting and economic development programming.

Economic scale of utilization of radiation in medicine in Japan.

Science.gov (United States)

Yanagisawa, K; Inoue, T; Hayakawa, K; Shiotari, H; Nakamura, Y; Matsuyama, K; Nagasawa, K

2009-01-01

Economic scale of radioisotopes (RI) in Japan is studied in the field of medicine, agriculture and a part of industry. (1) RI is used during medical examination with economic scale by 1.7M$ (million dollars) in 1997 and 0.4M$ in 2005. (2) Economic scale of RI utilization in agriculture is 4M$ for R&D, 127M$ for environmental protection and 1M$ for chronology. RI usage in agriculture is increased five times due to needs at environmental technology lasted after the Kyoto protocol. (3) Indirect economic scale of RI ((85)Kr, (147)Pm, (90)Cr) usage in paper fabrication field in Japan for 2006 is 8432M$.

Assessment of the economic impact of ozone on the agricultural sector in Ontario, Canada

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jallala, A.M.

1990-05-01

Ozone is the most damaging secondary pollutant to agricultural production, according to the literature. It is estimated that 90% of crop losses due to air pollution are caused by ozone. The economic impact of ozone on 20 agricultural commodities in Ontario is assessed in two steps. In the first, ozone contour maps are generated for the province. The results suggest an average ozone concentration of 40 ppB, higher than the natural background of 20 ppB. The second step measures the change in consumer and producer surplus that results from reductions in ozone levels in Ontario from 40 ppB to 20 ppB. Consumer plus producer surpluses correspond to the area below the demand curve and above the supply curve to the left of their intersection. A nonlinear programming model that maximizes consumer and producer surpluses, subject to a set of constraints, was run twice. The first run incorporates realized yields and production costs, and the second incorporates biological yield changes owing to ozone and the associated changes in production costs. The difference in value of the objective functions between the two runs shows the net benefits of reduced ozone levels. Results indicate an average net benefit of $64.3 million/y or 5.8% of the total value of all the crops considered. Average annual consumer benefits are $44.1 million and producer benefits $20.2 million. Not all producers benefit from ozone reductions; producers of fresh vegetables lose while producers of grain corn, soybeans, and winter wheat gain. 54 refs., 6 figs., 15 tabs

THE KNOWLEDGE OF ROMANIAN AGRICULTURE IN TERMS OF SUSTAINABILITY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iuliana DOBRE

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Agriculture, a key component of the structure of economic branches, should be addressed directly related to the maintenance of natural resources and their exploitation in a controlled way or the enhancement of their own, without resorting to inconsistent stimulus elements that can in time generate dysfunctions in products and the environment. Looking at things from this perspective, there is a need for a sustainable agriculture approach, given its social, ecological and economic representativeness, with active and continuous character.

Agriculture and renewable energies: contribution and opportunities for farming exploitation - Synthesis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leveque, Benjamin; Hajjar, Ali; Noirot-Cosson, Paul-Emile; Oudin, Bertrand; Meiffren, Olivia; Khamlich, Ali; Varchavsky, Marc; Lapierre, Aline; Brinon, Alain; Nguyen, Elodie; Mhiri, Tarek; Bonnard, Philippe; Gagnepain, Bruno; Cardona Maestro, Astrid; Berthomieu, Nadine; Theobald, Olivier; Bardinal, Marc; Mousset, Jerome; Thual, Julien; Fautrad, Alice; Bastide, Guillaume; Parrouffe, Jean-Michel; Dubilly, Anne-Laure; Bellini, Robert; Gerson, Raphael; Mehl, Celine; Mainsant, Armand; Carrere, Tristan; Marchal, David; Duval, Joakim; Huet, Sebastien; Herrera, Joanna; Hascuet, Isabelle; Rousselon, Nicolas; Ollivier, Denis; Lemaignan, Benoit; Jager, Florian; Porcheyre, Edwige; Bealu, Christophe; Denninger, F.; Guggemos, Fabien; Richard, Axel; Duclos, Paul; Flajollet-Millan, Johanna; Roesner, Sven; Begue, Marie; Furois, Timothee; Oriol, Louise; Denoyer, Gerard; Pagnac-Farbiaz, Elisabeth; Guibert, Olivier de; Parisse, Sandrine; Bozonnat, Cedric; Liger, Davy; Molinie, Lea; Jarrige, Leonard; Mery, Yoann; Charrier, Virginie; Ait Amar, Samy

2018-02-01

This study aimed at assessing direct and indirect contributions of agriculture to renewable energy production in France from now until 2023, 2030 and 2050. It notably aims at a better knowledge of the economic contribution of renewable energies for the agriculture sector, and of the contribution of this sector to energy transition for the country. Technical, economic and environmental benefits and drawbacks of each renewable energy have been studied in order to identify levers and brakes for the development of renewable energies in this sector. A first part proposes methods of assessment and results for the contribution to renewable energy production. The second part reports an economic analysis of the impact of renewable energies on the agriculture sector. The third part evokes the diversity of business models in relationship with exploitation type. The next part reports a prospective study, while the last one reports main lessons already learned through the deployment of renewable energies in agriculture

Investigating Low-Carbon Agriculture: Case Study of China’s Henan Province

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Min Su

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Developing low-carbon agriculture requires investigating the trajectory, decoupling statuses, and driving forces of agricultural carbon emissions. This study explored the evolution of agricultural carbon emissions based on 18 kinds of major carbon emission sources in Henan Province of China, which produces approximately one-tenth of China’s total grain output. We then analyzed the relationship between carbon emissions and economic growth using the decoupling elasticity model, and identified the factors driving the decoupling status. This analysis was done with a decoupling elasticity model, using the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index technique. There were three key results: (1 Agricultural carbon emissions totaled 16.61 million tons in 1999, and increased by 7.99% to 17.93 million tons in 2014, with an average growth rate of approximately 0.65%; (2 The decoupling relationship between agricultural carbon emissions and economic output was dominated by weak decoupling during the study period; (3 Agricultural labor productivity was the leading contributor to changes in agricultural carbon emissions, followed by farming-animal husbandry carbon intensity, labor, and agricultural structure.

Economic evaluation and conceptual design of optimal agricultural systems for production of food and energy. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

1982-03-01

The major technical and economic considerations which determined the scope of the study and the structure of the linear programming (LP) models are discussed. Four models, each representing a typical crop, beef, dairy, or swine farm in conjunction with ethanol facilities are characterized by the same general behavioral and mathematical model structure. Specific activities, constraints, and data for each of the four models are presented. An overview of the model structure is provided in the context of the general scope and background assumptions, and of its LP implementation. Simulated initial conditions and outcomes are reported for typical Illinois farms. Policy implications are discussed as related to agriculture, energy, and inter-industry coordination. (MHR)

Urban Agriculture: Search for Agricultural Practice in Urbanized Rural Areas

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Celile Özçiçek Dölekoğlu

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Rapid urbanization in developing countries involves unplanned migration, unemployment and poverty. The steady shrinking of rural areas and the use of agricultural land for other purposes are progressively increasing the pressure on natural resources. This development on the one hand increases the risk to food security, and on the other triggers climate change. The rural population who migrate to the cities or who are absorbed into urban areas continue their agricultural activities in the urban in order to provide themselves with an income or to maintain their food security. In the big cities of the developed world, contact with nature is kept by means of hobby gardens, recreational areas and urban and suburban plant and animal farming, and creative ideas such as roof gardens can be found. This development, known as urban agriculture, is practiced by 800 million people in the world. Urban agriculture has many economic, social and environmental benefits, but it may also have risks and adverse effects. In this study, the developments in this area in Turkey and the world are presented, and all aspects of its effects and outcomes are discussed.

AN ASSESSMENT OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY AND ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Osondu

natural condition, there are ecological eight zones. (Deng, 2007). ... Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, China. 182# Nanhu .... result from reallocation of resources among .... extension, agriculture foreign direct investment,.

397 Empirical Assessment of Agricultural Development in Manzini ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

User

happy about this turn-around in events given that the agricultural sector has been one of ... During the same period both commercial and family agriculture grew by 11,. 7% and 15 ... domestic product and foreign exchange earnings in large proportions ... economics has evolved in the direction of finer and finer specialisation.

Producers' approaches about good agricultural practices in Manisa and İzmir

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Karabat Selcuk

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This study includes the agricultural enterprises which apply and do not apply good agricultural practices in Manisa and İzmir provinces. The basic purposes of this research are; to make a comparison between the enterprises apply and do not apply good agricultural practices, to determine the awareness of the producers to good agricultural practices, to specify the tendency of the farmers towards good agricultural practices and to present the factors affecting to good agriculture. In the scope of the study, 25 grape producers in Manisa and 20 mandarin producers in Izmir that apply good agricultural practices have been participated in a survey. Besides, the same survey was also conducted with the same number of producers which do not apply good agricultural practices. To analyze the data, simple calculations such as average, percentage, frequency and through the use of the crosstabs were used and the social-economic status of the producers and some technical and economical specifications of the enterprises were determined. The tendency of the producers towards performing good agricultural practices and the factors affecting to these tendencies have been observed. The tendency of the producers were determined by using Logit Regression Analysis.

THE METHODOLOGY OF DEVELOPING VALUE INDICATORS TO INTEGRALLY ASSESS RESOURCE POTENTIAL IN AGRICULTURAL UNITS

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Elena TIMOFTI

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The problem of increasing the economic efficiency of resource use in agricultural production is very important. Its solution directly depends on the economic security of the country and its constant supply with agricultural products.There are three basic factors in agricultural production: nature (land, labour and capital, which have differentmeasure units. Comparability is necessary to express the value of the integral potential that gives the possibility totake into account the main resources involved in producing and obtaining results from the agricultural sector.

The Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP): Protocols and Pilot Studies

Science.gov (United States)

Rosenzweig, C.; Jones, J. W.; Hatfield, J. L.; Ruane, A. C.; Boote, K. J.; Thorburn, P.; Antle, J. M.; Nelson, G. C.; Porter, C.; Janssen, S.;

Economic feasibility of CHP facilities fueled by biomass from unused agriculture land

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pfeifer, Antun; Dominkovic, Dominik Franjo; Ćosić, Boris

2016-01-01

In this paper, the energy potential of biomass from growing short rotation coppice on unused agricultural land in the Republic of Croatia is used to investigate the feasibility of Combined Heat and Power (CHP) facilities fueled by such biomass. Large areas of agricultural land that remain unused...... work and is now used to investigate the conditions in which such energy facilities could be feasible. The overall potential of biomass from short rotation coppice cultivated on unused agricultural land in the scenarios with 30% of the area is up to 10PJ/year. The added value of fruit trees pruning...... biomass represents an incentive for the development of fruit production on such agricultural land. Sensitivity analysis was conducted for several parameters: cost of biomass, investment costs in CHP systems and combined change in biomass and technology cost....

A National Scale Sustainable Agriculture Matrix of Indicators to Inform Policy

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Davidson, E. A.; Zhang, X.

2017-12-01

The ratification of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by all member countries of the United Nations demonstrates the determination of the international community in moving towards a sustainable future. To enable and encourage accountability, independent and transparent measurements of national sustainability efforts are essential. Among all sectors, agriculture is fundamental to all three pillars of sustainability, namely environment, society, and economy. However, the definition of a sustainable agriculture and the feasibility of measuring it remain elusive, in part because it encompasses both biophysical and socio-economic components that are still poorly integrated. Therefore, we have been developing a Sustainable Agriculture Matrix (SAM) on a national scale in order to measure country-level performance in agriculture. First proposed by Swaminathan for agricultural research and policy in 1990s, SAM is a collection of indicators measuring sustainable agriculture from environmental, social, and economic dimensions. The environmental dimension evaluates various impacts of agricultural production on the environment, such as water consumption and nutrient pollution. The economic dimension quantifies the costs and benefits for major stakeholders involved in agricultural production, including government, industry, farmers, and consumers. The social dimension considers three major aspects: 1) social welfare (e.g., hunger and poverty rate, nutritional quality, demography of rural community); 2) equity over sectors, space, and gender (e.g., access to resources/services and opportunities, distribution of income, land ownership and tenure rights); 3) systemic risk (e.g., fragility of the global agricultural production and trade system, resilience of a farm or a country to market and natural shocks). Translating the illustrative concepts into measureable indicators will not only provide an independent and transparent measurement of national performance in the

Regional analysis of potential energy production from agricultural wastes: technical and economic study. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Have, H

1981-01-01

The possibilities for utilization of agricultural wastes for energy production are analyzed in two Danish counties, Ringkoebing and Vestsjaelland, which have different agricultural production patterns. The quantitative analysis shows that the major waste products, surplus straw, waste wood and animal waste, in total with present technique can cover about 28% of the demand for heat energy (mostly space heating) in both counties. The potential coverage from straw, wood and animal waste is about 3, 3 and 22% in Ringkoebing and 18, 2 and 8% in Vestsjaelland respectively. A technical analysis indicates that direct combustion is the most favorable conversion method for straw and wood while biological conversion at present is best suited for animal waste. An economic analysis based on costs of collection, storage, transport and conversion of wastes and costs of corresponding oil and oil conversion were made. From a community point of view only straw and wood are found to be competitive to the expensive gas fuel oil when burned in automatically stoked furnaces. From a heating station point of view waste utilization is more attractive because of the sales tax on oil products. Here straw and wood are competitive fuels to both gas and heavy fuel oil in all the analyzed systems except from the small manually stoked furnaces. Animal waste seems to be competitive only when replacing gas fuel oil in medium size (500 kW) well utilized aerobic fermenters.

Earth Observation for Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture

Science.gov (United States)

Bach, Heike; Mauser, Wolfram; Gernot, Klepper

2016-08-01

The global and regional potentials of Earth Observation (EO) to contribute to food security and sustainable agriculture in the 2050-timeframe were analysed in the ESA study EO4Food, whose outcome will be presented (www.EO4Food.org). Emphasis was put on the global societal, economic, environmental and technological megatrends that will create demand for food and shape the future societies. They will also constitute the background for developments in EO for food security and sustainable agriculture. The capabilities of EO in this respect were critically reviewed with three perspectives 1) the role of EO science for society, 2) observables from space and 3) development of future science missions.It was concluded that EO can be pivotal for the further development of food security and sustainable agriculture. EO allows to support the whole economic and societal value chain from farmers through food industry to insurance and financial industry in satisfying demands and at the same time to support society in governing sustainable agriculture through verifyable rules and regulations. It has the potential to become the global source of environmental information that is assimilated into sophisticated environmental management models and is used to make agriculture sustainable.

The Critical Analysis of the Intervention Basis and Evolution in Agriculture

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Włodzimierz Rembisz

2010-12-01

Full Text Available The principles and evolution of intervention in agriculture are critically analyzed from the perspective of the economics and economic of agriculture theories. The allocation and returns aspects of economics are used as references in the analysis. The assumptions and outcomes of a triple factors production function, first aspect, are usually used as a justification for intervention support. That type of production function explains, as is believed, the lover possibilities of labor productivity growth in agriculture compared to non- farm labor employment. That affects, as assumed, income disparities between farm and non-farm labor. The analysis also disputes the politically, institutionally and administratively based justifications for the intervention. The evolution of intervention measures from price support towards direct payments and subsequently more market, are subject of review as well.

