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The issue of promoting peri-urban agriculture seems to be an important one in response to the various current concerns about the future of cities in the face of climate change. At first glance, these urban and peri-urban agricultural areas, which in the past served as a shelter for cities, are now threatened and increasingly losing their function of protecting urban areas from climatic hazards. This question is a priority when considering the future of agriculture in the context of urban expansion. We are therefore raising a number of concerns linked to multiple issues: significant reduction of land available for local agriculture, accelerated degradation of the city's natural environment, fragmentation of ecosystems, and deterioration of air and water quality. Around these questions, this research is structured to provide theoretical and practical knowledge that will enable us to place urban and peri-urban agriculture at the heart of urban concerns, in a perspective of reaction to climate change. The interest of this work is reinforced in the case of peri-urban areas surrounding the capital of Algeria, Algiers, such as the commune of Delly Brahim: a concrete example of a territory concerned by the subject. On the one hand, this periphery boasts important agricultural production zones in close geographical proximity to the capital Algiers, and on the other, it plays a fundamental economic, environmental, and landscape role in relation to its region. Between its dense urban residential areas, agricultural lands, and natural areas rich in resources, this territory is today confronted with numerous environmental vulnerabilities. The aim is therefore to examine the issue of preserving the agricultural sector and its role in mitigating climate change. This study is based on data collected in 2020 to analyze the current and future dynamics of these territories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hail represents a major threat to agriculture in Switzerland, and assessments of current and future hail risk are of paramount importance for decision-making in the insurance industry and the agricultural sector. However, relating observational information on hail with crop-specific damage is challenging. Here, we build and systematically assess an open-source model to predict hail damage footprints for field crops (wheat, maize, barley, rapeseed) and grapevine from the operational radar product Maximum Expected Severe Hail Size (MESHS) at different spatial resolutions. To this end, we combine the radar information with detailed geospatial information on agricultural land use and geo-referenced damage data from a crop insurer for 12 recent hail events in Switzerland. We find that for field crops model skill gradually increases when the spatial resolution is reduced from 1 km down to 8 km. For even lower resolutions, the skill is diminished again. In contrast, for grapevine, decreasing model resolution below 1 km tends to reduce skill, which is attributed to the different spatial distribution of field crops and grapevine in the landscape. It is shown that identifying a suitable MESHS thresholds to model damage footprints always involves trade-offs. For the lowest possible MESHS threshold (20 mm) the model predicts damage about twice as often as observed (high frequency bias and false alarm ratio), but it also has a high probability of detection (80 %). The frequency bias decreases for larger thresholds and reaches an optimal value close to 1 for MESHS thresholds of 30–40 mm. However, this comes at the cost of a substantially lower probability of detection (around 50 %), while overall model skill, as measured by the Heidke skill score (HSS), remains largely unchanged (0.41–0.44). We argue that, ultimately, the best threshold therefore depends on the relative costs of a false alarm versus a missed event. Finally, the frequency of false alarms is substantially reduced and skill is improved (HSS = 0.54) when only areas with high cropland density are considered. Results from this simple, open-source model show that modelling of hail damage footprints to crops from single-polarization radar in Switzerland is skilful and is best done at 8 km resolution for field crops and 1 km for grapevine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study used a cross-county survey from Kenya to investigate smallholder tea farmers' performance using a stochastic metafrontier framework. According to the results, farmers in all four regions are falling short of their potential with the mean technical efficiency ranging from 0.69, 0.77, 0.61, and 0.74, respectively, for the Nandi, Mau, Kisii, and Kericho regions. Comparing its performance with the technology available in the industry, each region faces a technology gap. Even though some variables were not statistically significant, a combination of socioeconomic and farm-specific factors were identified as sources of technical inefficiency among farmers. The farmers in all regions, however, possess the potential to overcome technological constraints and achieve higher levels of productivity. Kenya Tea Development Agency Ltd should, therefore, enhance its efforts to help the farmers improve their management and technical skills on how to use their resources more efficiently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether China can achieve the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) largely depends on the ability of main food-producing areas to cope with multiple land use change challenges. Despite the fact that the Yangtze River basin is one of the key regions for China's food security, the spatiotemporal dynamics of cropland abandonment and recultivation remain largely unexplored in this region. The present study assesses the evolution of the agricultural system within the Yangtze River basin between 2000 and 2020 by mapping cropland abandonment and recultivation using MODIS time series and multiple land cover products. The results highlight a widespread cropland abandonment process (i.e., 10.5% of the total study area between 2000 and 2020), predominantly in Western Sichuan, Eastern Yunnan, and Central Jiangxi. Although 70% of abandoned cropland is situated in areas with slopes less than 5°, the highest rates of abandonment are in mountainous regions. However, by 2020, 74% of this abandoned cropland had been recultivated at least once, whereas half of the abandoned croplands got recultivated within three years of their initial abandonment. Hence, as this is one of the first studies that