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The article analyzes the current situation in the agricultural complex of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the necessity of combining small farms in the cooperative structure, evaluation of existing forms of cooperatives in agriculture are substantiated (production cooperatives, rural consumer cooperatives, rural consumer cooperatives of water users), a map of their location in the context of regions of the country is shown, problems hindering their development are revealed, particularly the formation and development trends of each of them, the economic indicators of production of products are given, together with their organizational structure, etc. On the basis of the conducted analysis of the production conditions, rural consumers and rural consumer cooperatives of water users, problems hindering their development are revealed, the positive and negative trends in the development of various forms of agricultural cooperation are assessed, and proposals has been substantiated in order to improve the regulatory framework, mechanisms of state support, credit and financial mechanisms, etc.

The decision-making process of consumers buying organic food is affected by several factors. Because of organic agriculture in Romania is growing, the objective of this paper was to analyze consumer opinions and preferences concerning organic food products in Romania. The survey involved 350 respondents. The respondents were divided into two groups using the Hierarchical multiple factor analysis (HMFA). The strongest reason for buying organic food for Romanian respondents is health care, presented by 42% of respondents. Respondents prefer to buy organic foods directly from the producers, followed by supermarkets, specialized shops and pharmacies. The prevailing price of monthly purchase of organic food is 10 to 20€. The respondents are able to pay for organic food from 5 to 10% more than for conventional food.

Wider use of alternative energy sources is a real requirement of sustainable economy – not only from the point of view of limited natural resources –, and there is a question what is the knowledge, the attitude of young generation. As there is a strong connection between the use of renewable energy and sustainability, the issues must be examined together. On the other hand it can be observed that there is a tendency that people are becoming more open and inquiring towards renewable energy sources, and environment protection is considered as a very important task. The main goals of the research were to examine the knowledge of the young generation taking part in higher education on sustainability and alternative energy, and to find out their attitudes to the use of different alternative energy sources. Also, our hypotheses said that the level of knowledge of sustainability and their attitudes to the environment issues are connected. We compared the results of two surveys carried out in 2014 among the students of a Hungarian and a Slovak higher educational institute. According to the primary results it can be stated that the increasing environmental awareness of young generation is visible, although as for the concepts of sustainability and their knowledge on alternative energy sources, as well as their expectations for the future, there was no significant correlation between their opinions in the Hungarian sample. It was proved that they have open minds towards environmental consciousness, and follow the renewable energy sources with attention. A bit more than a half of the sample has real knowledge on sustainability – we mean the three-pillars model here –, more the mail interview has higher knowledge and for the future they thought the question as a very important one. Considerable majority of the respondents, compared to their capabilities, try to live environmentally-sound life, will do more than one thing to save their environment, although also some negative responses slightly appeared in the received results. Primary results of the Slovak sample are similar; respondents do similar measures for environment at their households as their Hungarian colleagues, but with different priority. Concerning the knowledge of concept of “green economy”, “blue economy” and the “non-growth”, it can be summarized that the awareness is evident but in many cases, there is just few information and weak knowledge connected with the terminology and practical consequences. We think it is an important task of education to increase the awareness of young people on sustainable energy use and to let them accustomed to the thought of green economy and non-growth theories, since the expansion of knowledge may help in the development of a more positive attitude, which will then, hopefully, encourage their actions in the future.

This article analyses past and current state of plastic bags usage and reviews the major challenges in addressing the issue of its reduction with emphasis on failure and success of the chosen policy. Given the heterogeneous impacts of government policies, it is important to understand the consumer behaviour and motivation for purchasing plastic bags. This can help to make a fundamental shift in reduction of plastic bags usage by the demand side, which supplement government’s efforts to address the issue from the supply side.

Within the frame of the North Hungarian region's eco-energy program, we examined the change of residents’ attitudes to alternative energy sources during a multi-stage primary research. The level of familiarity and knowledge of the population, the examination of the source of knowledge and the analysis of renewable energy sources’ judgment were the main areas of the standard interviews. According to our hypothesis, all of the information supply and attitudes related to the subject changed in a positive direction. The use of renewable energy sources is mainly dependent on the consumers’ and residents’ attitude in the given region. Consequently, we consider the knowledge of residents’ attitude particularly important and that the multi-stage research was needed. Primary research was performed in form of standard interviews in households during 2006. Our research in 2009 and 2014 indicated the next phase, where we studied, how the relationship of the parties concerned to renewable energy sources has changed during the past three years.