Agriculture and natural resources in a changing world - the role of irrigation

Science.gov (United States)

Sauer, T.; Havlík, P.; Schneider, U. A.; Kindermann, G.; Obersteiner, M.

2009-04-01

Fertile land and fresh water constitute two of the most fundamental resources for food production. These resources are affected by environmental, political, economic, and technical developments. Regional impacts may transmit to the world through increased trade. With a global forest and agricultural sector model, we quantify the impacts of increased demand for food due to population growth and economic development on potential land and water use. In particular, we investigate producer adaptation regarding crop and irrigation choice, agricultural market adjustments, and changes in the values of land and water. Against the background of resource sustainability and food security topics, this study integrates the spatial and operational heterogeneity of irrigation management into a global land use model. It represents a first large scale assessment of agricultural water use under explicit consideration of alternative irrigation options in their particular biophysical, economic, and technical context, accounting for international trade, motivation-based farming, and quantified aggregated impacts on land scarcity, water scarcity, and food supply. The inclusion of technical and economic aspects of irrigation choice into an integrated land use modeling framework provides new insights into the interdisciplinary trade-offs between determinants of global land use change. Agricultural responses to population and economic growth include considerable increases in irrigated area and agricultural water use, but reductions in the average water intensity. Different irrigation systems are preferred under different exogenous biophysical and socioeconomic conditions. Negligence of these adaptations would bias the burden of development on land and water scarcity. Without technical progress in agriculture, predicted population and income levels for 2030 would require substantial price adjustments for land, water, and food to equilibrate supply and demand.

Regional markets with agricultural workforce based on Labour offices' data

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František Nohel

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The changes in Czech agriculture over the past twenty years have had their impact on the agricultural labour market, too. The regional differentiation of the chances of applicants on the labour market as well as the agricultural enterprises’ chances of hiring employees fitting their requirements, are, among others, influenced by the specific conditions of agricultural production. The aim of this paper pertains to two basic problem areas: first, the differentiation of respective regions based on the number of agricultural applicants and job vacancies, and second, the identification of disequilibrium on the agricultural labour market. The latter is based on a theoretical framework defined by approaches in economy dealing with labour market equilibrium. Due to the unavailability of economic data (including wages, economic performance, etc. on the regional level, authors develop their own methodological approach, based on the number of applicants per job vacancy. A database of applicants and vacancies available from the Labour Offices is used as a source for the analysis and interpretation of data, enabling us to study the agricultural labour market not only sector-wise but also region-wise.

Agricultural field reclamation utilizing native grass crop production

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J. Cure

2013-01-01

Developing a method of agricultural field reclamation to native grasses in the Lower San Pedro Watershed could prove to be a valuable tool for educational and practical purposes. Agricultural field reclamation utilizing native grass crop production will address water table depletion, soil degradation and the economic viability of the communities within the watershed....

Polymers and its applications in agriculture

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Priscila Milani

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Graphical Abstract Abstract Polymers are a class of soft materials with numerous and versatile mechanical and chemical properties that can be tuned specific to their application. Agriculture is an expanding area due to the requirement for indispensable food to meet the demands of a growing global population. Consequently, development of technology to improve the quality of the soil and agriculture manages is still under development. Intelligent agricultural supplies (controlled or slow release agrochemicals and superabsorbents and biosorbents contribute to an expanding niche using technology from polymers. This review elucidates the state-of-the-art and will discuss some important aspects of using polymers in intelligent fertilizers, as well as superabsorbent, biosorbent and biodegradation processes in agriculture that are environmentally, technically, socially, and economically sustainable.

Economic Potential of Biomass from Unused Agriculture Land for Energy Use

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pfeifer, A.; Dominkovic, Dominik Franjo; Ćosić, B.

2015-01-01

In this paper the energy potential of biomass from growing short rotation coppice (SRC) on unused agricultural land in the Republic of Croatia was examined. At present, SRC is not completely recognized in Croatian legislative and considerations in energy strategy and action plans. The paper aspires...... to contribute to better understanding of the role SRC can take in national and local energy planning. The methodology is provided for regional analysis of biomass energy potential on unused agricultural land and for assessing the cost of the biomass at the power plant (PP) location considering transport...... plants and appropriate size of seasonal heat storage is discussed for each case study. Case studies have shown the potential for use of previously unused agricultural land to help achieve national targets for renewable energy sources as well as reducing carbon dioxide emissions, help diversify...

A hybrid Bayesian network approach for trade-offs between environmental flows and agricultural water using dynamic discretization

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Xue, Jie; Gui, Dongwei; Lei, Jiaqiang; Sun, Huaiwei; Zeng, Fanjiang; Feng, Xinlong

2017-12-01

Agriculture and the eco-environment are increasingly competing for water. The extension of intensive farmland for ensuring food security has resulted in excessive water exploitation by agriculture. Consequently, this has led to a lack of water supply in natural ecosystems. This paper proposes a trade-off framework to coordinate the water-use conflict between agriculture and the eco-environment, based on economic compensation for irrigation stakeholders. A hybrid Bayesian network (HBN) is developed to implement the framework, including: (a) agricultural water shortage assessments after meeting environmental flows; (b) water-use tradeoff analysis between agricultural irrigation and environmental flows using the HBN; and (c) quantification of the agricultural economic compensation for different irrigation stakeholders. The constructed HBN is computed by dynamic discretization, which is a more robust and accurate propagation algorithm than general static discretization. A case study of the Qira oasis area in Northwest China demonstrates that the water trade-off based on economic compensation depends on the available water supply and environmental flows at different levels. Agricultural irrigation water extracted for grain crops should be preferentially guaranteed to ensure food security, in spite of higher economic compensation in other cash crops' irrigation for water coordination. Updating water-saving engineering and adopting drip irrigation technology in agricultural facilities after satisfying environmental flows would greatly relieve agricultural water shortage and save the economic compensation for different irrigation stakeholders. The approach in this study can be easily applied in water-stressed areas worldwide for dealing with water competition.

Economic Impacts and Program Involvement in Agricultural Mechanics Competition Projects in Texas

Science.gov (United States)

Hanagriff, Roger D.; Rayfield, John; Briers, Gary; Murphy, Tim

2014-01-01

Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) is a well-documented, valuable, and integral part of agricultural education programs (Bryant, 2003; Cheek, Arrington, Carter, & Randall, 1994; Deyoe, 1953; Dyer & Osborne, 1996; Moore, 1988; Roberts & Harlin, 2007). Cole and Connell (1993) found that there was little research regarding the…

Improving agricultural commodity supply-chain to promote economic activities in rural area

Science.gov (United States)

Padjung, R.

2018-05-01

Long supply chain of agricultural commodities has become concern to governments particularly in large countries such as Indonesia as it causes high price disparity between farm-gate and retailer. Policies to overcome such problem are usually by shortening the chain, by which farmers sell the products directly to retailers. Using an action research in AEDEF (Aceh Economic Development Financing Facilities) Program, conducted in the province of Nangro Aceh Darussalam (NAD) Indonesia, the paper shows that shortening the commodity supply chain is not the best solution to such problem, as it causes loss of jobs in the villages. High price disparity between farm-gate and retailer is not necessary brought about by long supply-chain but by the efficiency of the chain instead. Efficiency of the chain can be improved by creating enabling business environment such that every actors and players work in a fair manner. This can be achieved by transparency in price and quality grade. With development achieved in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), having a good and reliable flow of such information is not difficult. In addition to information flow, the availability and quality of infrastructure to support flow of goods from farm-gate to end-user is of reasonably important.

SPECIALIZATION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURAL HOLDINGS

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Zofia Kołoszko-Chomentowska

2016-03-01

Full Text Available In the present article, an attempt was made to assess the sustainability of agricultural holdings with diff erent directions of production. Agricultural holdings in the Podlaskie voivodeship registered in the FADN system in 2011–2012 were investigated. Assessment accounted for agroecological indicators (share of permanent grasslands, share of cereals in crops, soil coverage with vegetation, stock density and economic indicators (profi tableness of land and labor. Analysis was conducted according to a classifi cation into agricultural holding types: fi eldcrops, dairy cattle, and granivores. Fieldcrop and granivore holdings achieved more favourable environmental sustainability indicators. Holdings specializing in dairy cattle breeding posed a threat to the natural environment, mainly due to their excessive stock density. Economic sustainability assessment showed that granivore holdings were assessed most favorably. In these holdings, holding income per full-time worker was 37% greater than in fi eldcrop holdings and 57% greater than in dairy cattle holdings.

Colocation opportunities for large solar infrastructures and agriculture in drylands

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ravi, Sujith; Macknick, Jordan; Lobell, David; Field, Christopher; Ganesan, Karthik; Jain, Rishabh; Elchinger, Michael; Stoltenberg, Blaise

2016-01-01

Highlights: • We explored the potential to colocate solar installations and agriculture. • Water use at solar installations are similar to amounts required for desert plants. • Co-located systems are economically viable in some areas. • Colocation can maximize land and water use efficiency in drylands. - Abstract: Solar energy installations in arid and semi-arid regions are rapidly increasing due to technological advances and policy support. Although solar energy provides several benefits such as reduction of greenhouse gases, reclamation of degraded land, and improved quality of life in developing countries, the deployment of large-scale renewable energy infrastructure may negatively impact land and water resources. Meeting the ever-expanding energy demand with limited land and water resources in the context of increasing demand for alternative uses such as agricultural and domestic consumption is a major challenge. The goal of this study was to explore opportunities to colocate solar infrastructures and agricultural crops to maximize the efficiency of land and water use. We investigated the energy inputs/outputs, water use, greenhouse gas emissions, and economics of solar installations in northwestern India in comparison to aloe vera cultivation, another widely promoted and economically important land use in these systems. The life cycle analyses show that the colocated systems are economically viable in some rural areas and may provide opportunities for rural electrification and stimulate economic growth. The water inputs for cleaning solar panels are similar to amounts required for annual aloe productivity, suggesting the possibility of integrating the two systems to maximize land and water use efficiency. A life cycle analysis of a hypothetical colocation indicated higher returns per m"3 of water used than either system alone. The northwestern region of India has experienced high population growth in the past decade, creating additional demand for land

Accounting for Activity Units which Perform Agricultural Sector

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Vârteiu Daniel Petru

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Agriculture is a domain of nationally and internationally interest, because it has to ensure through the obtained production, the necessary of safe provisions, which are to satisfy the population’s needs. Agricultural products are obtained within the agricultural holdings, which may be constituted by individual persons, agricultural associations, self – employed persons, individual enterprises, family partnership, agricultural associations, or companies which activate in the vegetal, livestock or mixed section. In order to obtain high quality agricultural products, the owners of agricultural holdings have to make investments from own financing sources, or as a result of accessing European funds, which are dedicated to developing the agricultural sector. The sum of all economical operations made for performing agricultural activities have to be registered in accounting, having the purpose of establishing the value of owned patrimonial elements and of the results obtained by the entity at a certain point.

Attitudes of Oregon Vocational Agriculture Teachers Toward the Supervised Occupational Experience Program Component of the Vocational Agriculture Curriculum.

Science.gov (United States)

Herren, Ray; Cole, Lee

1984-01-01

The main purpose of the study was to determine the attitudes of Oregon vocational agriculture teachers toward supervised occupational experience programs in light of the present economic climate. (JOW)

Economic Assessment of FMDv Releases from the National Bio and Agro Defense Facility

Science.gov (United States)

Pendell, Dustin L.; Marsh, Thomas L.; Coble, Keith H.; Lusk, Jayson L.; Szmania, Sara C.

2015-01-01

This study evaluates the economic consequences of hypothetical foot-and-mouth disease releases from the future National Bio and Agro Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas. Using an economic framework that estimates the impacts to agricultural firms and consumers, quantifies costs to non-agricultural activities in the epidemiologically impacted region, and assesses costs of response to the government, we find the distribution of economic impacts to be very significant. Furthermore, agricultural firms and consumers bear most of the impacts followed by the government and the regional non-agricultural firms. PMID:26114546

Prospective analysis agriculture energy 2030. Agriculture and the challenges of energy - Synthesis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vert, Julien; Portet, Fabienne; Even, Marie-Aude; Herault, Bruno; Laisney, Celine; Mahe, Thuriane

2010-01-01

The present overview document contains the main results of the Agriculture Energy 2030 prospective study, based on the work of the group led by the CEP [Centre d'etudes et de prospective/Centre for studies and strategic foresight] at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries, Rural Affairs and Spatial Planning. Energy in agriculture is all too often seen as a purely cyclical problem whereas it is a major issue for the future due to its economic consequences for agricultural holdings, its links with environmental and climatic issues, and its influence on food supply chains and spatial planning. Based on the scenario method, this analysis initially involved describing the whole range of links between agriculture and energy in France and organising them into a system of variables before going on to draw up an inventory of the knowledge available. Starting out from this diagnostic approach, the group constructed four scenarios over the period to 2030: 'Regionalization and sobriety to confront the crisis', 'Twin track agriculture and energy realism', 'Health Agriculture with no major energy constraints' and 'Ecological agriculture and energy savings'. These scenarios do not form an exhaustive panorama of all possible developments of the agriculture-energy system - they are rather formalised images of what the future might hold. However, quantification and comparison of the scenarios has led to the identification of major room for progress in energy efficiency in French farming. By helping gain greater awareness of future difficulties and issues or, conversely, opportunities to be grasped, these scenarios provided input for the strategic analysis phase, the concluding stage of this exercise, and the identification of general objectives and levers for public action. (authors)

Economic feasibility of CHP facilities fueled by biomass from unused agriculture land

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pfeifer, Antun; Dominkovic, Dominik Franjo; Ćosić, Boris

2016-01-01

In this paper, the energy potential of biomass from growing short rotation coppice on unused agricultural land in the Republic of Croatia is used to investigate the feasibility of Combined Heat and Power (CHP) facilities fueled by such biomass. Large areas of agricultural land that remain unused...

Agricultural Co-Operatives in Ethiopia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tefera, Delelegne A.; Bijman, Jos; Slingerland, Maja A.

2017-01-01

To what extent can co-operatives strengthen rural development in sub-Saharan Africa? This paper explores the development of agricultural co-operatives in Ethiopia, particularly the changes in economic functions. Co-operative development in Ethiopia has been strongly influenced by various political

Developments in the Curriculum for the Swedish MSc Programme in Agriculture.

Science.gov (United States)

Malmfors, Birgitta; Nilsson, Kjell-Arne

In Sweden, higher education in agriculture is provided exclusively by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. The 130 students admitted to the Master of Science program in agriculture annually may choose to specialize in one of six specialty areas (plant science, animal science, food science, biotechnology, economics, and engineering),…

Metrics and Agricultural Science - measuring Multidisciplinary and Applied Research

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Holt, I.