unravels the complex interaction between cropland abandonment and recultivation in a spatiotemporal explicit context, it offers (i) scientists a novel methodological framework to assess agricultural land use issues across large geographical entities, and (ii) policy-makers new insights to support the sustainable transition of the agricultural sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the global population is expected to reach 10 billion by 2050, the agricultural sector faces the challenge of achieving an increase of 60% in food production without using much more land. This paper explores the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to bridge this "land gap" and mitigate the environmental implications of agricultural land use. Typically, the problem with using AI in such agricultural sectors is the need for more specific infrastructure to enable developers to design AI and ML engineers to deploy these AIs. It is, therefore, essential to develop dedicated infrastructures to apply AI models that optimize resource extraction in the agricultural sector. This article presents an infrastructure for the execution and development of AI-based models using open-source technology, and this infrastructure has been optimized and tuned for agricultural environments. By embracing the MLOps culture, the automation of AI model development processes is promoted, ensuring efficient workflows, fostering collaboration among multidisciplinary teams, and promoting the rapid deployment of AI-driven solutions adaptable to changing field conditions. The proposed architecture integrates state-of-the-art tools to cover the entire AI model lifecycle, enabling efficient workflows for data scientists and ML engineers. Considering the nature of the agricultural field, it also supports diverse IoT protocols, ensuring communication between sensors and AI models and running multiple AI models simultaneously, optimizing hardware resource utilization. Surveys specifically designed and conducted for this paper with professionals related to AI show promising results. These findings demonstrate that the proposed architecture helps close the gap between data scientists and ML engineers, easing the collaboration between them and simplifying their work through the whole AI model lifecycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current economic environment, farms must respond to the challenges of the external environment and look for mechanisms to adapt and overcome the crisis, as well as diversify their business as additional sources of income. Therefore, the study of possible cross-sectoral adaptations of farms is a relevant research topic. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to provide a scientific basis for the predicates of diversification of farms' activities in overcoming the challenges of war. The study is based on classical approaches to management and marketing, as well as foresight predicates of agricultural development. The content of adaptation directions of farms' development was interpreted using empirical methods. The article analyses the sources of risks and threats, identifies targets and key aspects of the formation of intersectoral adaptation of farms: metrics, goals and foresight competences. As a result of the study of macro trends in the security of the agricultural sector, hypothetical analytical generalisations were formed, due to the uncertainty of the timeframe of the war and the impossibility of calculating the expected losses. Thus, the study made it possible to formulate theoretical and practical insights into the formation of adaptation mechanisms in the strategic perspective. The author substantiates the need for systematic and continuous monitoring of threats and invasions by systematising traditional and forecasting new risks. The key determinants of foresight adaptation under the influence of global trends are formulated. The mechanism of its implementation is presented through the identification of areas of intersectoral adaptation. The study is of practical value, generating information for farms, rural communities, stakeholders and potential investors who can benefit from the foresight of prospects and expectations formed in the context of cross-sectoral adaptation of farms in the post-war period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Applying restrictions to the division of agricultural land parcels can potentially prevent fragmentation and ensure the efficient use of land. To achieve effective regulation indicators that are justified as targets in evaluating the appropriate dimensions of the plots covered by the legislation need to be defined. This article examines the issues involved in determining the size of land plots that are subject to restrictions, based on efficiency criteria and the necessity to ensure the viability of farms per the goals set for their regulation. To evaluate the size of the areas, it is proposed to use the minimum level of the reference income indicator, which determines the viability of the farm. The authors have prepared formulas for calculating guidelines for the size of the subdivided land areas using the average level of wages in the agricultural sector and the amount of income necessary to meet minimum needs as the basis for the reference income. Using these formulas, the corresponding target indicators, differentiated by regions are calculated, and advanced proposals are made for their application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the numerous contributions from farm entrepreneurship to economic development, including food security and rural poverty alleviation, most farm enterprises often fail due to institutional challenges in developing countries. Based on this perspective, the study investigates the effect of different institutional contexts, such as regulatory, normative, and cognitive institutions, on the performance of farm enterprises. The study further evaluates the mediating role of farm Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) in the Institution-Venture performance relationship. We employ the PLS-SEM technique to analyze data collected from 371 farm enterprises in Ghana. The findings from the study emphasize that Regulatory, Normative, and Cognitive institutions have positive and significant indirect effects on farm business performance through the partial mediating role of EO. While regulatory and normative institutions have a negative direct effect on farm venture performance, the results show that cognitive institutions have positive and significant effects on