12 pages, One of the key questions that concerns policy makers, related to the long term planning of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), is the form of agriculture that farmers intend to follow in the future. In order to highlight that question, a sample of producers from the region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace in Greece were surveyed and analyzed in order to identify and assess the factors that influence farmers’ adoption of organic, conventional or integrated agriculture systems. The paper methodologically applies double-valued logistic regressions, one for each form of agriculture, to the selected sample. Results indicate that producers' training and high awareness of CAP policies are positively correlated with the future adoption of organic farming systems, while the adoption of integrated agriculture depends on producers’ age as well as their positive or negative opinions regarding the conventional agricultural system.
Available online at www.centmapress.org, Results showed that depending on expressed meta-values, respondents had different specific information sources and needs. Online sources were rarely mentioned, the majority of consumers referred to brochures, flyers and interpersonal contacts.
19 pages, The adoption of digital technologies is expected to impact the social sustainability of agriculture, in particular in the case of small and mid-sized family farms in Western Europe. Goal of this research was to assess these impacts, however widely accepted impact assessment schemes of social sustainability are missing. Against this background, a qualitative, two-stage Delphi survey was conducted in order to identify relevant impact categories of the adoption of digital technologies in family-operated small-scale farms of South-West Germany. The participating experts stated, for example, that the adoption of digital technologies on the farm could mean that new business models can be based on the use of digital technologies. However, they also stated that digital technology could overburden farmers, which could hinder digitization in this sector as a whole. Data protection and data security were also issues ranked highly important by the participants in the Delphi Process.
12 pages, According to the World Health Organization a diet high in vegetables may reduce the risk of coronary heart diseases, stroke, and certain types of cancer. In addition, vegetables have lower carbon footprints than most other foods. The main objective in this paper is to find drivers behind vegetable consumption, with emphasis on health and environmental motivation. We used the theory of planned behavior together with direct acyclic graphs as a theoretical basis. The empirical analysis applied the graded response model and bounded beta regression with survey data from 2019. The main results show that health attitude is a stronger motivator for vegetable consumption than environmental attitudes.
20 pages, The main goal of this article is to assess the conditions under which market-oriented and formally organised organic farming might become a factor for local development. The main question is: to what degree is the impact of this factor (organic farming) due to local policies and the quality of local governance? Based on research carried out in 2013 and in 2016 in various parts of Poland, the authors demonstrate when and under what conditions and circumstances organic farming may improve farmers’ social and economic conditions as well as the overall development of areas with a significant organic agricultural sector (proportionally to the local scale). The preliminary findings underline that local authorities in rural areas are an institution that can significantly contribute to the maintenance and development of organic farming in Poland.
10 pages, Low agricultural productivity remains one of the main factors influencing poverty and food insecurity among smallholder farmers in many developing countries. Among the key interventions assumed to influence agricultural productivity of smallholders is the provision of agricultural extension services to farmers. Access to agricultural extension however remains low in most developing countries thus slowing down agricultural productivity growth. This study therefore sought to determine the labor productivity effects of agricultural extension in northern Ghana using data from a cross-section of 300 smallholder farm households. The results of a binary probit model indicated that participation in agricultural extension increased with farming experience, farm size, access to irrigation and group membership but decreased with years of formal education and household size. Regression estimates of a labor productivity model revealed a positive and statistically significant relationship between agricultural extension and labor productivity. Also, labor productivity increased with farming experience, household income, access to irrigation, degree of specialization in production and the level of conventional inputs used per man-day of labor but decreased with participation in off-farm work. The authors recommend an increase in agricultural extension coverage to ensure that more farmers are reached with information on modern technologies to enhance their labor productivity. Furthermore, farmers need access to inputs such as seed and fertilizer to improve the productivity of labor.
Available online at www.centmapress.org, Findings of a word association task revealed that most participants associated cows, rural areas, and traditional production systems with the cue dairy farms. While purchasing their products, they paid the most attention to attributes such as health and hygiene, indicating that they pay the most attention to product quality and not production quality. Yet more than half indicated that modern production systems contradict their norms and values. Authors concluded that the current modernization efforts in Colombia do not fit to the specific culture of the country.
Available online at www.centmapress.org, Bio-economy describes an economy based on renewable instead of fossil resources. Findings identified three perspectives: "sufficiency and close affinity to nature," technological progress" and "Not at any price."
16pgs, Agricultural production is a challenging business in Argentina due to output variability, unfavorable government policies, and the absence of public risk management programs. Based on probit modeling and information surveyed from producers farming in the Humid Pampa, this paper studies the influence of (a) risk attitudes, (b) risk perceptions, and (c) socioeconomic factors on the probability of choosing five different risk management strategies. Besides confirming that some results previously found in the literature apply to the Argentine case, we find that local farmers have a particular understanding of specific risk management strategies. Some strategies usually applied to reduce risks, such as the use of futures markets or vertical integration are perceived by Argentine farmers as risk-increasing. Cost control is the
preferred strategy for risk-averse farmers. Policymakers and companies providing services should take into consideration the particular way in which Argentine farmers perceive and manage risks to build a common
language.
Available online at www.centmapress.org, Results showed that different segments of producers had distinctive purchasing behaviors. Specifically, analytic-oriented producers tended to focus on product performance and less on the relationship with suppliers when buying their inputs. They also tended to be loyal to input brands, rely less on dealers/retailers and salespeople, and they are willing to change suppliers more often than other producers. Intuitive-oriented producers valued more the relationship with the supplier and are interested in contacting the salesperson if they need a product. Balanced-oriented producers declared to be less loyal to brands, but were more stable in terms of not changing input suppliers frequently.