2016-07-01

If we focus on the agricultural field, we see a kaleidoscopic picture. Agriculture includes a wide variety of economic activities, ranging from crop husbandry to cattle breeding and industrial processing of non-food products. It is often used in a broad sense to include for example forestry, aquaculture and fisheries. Agricultural sciences use methods from a wide variety of disciplines ranging from sociology to genomics. Although agricultural sciences are applied sciences there is a gamut from more fundamental studies to understand underlying processes to applied work to produce results that can be used directly in agricultural practice. (Author)

REGIONAL ASPECTS OF DEVELOPMENT AND FINANCING PECULIARITIES OF AGRICULTURE IN UKRAINE

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Lesia Dmytryshyn

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The aim of this work is the study and generalization of conceptual foundations, problematic and peculiarities of functioning of agriculture in modern economic conditions, the conceptual foundations of state regulation at the regional level and features of their financial providing. Methodology. Theoretical and methodological basis of the research is the work of scientists on problems of financial providing of agriculture development. The authors used the combination of the following methods in the process of scientific investigation: generalization and scientific abstraction – to concretize the conceptual-categorical apparatus; monographic method – to present the views of scientists on this problem; comparative analysis – to detect the features of agriculture development and to compare instruments of its financial providing. Results. The functioning features of agricultural enterprises of the region in current economic conditions have been researched, highlighting fundamental principles: the rational use of resources; state regulation and state support; financial providing. The main purposes of state support of agriculture were determined in the article: increase in production of high quality products with the aim of solution of the food security problem; the increase of competitiveness of the agricultural sector to stimulate economic growth; the intensification of research work that will create competitive advantage for domestic producers in the long term perspective; development of rural areas; increase of rural employment and so on. Practical value. It was established that a significant number of unresolved financial problems of this economic sector requires the development and implementation of new, adequate to modern conditions, methodical approaches to financial and credit providing of industry, in particular the expansion of the market of banking services (project financing and forward loans, forfaiting, factoring; the widespread

Bulgarian agriculture in the conditions of the EU Common Agricultural Policy

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Stela TODOROVA

2016-02-01

Full Text Available The agricultural sectors of the former centrally planned economies, including Bulgaria were in a state of economic crises in the period after socialist governments fell. The former system disappeared almost overnight while new market structures had not yet emerged. The outcome of this transition shocks was a sharp decline in both agricultural output and the sector's GDP in the early 1990s. Some countries of the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE recovered from this initial decline much faster. The principle reason for the difference appears to be the more resolute adherence of CEE governments to reform policies throughout their economies. The purpose of this study is to get more knowledge about the structure and possibilities of Bulgarian agriculture after the transition period and last but not least, about the effects of the EU CAP on the Bulgarian economy and farmers.That is why were made some interviews, and besides, it was carried out a questionnaire survey in order to get a picture about how farmers act in a new environment called the Common Agricultural Policy of EU. For collecting information, as well as confirming or rejecting the investigation hypotheses chi-square analysis was applied.

The Current Developments of Agricultural Biotechnologies Market

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Anna M. Shkolyarenko

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Population growth in the context of limited land resources makes the global scientific society research new ways to increase the agricultural yields. Over the past 20 years, biotechnology and GM crops have become widely spread and now are cultivated in 28 countries. The total area of crops has tripled, and it suggests the further vertical and horizontal integration in short term. In 2015, the US Department of Agriculture authorized the commercial use of GM farm animals. The development of agricultural biotechnology market is constrained by opponents of GM crops in more than 160 countries, which include Russia and the European Union, where the production of GM crops is banned due to economic, ethical, ideological and biological reasons. Currently, the EU is seeking to reduce the imports of GM crops and products; Russia's GM imports and exports are prohibited, and the deadline of designing a consolidated position on agricultural biotechnology has been moved to 2017. The author seeks to analyze the volume of production and international trade of agricultural products based on biotechnologies and to describe the main trends in the global market, which could be integrated into the food value chain in Russia. In the context of the worsening economic indicators, the article proposes the possibility of extending the use of GM crops in Russia non-food sector.

A Review of Swidden Agriculture in Southeast Asia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peng Li

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Swidden agriculture is by far the dominant land use system in the mountainous regions of Southeast Asia (SEA. It provides various valuable subsistence products to local farmers, mostly the poor ethnic minority groups. Controversially, it is also closely connected with a number of environmental issues. With the strengthening regional economic cooperation in SEA, swidden agriculture has experienced drastic transformations into other diverse market-oriented land use types since the 1990s. However, there is very limited information on the basic geographical and demographic data of swidden agriculture and the socio-economic and biophysical effects of the transformations. International programs, such as the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD, underscore the importance of monitoring and evaluating swidden agriculture and its transition to reduce carbon emission due to deforestation and forest degradation. In this context, along with the accessibility of Landsat historical imagery, remote sensing based techniques will offer an effective way to detect and monitor the locations and extent of swidden agriculture. Many approaches for investigating fire occurrence and burned area can be introduced for swidden agriculture mapping due to the common feature of fire relatedness. In this review paper, four broad approaches involving spectral signatures, phenological characteristics, statistical theory and landscape ecology were summarized for swidden agriculture delineation. Five research priorities about swidden agriculture involving remote sensing techniques, spatial pattern, change, drivers and impacts were proposed accordingly. To our knowledge, a synthesis review on the remote sensing and outlook on swidden agriculture has not been reported yet. This review paper aims to give a comprehensive overview of swidden agriculture studies in the domains of debated definition, trends, remote sensing methods and outlook research in SEA

Climate-smart agriculture global research agenda: scientific basis for action

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Steenwerth, K.L.; Hodson, A.K.; Bloom, A.J.; Carter, M.R.; Cattaneo, A.; Chartres, C.; Leemans, R.

2014-01-01

Background: Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) addresses the challenge of meeting the growing demand for food, fibre and fuel, despite the changing climate and fewer opportunities for agricultural expansion on additional lands. CSA focuses on contributing to economic development, poverty reduction and

Government’s Responsibility for Control of Agricultural Environmental Pollution in China

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Dongfang; CHEN

2016-01-01

In this paper,the current situation of agricultural environmental pollution caused by the increase of chemicals input in agriculture in China was analyzed,and it is found that agricultural pollution is related to agricultural industrial policies,urban-rural economic structure,funds input in pollution control,comprehensive environmental management,laws of pollution control,and so forth. To control agricultural pollution effectively,it is needed to implement integration of agricultural and environmental policies,establish environmentally friendly agricultural technology popularizing system,implement integrated planning and management of a basin,and set up and improve legislation to protect agricultural environment.

Model evaluation of agricultural consumer cooperatives

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ivanova Oksana Evgen'evna

2016-10-01

Subject of research - the system of organization and management and economic relations arising in the process of interaction between business entities. The object of research is the agricultural consumer cooperatives. In the course of the study were actively used different methods and techniques of economic and statistical analysis, with particular, such as the method of comparison, grouping method, the Delphi method, the methods and techniques of factor analysis, economic and statistical methods; techniques used medium, relative and average values ​​of continuous reception and sample surveys, was conducted as a detail, and data compilation.

Agricultural Credit Discount Fund – Agribusiness support credit line - Macedonian experience

OpenAIRE

Kovachev, Goran

2012-01-01

The main objective of this study is to emphasize the importance of creating special governmental refinancing institutions targeted towards strategic economic sectors. Such institution in Macedonia is Agricultural Credit Discount Fund, a separate unit within the Macedonian Bank for Development Promotion that administers a credit line meant to support the agribusiness. As it is commonly known agriculture is one of the most important economic sectors of the country. The ACDF's 'modus operandi' i...

Agriculture and Regional Development in Greece

OpenAIRE

Kyrkilis, Dimitrios; Semasis, Simeon

2012-01-01

This paper attempts to explore the effects of post-war war economic development model followed in Greece. The model is characterized by both the neglect of Greek agriculture and the emphasis on industrialization, mainly around the two major cities, Athens and Thessaloniki. The model has to develop a strong industrial sector but to inflate services and it devastated agriculture. At the regional level the uneven growth path that has been adopted perpetuated between urban and tourist areas on th...

Are new institutional economics enough? Promoting photovoltaics in India's agricultural sector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Radulovic, Verena

2005-01-01

Solar photovoltaic (PV) technology can bring emissions-free electricity to rural areas without access to the grid. Currently, policymakers are seeking ways to expand markets for off-grid PV from solar home systems to productive uses in order to enhance income generation and contribute to social development. This paper explores the role of the state in promoting such market growth. As a start, the state must improve institutions, thus echoing popular recommendations based in new institutional economic theory (NIE) that are currently touted by the World Bank and other large development agencies. Yet, NIE's framework may be insufficient because it fails to offer viable solutions to overcoming political barriers that contribute to technological path dependency. A case study in Punjab, India, where an agricultural PV water pumping program showed promising signs of successful market penetration in its first 3 years of operation, illustrates how the NIE's shortcomings manifest themselves in practice. The program was beginning to penetrate market entry for PV pumps via competition between PV providers. However, the government of India achieved this feat by providing subsidies to wealthy farmers, a move that is frowned upon by the NIE school. Based on findings from the case study, states should look beyond NIE's framework to expand and improve PV markets in productive uses by accounting for political constraints, assessing how PV technology can improve development goals, and cultivating locally appropriate service delivery models

Technical potential and its role in development of innovational economics of agricultural entities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Igor' Mikhailovich Gogolev

2012-09-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a mathematical model of economic development of an enterprise with a particular point of assessment of capital-labor and ratio capitalequipment accumulation conditions and their further changes depending on thestrategy of thecompany. To construct a mathematical model of the economy's growth indicators, Solow model which adequately reflects the key aspects of the economy-wide process of expanded reproduction and helps to highlight the main features of the formal models of the dynamics is applied, as well as Shell model with applying Pontryagin maximum principle. An organization's readiness to investment processes — investment «maturity» — is seen through the current level of technical capacity and current capital-labor ratio. The substantiation of the need for a certain level of saturation of agricultural equipment in the organization as a secure mean of ensuring the optimum performance of work in the most intense phase of the production of complex planting and harvesting is provided. To construct a mathematical model reflecting the dependence of capital-labor productivity on capital-labor ratio, a mathematical model in the form of the production function of Cobb-Douglas type is suggested.

Estimating North Dakota's Economic Base

OpenAIRE

Coon, Randal C.; Leistritz, F. Larry

2009-01-01

North Dakota’s economic base is comprised of those activities producing a product paid for by nonresidents, or products exported from the state. North Dakota’s economic base activities include agriculture, mining, manufacturing, tourism, and federal government payments for construction and to individuals. Development of the North Dakota economic base data is important because it provides the information to quantify the state’s economic growth, and it creates the final demand sectors for the N...

Discovering Information Use in Agricultural Economics: A Citation Study

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Li

2007-01-01

This citation study investigated the research needs and activity of U.S. agricultural economists. Journals were the dominant format of cited sources. Books, government publications, and working papers formed the other important types of references, whereas electronic sources were sparsely used. Subject scatter in this interdisciplinary field was…

Influence of soil and climate heterogeneity on the performance of economic instruments for reducing nitrate leaching from agriculture.

Science.gov (United States)

Peña-Haro, Salvador; García-Prats, Alberto; Pulido-Velazquez, Manuel

2014-11-15

Economic instruments can be used to control groundwater nitrate pollution due to the intensive use of fertilizers in agriculture. In order to test their efficiency on the reduction of nitrate leaching, we propose an approach based on the combined use of production and pollution functions to derive the impacts on the expected farmer response of these instruments. Some of the most important factors influencing nitrate leaching and crop yield are the type of soil and the climatic conditions. Crop yield and nitrate leaching responses to different soil and climatic conditions were classified by means of a cluster analysis, and crops located in different areas but with similar response were grouped for the analysis. We use a spatial economic optimization model to evaluate the potential of taxes on nitrogen fertilizers, water prices, and taxes on nitrate emissions to reduce nitrate pollution, as well as their economic impact in terms of social welfare and farmers' net benefits. The method was applied to the Mancha Oriental System (MOS) in Spain, a large area with different soil types and climatic conditions. We divided the study area into zones of homogeneous crop production and nitrate leaching properties. Results show spatially different responses of crop growth and nitrate leaching, proving how the cost-effectiveness of pollution control instruments is contingent upon the spatial heterogeneities of the problem. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Agriculture and greenhouse gas effect: status and perspectives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2010-01-01

In a first part, this report analyses the interactions between climate and agriculture: understanding of climate changes and their global impacts, understanding of carbon and nitrogen life cycles and their relationship with anthropic greenhouse gas emissions, emissions by agriculture and impacts of climate change on agriculture, N 2 O, CH 4 and CO 2 emissions by agriculture. The authors address how to reduce emissions and increase carbon storage by crop management and N 2 O emission reduction, by breeding management and CH 4 and CO 2 emission reduction, and by energy CO 2 emission reduction. They discuss emission reduction policies in agriculture within the international political, European and French frameworks. They also identify possible economic tools

The Development Model Electronic Commerce of Regional Agriculture

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, Jun; Cai, Lecai; Li, Hongchan

With the developing of the agricultural information, it is inevitable trend of the development of agricultural electronic commercial affairs. On the basis of existing study on the development application model of e-commerce, combined with the character of the agricultural information, compared with the developing model from the theory and reality, a new development model electronic commerce of regional agriculture base on the government is put up, and such key issues as problems of the security applications, payment mode, sharing mechanisms, and legal protection are analyzed, etc. The among coordination mechanism of the region is discussed on, it is significance for regulating the development of agricultural e-commerce and promoting the regional economical development.

7 CFR 2.63 - Deputy Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... Economics. 2.63 Section 2.63 Agriculture Office of the Secretary of Agriculture DELEGATIONS OF AUTHORITY BY... Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics § 2.63 Deputy Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics. Pursuant to § 2.21(a), subject to reservations in § 2.21(b), and subject to policy...

CHALLENGES OF AGRICULTURAL COMPANIES FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY AND FUNDING ACCES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniela Livia TRASCA

2015-04-01

Full Text Available The development of agriculture was a priority for the member states of the European Union since its foundation, the Common Agricultural Policy being one of the most ancient politics at the European level. Agriculture is a sector which has a special economic and social importance for Romania. The paper aimed to identify the challenges of the agricultural companies from the perspective of labour productivity and funding access. In this respect, a series of economic indicators as the contribution of agriculture to GDP, the value of agricultural production, the evolution of reference interest rate, the evolution of credits for agriculture, were studied. the conclusion was that in order to improve labour productivity, it is needed a higher qualification of the occupied population in agriculture and the significant improvement of technological endowment of this sector and, from the point of view of funding access, it is necessary the continuous support of the companies which carry out their activity in agriculture, but not only by the diminution of difference interest rate.

ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF AGRICULTURAL LAND IN THE TOWN COVACI, TIMIS COUNTY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anişoara DUMA COPCEA

2013-10-01

Full Text Available The goal of the present paper is to get information concerning the technical and fertility features of agricultural lands to be able to determine their present general production capacity in different crops and, implicitly, the uses that underlies technically and scientifically the most proper practical measures of rational use and conservation of the land for the benefit of the specialists. We focussed in the present study on the lands belonging to the cadastral territory of the commune of Covaci (Timiş County, i.e. the soil types identified within this perimeter. They are studied in relation to environmental factors that impact them and making up, with them, homogeneous ecological territory units with specific suitability for different agricultural or forestry uses and with different improvement requirements and technologies. The goals were: - characterising the natural framework; -identifying and characterising soil types and subtypes; -calculating land assessment grades; establishing suitability and classifying agricultural lands into fertility classes.