farm business performance. The study confirms the positive and significant impacts of institutions on farm-level EO. The findings imply that farm entrepreneurship can be improved by strengthening regulatory, normative, and cognitive institutions to offer conducive support for farm businesses in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the impact of subsidies on agricultural holdings of different economic sizes in Bulgaria for the period 2014-2020. The objective is to dissect the dispersion and repercussions of these subsidies on the gross and net earnings of these enterprises. The research is rooted in a thorough exploration of existing literature and utilizes a spectrum of analytical techniques, including comparative analysis, regression analysis, and fixed effects models. The findings underscore the substantial role of subsidies in shaping the revenue of Bulgarian agricultural producers. This validates the primary hypothesis that subsidies bolster the financial health of enterprises and foster the resilience of the agricultural sector overall. Nonetheless, it's crucial to note that the magnitude and efficacy of the subsidies' impact fluctuate based on the economic scale of the enterprises. This underscores the need for a differentiated approach in determining subsidy policies, taking into account the specific needs of different groups of agricultural producers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Annals of the Polish Association of Agricultural & Agribusiness Economists is the property of Polish Association of Agricultural & Agribusiness Economists and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose: This study aims to examine farmers' decision to use smartphone agricultural applications (SAAs) and how SAAs adoption impact their land transfer behaviors in terms of the current land transfer-in area (LTA) and the future willingness to renew land transfer-in after it expires (WTR). Design/methodology/approach: This study provides empirical evidence on the relationship between farmers' use of SAAs and land transfer choice, using a field survey data of 752 rural farm households in 2020 from Sichuan province of China. The endogenous switching models are employed to address potential self-selection bias associated with voluntary SAAs use and to quantitatively examine the impacts of SAAs use on land transfer choice. Findings: The empirical results reveal that SAAs significantly improves the probability of transfer-in of more land by 39.10%. We find SAAs use has heterogeneous impacts on land transfer-in choice in the groups of agricultural technology, extension service, marketing and credit. Besides, we also find that SAAs use exerts highly positive and significant impact on farmers with less land area transfer-in. Moreover, SAAs can increase the probability of farmers' willingness to renew the land transfer-in by 30%. Originality/value: To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to explore the quantitative relationship between the use of SAAs and farm households' land transfer choice. The findings of this work can provide policy-related insights to help government promote the development of digital applications in the agricultural sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the author reviews the literature on institutions and their relations with agricultural economics. The aims of the article are to clarify the definition of an institution, indicate its relevance from the perspective of agricultural economics and propose a method of institution classification. Using the PRISMA method, 35 articles were selected out of 238 articles from the Web of Science database that met the established requirements (i.e. they were simultaneously related to institutions, economic performance and the agricultural sector). Based on the identified articles as well as the preliminary literature review it can be concluded that there is a lack of research that precisely defines institutions and examines the historical context at the same time. There are not many papers in which authors assess relations between institutions. Furthermore, authors rarely associate directly with any theory, especially with institutionalism or new institutional economics. That may be a pragmatic approach, but at the same time results are less comparable with other papers written in the same manner. The contribution made by this article is a synthetic presentation of the issue of institutions in agricultural economics and a classification of institutions, with an indication of which type of institutions will be viable when assessing the relations of institutions with the farming sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ensuring food safety while reducing agricultural non-point source pollution is quite challenging, especially in developing and underdeveloped countries. Effective systematic strategies and comprehensive technologies need to be developed for agricultural non-point source pollution control at the watershed scale to improve surface water quality. In this review, a proposal is made for a full time-space governance strategy that prioritizes source management followed by endpoint water pollution control. The 4R chain technology system is specifically reviewed, including source reduction, process retention, nutrient reuse and water restoration. The 4R chain technology system with the full time-space governance strategy was applied at the scale of an administrative village and proved to be a feasible solution for reducing agricultural non-point source pollution in China. In the future, a monitoring system needs to be established to trace N and P transport. Additionally, new smart fertilizer and intelligent equipment need to be developed, and relevant governance standards and supportive policies need to be set to enhance the efficacy of agricultural non-point source pollution control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil nitrogen mineralization (Nmin) is a key process that converts organic N into mineral N that controls soil N availability to plants. However, regional assessments of soil Nmin in cropland and its affecting factors are lacking, especially in relation to variation in elevation. In this study, a 4-week incubation experiment was implemented to measure net soil Nmin rate, gross nitrification (Nit) rate and corresponding soil abiotic properties in five field soils (A-C, maize; D, flue-cured tobacco; and E, vegetables; with elevation decreasing from A to E) from different altitudes in a typical intensive agricultural area in Dali City, Yunnan