Front-of-pack labels (FOPL) can influence consumer behaviour in a variety of ways, and companies that prioritise accurate and transparent nutrition labels can see benefits in increased sales and brand loyalty. However, there are several types of FOPL on the market that differ in visual appeal and consumer clarity. The aim of the study was to reveal the impact of the nutrition label Nutri-Score as well as other factors on consumer decision-making when choosing healthier alternatives for selected food types. In addition to traditional research methods such as questionnaires, in-depth interviews, also emerging methods such as eye tracking, FaceReader and electroencephalography were used to collect implicit feedback. Research suggests that there are significant differences between implicit and explicit feedback when examining the impact of Nutri-Score on the decision-making process. Last but not least, the study presents ideas for future research in real-world settings using emerging methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Milk and dairy products are an essential food and their position has been strengthened due to current trends and consumers’ lifestyles. The objective of this paper was to examine dairy consumption trends in Slovakia and to study consumer behavior of dairy products. Dairy consumption trends were analyzed based on secondary data obtained from the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic. Primary data were obtained from an online survey conducted on a sample of 1,138 respondents. The results showed that annual dairy consumption is at a level of approximately 190 kg per capita. Slovak consumers consider dairy products to be healthy foods, and the older generations consume them relatively often. The importance of functional dairy products is constantly growing, and they are preferred by the younger consumers. Moreover, freshness, quality, taste, health effects and a type of product are key factors determining the purchase and consumption of functional dairy products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current interdisciplinary research studies the antimicrobial activity of selected polyfloral kinds of honey (n = 30) against three microorganisms (gram-positive bacteria Enterococcus faecalis, gram-negative bacteria Salmonella enterica, and one yeast Candida krusei) as well as investigates consumer behavior and awareness towards honey healing properties. Consumer research involved 617 honey consumers living in urban areas. T-test for Equality of means, non-parametric tests, and descriptive statistics were applied. Results showed that antimicrobial activity was found in all honey samples with a concentration of 50%. Nevertheless, better activity was obtained in honey samples from urban beekeepers compared to samples from retail stores. Results of consumer research showed that honey is mostly used as food (sweetener in beverages, ingredient in the recipe, or direct consumption) and as medicine mainly during the winter period. The consumer awareness towards honey healing effects was very high (97%), however, 1/3 of respondents were not able to list any specific examples, and only 11 % mentioned antibacterial activity. Furthermore, more than 70% of respondents did not know to explain the term “medical honey” and more than 50% of respondents are not aware of the maximum temperature used for heating honey without decreasing its biologically active compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1990s of the 20th century, the Slovak dairy industry has undergone many significant changes which have been related to the reduction of the herds of cattle and milk cows, the decrease of quantity of milked milk, low purchase prices of milk, the decline of a great number of milk producers and processors. The consumption of cow´s milk and dairy products in Slovakia is very low in comparison with the countries of the European Union (about 320 kg), Europe (293 kg), the Czech Republic (280 kg), and the rest of the world. It varies around 170 kg per capita per year, which is also considerably lower consumption than the dose of 220 – 240 kg per capita per year recommended by doctors. Since 1990 the production and consumption of dairy products and cheeses have decreased significantly. In Slovakia, the consumption is twice even three times less than in the developed countries of Europe. The reason for this situation is the behavior of a consumer and the factors having an impact on the consumption of cow`s milk and dairy products. The objective of the paper is to indicate the impact of the personal consumers` characteristics on the purchasing decisions on the market of the products of cow`s milk origin, based on the processed answers of the respondents participating in the questionnaire survey. The primary data were obtained via the questionnaire survey, which was conducted with 786 respondents. The questionnaire consisted of four parts – Eysenck`s personality test, the questions targeted at the detection of factors influencing the consumers` purchasing behavior and decision making, the questions related to expressing opinions about cow`s milk and dairy products, and the classification questions providing the information about the respondents. The data were processed by the methods of quantitative and qualitative statistics – Chi-square statistic χ2 test of square contingency, Chi-square χ2 goodness of fit test, two proportion test, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, the test of hypotheses of relative proportion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]