Economic Geography and Economic Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bosker, Maarten; Garretsen, Harry

2012-01-01

Sub-Saharan Africas (SSA) physical geography is often blamed for its poor economic performance. A countrys geographical location does, however, not only determine its agricultural conditions or disease environment. It also pins down a countrys relative position vis--vis other countries, affecting

Export diversification in Uganda : developments in non-traditional agricultural exports

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dijkstra, T.

2001-01-01

Over the last two decades agricultural export diversification has been pushed as an economic development strategy for sub-Saharan Africa. This paper looks at Uganda, where nontraditional agricultural export commodities have been (re)-introduced since Museveni came to power in 1986. The most

Spatialization of the impacts of the economic regulation of the greenhouse in the agricultural sector; Spatialisation des impacts de la regulation economique de l'effet de serre d'origine agricole

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jayet, P.A

2004-02-15

This report addresses the issue of the spatialization of the impacts of greenhouse gas mitigation policies in the agricultural sector. Generally speaking, the objective is to reach a compromise between large-scale macro-economic modelling approaches - which often overlook the spatial variability of emissions and abatement costs - and field-scale biophysical modelling approaches. The studies carried out in the course of this project rely for the most part on a supply-side oriented economic model of the EU agriculture based on micro-economic concepts, mathematical programming and optimization. The analysis of spatial implications of GHG mitigation polices relies on the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), which allows for spatial integration of the results provided by the economic model. We first carry out a comprehensive assessment of the emission sources of methane and nitrous oxide for the EU agriculture at a regional scale (FADN regions, scale at which data that feed the economic model are available). The abatement supply from the agricultural sector is derived from this assessment by simulating the impact of a first-best instrument (namely an emission tax). We therefore estimate the marginal abatement cost curves for all sources and at the farm-type level. The heterogeneity of abatement costs is discussed both at the regional scale (spatially defined) and at the farm-type level (non spatially-defined). Our results show that the spatial heterogeneity of abatement costs is of crucial importance in the design of GHG mitigation policies. The greater is the heterogeneity of abatement costs, the larger is the efficiency loss associated with non incentive-based instruments. We estimate this efficiency loss in the case of uniform quotas. Down-scaling the economic and environmental results from the FADN-region scale to a finer scale requires the linking of the simulation results with geo-referenced databases and GIS tools. This has been carried out for a test

Exempting Food and Agriculture Products from U.S. Economic Sanctions: Status and Implementation

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Jurenas, Remy

2005-01-01

Falling agricultural exports and declining commodity prices led farm groups and agribusiness firms to urge the 106th Congress to pass legislation exempting foods and agricultural commodities from U.S...

Agriculture energy 2030. Report seminar. Summary of talks and exchanges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2011-01-01

Energy in agriculture is a major issue for its economic consequences for farms, for its relationships with environmental and climate issues, and for its influence on sector organisation and land planning. This seminar, through discussions on the relationships between energy, agriculture and territories and on the challenges for public action and research, proposes and discusses a comprehensive diagnosis of present challenges, as well as four scenarios by 2030. These scenarios are defined with respect to three evolution drivers: town-country mobility, economic dynamics, and natural resources

Monitoring-based analysis of agriculture in Iraq

OpenAIRE

Tokareva, Olga Sergeevna; Pasko, Olga Anatolievna; Alshaibi, A.; Mochalov, M.

2016-01-01

The paper deals with change in area and structure of Iraq agricultural lands. It revealed the main reasons for the change: crisis (war, sanctions, etc.); economic (swamp and lake drainage, melioration, etc.); weather condition. Land-use intensification as a reason for reduction of agricultural land areas was not proved. The area of cultivated lands proved to correlate significantly with the level of precipitation, wheat productivity -with the average temperature in Iraq.

ORGANIC WASTE USED IN AGRICULTURAL BIOGAS PLANTS

OpenAIRE

Joanna Kazimierowicz

2014-01-01

Treatment of organic waste is an ecological and economical problem. Searching method for disposal of these wastes, interest is methane fermentation. The use of this process in agricultural biogas plants allows disposal of hazardous waste, obtaining valuable fertilizer, while the production of ecologically clean fuel – biogas. The article presents the characteristics of organic waste from various industries, which make them suitable for use as substrates in agricultural biogas plants.

AN ANALYSIS OF FUNDING DECISIONS FOR NICHE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS

OpenAIRE

HOWARD VAN AUKEN; SHAWN CARRAHER

2012-01-01

This paper examines the flow of funds from providers of capital to niche agricultural users of capital. Various programs through the US government, state/local economic development and private agencies work to improve the flow of capital to the niche agricultural sector. However, despite the expansion of programs aimed at providing financial resources to the agricultural sector, many sectors remain poorly served. Previous studies have suggested that agencies need to facilitate the flow of cap...

METHODOLOGICAL INSTRUMENTS FOR FORMING THE MARKETING STRATEGY OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION ECOLOGIZATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mariya Bagorka

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the article is the investigation of the nature, objectives, and strategic categories of ecologization marketing strategy, development of algorithm of this strategy and determination of environmental, economic, and ecological instruments of implementation of this strategy in the agricultural sector. Methodology. The basis of the formation of a marketing strategy for the ecologization of agrarian production is the systematic approach, which is based on the existence of implementation mechanisms that ensure system consistency, its purposefulness; interdependence; and complexity of its elements, which determines the integrity of the system; all tasks that execute individual elements of the system are interconnected; system elements and their associated actions have a certain subordination that builds a hierarchy; the system changes under the influence of specific factors, which determines its dynamism; the ability of the system to adapt to the variability of the external environment, while not losing its own individuality. Methods for strategic analysis of macro- and micro-environment factors were used to form the marketing strategy of ecologization. This process involves an analytical evaluation of the parameters of the external and internal environment with the help of general scientific and applied methods of strategic analysis. Results. The article explored the ecologization strategy, presented its objectives in the field of agriculture, the basic categories of strategic directions and implementation of ecologization marketing strategies. An algorithm of environmental marketing strategies in agricultural production is developed, environmental, economic and environmental and economic tools to implement them are determined. Practical implications. It is determined that marketing strategy of ecologization of agrarian production is a strategy of innovative development that can solve problems of economic growth, an increase of

Agricultural Water Use under Global Change

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, T.; Ringler, C.; Rosegrant, M. W.

2008-12-01

Irrigation is by far the single largest user of water in the world and is projected to remain so in the foreseeable future. Globally, irrigated agricultural land comprises less than twenty percent of total cropland but produces about forty percent of the world's food. Increasing world population will require more food and this will lead to more irrigation in many areas. As demands increase and water becomes an increasingly scarce resource, agriculture's competition for water with other economic sectors will be intensified. This water picture is expected to become even more complex as climate change will impose substantial impacts on water availability and demand, in particular for agriculture. To better understand future water demand and supply under global change, including changes in demographic, economic and technological dimensions, the water simulation module of IMPACT, a global water and food projection model developed at the International Food Policy Research Institute, is used to analyze future water demand and supply in agricultural and several non-agricultural sectors using downscaled GCM scenarios, based on water availability simulation done with a recently developed semi-distributed global hydrological model. Risk analysis is conducted to identify countries and regions where future water supply reliability for irrigation is low, and food security may be threatened in the presence of climate change. Gridded shadow values of irrigation water are derived for global cropland based on an optimization framework, and they are used to illustrate potential irrigation development by incorporating gridded water availability and existing global map of irrigation areas.

Assessment of environmental impacts following alternative agricultural policy scenarios.

Science.gov (United States)

Bárlund, I; Lehtonen, H; Tattari, S

2005-01-01

Abstract Finnish agriculture is likely to undergo major changes in the near and intermediate future. The ifuture policy context can be examined at a general level by strategic scenario building. Computer-based modelling in combination with agricultural policy scenarios can in turn create a basis for the assessments of changes in environmental quality following possible changes in Finnish agriculture. The analysis of economic consequences is based on the DREMFIA model, which is applied to study effects of various agricultural policies on land use, animal production, and farmers' income. The model is suitable for an impact analysis covering an extended time span--here up to the year 2015. The changes in land use, obtained with the DREMFIA model assuming rational economic behaviour, form the basis when evaluating environmental impacts of different agricultural policies. The environmental impact assessment is performed using the field scale nutrient transport model ICECREAM. The modelled variables are nitrogen and phosphorus losses in surface runoff and percolation. In this paper the modelling strategy will be presented and highlighted using two case study catchments with varying environmental conditions and land use as an example. In addition, the paper identifies issues arising when connecting policy scenarios with impact modelling.

PERSPECTIVES AND TRENDS IN THE EVOLUTION OF AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES IN COUNTRIES WITH ADVANCED ECONOMICS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

CĂRĂBA-MEIȚĂ Nela- Loredana

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The article provides an analysis of the stage in which the Romanian agriculture is found as regards the performance and competitiveness, by reference to the results of North America - United States and Canada, as well as the European Union. The paper analyzes the main features of advanced agriculture in terms of agricultural efficiency, namely the North American (American and Canadian production systems, as well as the current state of agricultural development in the Member States of the European Union.

Ecosystem Services from Edible Insects in Agricultural Systems: A Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Charlotte L. R. Payne

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Many of the most nutritionally and economically important edible insects are those that are harvested from existing agricultural systems. Current strategies of agricultural intensification focus predominantly on increasing crop yields, with no or little consideration of the repercussions this may have for the additional harvest and ecology of accompanying food insects. Yet such insects provide many valuable ecosystem services, and their sustainable management could be crucial to ensuring future food security. This review considers the multiple ecosystem services provided by edible insects in existing agricultural systems worldwide. Directly and indirectly, edible insects contribute to all four categories of ecosystem services as outlined by the Millennium Ecosystem Services definition: provisioning, regulating, maintaining, and cultural services. They are also responsible for ecosystem disservices, most notably significant crop damage. We argue that it is crucial for decision-makers to evaluate the costs and benefits of the presence of food insects in agricultural systems. We recommend that a key priority for further research is the quantification of the economic and environmental contribution of services and disservices from edible insects in agricultural systems.

Ecosystem Services from Edible Insects in Agricultural Systems: A Review

Science.gov (United States)

Payne, Charlotte L. R.; Van Itterbeeck, Joost

2017-01-01

Many of the most nutritionally and economically important edible insects are those that are harvested from existing agricultural systems. Current strategies of agricultural intensification focus predominantly on increasing crop yields, with no or little consideration of the repercussions this may have for the additional harvest and ecology of accompanying food insects. Yet such insects provide many valuable ecosystem services, and their sustainable management could be crucial to ensuring future food security. This review considers the multiple ecosystem services provided by edible insects in existing agricultural systems worldwide. Directly and indirectly, edible insects contribute to all four categories of ecosystem services as outlined by the Millennium Ecosystem Services definition: provisioning, regulating, maintaining, and cultural services. They are also responsible for ecosystem disservices, most notably significant crop damage. We argue that it is crucial for decision-makers to evaluate the costs and benefits of the presence of food insects in agricultural systems. We recommend that a key priority for further research is the quantification of the economic and environmental contribution of services and disservices from edible insects in agricultural systems. PMID:28218635

Ecosystem Services from Edible Insects in Agricultural Systems: A Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Payne, Charlotte L R; Van Itterbeeck, Joost

2017-02-17

Many of the most nutritionally and economically important edible insects are those that are harvested from existing agricultural systems. Current strategies of agricultural intensification focus predominantly on increasing crop yields, with no or little consideration of the repercussions this may have for the additional harvest and ecology of accompanying food insects. Yet such insects provide many valuable ecosystem services, and their sustainable management could be crucial to ensuring future food security. This review considers the multiple ecosystem services provided by edible insects in existing agricultural systems worldwide. Directly and indirectly, edible insects contribute to all four categories of ecosystem services as outlined by the Millennium Ecosystem Services definition: provisioning, regulating, maintaining, and cultural services. They are also responsible for ecosystem disservices, most notably significant crop damage. We argue that it is crucial for decision-makers to evaluate the costs and benefits of the presence of food insects in agricultural systems. We recommend that a key priority for further research is the quantification of the economic and environmental contribution of services and disservices from edible insects in agricultural systems.

Internal control in non - agricultural cooperatives

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yolanda García Castro

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The process of formation of non-agricultural cooperatives in Cuba, has been a step forward for the Cuban economy, provide primary care represents economic sustainability for the country. A necessary tool for achieving quality in the provision of services and products, it represents the audit process. In this sense the present work was aimed in the Council of the Provincial Administration, in order to strengthen the functioning of non-agricultural cooperatives. Theoretical and empirical methods, techniques, surveys and interviews with leaders and workers, aimed to assess the knowledge, applications for the creation of cooperatives, processing, approval, establishment and operation, based on guidelines established in internal control were applied; and descriptive statistics for processing information, which identified the important work that developed the organization, which was able to promote the operation of non-agricultural cooperatives, as well as the tools necessary for the production of income and consequently improve the quality of services. The diagnosis made it possible to identify the point in the process, so disruption to the operation. Undoubtedly, every experiment needs time to mature and gain experience, besides confirming Waste Disposal workers cooperatives and agencies to jump-start this process. Improvement measures were implemented in order to increase the economic efficiency of each process, in response to various guidelines of Economic and Social Policy of the Party and the Revolution, adopted at the Sixth Party Congress and Conference Objectives.

Application of Solar Photovoltaic Water Pumping System in Hainan Agriculture

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Xiangchun; YU; Qingqing; LIN; Xuedong; ZHOU; Zhibin; YANG

2013-01-01

With radical socio-economic development and strengthening of regulation of agricultural industrial structure in Hainan Province,fresh water resource becomes increasingly insufficient.Existing water-saving facilities and measures are unable to promote sustainable and stable development of local economy.This needs modern irrigation method.Solar photovoltaic water pumping system is necessary and feasible in Hainan agriculture,and will have directive significance for Hainan Province developing photovoltaic agriculture.

Policy Responses to Changing Perceptions of the Role of Agriculture in Development

OpenAIRE

Kym Anderson

2012-01-01

Traditionally, development economists had a dim view of the contribution that farmers made to modern economic growth, compared with manufacturers. Hence agricultural exports and manufacturing imports were often taxed. This view changed over time though, as first economists and then policy makers came to understand the high cost of an anti-agricultural, import-substituting industrialization strategy. This paper outlines how this change came about and the resulting economic policy reforms that ...

Agro-ecology, household economics and malaria in Uganda: empirical correlations between agricultural and health outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Wielgosz, Benjamin; Kato, Edward; Ringler, Claudia

2014-07-03

This paper establishes empirical evidence relating the agriculture and health sectors in Uganda. The analysis explores linkages between agricultural management, malaria and implications for improving community health outcomes in rural Uganda. The goal of this exploratory work is to expand the evidence-base for collaboration between the agricultural and health sectors in Uganda. The paper presents an analysis of data from the 2006 Uganda National Household Survey using a parametric multivariate Two-Limit Tobit model to identify correlations between agro-ecological variables including geographically joined daily seasonal precipitation records and household level malaria risk. The analysis of agricultural and environmental factors as they affect household malaria rates, disaggregated by age-group, is inspired by a complimentary review of existing agricultural malaria literature indicating a gap in evidence with respect to agricultural management as a form of malaria vector management. Crop choices and agricultural management practices may contribute to vector control through the simultaneous effects of reducing malaria transmission, improving housing and nutrition through income gains, and reducing insecticide resistance in both malaria vectors and agricultural pests. The econometric results show the existence of statistically significant correlations between crops, such as sweet potatoes/yams, beans, millet and sorghum, with household malaria risk. Local environmental factors are also influential- daily maximum temperature is negatively correlated with malaria, while daily minimum temperature is positively correlated with malaria, confirming trends in the broader literature are applicable to the Ugandan context. Although not necessarily causative, the findings provide sufficient evidence to warrant purposefully designed work to test for agriculture health causation in vector management. A key constraint to modeling the agricultural basis of malaria transmission is

Caracteristicas de los Estudiantes de Ciencias Agricolas y de Economia Domestica de la Universidad de Puerto Rico (Characteristics of the Agricultural Science and Home Economics Students of the University of Puerto Rico). Publicacion 135.