Province, China. The results showed that soil Nmin rate ranged from 0.10 to 0.17 mg·kg-1·d-1 N, with the highest value observed in field E, followed by fields D, C, B, and A, which indicated that soil Nmin and Nit rates varied between fields, decreasing with elevation. The soil Nit rate ranged from 434.2 to 827.1 µg·kg-1·h-1 N, with the highest value determined in field D, followed by those in fields E, C, B, and A. The rates of soil Nmin and Nit were positively correlated with several key soil parameters, including total soil N, dissolved organic carbon and dissolved inorganic N across all fields, which indicated that soil variables regulated soil Nmin and Nit in cropland fields. In addition, a strong positive relationship was observed between soil Nmin and Nit. These findings provide a greater understanding of the response of soil Nmin among cropland fields related to spatial variation. It is suggested that the soil Nmin from cropland should be considered in the evaluation of the N transformations at the regional scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article proposes a sustainable approach to the Florida Greenbelt Law to provide for solar facilities on farm land to power agricultural operations. Topics discussed are legislative guidance for man-made structures, judicial guidance for agricultural classification, and justifications to the proposed amendment including accommodation of changing needs of the agricultural industry, protection of farmers from the effects of citrus greening, and intersection of solar energy and agriculture.

The concept of agriculture 4.0 has emerged as an evolution of precision agriculture (PA) through the spread of the Internet of Things (IoT) and machine learning data analytics, which have been applied throughout the value chain of the agricultural sector. However, the challenges facing agriculture today go far beyond merely technological ones. Achieving the Zero-Hunger goal by 2030 will require the use of Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) applications, essential for the primary sector to become a driver of economic and sustainable development. This article presents the concept of agriculture 4.0, the contexts of use, its technologies, their application in the agricultural sector, and the benefits to present the trends in the use of technologies at a global level. For this, English-language papers published in the last 5 years were considered, considering both review articles and research ones. Internet of Things, data analytics, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing, among others, have been identified as the most studied technologies in both agricultural systems. The range of opportunities opens to continue reviewing innovations that are specific to the regions and their communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The reintroduction of Cannabis sativa L. in the form of hemp (< 0.3% THC by dry weight) into the US agricultural sector has been complex and remains confounded by its association with cannabis (> 0.3% THC by dry weight). This has been further exacerbated by inconsistent hemp regulations in the US since the 2014 Farm Bill's reintroduction. Methods: A content analysis was performed to analyze the terms and definitions presented by state and tribal hemp production plans, the USDA Hemp producer license, and the 2014 state pilot plans. A total of 69 hemp production plans were analyzed. Results: Results suggest significant discrepancies between hemp production plans, which have been exacerbated by extending the 2014 Farm Bill language into the 2018 Farm Bill timeframe. Conclusions: Findings from this study point to areas in need of uniformity and consistency as the regulatory framework is modified and provides a starting point for change for federal policymakers. The results may also be useful to companies attempting to market products across state boundaries. Suggestions for how to mitigate these inconsistencies are provided based on the content analysis findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A methodology is presented for calculating optimal values of the natural, ecological and economic elements of Ukraine's food system, these being the basis for agrarian enterprises. Criteria for the efficiency of the use of agricultural land according to the interaction of these elements are formulated, and the regional structure of the national food supply determined. Regions are clustered according to their level of food self-sufficiency, and agricultural enterprises are grouped according to the areas of land under agricultural crops in their farming system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main task of water supply systems is to expand the technological capabilities of the water supply process, increase its reliability, reduce its capital and operating costs, and simplify design. The purpose of the article is to determine the optimal parameters for the use of the proposed constructive solution of water-lifting equipment in the conditions of livestock farms. The research was conducted in laboratory conditions with further use of mathematical statistics methods. The criteria for optimizing the use of the proposed design of water-lifting equipment in the conditions of livestock farms include the amount of water flow and the speed of the flow. The article establishes the most optimal structural and technological parameters of water-lifting equipment, namely: head height; volume of transit tanks; pipeline diameter; pipeline length. The principle of operation of the proposed constructive solution of water lifting equipment for use in livestock farms is based on increasing the necessary pressure for the water supply network by direct repeated use of gravity forces in the form of the weight of the liquid column from natural or artificial pressure. The ratio of criteria for optimizing the process of using water-lifting equipment in the conditions of livestock farms and optimal structural and technological parameters of the proposed solution was determined. The use of technology in compliance with the recommended structural and technological parameters will solve the problem of improving the quality of water supply to consumers in the conditions of livestock farms, reducing energy consumption during the operation of the water supply system and maintaining the necessary pressure in the water supply network

