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The article focuses on the importance of sustainable packaging choices in today's consumer-driven market, particularly emphasizing the shift away from plastic towards alternatives like paper. Topics include the increasing demand for paper packaging post-COVID-19, the characteristics and types of paper used in different applications, and the essential role of both virgin and recycled paper in maintaining a sustainable paper cycle.

The article focuses on the Paper Manufacturers' Association of South Africa's 'Trend Tracker Survey,' revealing that South Africans are increasingly opting for paper packaging, driven by environmental concerns and the desire for recyclability, as indicated by consumer preferences in online product deliveries and perceptions of paper's attributes; the survey highlights that paper/cardboard scored highest in various categories.

Purpose: This paper aims to analyse the main variables and causal relationships in the system structure of the diversification of non-agricultural activities on agricultural holdings using system dynamics (SD) modelling. The SD model aims to simulate depictions of the behaviour of the real system while testing the effects of alternative decisions over time. Design/methodology/approach: An SD methodology was chosen to model diversification in farm tourism. Findings: A system approach increases the authors' understanding of the transition of agricultural holdings to farm tourism. The results indicate that the transition to farm tourism depends on the level of tourism development in a certain area. The system is influenced by subsidies allocated by authorities to expand primary agricultural activities. The model describes a situation in which the tourism and agricultural industries have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Research limitations/implications: The research is limited by the small set of available data due to the limited number of farms in Slovenia. One major problem is the difference in statistical data on the same activity collected from different institutions in Slovenia. Practical implications: The paper includes implications for understanding the transition process to farm tourism, allowing policymakers to experiment with subsidies and promotion to explore the efficacy and efficiency of proposed policies. Originality/value: This study provides a structured, systemic view of the diversification of non-agricultural activities on agricultural holdings, where the simulation results are a reliable reflection of the behaviour of the actual system being modelled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cap-and-trade (C&T) policy has led to environmental benefits in some groundwater markets by restricting and economically reallocating water permits. However, top-down approaches for capping permits may face resistance from every affected stakeholder. This paper presents an efficient policy framework to improve the implementation of C&T policies in a real shared aquifer in Iran. To this end, groundwater permits for water-selling farms are capped through a bottom-up capping (BUC) policy. A policy analysis that employs static and dynamic bargaining techniques incorporates farms' utilities. Results reveal that the bargaining techniques propose more acceptable capping strategies than the top-down approach. The BUC policy analysis introduces the proposed strategy by dynamic bargaining as the tradable groundwater permits. The effects of irrigation water sales to the industry sector, evaluated using a cooperative game-based optimization model, show that with the fair reallocation of water trading benefits, the current net benefits of agriculture and industry sectors increase by 55 and 27%, respectively. Furthermore, farms reduce their groundwater withdrawals by 35% compared with the current mode. Therefore, the BUC policy for inter-sectoral groundwater trading under dynamic bargaining can lead to the sustainable use of limited groundwater resources by facilitating the capping strategies and improving the water permits productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Fast and steady economic growth in China during the 1990s attracted much international attention. Given the scarcity of resources, it is important for economic growth to depend on production efficiency improvement to achieve sustainability. As China is the world''s second largest foreign capital recipient, foreign capital plays an important role in investment. If economic growth is fuelled by investment, an exodus or a shortage of foreign capital will render growth unsustainable. However, if growth is propelled by improvements in production efficiency, it is more likely to be sustained and to withstand reduction in production input. This paper estimates production efficiency in the agricultural sector in China with a panel data set comprising 30 provinces for the 7-year period, 1991–1997. A panel data model based on the Cobb–Douglas production function is used to represent the production frontier and to compute technical efficiency at the provincial level. Individual effects are tested to determine if pooled estimation is preferred to unpooled (panel) estimation. The test confirms significant differences between the provinces, and hence warrants panel data estimation. Both fixed and random effects models are estimated, with provincial technical inefficiency specified as province-specific intercept terms for the former, and regression disturbances for the latter. Although the random effects model is rejected in favour of the fixed effects model, the latter did not produce estimates with correct signs, and is rejected on economic grounds. Using the random effects model, production efficiency has increased for most provinces, but the gap between the affluent coastal region and the hinterland in the west has increased. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A continuous debate among those involved with the Brazilian cashew agribusiness refers to its international competitiveness. This work had the objective to assess the evolution of competitive performance of this agribusiness, based on the analysis of the Brazilian participation in cashew world exports and also its is participation in the total world exports. Hence, a bibliographic and documentation research was carried out, consisting of papers and diverse documents, and also an analysis of secondary data produced by the Food Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and International Trade (MDIC). The analysis showed that the country maintained an outstanding competitive position during the study period, however the market was dominated by few countries. In addition, Brazilis position was not sustained in time, with a high variability of the international market share varying of 15% to 32%, and an comparative advantage of 15 to 31%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A five-dimensional dynamic game model concerning governments and heterogeneous agricultural enterprises is established based on bounded rationality. • Government's subsidy intensity, nitrogen emission reduction and pricing decisions are considered. • The price adjustment speed has a more sensitive influence on the system than the adjustment speed of the subsidy intensity. • When the parameters are harmful to enterprises and governments, the system will fall into chaos and the regional stability will improve. Government subsidy intensity, nitrogen emission reductions, and pricing decisions in a Bertrand agricultural products supply chain system were investigated. This paper presents the results of a decision-making competition game model involving governments and heterogeneous agricultural enterprises based on bounded rationality. The impact of government on the emission reduction behavior of agricultural enterprises was evaluated. The study revealed that the speed of price adjustment and subsidy intensity may alter the system stability and lead to chaos, with the price adjustment speed having a more sensitive influence on the system than the subsidy intensity adjustment speed. In addition, certain parameters (p e and r 0) affected the system stability, decision variables, and the profits made by government and agricultural enterprises. When the parameters became harmful to enterprises and governments, the system fell into chaos and the stable region increased in the direction of the subsidy intensity adjustment speed. Finally, the chaos in the agricultural supply chain was successfully controlled by the delayed feedback control method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers news briefs including the agriculture industry has been greatly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic; States including Maine and Massachusetts have paused their bans on plastic bags through the COVID-19 pandemic; and Vermont joined 15 states and the District of Columbia in signing a memorandum of understanding to accelerate electrification of the medium-and heavy-duty bus and truck market.

The article discusses about the most profitable non financial companies in Latin America with a focus on financial leverage on equity in companies, distribution assets and business transformation in electricity firms of Brazil.

The article discusses a case showing the importance of forests. Matthew Rich, 17, got a surprise phone call last year. The person on the line was Deano Orr, an executive with International Paper, the world's biggest paper and forest products company. Orr had read an article about Rich in The Charlotte Observer describing the teen's plan to plant a forest in his hometown of Concord. Rich and a friend, Micah Stowers, came up with the plan after Rich watched workers clear-cut several hundred hectares of woodland for a subdivision near his home. The feature caught the eye of Orr, who donated the trees.

Cites the article `The Coming Boom in American Agriculture,' by Thomas J. Duesterberg published in the May 1994 issue of the periodical `Hudson Briefing Paper.' Economic conditions of the agricultural industries of the United States; Effect of international economic trends on the growth of the agricultural industry.