Science.gov (United States)

Lube, Edna Droz; Calero, Reinaldo

As part of a U.S. Department of Agriculture research project on young adults, a questionnaire was distributed in the fall of 1977 to all agriculture science and home economics students at the University of Puerto Rico in order to determine their personal and parental backgrounds; work, college, and high school experiences; life goals and attitudes…

Economical efficiency of bio energy as the level of prices in the agricultural sector rises; Wirtschaftlichkeit der Bioenergie bei steigendem Agrarpreisniveau

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Heilmann, Hubert [Landesforschungsanstalt fuer Landwirtschaft und Fischerei Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Guelzow (Germany). Inst. fuer Pflanzenproduktion und Betriebswirtschaft

2013-10-01

The food versus fuel debate is still of high social relevance. Changes to the framework conditions can have serious consequences for the profitability and the raw material supply of bioenergy plants. With the German Renewable Energy Act (EEG) economic incentives were created in the past to expand the growing of renewable raw materials on arable land for the production of biogas as well as for combined heat and power generation. In the meantime, agricultural prices have developed very dynamically; there can currently hardly be any talk of excessive promotion by the EEG. Taking into account the opportunity cost of agricultural/and use, from the perspective of the grower raw material prices which call into question the profitable supply of biogas plants are sometimes necessary - even for maize, the most important and efficient field fodder. The expiration of long-term supply agreements can lead to supply shortages, especially for biogas plants that do not belong to farms. (orig.)

A Description and Source Listing of Curriculum Materials in Agricultural Education. 1972-73.

Science.gov (United States)

American Vocational Association, Washington, DC. Agricultural Education Div.

Listed are 246 curriculum material items in ten categories: field crops, horticulture, forestry, animal science, soils, diseases and pests, agricultural engineering, agricultural economics, agricultural occupations, and professional. Most materials are annotated and all are classified according to the AGPEX filing system. Bibliographic and…

Linking agriculture and environment: theoretical framework and experiences from developed and developing countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Siwar, C.; Hossain, E.

2005-01-01

Despite significantly contributing to country's overall economic development through providing employment for the people and supplying raw materials for agro- and resource based industrial development, agriculture is putting serious burden on the environment in the process of production and consumption of agricultural produce. It is the largest consumer and polluter of water resources and contributor of atmospheric pollution, land degradation and forest reduction. Agriculture-environmental relationship is complex and the relationship depends on the spatial and biophysical factors and country's level of economic development. This paper tried to document the linkages between agricultural practices and policies with environment. The channels, through which agriculture impacts the environment, is discussed. It is seen that multilateral trade liberalization in agriculture interacts with the domestic agricultural policy reforms to determine the environmental impacts of agriculture. It is seen that agricultural policy reforms and agricultural trade liberalization can have separate environmental effects in the developed and developing countries. A wide range of theoretical and empirical literatures are reviewed, in this paper, to understand the concepts, linkages and environmental problems. Finally, this paper ends up with the conclusion that integrating environmental considerations into domestic agricultural policies and implementing agro-environmental programmes may ensure the decline of environmental problems of agriculture in both the developed and developing countries. (author)

Priority of areas for agricultural countermeasure assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rochedo, E.R.R.; Barboza, A.E.; Igreja, E.; Silva, D.N.G. da; Wasserman, A.E.

2015-01-01

Within the overall preparedness related to nuclear and/or radiological accidents that lead to the release of radionuclides to the environment with the consequent contamination of agricultural areas, the priority of research for agricultural areas should then focus on the surrounding areas of nuclear power plants that have higher probability of public exposure through the ingestion pathway. The objective of this work was to create a rank order of priority of agricultural products to be considered in assessing the effects of countermeasures, based on both economic value and doses to the public. Additionally, the study describes relevant needs of radioecological studies to improve short and long-terms dose assessments. . Sixteen municipalities surrounding the Brazilian Nuclear Power Central were analyzed for a contamination with 137 Cs, considering seasonal aspects related to agricultural practices in the Southeastern Brazil. Rank order provided by considering economical aspects shows that there is a need for radioecological research for some high value products, such as palmetto and sugar cane, and the need to include in the current model more detailed description for some food items, such as eggs. Combined rank criteria shows that main product within the considered area is milk. As so, the study of countermeasures for the ingestion of milk should be prioritized. (authors)

TO THE QUESTION OF FORMATION OF EARTHQUAKES OF CORPORATE STRUCTURES OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION

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KUSTOVSKA О.

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The article analyzes the development of corporate structures in agricultural production, proves the influence of corporate formations on the efficiency of agrarian production. On the basis of the analysis of official information of agro holdings, an assessment was made of the efficiency of their activities and a conclusion was made about the optimal size of their structural subdivisions. The advantages and disadvantages of integrated structures are highlighted, peculiarities of formation of their land relations are determined. Issues of expansion of land masses of agro holdings related to the conclusion of land lease agreements are considered. The association of separate agro-industrial enterprises of various industrial-economic orientation form an independent legal entity - a legal entity. The economic feasibility of the creation and functioning of corporate associations is objective based on obtaining the greatest effect, the essence of which is that the result of the joint corporate activities of economic structures will always be higher compared to the results of the individual work of each of them. Corporate forms of management in agriculture were founded in Ukraine on the basis of the general theoretical model of an open, competitive, multi-faceted agricultural market economy type, aimed at an integrated world economic system. The methodology of construction involves taking into account the world economic trends and the national specificity of the country's agricultural development; it is aimed at finding rational forms of organization of agricultural production, mechanisms for overcoming crisis phenomena, stabilizing the economy and creating conditions for further qualitative and quantitative growth of the agrarian sector of the economy. For many years, leading American co-operators have been distributing concepts and concepts that are perceived and used throughout the world. This work is coordinated by the Organization for International

Soil Erosion and Agricultural Sustainability

Science.gov (United States)

Montgomery, D. R.

2009-04-01

Data drawn from a global compilation of studies support the long articulated contention that erosion rates from conventionally plowed agricultural fields greatly exceed rates of soil production, erosion under native vegetation, and long-term geological erosion. Whereas data compiled from around the world show that soil erosion under conventional agriculture exceeds both rates of soil production and geological erosion rates by up to several orders of magnitude, similar global distributions of soil production and geological erosion rates suggest an approximate balance. Net soil erosion rates in conventionally plowed fields on the order of 1 mm/yr can erode typical hillslope soil profiles over centuries to millennia, time-scales comparable to the longevity of major civilizations. Well-documented episodes of soil loss associated with agricultural activities date back to the introduction of erosive agricultural methods in regions around the world, and stratigraphic records of accelerated anthropogenic soil erosion have been recovered from lake, fluvial, and colluvial stratigraphy, as well as truncation of soil stratigraphy (such as truncated A horizons). A broad convergence in the results from studies based on various approaches employed to study ancient soil loss and rates of downstream sedimentation implies that widespread soil loss has accompanied human agricultural intensification in examples drawn from around the world. While a broad range of factors, including climate variability and society-specific social and economic contexts — such as wars or colonial relationships — all naturally influence the longevity of human societies, the ongoing loss of topsoil inferred from studies of soil erosion rates in conventional agricultural systems has obvious long-term implications for agricultural sustainability. Consequently, modern agriculture — and therefore global society — faces a fundamental question over the upcoming centuries. Can an agricultural system

Imperatives for an agricultural green economy in South Africa

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Musvoto, Constansia D

2015-01-01

Full Text Available on the agricultural sector for their livelihoods.5 A greener agricultural sector potentially offers solutions to some of the social, economic and environmental challenges that humans are currently faced with, such as achieving food security for a rapidly expanding... sector, agriculture’s contribution to GDP will always be small relative to its use of land, water and other resources. However, a sustainable agriculture sector is critical to food security and livelihoods, which suggests that greening...

DETERMINANTS OF CHANGES IN WORK PROFITABILITY IN POLISH AGRICULTURE IN 2004-2013

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Zbigniew GOLAS

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The main purpose of this work is to analyse the changes in work profitability in Polish agriculture. The analysis is based on the Economic Accounts for Agriculture, i.e. the applicable in the EU harmonised financial statement, which enables the analysis of the economic situation in agriculture according to uniform rules. The basis for the research have been the proposed systems of work profitability indicators and factor analysis (the logarithm method. The research has proven that in the post-accession period work profitability in agriculture increased in real terms on annual average by about 4,47%, and in 2013 in comparison to 2004, work profitability was higher in real terms by almost 60%. In the light of the factor analysis the main determinant of changes in work profitability in the domestic agriculture was the increase in work productivity and production subsidies.

DETERMINANTS OF WORK PROFABILITY CHANGES IN POLISH AGRICULTURE IN YEARS 2004-2013

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Zbigniew Gołaś

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The main goal of the work is to analyse the changes in the work profitability of Polish agriculture. The analysis was based on the Economic Accounts for Agriculture, i.e. the current EU harmonized financial statements allowing for analysis of the economic situation in agriculture according to uniform principles. The basis of the research was formed by proposed indicator systems operating profitability and factor analysis (method logarithm. Studies have shown that in the post-accession period, the profitability in agriculture was increasing in real terms on average by 4.47%, and in 2013 in relation to 2004, the level of profitability of labour was higher in real terms by almost 60%. In the light of the factor analysis, as the main determinants of changes in operating profitability in the domestic agriculture, the increase in labour productivity and production subsidies will be indicated.

Review of agriculture and agri-food sector performance in the ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

China encouraged the development of export-oriented agriculture and food processing industry to convert raw farm products to value added finished consumer products. This has been a powerful tool for economic development in the country. Keywords: agriculture, agri food industry, China, performance. Moor Journal of ...

The transformation of agriculture and rural life downstream of Hanoi

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Berg, van den L.M.; Wijk, van M.S.; Pham Van Hoi,

2003-01-01

This paper discusses the impacts of urbanization and of recent economic reforms on the livelihoods of farmers in Hanoi¿s peri-urban areas. Although the proportion of land used for agriculture is declining, agricultural production is intensifying ¿ for instance, with pork, vegetables and fish

Work and technological innovation in organic agriculture.

Science.gov (United States)

Tereso, M J A; Abrahão, R F; Gemma, S F B; Montedo, U B; Menegon, N L; Guarneti, J E; Ribeiro, I A V

2012-01-01

Organic agriculture is a sustainable cultivation ecologically, economically and socially. Several researches in organic agriculture have been made from technical perspectives, economic traits or related to ecological aspects. There are practically no investigations into the nature of the technology used in organic agriculture, especially from an ergonomic perspective. From the activity analysis, this study aimed to map the technology used in the production of organic vegetables. Properties producing organic vegetables were selected representing the State of São Paulo. It was applied an instrument (questionnaire and semi-structured interview) with their managers and it was made visual records to identify adaptations, innovations and technological demands that simultaneously minimize the workload and the difficulties in performing the tasks and increase work productivity. For some of the technological innovations a digital scanner was used to generate a virtual solid model to facilitate its redesign and virtual prototyping. The main results show that organic farmers have little technology in product form. The main innovations that enable competitive advantage or allow higher labor productivity occur in the form of processes, organization and marketing.

14 CFR 137.39 - Economic poison dispensing.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Economic poison dispensing. 137.39 Section... AIRCRAFT OPERATIONS Operating Rules § 137.39 Economic poison dispensing. (a) Except as provided in... economic poison that is registered with the U.S. Department of Agriculture under the Federal Insecticide...

ORGANIC WASTE USED IN AGRICULTURAL BIOGAS PLANTS

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Joanna Kazimierowicz

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Treatment of organic waste is an ecological and economical problem. Searching method for disposal of these wastes, interest is methane fermentation. The use of this process in agricultural biogas plants allows disposal of hazardous waste, obtaining valuable fertilizer, while the production of ecologically clean fuel – biogas. The article presents the characteristics of organic waste from various industries, which make them suitable for use as substrates in agricultural biogas plants.

Sri Lanka : Promoting Agricultural and Rural Non-farm Sector Growth, Volume 1. Main Report

OpenAIRE

World Bank

2003-01-01

Economic development has brought about, the decline in contribution of the agricultural sector to the economy of Sri Lanka, and, consistent with this economic transformation, the structure of employment also changed. Thus, as labor migrates away from agriculture, the productivity, for those who remain in the land, needs to increase significantly. This report examines the constraints to pro...

Water and agriculture: a relationship that must change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Farina, Roberto

2015-01-01

In the ranking of the first ten global risks in terms of impact analyzed by the Global Risks Report 2015 of the World Economic Forum, the 'crisis of water' is in the first place as intensity of impact: this is understandable because of the water depend not only a large part of life on Earth, but also many of economic activities. For this reason it is essential to protect it and use it in a way that is ever more efficient and sustainable. ENEA is promoting, together with other European research institutions, a model of integration between the treated wastewater urban and agricultural world that allows, on the one hand to make them reusable in agriculture for plant growth that will be used for food and non-food production, forage and agricultural uses, on the other hand to place an e cosystem service , i.e. an additional water finishing before it is released into the environment or used for natural groundwater recharge. [it

Improving World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates by Integrating NASA Remote Sensing Soil Moisture Data into USDA World Agricultural Outlook Board Decision Making Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Teng, W. L.; de Jeu, R. A.; Doraiswamy, P. C.; Kempler, S. J.; Shannon, H. D.

2009-12-01

A primary goal of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is to expand markets for U.S. agricultural products and support global economic development. The USDA World Agricultural Outlook Board (WAOB) supports this goal by developing monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) for the U.S. and major foreign producing countries. Because weather has a significant impact on crop progress, conditions, and production, WAOB prepares frequent agricultural weather assessments, in a GIS-based, Global Agricultural Decision Support Environment (GLADSE). The main objective of this project, thus, is to improve WAOB's estimates by integrating NASA remote sensing soil moisture observations and research results into GLADSE. Soil moisture is a primary data gap at WAOB. Soil moisture data, generated by the Land Parameter Retrieval Model (LPRM, developed by NASA GSFC and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) and customized to WAOB's requirements, will be directly integrated into GLADSE, as well as indirectly by first being integrated into USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS)'s Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) crop model. The LPRM-enhanced EPIC will be validated using three major agricultural regions important to WAOB and then integrated into GLADSE. Project benchmarking will be based on retrospective analyses of WAOB's analog year comparisons. The latter are between a given year and historical years with similar weather patterns. WAOB is the focal point for economic intelligence within the USDA. Thus, improving WAOB's agricultural estimates by integrating NASA satellite observations and model outputs will visibly demonstrate the value of NASA resources and maximize the societal benefits of NASA investments.