Today, the transformation processes taking place in the modern economy lead to the restructuring of agricultural production on a new technological and socio-economic basis, which requires the formation of a more rational management mechanism, perhaps the most important part of which is the resource base. The change in the return of the resource base for the period in the dynamics is analyzed as the main criterion of expediency of attracting additional capital as the basis of the resource base. It has been established that the issue of the need to attract additional funds for the reproduction of the fixed capital becomes relevant for agricultural producers because an unjustified increase in value leads to an increase in the cost of production, and reduces the value of the final results of the activity. The cost of sale acts as a reserve for obtaining additional income, which can be obtained at the expense of an increase in the sale price. It is proved that there is a direct relationship between the indicators of resource equipment and profitability, with the growth of the resource base used, the profit received by enterprises increases. It is substantiated that the efficiency of resource base use is closely related to specialization and its level, and changing the structure of marketable products to only plant specialization reduces the return on additional investments in the resource base. The existence of a relationship between the indicator of the fund of 100 hectares of agricultural land and the profitability of 100 hectares of agricultural land in the crosssection of enterprises of various specializations using the methods of mathematical statistics is substantiated. Built models by types of groupings by specialization can be used as an additional factor in forecasting and planning the production plan and forming the structure of the company's products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim study is the development of the classification of agricultural enterprises, based on the properties of the distribution of enterprises depending on the size of the land bank. To achieve this aim, open databases of agricultural enterprises were used, from which data for the Dnipropetrovsk district were selected. The data is not official. They are collected according to the data provided by the agricultural enterprises themselves. Since the official statistics group of small enterprises with up to 200 ha of land includes a fairly large number of enterprises that exist only formally, and since actively functioning enterprises are voluntarily registered in the databases used for the study, the developed classification reflects the real situation with agricultural enterprises in the Dnipropetrovsk district. The proposed scheme of a grouping of agricultural enterprises is regular, logarithmically uniform and based on the exponential increase of the land bank of agricultural enterprises. Its parameters are chosen in such a way as to take into account the classification of farms used in the Tax Code of Ukraine. The developed grouping of agricultural enterprises was used to analyze such characteristics of enterprises as types of production and organizational and legal forms of management. The analysis of the distribution showed that with the decrease of the land bank the number of farms increases and the number of enterprises, whose forms of management are joint-stock companies of different types, decreases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-resolution (HR) surface soil moisture (SM) observations are important for applications in hydrology and agriculture, among other purposes. For instance, the S 2 MP (Sentinel-1/Sentinel-2 derived Soil Moisture Product) algorithm was designed to retrieve surface SM at agricultural plot scale using simultaneously Sentinel-1 (S1) backscatter coefficients and Sentinel-2 (S2) NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) as inputs to a neural network trained with Water Cloud Model simulations. However, for many applications, including future climate impact assessment at regional level, a resolution of 1 km is already a significant improvement with respect to most of the publicly available SM data sets, which have resolutions of about 25 km. Therefore, in this study, the S 2 MP algorithm was adapted to work at a resolution of 1 km and extended from croplands (cereals and grasslands) to herbaceous vegetation types. A target resolution of 1 km also allows to explore the use of NDVI derived from Sentinel-3 (S3) instead of S2. The algorithm improvements are evaluated both over Europe and other regions of the globe, for which S1 coverage is poorer. Two sets of SM maps at 1-km resolution were produced with S 2 MP over six regions of about 104 km2 in the southwest and southeast of France, Spain, Tunisia, North America, as well as Australia from 2017 to 2019. The first set of maps was derived from the combination of S1 and S2 data (S1+S2 maps), while the second one was derived from the combination of S1 and S3 (S1+S3 maps). S1+S2 and S1+S3 SM maps were compared to each other and to those of the 1-km resolution Copernicus Global Land Service (CGLS) SM and Soil Water Index (SWI) data sets as well as to the SMAP+S1 product. The S 2 MP S1+S2 and S1+S3 SM maps are in very good agreement in terms of correlation (R ≥ 0.9), bias (≤ 0.04 m3 m−3) and standard deviation of the difference (STDD ≤ 0.03 m3 m−3) over the 6 domains investigated in this study. The S 2 MP maps are well correlated to those from the CGLS SM product (R ∼ 0.7–0.8), but the correlations with respect to the other HR maps (CGLS SWI and SMAP+S1) drop significantly over many areas of the 6 domains investigated in this study. In addition, higher correlations between the HR maps were found over croplands and when the 1-km pixels have a very homogeneous land cover. The bias in between the different maps was found to be significant over some areas of the six domains, reaching values of ± 0.1 m3 m−3. The S1+S2 maps show a lower STDD with respect to CGLS maps (≤ 0.06 m3 m−3) than with respect to the SMAP+S1 maps (≤ 0.1 m3 m−3) for all the 6 domains. Finally, all the HR data sets were also compared to in situ measurements from 5 networks across 5 countries along with coarse resolution (CR) SM products from SMAP, SMOS and the ESA Climate Change Initiative (CCI). While all the CR and HR products show different bias and STDD , the HR products show lower correlations than the CR ones with respect to in situ measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Annals of the Polish Association of Agricultural & Agribusiness Economists is the property of Polish Association of Agricultural & Agribusiness Economists and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Annals of the Polish Association of Agricultural & Agribusiness Economists is the property of Polish Association of Agricultural & Agribusiness Economists and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Globally, declining farmland is a cause for concern. Şanlıurfa has the third-highest amount of agricultural land among the 81 provinces in Turkey. This research aims to determine the factors that affect the selection of information sources that agricultural enterprises in Şanlıurfa use in solving problems of agricultural land use and the agricultural enterprises' willingness to pay for sustainable agricultural land use in their knowledge and innovation system. The main data for the research was obtained via face-to-face surveys of agricultural enterprises selected by a simple random sampling method in Şanlıurfa in 2018. The sampling volume was determined at a 95% confidence limit and a 5% error margin. A chi-squared test was used in the analyses. According to the results, 15.1% of the agricultural enterprises used farmer organizations, 5.3% research institutions, 33.9% public agricultural organizations, 25.7% consultancy, and 20% used a combination of the above as sources of information for solving problems. The age, education level, land amount, commercial livestock, and income of the agricultural enterprises were determined as statistically effective factors in selecting information sources. To ensure optimal agricultural land use, extension and education activities need to be developed under public control, with understandable and applicable methods under agricultural enterprises conditions. Of the participants, 39% showed a willingness to pay for agricultural land use that would provide better income which can be used to co-finance the land use and increase its efficiency. The obtained results provide useful data for agricultural policy-makers and decision-makers both in the research field and in regions with similar socio-economic characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to examine the role of custom farming in the expansion of the agribusiness model in Argentina, and more specifically, of machinery contractors incorporated into productive 'networks' led by large-scale sowing pools and companies. It treats dispossession as being in a dialectic relationship to productivity, thus posing the question of labour as a core discussion in this process. Its purpose is to provide an insight into agribusiness that, while remaining critical, can be constructive for discussing the development implications of this model in the public arena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the results of a study on the digitalisation of the agri-food sector in a French region characterised by small- and medium-sized farms. Our results, which rely on a survey comparing digital practices in the agri-food sector with other sectors, reveal a paradox. While digitalisation is mostly perceived as a panacea capable of increasing agricultural productivity while respecting the planet, it is not widespread in the agri-food sector and even less than in other sectors of the same size. At the same time, the perceived impact of digitalisation is also lower than in other sectors. To increase the digitalisation of this sector, two elements emerge from our results: both the implementation of a global digital transformation strategy and membership of a professional association are required. Here, we refer to a broad definition of digitalisation, which includes organisational and social aspects, and does not only address technological dimensions. Our study challenges the technocentric and productive vision of digitalisation. It suggests that farmers' institutional environments and policies need to take a more holistic view of digitalisation to provide increased sense and generate engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article incorporates the New Institutional Economy and proposes an approach for understanding and assessing the governance efficiency of farms. It corroborates that a farm is efficient if it manages all its transactions and activities in the most economical (equal or more efficient) way compared to any other organization. Moreover, farms must have a good potential to adapt to permanently changing market, institutional, technological and natural environments in order to have high (overall) governance efficiency. Nature of the problems in effective organization for the main farm transactions for securing needed factors of production and output realization is used as an indicator for farm's comparative efficiency. The analysis of survey data found that the overall level of governance efficiency of Bulgarian farms is acceptable the efficiency of 60% of them is low. There are huge differences in the level of efficiency of farms of different legal form, size, specialization and location as well as in the share of farms with different levels of efficiency in each group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the article is to provide a detailed statistical description and evaluation of the mutual relationship between the development of two types of agribusinesses' cash flows which represent the capacities of farms to save and self-finance in relation to changes in basic climatic parameters (i.e. temperature, precipitation). The calculations have been based on data obtained from the FADN (Farm Accountancy Data Network) and the CCKP (Climate Change Knowledge Portal). The figures on the V4 countries come from the period between 2004 and 2020. In terms of the net worth of agribusinesses and the values of their capital, V4 countries could be split into two groups. In Hungary and Poland, the development of temperature changes and the net worth or enterprise capital levels are moving in the same directions, while agribusinesses in Slovakia or Czechia, negative, but low correlation coefficients were measured. Regarding the relationship between cash flow and climatic conditions, we conclude that temperature changes are not happening to be a distinctive factor on the level of countries, but rather something that the whole Central European region has in common: the trend is suggesting the existence of a slight growing tendency and consequently pointing us to a direct relationship, but the nature of this relationship is rather weak and not indicative. The interaction of cash flow and of the development of precipitation levels is showing relatively more dynamics and fluctuations for all agro-businesses in the researched V4 countries. This results in a rising trend line where the yearly