Economic Feed Utilization for Dairy Buffalo Under Intensive Agricultural System

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I. Soliman

2010-02-01

Full Text Available The national strategies for the irrigated intensive agricultural system in developing countries should focus upon Producing less expensive milk from dairy buffaloes that, efficiently, utilize the limited expensive produced feed resources. Therefore, planning for the least cost feeds combination is the most recommended approach to keep buffalo milk price at a competitive level and being low enough to make milk available for the major proportion of the low-income households, particularly “Vulnerable Groups”. Estimation of the least cost feed ration combination of the limited expensive feed resources were conducted from a recent farm survey of the dairy buffalo performances and the feed use pattern in Egypt. The estimated average production elasticity of fodder, concentrate feeds mix and straw, implies that their shares in generated buffalo milk income are 41.7%, 35%, and 23.3%, respectively.. The response of the human labor was of negative direction and statistically insignificant. This means that the labor used per dairy buffalo was beyond the economic level, that reflects the excess farm-family labor involved in such activity, because they have almost nil opportunity income of off farm work. The other capital inputs have small positive effect on milk production, The average marginal return from milk per onedollar expenditure reached $.1.08 for fodder, and $ 1.04 for concentrated feed mix, i.e. it is feasible to expand the usage of fodder more than concentrates. The wheat straw has shown uneconomic efficiency. Therefore, it is recommended to limit its level in the ration. The least cost ration reduces feed cost of one ton of buffalo milk equivalent (4% fat by 22%. The less costs of production will strength the competition of domestic supply either against in the international export market or against the dumping policies followed by exporters to the domestic market.

IMPACT OF AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT ON YOUTH EMPLOYMENT IN ZIMBABWE: THE CASE OF MASVINGO PROVINCE

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Clainos Chidoko

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Zimbabwe is basically endowed in agricultural resources. As a result agricultural activities have a large bearing on developmental issues in the country. Employment is one such economic issue that hinges much on agricultural development. Over the past decade employment levels have reduced as a result of low investment in the country. Masvingo Province has not been spared. This scenario has seen many youths being out of employment as the sector employed less labour. The study found out that economic woes that Zimbabwe experienced over the past half decade have contributed significantly to youth unemployment in agriculture in Masvingo Province as a result of low investment in the sector. The study recommends that heavy investment be put in agriculture and agriculture related projects to enhance employment levels of the Zimbabwean youths in Masvingo province.

Ecological agriculture in South-India : an agro-economic comparison and study of transition

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jager, de A.; Werf, van der E.

1992-01-01

This report describes two research programmes carried out on ecological agriculture in South-India. Experiences of twelve farmers in transition towards ecological agriculture are described and analysed. The comparative performance of seven farmer pairs, consisting of one ecological and one

The Influence of Agricultural Development on the Nutritional Status ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

own right, it can, and should, contribute materially towards the wealth of the country and the raising of the living standards of the population. It is, therefore, gene- rally accepted that agricultural development must act as a springboard for further economic progress in under- developed or economically backward countries.

Economic Analysis of the Effects of Climate Change Induced by Greenhouse Gas Emissions on Agricultural Productions and Available Water Resources (Case Study: Down Lands of the Taleghan Dam

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M.M. Mozaffari

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Greenhouse gases absorb the radiation reflected from the earth surface which would otherwise be sent back into space. The composition and mixture of these gases make life on earth possible. In recent years, human activity has affected both the composition and mixture of the atmosphere, modifying the climate. When climate changes, crop production is affected. There are many studies that consider the type and amount of production changes for particular crops, places and scenarios. Others attempt to expand knowledge about production changes and their impacts on economy and regional welfare. Climate change affects agriculture through direct and indirect affects i.e. temperature, and precipitation changes in the biological and physical environment. Restriction in water availability is one of the most dramatic consequences of climate change for the agricultural sector. Water availability is expected to be even more limited in the future. Scarcity of water is due to potential evapotranspiration increase. It is related to increase in air and earth surface temperatures. This phenomenon is important in low-precipitation seasons, and is even more severe in dry areas. The number of regions with loss of soil moisture is expected to increase, resulting in direct economic consequences on the production capacity. Considering the above decisions, the main objective of this paper is to integrate climate change into agricultural decision-making by using an Economic Modeling System to identify the impacts of climate change induced by greenhouse gas emissions on agricultural sector productions and available water resources in the down lands of the Taleghan Dam. Materials and Methods: In this study, the effects of greenhouse gases on climate variables of temperature and precipitation under emission scenarios A1B, A2 and B1 were evaluated using time series data from 1981- 2008 and General Circulation Models (GCM. Then Ordinary Least Squares (OLS was used

BOOK REVIEW FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL LAW: READINGS ON ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

242 AFE BABALOLA UNIVERSITY: JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT LAW ... The book, Food and Agricultural Law is Nigeria's first authoritative book ... professions including law, economics, environmental science, development,.

The role of COMESA in promoting intra-regional agricultural trade: Case study of Sudan

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Azharia Abdelbagi Elbushra

2011-06-01

Full Text Available African countries have created many regional trade agreements with the economic objectives of reducing trade barriers and encouraging economic growth. The COMESA is an example of regional integration singed on 1993 by 19 African countries including Sudan. COMESA represents a chance for member countries to enhance their economic and social relations through increasing intra-trade. The objective of this paper is to assess the role of COMESA in promoting intra-regional agricultural trade between Sudan and COMESA countries. A multi-market model with Armington non-linear specification was applied. The paper results showed that there is a great potential for Sudan to increase its agricultural exports to other COMESA countries. The domestic agricultural markets are expected to be hampered by imports surge and increase in competition, while the producers of agricultural export commodities will be better off. In order to compete and benefit from potential in the COMESA markets, the paper recommended improving efficiency in the Sudanese agricultural sector through increasing productivity, lowering cost of production, enhancing marketing services, attaining economies of scale and attracting foreign investment.

Coupled social and ecological outcomes of land use change and agricultural intensification in Costa Rica and the future of biodiversity conservation in tropical agricultural regions.

Science.gov (United States)

Sanfiorenzo, A. R.; Shaver, I.; Chain Guadarrama, A.; Cleary, K.; Santiago-Garcia, R.; Finegan, B.; Hormel, L.; Sibelet, N.; Vierling, L. A.; Bosque-Perez, N.; DeClerck, F.; Fagan, M. E.; Waits, L.

2017-12-01

Tropical ecosystem conversion to agriculture has caused widespread habitat loss and created fragmented landscapes composed of remnant forest patches embedded in a matrix of agricultural land uses. Non- traditional agricultural export (NTAE) crops such as pineapple are rapidly replacing multiuse landscapes characterized by a diverse matrix of pasture and smallholder crops with intensive, large-scale, monoculture plantations. Using an interdisciplinary approach, we conduct a case study to examine the coupled social and ecological implications of LUCC and agricultural intensification in this region, with larger application to regions experiencing similar patterns. Guided by frameworks from both political and landscape ecology, we: (1) describe the social and economic implications of pineapple expansion, specifically the concentration of land, labor and financial resources, (2) quantify pineapple cultivation's spatial characteristics, and (3) assess the effects of pineapple expansion on surrounding forest ecosystems, on the agricultural matrix and on biodiversity conservation. Our results indicate that pineapple production concentrates land, labor, and financial resources, which has a homogenizing effect on the agricultural economy in the study region. This constrains farm-based livelihoods, with larger implications for food security and agricultural diversity. Landscape ecology analyses further reveal how pineapple production simplifies and homogenizes the agricultural matrix between forest patches, which is likely to have a negative effect on biodiversity. To offset the effects of pineapple expansion on social and environmental systems, we recommend developing landscape level land use planning capacity. Furthermore, agricultural and conservation policy reform is needed to promote landscape heterogeneity and economic diversity within the agricultural sector. Our interdisciplinary research provides a detailed examination of the social and ecological impacts of

INSPIA project: European Index for Sustainable and Productive Agriculture

Science.gov (United States)

Triviño-Tarradas, Paula; Jesús González-Sánchez, Emilio; Gómez-Ariza, Manuel; Rass, Gerard; Gardette, Sophie; Whitmore, Gavin; Dyson, Jeremy

2017-04-01

The concept of sustainable development has evolved from a mere perception for the protection of the environment, to a holistic approach, seeking to preserve not only the environment, but also to achieve sustainability in economics and social wellbeing. Globally, there is a major challenge to face in the agricultural sector: to produce more food, feed and other raw materials to satisfy the increasing demand of a growing population, whilst also contributing to economic prosperity, climate change mitigation / adaptation, social wellbeing and preserving natural capital such as soil, water, biodiversity and other ecosystem services. Nowadays, conventional approaches to agriculture are under threat. A more productive and resource efficient agriculture that integrates natural resource protection into its approach will help to meet all these challenges, enabling us to have more of everything - more food, more feed, more non-food crops, more biodiversity and natural habitats - while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In this context, INSPIA is an innovative approach that has worked since 2013 towards demonstration that sustainable productive agriculture is possible thanks to the implementation of a host of best management practices (BMPs) capable of delivering the above achievements. The purpose on INSPIA is to make visible with European decision makers that a sustainable and productive agricultural model exists in a small scale in Europe and that wider dissemination is possible with enabling legislation. INSPIA is demonstrating sustainable agriculture through the implementation of BMPs and the measurement and monitoring of a set of defined indicators (economic, social and environmental ones). INSPIA promotes sustainable practices that protect biodiversity, soils and water and contribute towards maintaining ecosystems services. This holistic sustainable system of productive agriculture is based on the combination of Conservation Agriculture (CA) and Integrated Pest

Socio-Economic Analysis Of Cooperative Business Management In ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

groups. Given the high relevance of cooperatives as instruments of economic self reliance and empowerment, policy initiatives that would strengthen these groups are recommended.. Keywords: Economic rationality, Socio-economic differential, Group formation. Journal of Agriculture and Food Sciences Vol. 5 (1) 2007: pp.

The Challenges of Agricultural Finance in Nigeria: Constraints to Sustainable Agricultural and Economic Revival

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FAMOGBIELE Akinola

2013-07-01

Using mainly, the secondary data sourced from the reports of these institutions, the CBN, journals, interviews and presentations of various stakeholders, the study concluded that though important as a factor of production, finance per se, cannot work in isolation of other factors to successfully achieve the much expected result in agricultural sector. These identified factors include among others, policy inconsistency and somersaults, absence of commodities marketing and pricing institutions, lack of effective and adequate storage, inadequate insurance coverage and more importantly, corruption.

Economic Analysis of Factors Affecting Technical Efficiency of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Economic Analysis of Factors Affecting Technical Efficiency of Smallholders ... socio-economic characteristics which influence technical efficiency in maize production. ... Ministry of Agriculture and livestock, records, books, reports and internet.

Ethiopia - Agriculture and Rural Development Public Expenditure Review 1997/98–2005/06

OpenAIRE

World Bank

2008-01-01

Agricultural and Rural Development (ARD) is a fundamental component of Ethiopia's economic growth and poverty reduction strategy. The agricultural development strategy under Agriculture Development Led Industrialization (ADLI) and Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Program (SDPRP) focused on enhancing the productive capacity of smallholder farmers, promoting crop diversification...

Exploratory Landscape Metrics for Agricultural Sustainability

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vaz, E; de Noronha, M.T.; Nijkamp, P.

2014-01-01

Socioeconomic growth and urban change have been an increasing concern for decision makers in recent decades. The monitoring, mapping, and analysis of agricultural land use change, especially in areas where urban change has been high, is crucial. The collision between traditional economic activities

“Multi-functional Agriculture - Agriculture as a Resource for Energy and Environmental Preservation

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the Editors

2008-10-01

Full Text Available In the present global situation, agriculture plays a major role in the interaction between socio-economic and biophysical processes. In addition to its principal and fundamental role of providing food, it now also needs to consider other ecosystem services provided by agriculture and to explore the new frontiers for the the future. In the 50’s of the 20th century the major topic was the introduction of inorganic fertilizers, in the 60’s the use of synthetic compounds for plant protection (insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, in the 70’s industrial crops, in the 80’s organic farming and the environmental impact of agronomic practices, and in the 90’s genetically modified crops (herbicide tolerance, insect resistance. In the current decade the themes are: land and water degradation, the production of agricultural biomass for bio-energy, and the increased expression of functional compounds in crops. The Bologna X Congress of ESA “Multi-functional Agriculture - Agriculture as a Resource for Energy and Environmental Preservation”, will meet the needs of finding tools to deal with environmental problems coupled with the increasing demand for food, and filling the knowledge gap on the physiological relationships between functional compound bio-synthesis and agricultural practices. Members of the European Society for Agronomy already have a deep knowledge of these issues, and the Bologna ESA Congress will provide an opportunity to develop them further particularly in regard to innovative agricultural techniques, new energy sources and better environmental monitoring.

The Construction of Ecological Agriculture in Gongcheng County and Its Development Ideas

OpenAIRE

Zhong, Li-chuan; Zhou, Xiao-huan; Zhang, Hui-na

2011-01-01

On the basis of survey of current situations of eco-agricultural construction in Gongcheng County, major “Cultivation + Methane + Planting triple model of ecological agriculture in Gongcheng County is presented. Then, the eco-agricultural benefits of Gongcheng County are analyzed from three aspects, namely economic, social and ecological benefits. Through summing up, the eco-agricultural construction of Gongcheng County has following problems: imperfect ecological technological system; foll...

PROSPECTS OF DEVELOPMENT OF SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES IN UKRAINIAN AGRICULTURE

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O. Pimenova

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Main directions of development of small and medium-sized enterprises in Ukrainian agriculture are examined. It is determined that entrepreneurship in agrarian sector is a driving force behind the development of agriculture, as these activities contributes to the production of quality agricultural products that satisfies the needs of society, food security, independence and improves the living standards of rural population. Potential customers of small parties of harvest in Ukrainian grain market are analyzed. The ways of mutually beneficial cooperation between Ukrainian farmers and entrepreneurs are proved. The study of foreign experience has proven that strengthening the competitiveness of Ukrainian agricultural products in the context of globalization is possible on the basis of mutually beneficial cooperation of Ukrainian farmers and entrepreneurs, where recent purchase of output at market prices for the purpose of resale or creation of agricultural cooperatives, such form of economy in agrarian relations that combines a balanced economic, social and environmental components. In particular in paper is shown that sustainable economic management provide only forms of economy that take into account the socioeconomic and geophysical specifics of agriculture, particularities of agricultural labor and methods of management. The most common among these forms are farmers.

Rural tourism associated with agriculture as an economic alternative for the farmers

OpenAIRE

Calado, Luísa; Rodrigues, Ana; Silveira, Paulo; Dentinho, Tomaz

2011-01-01

This paper aims at presenting a possible approach to identify the best sites for rural tourism and also to analyze the synergies between agriculture and cultural heritage in Azores, in order to be incorporated in the full range of management concerns into private and public decision‑making. The following territorial aptitudes for alternative were used to simulate this exercise: urban, touristic, horticulture, agricultural, cattle and forestry. Soil potential was defined in a...