precipitation level is ranging from approximately 500 mm to 750 mm. Agrobusinesses, mostly in Czechia and Slovakia, in the years when precipitation levels exceed 750 mm per year report relatively lower levels of cash flows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ekonomika APK is the property of Economy of Argo-Industrial Complex and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Economics & Environment / Ekonomia i Środowisko is the property of Fundacja Ekonomistow Srodowiska i Zasobow Naturalnych and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the Botswana Labour Force Survey, agriculture was identified as the fastest growing employing industry with growth mainly driven by the entrance of women into the industry. As such, the purpose of the study was thus to investigate how the demographic profile of farm holders have changed in Botswana over time. Using Agricultural Survey Reports, the paper descriptively analyses changes in the gender and age composition of farm holders in Botswana. The study found that the industry has in fact employed a larger share of women, but that the movement of women into the industry was still largely dependent on those of men. This is evident in the fact that the share of married male and female farmers move in opposite directions. It also found that during times of distress women's share as farmers increased. The movement of men and women in the industry indicates that policies which have historically been geared towards the needs and characteristics of male farmers and their households may require gender mainstreaming to accommodate female farmers and their households. This paper opens up a debate around gendered social assistance which accommodates women not just as ordinary household members, but more specifically farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Yuzuncu Yil Universitesi Journal of Agricultural Sciences (YYU J Agr Sci) is the property of Yuzuncu Yil University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The analysis of the neoliberal restructuring of Chilean port cities and their hinterland suggests there was a functional coupling of neoliberalisation, precarisation, reterritorialisation, extraction, and logistics. To address this process properly, we expanded the boundaries of our analytical scale to include not only the port city, but also its hinterland, and be able to examine the flow of commodities and labour. The analysis demonstrated that the effects of neoliberal restructuring of Valparaíso and its hinterland has had interconnected ambivalent effects. Although social and economic restructuring of agricultural hinterland and port terminals in Chile increased land and port productivity and economic competitiveness, this pattern of capitalist modernisation benefitted neither the increasing masses of temporary precarious workers in the countryside nor port cities such as Valparaíso, marked by territorial inequality, socioecological damage, urban poverty, and a growing sense of closure of the littoral and reduced access to the ocean. These negative externalities and frictions have triggered local political controversies, commercial and economic disputes, labour strikes, and urban and socio-territorial conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A particularly important role in the activity of farms is represented by the agricultural machinery and equipment used in production. In addition to a thorough selection and procurement process in accordance with existing needs, there is also a need for efficient management of maintenance and repair activities correlated with the technological specifications and the required work schedule. Although, on the whole, little attention is paid to this sector of the general business, possible malfunctions may lead to the impossibility of carrying out certain technological works and, consequently, to the deregulation of production plans and, subsequently, a possible negative impact on economic results. Management can be a decisive factor of production, in addition to the other factors that are given a higher importance, this field requiring more attention in terms of training the managers and implementing the principles of this science. The paper aims to highlight the importance and impact of efficient management of maintenance and repair of machinery on the economic results of agricultural farms starting from a general analysis and continuing with an analysis at the farm level, making a correlation between these activities and the economic results recorded. Maintenance and repairs within a company can be carried out, depending on the strategy approached, both by the farm employees, by an authorized service in partnership with the farm or can be carried out in a combined system. The effectiveness of the technological system is determined by the way of adapting to the characteristics of each farm. If the maintenance of agricultural equipment used in the production process is not carried out in time, regardless of the field, the activity cannot be realised in optimal conditions or there may be delays in accomplishing the task which may influence the process of organizing and coordinating activities and therefore optimal operation process is affected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quality of agricultural land is determined by rating, based on which agricultural land in Romania is classified into five quality classes. Agricultural land reclamation is based not only on soil fertility, which is undoubtedly the most important factor, but also on climate, relief and hydrology. The Cucuteni territorial administrative unit is climatically located in the temperate-continental area, with an average multiannual temperature of 8.5° C and average multiannual rainfall of about 555 mm. Following the pedological mapping, carried out on the surface of 2225 ha, 44 simple soil units from the classes Protisoils, Cernisoils, Luvisoils, Hydrisoils, Antrisoils and 8 complex soil units were identified. Based on the average rating marks, the arable area (1381.47 ha) and pasture area (514.22 ha) were included in the third quality class, with 53 and 43 bonitation points, respectively. The areas with the use of hayfields (103.83 ha), vineyards (160.46 ha) and orchards (35.79 ha) fall into the 4th quality class with rating notes between 34 and 38 points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Having analyzed research results, it is ensured that sustainable land use of US agricultural lands for the support to farmers to improve the efficiency of their major