No Easy Harvest: Policies and Priorities for Agriculture in Jamaica.

Science.gov (United States)

Floyd, Barry N.

1983-01-01

The crisis in Jamaican agriculture is due to environmental factors like climate conditions and to social and economic factors like the plantation system. Along with mining, tourism, and manufacturing, agriculture has a key role to play in the Jamaican economy. Suggests ways to improve productivity by aid to family farms. (CS)

A socio-hydrologic model of coupled water-agriculture dynamics with emphasis on farm size.

Science.gov (United States)

Brugger, D. R.; Maneta, M. P.

2015-12-01

Agricultural land cover dynamics in the U.S. are dominated by two trends: 1) total agricultural land is decreasing and 2) average farm size is increasing. These trends have important implications for the future of water resources because 1) growing more food on less land is due in large part to increased groundwater withdrawal and 2) larger farms can better afford both more efficient irrigation and more groundwater access. However, these large-scale trends are due to individual farm operators responding to many factors including climate, economics, and policy. It is therefore difficult to incorporate the trends into watershed-scale hydrologic models. Traditional scenario-based approaches are valuable for many applications, but there is typically no feedback between the hydrologic model and the agricultural dynamics and so limited insight is gained into the how agriculture co-evolves with water resources. We present a socio-hydrologic model that couples simplified hydrologic and agricultural economic dynamics, accounting for many factors that depend on farm size such as irrigation efficiency and returns to scale. We introduce an "economic memory" (EM) state variable that is driven by agricultural revenue and affects whether farms are sold when land market values exceed expected returns from agriculture. The model uses a Generalized Mixture Model of Gaussians to approximate the distribution of farm sizes in a study area, effectively lumping farms into "small," "medium," and "large" groups that have independent parameterizations. We apply the model in a semi-arid watershed in the upper Columbia River Basin, calibrating to data on streamflow, total agricultural land cover, and farm size distribution. The model is used to investigate the sensitivity of the coupled system to various hydrologic and economic scenarios such as increasing market value of land, reduced surface water availability, and increased irrigation efficiency in small farms.

Structural Change Out of Agriculture: Labor Push versus Labor Pull

OpenAIRE

Francisco Alvarez-Cuadrado; Markus Poschke

2011-01-01

The process of economic development is characterized by substantial rural-urban migrations and a decreasing share of agriculture in output and employment. The literature highlights two main engines behind this process of structural change: (i) improvements in agricultural technology combined with the effect of Engel's law of demand push resources out of the agricultural sector (the "labor push" hypothesis), and (ii) improvements in industrial technology attract labor into this sector (the "la...

Health hazards to children in agriculture.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilk, V A

1993-09-01

Children comprise a significant portion of the agricultural workforce and are exposed to many workplace hazards, including farm machinery, pesticides, poor field sanitation, unsafe transportation, and fatigue from doing physically demanding work for long periods. Migrant farmworker children face the additional hazard of substandard or nonexistent housing in the fields. Children account for a disproportionate share of agricultural workplace fatalities and disabling injuries, with more than 300 deaths and 27,000 injuries per year. The most common cause of fatal and nonfatal injury among children in agriculture is farm machinery, with tractors accounting for the greatest number. Remedies to the problems of child labor must take into account family economics and the need for child care. Labor law reform and rigorous enforcement of existing laws and of workplace health and safety requirements are vital to better protect the children and adults working in agriculture.

Experimental assessment of ecosystem services in agriculture

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sandhu, Harpinder; Porter, John Roy; Wratten, Steve

2013-01-01

Ecosystem services are the resources and processes supplied by natural ecosystems which benefit humankind (for example, pollination of crops by insects, or water filtration by wetlands). They underpin life on earth, provide major inputs to many economic sectors and support our lifestyles. Agricul......Ecosystem services are the resources and processes supplied by natural ecosystems which benefit humankind (for example, pollination of crops by insects, or water filtration by wetlands). They underpin life on earth, provide major inputs to many economic sectors and support our lifestyles....... Agricultural and urban areas are by far the largest users of ecosystems and their services and (for the first time) this book explores the role that ecosystem services play in these managed environments. The book also explores methods of evaluating ecosystem services, and discusses how these services can...... be maintained and enhanced in our farmlands and cities. This book will be useful to students and researchers from a variety of fields, including applied ecology, environmental economics, agriculture and forestry, and also to local and regional planners and policy makers....

A Global-Scale Estimate of Ecosystem Services from Urban Agriculture: Understanding Incentives for Natural Capital in Cities

Science.gov (United States)

Clinton, N.; Stuhlmacher, M.; Miles, A.; Uludere, N.; Wagner, M.; Georgescu, M.; Herwig, C.; Gong, P.

2017-12-01

Despite substantial interest in urban agriculture, little is known about the aggregate benefits conferred by natural capital for growing food in cities. Here we perform a scenario-based analysis to quantify ecosystem services from adoption of urban agriculture at varying intensity. To drive the scenarios, we created global-scale estimates of vacant land, rooftop and building surface area, at one kilometer resolution, from remotely sensed and modeled geospatial data. We used national scale agricultural reports, climate and other geospatial data at global scale to estimate agricultural production and economic returns, storm-water avoidance, energy savings from avoided heating and cooling costs, and ecosystem services provided by nitrogen sequestration, pollination and biocontrol of pests. The results indicate that vacant lands, followed by rooftops, represent the largest opportunities for natural capital put to agricultural use in urban areas. Ecosystem services from putting such spaces to productive use are dominated by agricultural returns, but energy savings conferred by insulative characteristics of growth substrate also provide economic incentives. Storm water avoidance was estimated to be substantial, but no economic value was estimated. Relatively low economic returns were estimated from the other ecosystem services examined. In aggregate, approximately $10-100 billion in economic incentives, before costs, were estimated. The results showed that relatively developed, high-income countries stand the most to gain from urban agricultural adoption due to the unique combination of climate, crop mixture and crop prices. While the results indicate that urban agriculture is not a panacea for urban food security issues, there is potential to simultaneously ameliorate multiple issues around food, energy and water in urbanized areas.

Developing Poultry Facility Type Information from USDA Agricultural Census Data for Use in Epidemiological and Economic Models

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Melius, C

2007-12-05

The epidemiological and economic modeling of poultry diseases requires knowing the size, location, and operational type of each poultry type operation within the US. At the present time, the only national database of poultry operations that is available to the general public is the USDA's 2002 Agricultural Census data, published by the National Agricultural Statistics Service, herein referred to as the 'NASS data'. The NASS data provides census data at the county level on poultry operations for various operation types (i.e., layers, broilers, turkeys, ducks, geese). However, the number of farms and sizes of farms for the various types are not independent since some facilities have more than one type of operation. Furthermore, some data on the number of birds represents the number sold, which does not represent the number of birds present at any given time. In addition, any data tabulated by NASS that could identify numbers of birds or other data reported by an individual respondent is suppressed by NASS and coded with a 'D'. To be useful for epidemiological and economic modeling, the NASS data must be converted into a unique set of facility types (farms having similar operational characteristics). The unique set must not double count facilities or birds. At the same time, it must account for all the birds, including those for which the data has been suppressed. Therefore, several data processing steps are required to work back from the published NASS data to obtain a consistent database for individual poultry operations. This technical report documents data processing steps that were used to convert the NASS data into a national poultry facility database with twenty-six facility types (7 egg-laying, 6 broiler, 1 backyard, 3 turkey, and 9 others, representing ducks, geese, ostriches, emus, pigeons, pheasants, quail, game fowl breeders and 'other'). The process involves two major steps. The first step defines the rules used to

The strategic aspects and results of agriculture development in Serbia in the transition period

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aničić Jugoslav

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The economic development in Yugoslavia (Serbia after the second world war has been conducted at the expense of agriculture because the industrialisation was in the forefront of the economic policy. It has an impact on the present position of the agriculture compared to the other sectors because the parity of product exchange is still retained at the expense of agriculture. Even under these circumstances agriculture is an industry with a positive foreign trade balance, important share in the national product and the unemployment rate reduction, and that has been analysed and shown in this paper. Many developed European countries are an example of the successful agricultural development as a carrier of the complete development. There are indisputably much wider possibilities for agriculture development in Serbia, and it could become a great comparative advantage of our economy in the developed markets in the world, with the appropriate macroeconomic policy.

AGRICULTURAL VULNERABILITY TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

victoria

climate change in eight selected rural settlements in Sokoto State, Nigeria adopting the ... on the environmental and socio-economic determinants of agricultural vulnerability to .... global warming show increasing trends in Sokoto. .... One of the consequences of desertification is southward migration of nomads to the more.

Improved (ERTS) information and its impact on U.S. markets for agricultural commodities: A quantitiative economic investigation of production, distribution and net export effects

Science.gov (United States)

1974-01-01

An econometric investigation into the markets for agricultural commodities is summarized. An overview of the effort including the objectives, scope, and architecture of the analysis and the estimation strategy employed is presented. The major empirical results and policy conclusions are set forth. These results and conclusions focus on the economic importance of improved crop forecasts, U.S. exports, and government policy operations. A number of promising avenues of further investigation are suggested.

Barriers to Business Model Innovation in Swedish Agriculture

OpenAIRE

Sivertsson, Olof; Tell, Joakim

2015-01-01

Swedish agricultural companies, especially small farms, are struggling to be profitable in difficult economic times. It is a challenge for Swedish farmers to compete with imported products on prices. The agricultural industry, however, supports the view that through business model innovation, farms can increase their competitive advantage. This paper identifies and describes some of the barriers Swedish small farms encounter when they consider business model innovation. A qualitative approach...

Sustainable commercialization of new crops for the agricultural bioeconomy

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N.R. Jordan

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Diversification of agroecological systems to enhance agrobiodiversity is likely to be critical to advancing environmental, economic, and social sustainability of agriculture. Temperate-zone agroecological systems that are currently organized for production of summer-annual crops can be diversified by integration of fallow-season and perennial crops. Integration of such crops can improve sustainability of these agroecological systems, with minimal interference with current agricultural production. Importantly, these crops can provide feedstocks for a wide range of new bio-products that are forming a new agricultural bioeconomy, potentially providing greatly increased economic incentives for diversification. However, while there are many fallow-season and perennial crops that might be used in such a “bioeconomic” strategy for diversification, most are not yet well adapted and highly-marketable. Efforts are underway to enhance adaptation and marketability of many such crops. Critically, these efforts require a strategic approach that addresses the inherent complexity of these projects. We outline a suitable approach, which we term “sustainable commercialization”: a coordinated innovation process that integrates a new crop into the agriculture of a region, while intentionally addressing economic, environmental and social sustainability challenges via multi-stakeholder governance. This approach centers on a concerted effort to coordinate and govern innovation in three critical areas: germplasm development, multifunctional agroecosystem design and management, and development of end uses, supply chains, and markets. To exemplify the approach, we describe an ongoing effort to commercialize a new fallow-season crop, field pennycress (Thlaspi arvense L..

Agricultural-geographical characteristics of the Ljig municipality

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Todorović Marina

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Complex relationships, following from numerous and complex links between the social-economic factors and the natural advantages of the area (favorable positions of hills and valleys in the relief, availability of water and waterfowls, a moderate continental climate, and a great wealth of high-quality agricultural surfaces are the basis for the development of the villages and of the agricultural production in the Ljig municipality. Research has been conducted with the purpose of showing, on the basis of available resources of the municipality, how the agriculture and village spaces could best be developed, towards an optimum; local marketable surpluses of farm products could be processed, industrially, for sale, and this means that the existing industrial capacities should be better used and new ones built. Also, the natural and human resources could be used in the servicing sector, and in other non-agricultural businesses. On the basis of analyzed factors, our results suggest that in the Ljig municipality, further development must be based on improvements in the rural zones as multifunctional and integral; these must serve for production, but also for social and cultural purposes. The farms should become economically stronger, and they should more elastically take part in the market economy, using an adequate combination of factors such as: natural resources, demographic processes, and connectedness by traffic infrastructure and other infra- and supra-structures.

IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON EU AGRICULTURE

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Shailesh Shrestha

2013-09-01

Full Text Available The current paper investigates the medium term economic impact of climate changes on the EU agriculture. The yield change data under climate change scenarios are taken from the BIOMA (Biophysical Models Application simulation environment. We employ CAPRI modelling framework to identify the EU aggregate economic effects as well as regional impacts. We take into account supply and market price adjustments of the EU agricultural sector as well as technical adaptation of crops to climate change. Overall results indicate an increase in yields and production level in the EU agricultural sector due to the climate change. In general, there are relatively small effects at the EU aggregate. For example, the value of land use and welfare change by approximately between -2% and 0.2%. However, there is a stronger impact at regional level with some stronger effects prevailing particularly in the Central and Northern EU and smaller impacts are observed in Southern Europe. Regional impacts of climate change vary by a factor higher up to 10 relative to the aggregate EU impacts. The price adjustments reduce the response of agricultural sector to climate change in particular with respect to production and income changes. The technical adaption of crops to climate change may result in a change production and land use by a factor between 1.4 and 6 relative to no-adaptation situation.

Impact of EU agricultural policy on developing countries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boysen, Ole; Jensen, Hans Grinsted; Matthews, Alan

2016-01-01

Despite substantial reforms, the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is still criticised for its detrimental effects on developing countries. This paper provides updated evidence on the impact of the CAP on one developing country, Uganda. It goes beyond estimating macro-level economic effects...... by analysing the impacts on poverty. The policy simulation results show that eliminating EU agricultural support would have marginal but nonetheless positive impacts on the Ugandan economy and its poverty indicators. From the perspective of the EU’s commitment to policy coherence for development, this supports...... the view that further reducing EU Agricultural support would be positive for development....

Isotopes and agriculture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Malavolta, E.

1988-01-01

The agriculture is defined as the art of desturbing the ecosystems in economical terms with the minimum of irreversible damage. Man survival in the biosphere will depend on its ability of using four technologies - mechanization, fertilizers, irrigation and pest disease control. The isotopes are usefull to establish means of producing more food and to preserve it; and clains of unbearable damages to the ecosystems caused by fertilizers and pesticides are not true, are presented. (author) [pt

WTO negotiations on agriculture and developing countries:

OpenAIRE

Hoda, Anwarul; Gulati, Ashok

2008-01-01

The World Trade Organization’s Doha Round of trade talks has been plagued by a lack of concrete progress toward establishing a fair and harmonious agricultural trading system. Because the results of the Doha Round could have far-reaching implications for the trade and economic prospects of developing countries in the twenty-first century, it is critical for these countries to fully understand the issues involved in the negotiations on agriculture. However, there has been no authoritative an...

Perspectives for Romania on adopting agricultural innovations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lavinia DOVLEAC

2016-07-01

Full Text Available This paper highlight the efforts Romania needs to do on the path of agricultural development through innovation. A smart, modern agriculture could contribute to a wide variety of economic, societal and environmental goals. Considering its potential in this sector, Romania should learn from the experience of other European countries how to manage its rich resources. Innovative technologies, products and practices can help make the most efficient and sustainable use of natural resources, and thereby improve farming process.

Market Segmentation of Today’s Agricultural Borrower

OpenAIRE

Briggeman, Brian C.; Boehlje, Michael

2006-01-01

Changes in U.S. agriculture have yielded a diversity of farm types. These changes have extended beyond the farm business and into the farm household. The objective of this paper is to discuss the policy implications of a new typology of U.S. farm households that is based on household economic theory. Using the 2003 Agricultural Resource Management Survey and statistical analysis, six mutually exclusive groups of U.S. farm households are identified as the U.S. Farm Household Typology. This typ...

Application endophytic microorganisms in agriculture and production of substances of economic interest Aplicação de microrganismos endofíticos na agricultura e na produção de substâncias de interesse econômico

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Taides Tavares dos Santos

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Endophytic microorganisms are mainly fungi and bacteria that live inside plants, generally inhabiting aerial parts such as leaves and stems, without causing any apparent damage to their hosts. In addition to many important functions for the host, the endophytic microorganisms are potentially useful in agriculture and industry, especially in pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals. By forming themselves into substitutes for chemicals by exercising stock biocontrol and/or promotion of plant growth, favoring theenvironmental preservation, has been appointed as a viable alternative agricultural production systems for environmentally and economically sustainable. Obtaining substances of economic interest, such as enzymes, antibiotics and other drugs from endophytic microorganisms has often been reported in the scientific literature. One example is taxol, a powerful anti-cancer substance that was previously obtained only from the exploitation of the plant Taxus brevifolia, and can now be obtained from different genera of endophytic fungi. Advances like this reinforce the great biotechnological potential of such microorganisms. This study presents an overview of potential applications of endophyticmicroorganisms in agriculture and production of substances of economic interest.

IMPORTANT PROVISIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE OF UKRAINE

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Svetlana Khalatur

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The aim of the work is to study the state of development of agriculture in Ukraine. The indicators of production and yield of the main agricultural crops and production of the main types of livestock products are analysed. The main directions of the development of agriculture are determined taking into account the transformations in the agrarian sphere. Solutions of the problem of investment support for the development of agriculture are investigated. The main factors that restrain the growth of the industry and inhibit the development of agricultural enterprises are given. Based on the results of the analysis, the main problems that the sector has faced recently are identified and the issues that require priority solutions are listed. The subject is the theoretical and methodological foundations and practical recommendations on the search for reserves for the development of the agricultural sector. Methodology. The study is based on a comparison of data from 2009 to 2015, using statistical compilations. The results of the research showed that the livestock sector begins to decline in Ukraine and this means that in the further such situation, it is possible to lose the opportunity not only to export livestock products abroad but also to meet the domestic needs of the country’s population. The state of agriculture in Ukraine is considered. The results showed that the main reserves of the development of agriculture in Ukraine are the state regulation, assessment of the attractiveness of the investment climate, the use of environmentally safe technologies, the use of modern technologies and mechanisms for the economic stimulation of production and processing of agricultural products. Value/originality. The data obtained during the research years of the main reserves of agricultural development in Ukraine are able to provide a better understanding of the state of the agricultural sector in the conditions of the economic downturn in general and in

The economic value of remote sensing of earth resources from space: An ERTS overview and the value of continuity of service. Volume 3: Intensive use of living resources: Agriculture. Part 1: Overview

Science.gov (United States)

Kornhauser, A. L.; Wilson, L. B.

1974-01-01

Potential economic benefits obtainable from a state-of-the-art ERS system in the resource area of intensive use of living resources, agriculture, are studied. A spectrum of equal capability (cost saving), increased capability, and new capability benefits are quantified. These benefits are estimated via ECON developed models of the agricultural marketplace and include benefits of improved production and distribution of agricultural crops. It is shown that increased capability benefits and new capability benefits result from a reduction of losses due to disease and insect infestation given ERS's capability to distinguish crop vigor and from the improvement in world trade negotiations given ERS's worldwide surveying capability.

TECHNICAL ADVANCE AS A BASES DYNAMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE ECONOMY AGRICULTURAL ENTERPRISES REGION

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P.I. Ogorodnikov

2009-12-01

Full Text Available In the article coordinate together technical advance and economic indicators of agricultural enterprise. Justified, that lowering equipment branch crop production and cattle breeding result in considerable loss productiveness and rise expense. Necessity cost cutout determine application more high-performance machine and state-of-the-art technology on output of products agricultural industry. Underline practicability of active state support grower of agricultural produce agricultural commodities inclusive of securing social setting conditions of life man agricultural enterprise.

How does economic risk aversion affect biodiversity?

Science.gov (United States)

Mouysset, L; Doyen, L; Jiguet, F

2013-01-01

Significant decline of biodiversity in farmlands has been reported for several decades. To limit the negative impact of agriculture, many agro-environmental schemes have been implemented, but their effectiveness remains controversial. In this context, the study of economic drivers is helpful to understand the role played by farming on biodiversity. The present paper analyzes the impact of risk aversion on farmland biodiversity. Here "risk aversion" means a cautious behavior of farmers facing uncertainty. We develop a bio-economic model that articulates bird community dynamics and representative farmers selecting land uses within an uncertain macro-economic context. It is specialized and calibrated at a regional scale for France through national databases. The influence of risk aversion is assessed on ecological, agricultural, and economic outputs through projections at the 2050 horizon. A high enough risk aversion appears sufficient to both manage economic risk and promote ecological performance. This occurs through a diversification mechanism on regional land uses. However, economic calibration leads to a weak risk-aversion parameter, which is consistent with the current decline of farmland birds. Spatial disparities however suggest that public incentives could be necessary to reinforce the diversification and bio-economic effectiveness.

Agricultural transportation fuels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1993-01-01

The recommendations on the title subject are focused on the question whether advantages and disadvantages of agricultural fuels compared to fossil fuels justify the Dutch policy promotion of the use of agricultural products as basic materials for agricultural fuels. Attention is paid to energetic, environmental and economical aspects of both fuel types. Four options to apply agricultural transportation fuels are discussed: (1) 10% bio-ethanol in euro-unleaded gasoline for engines of passenger cars, equipped with a three-way catalyst; (2) the substitution of 15% methyl tertiair butyl ether (MTBE) by ethyl tertiair butyl ether (ETBE) as a substituent for lead in unleaded super plus gasoline (Sp 98) for engines of passenger cars, equipped with a three-way catalyst; (3) 50% KME (rapeseed oil ester) in low-sulfur diesel (0.05%S D) for engines of vans without a catalyst; and (4) the substitution of 0.05% S D by bio-ethanol or KME for buses with fuel-adjusted engines, equipped with a catalyst. Also the substitution by liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), compressed natural gas (CNG) or E 95 was investigated in option four. Each of the options investigated can contribute to a reduction of the use of fossil energy and the environmental effects of the use of fossil fuels, although some environmental effects from agricultural fuels must be taken into consideration. It is recommended to seriously pay attention to the promotion of agricultural fuels, not only in the Netherlands, but also in an international context. Policy instruments to be used in the stimulation of the use of such fuels are the existing European Community subsidies on fallow lands, exemption of the European Community energy levy, and the use of tax differentiation. Large-scale demonstration projects must be started to quantify hazardous emissions and to solve still existing technical problems. 8 figs., 3 tabs., refs., 4 appendices

Ethiopia - Agriculture and Rural Development : Public Expenditure Review for 1997-98 and 2005-06

OpenAIRE

World Bank

2008-01-01

Agricultural and Rural Development (ARD) is a fundamental component of Ethiopia's economic growth and poverty reduction strategy. The agricultural development strategy under Agriculture Development Led Industrialization (ADLI) and Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Program (SDPRP) focused on enhancing the productive capacity of smallholder farmers, promoting crop diversification...

Conservation Agriculture and its contribution to the achievement of agri-environmental and economic challenges in Europe

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emilio J. González-Sánchez

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Conservation Agriculture is an ecosystem approach to farming capable of providing solutions for numerous of the agri-environmental concerns in Europe. Certainly, most of the challenges addressed in the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP could be tackled through Conservation Agriculture (CA. Not only the agri-environmental ones, but also those concerning farmer and rural communities’ prosperity. The optimisation of inputs and similar yields than conventional tillage, make Conservation Agriculture a profitable system compared to the tillage based agriculture. Whereas this sustainable agricultural system was conceived for protecting agrarian soils from its degradation, the numerous collateral benefits that emanate from soil conservation, i.e., climate change mitigation and adaptation, have raised Conservation Agriculture as one of the global emerging agrosciences, being adopted by an increasing number of farmers worldwide, including Europe.

REGION AGRICULTURE DEVELOPMENT ON THE BASIS OF OPTIMIZATION MODELLING

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V.P. Neganova

2008-06-01

Full Text Available The scientific substantiation of accommodation of an agricultural production of territorial divisions of region is a complex social-economic problem. The decision of this problem demands definition market-oriented criteria of an optimality. The author considers three criteria of optimality: maximum of profit; maximum of gross output without production costs and costs for soil fertility simple reproduction; maximum of marginal income. Conclusion is drawn that the best criterion of optimization of production is the maximum the marginal income (the marginal income without constant costs, which will raise economic and ecological efficiency of an agricultural production at all management levels. As a result of agricultural production optimization the Republic Bashkortostan will become self-provided and taking out (foodstuffs region of Russia. In this case the republic is capable to provide with food substances (protein, carbohydrates and etc. 5.8 – 6.5 million person. It exceeds a population of republic on 40 – 60 %.

Linking hydrology of traditional irrigation canals and socio-economic aspects of agricultural water use around Mt. Kilimanjaro

Science.gov (United States)

Kimaro, Jerome; Scharsich, Valeska; Huwe, Bernd; Bogner, Christina

2017-04-01

Traditional irrigation network around Mt. Kilimanjaro has been an important resource for both ecosystem functioning and agricultural production. However, a number of irrigation furrows can no longer maintain their discharge throughout the year and their future sustainability is uncertain. The actual efforts to improve the water supply were unsuccessful. We attribute this failure to a lack of information about the actual causes and extent of the problem. We suppose that there is a strong link between the socio-economic aspects like institutional and community management of the furrows and conflicts about water use. Therefore, we conducted a study to determine the relationship between current hydrological patterns and socio-economic aspects of agricultural water use. We measured discharge at 11 locations along an altitudinal gradient on the southern slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Additionally, we conducted focus group discussions with participants from 15 villages and key informants interviews (n = 15). We found that the mean discharge did not differ significantly between dry and rainy seasons (ANOVA, p = 0.17). The overall discharge pattern indicated that furrows located in lower altitude had higher mean monthly discharge rate of 65 l s-1 compared to 11.5 l s-1 at the source area of the canals. This is due to the convergence of canals downstream. 41% of furrows were seasonal, 22% dry and only 37% perennial. Despite of a seemingly better water resource availability downstream, water conflicts are a major challenge across the whole mountain communities. Key informants and group discussions reported poor management of water on the district level. The Rural Moshi and Hai District Councils operate on a top down approach that give less power to the local water management committees. However, the latter have been an important part of the traditional management system for decades. Since 1990, the district authorities are using 65% of springs from the catchment to abstract water

Economic compensation standard for irrigation processes to safeguard environmental flows in the Yellow River Estuary, China

Science.gov (United States)

Pang, Aiping; Sun, Tao; Yang, Zhifeng

2013-03-01

SummaryAgriculture and ecosystems are increasingly competing for water. We propose an approach to assess the economic compensation standard required to release water from agricultural use to ecosystems while taking into account seasonal variability in river flow. First, we defined agricultural water shortage as the difference in water volume between agricultural demands and actual supply after maintaining environmental flows for ecosystems. Second, we developed a production loss model to establish the relationship between production losses and agricultural water shortages in view of seasonal variation in river discharge. Finally, we estimated the appropriate economic compensation for different irrigation stakeholders based on crop prices and production losses. A case study in the Yellow River Estuary, China, demonstrated that relatively stable economic compensation for irrigation processes can be defined based on the developed model, taking into account seasonal variations in river discharge and different levels of environmental flow. Annual economic compensation is not directly related to annual water shortage because of the temporal variability in river flow rate and environmental flow. Crops that have stable planting areas to guarantee food security should be selected as indicator crops in economic compensation assessments in the important grain production zone. Economic compensation may be implemented by creating funds to update water-saving measures in agricultural facilities.

Agricultural sustainability in the semi-arid Near East

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F. Hole

2007-05-01

Full Text Available Agriculture began in the eastern Mediterranean Levantine Corridor about 11000 years ago toward the end of the Younger Dryas when aridity had diminished wild food resources. During the subsequent Climatic Optimum, agricultural villages spread rapidly but subsequent climatic changes on centennial to millennial scales resulted in striking oscillations in settlement, especially in marginal areas. Natural climate change thus alternately enhanced and diminished the agricultural potential of the land. Growing populations and more intensive land us, both for agriculture and livestock, have led to changes in the structure of vegetation, hydrology, and land quality. Over the millennia, political and economic interventions, warfare and incursions by nomadic herding tribes all impacted sustainability of agriculture and the ability of the land to supports its populations. In much of the region today, agricultural land use is not sustainable given existing technology and national priorities. The Near Eastern case is instructive because of the quality of information, the length of the record, and the pace of modern change.

Transport and agricultural productivity: A cross-national analysis

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Sike Liu

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The transportation infrastructure plays a significant role in the development of agriculture. In this study we examine the relationship between transport and agricultural performance by employing the World Bank’s roads infrastructure indicators. Based on a cross-country sample, a classic method is employed to test the hypothesis that better transport fosters agricultural productivity. The empirical results of the method support the hypothesis. As for this method, the estimation results of the widely-used inter-country aggregate agricultural production function describe that a country with better transport can produce more agricultural outputs given the same amounts of agricultural inputs and the same education level. Our empirical work lends support to the claim of Gollin and Rogerson (2010 [19] that transport is a basic factor explaining the poor economic performance of many developing countries, apart from physical and education investments, more emphasis should be placed on improving the transport infrastructure of these countries.

Agricultural policy and sustainable livestock development.

Science.gov (United States)

Schillhorn van Veen, T W

1999-01-01

Future agricultural and rural development is, to a large extent, influenced by the projected food needs of 2.5 billion people expected to swell the world population by 2020. This increase will require more food in general and, in view of recent experience in East Asia, more animal products. To achieve this increase will require judicious use of resources, and trade, especially in those countries where natural resources are insufficient to support food production. Achieving food sufficiency in a sustainable manner is a major challenge for farmers, agro-industries, researchers and governments. The latter play an important role as many of the farmers' choices are, to a large extent, directed by government or supra-government, often through macro- and micro-economic policy. In many countries the economic, environmental, trade and agricultural policies have not been conducive to an agricultural development that is risk-free with respect to the environment, animal welfare or public health. The recent decline of government support in agriculture forced farmers in Western countries to think about more risk adverse agricultural practices and more efficient production systems. On the other hand, many countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, as well as other developing countries, are still going through a painful process of adjustment to new market conditions. International banks and development agencies have a mandate to help developing countries, but are somewhat restricted both by needing to work directly with governments and by their perceived dogmatic approach to development. Changing policies do, now and in the future, also affect the development of animal disease control programmes, including the control of parasitic diseases. On the one hand there is an increasing interest in risk-free control practices, and on the other hand a demand for greater regulatory control over the production process. As parasitic diseases of animals are closely linked to the

Protected areas and agricultural expansion: Biodiversity conservation versus economic growth in the Southeast of Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)