activities and adherence to the principles of soil protection and rational land use in farms. An analysis of the American experience allows us to make conclusions that the success of the process of improving land relations depends on the level of their scientific validity, the degree of balance of government regulation and the degree of coordination of participants' interests in transformations and land market transactions. Land lease in the United States of America as one of the economic methods of land use regulation has been analyzed in the article. It has been established that long-term lease relations are beneficial for both parties concerning soil improvement and pollution control in case of clear legislation. Having analyzed foreign experience, the main measures of land use rationalization in the USA, which people can use in Ukraine, have been proposed. It is also possible to implement the US experience in actively controlling the ecological condition, intended use and other quality characteristics of agricultural land to improve regulation of land use in Ukraine. After analyzing the measures for land protection in the United States, taking into account the considered and researched American experience of agricultural land use, ways to improve the existing system of use and protection of agricultural land in Ukraine are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The results of the study of the characteristics of the technological line for grain reception from auto transport at the procurement production grain elevator of LLC "Agricultural Enterprise "Vesna 21" are presented. In the process of research, the quantitative and qualitative composition, volumes and duration of the harvesting periods of early and late crops, the quantitative and qualitative composition and characteristics of auto transport delivering grain to the enterprise were determined; the most intensive supply of early and late crops, as well as the actual coefficients of daily irregularity of their supply by auto transport. It is shown that the enterprise in 2017-2019 traditionally received such early crops as wheat of 2-6 classes and rapeseed of the highest and 1st class. Late crops were represented by corn (3rd class and non-class) and soybeans (non-standard and extruded). The volumes of harvesting of the corn and wheat (main crops)for the indicated years correlated, respectively (%) 49.2:41.2; 60.1: 24.9 and 66.1:17.1, which indicates a tendency for a significant increase in the supply of late crops, especially corn grain. The ratio between early and late crops for 2017–2019 was 45:55, 24:76 and 20:80, respectively (%). The monthly grain flow to the grain elevator was rather irregular. Most of the grain was received from July to December, when the periods of harvesting of early and late crops coincide, and especially in the autumn months, in September, October and November, up to 32.9 %, less – in the off-season from January to June, to 12.3 %. All the same, a lot of grain in percentage terms was received in November 2017 and October 2018 – 32.9 % each. An analysis of the quantitative and qualitative composition of cars that delivered grain to the procurement and production elevator in 2017-2019 showed that the carrying capacity of the vehicles ranged from 3 ... 51 tons. In 2017, 80.9% of all grain received by the enterprise was delivered by 2771 vehicles (cars) with a carrying capacity of 20 ... 40 tons, which amounted to 82.4 % of their annual quantity. In 2018, these indicators were as follows – 87.2 % of grain was delivered by 84.5% of vehicles of the same carrying capacity, and in 2019 – 93.4 % of grain was delivered by 93.0 % of the same vehicles. In the years studied, there was a tendency to an increase in the share of more heavy-duty vehicles (35...40 t). However, the number of vehicles with a carrying capacity of more than 40 tons, delivering significant volumes of grain, has significantly decreased, which is associated with the legislative limitation of the vehicles weight. The optimal carrying capacity in terms of the ratio of the mass of the delivered grain: the number of vehicles, taking into account legal restrictions, can be recommended 35...40 tons. The main characteristics of the reception of an early and late crops at the procurement and production elevator, respectively, for 2017-2018 were the following values: the duration of the arrival of early crops, days - 126, 119 and 97, late – 142, 145 and 240; harvesting period of early crops, days – 73, 88 and 68, late crops – 86, 78 and 57; the most intensive supply of early crops, t/day – 8378, 596 and 1428, late crops 1966, 1576 and 1909; actual coefficients of grain reception irregularity by auto transport of early crops – 6.3; 2.2 and 3.6, late – 2.5, 2.4 and 2.9, which exceeds the standard values of 1.6 and should be taken into account when improving the operation of the grain reception line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Financial & Credit Activity: Problems of Theory & Practice is the property of University of Banking of the National Bank of Ukraine and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the article, the author examines the current state of completion of land reform in order to clarify the biggest problems related to the opening and further functioning of the free land market in Ukraine, as well as the search for effective preventive measures against possible risks. Emphasizing the value of land as a resource for the full economic and social development of the country, the author emphasizes the importance of efficient and rational use. In this regard, the most important risks of market relations have been highlighted, such as insufficient solvency of future farmers, possible monopolization of agriculture by agricultural holdings, difficult conditions for lending to agricultural needs, lack of effective state regulation of land sales, etc. As a result of the research, the Article highlights and substantiates ways to minimize risks. These include mandatory state financial support for farmers, including newly incorporated farms, the need to create a credit infrastructure focused on servicing the agricultural economy, accelerating the process of determining the regulatory monetary valuation of each land that will become a commodity in the land market, and the need to improve mechanisms of state regulation of land relations. The Article also analyzes the current regulations governing relations in this area, as well as the positive experience of foreign countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]