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The geopolitical developments that occurred in 2022 shook the global fertiliser market. One of the issues that the EJP SOIL ‘Scenario modelling for assessing impacts of policy changes and socio-economic effects on ecosystem services of soils (SIMPLE)’ project currently investigates is the potential consequences of increased fertiliser price on its demand and subsequent application. Looking at this question from an economic perspective, an answer can be found via the estimation of the relevant elasticity of demand. Therefore, we aim at providing empirical evidence on the responsiveness of demand for nitrogen (N) fertiliser to changes in its price. Having a better understanding of how farmers can react to changes in the price of this production input is key for several reasons. Firstly, lower fertiliser application can reduce soil productivity, leading to price increases of agricultural commodities due to lower production volumes. Secondly, an increase in the cost of inputs can affect negatively the financial viability of those farming activities which rely on mineral fertiliser. Thirdly, important negative environmental impacts are associated with its excessive use, creating a need to curb demand under certain circumstances. Taking Sweden as a case study, three different econometric techniques (OLS, FE and FE-IV) are applied to...

Increasing scholarly attention is being paid to understanding the roles of different actors involved in digital agriculture. This study contributes to this field of research by exploring farmers’ level of trust in digital agricultural actors. Based on a survey of 203 arable farmers from southern Germany, it investigates how adopters and non-adopters of digital technologies perceive the trustworthiness of different actors. The results suggest that farmers have varying levels of trust in innovation actors providing advice and information. Farmers express relatively more trust in other farmers, the agricultural press, and associations and less trust in research institutions, agricultural authorities, private advisory services, agricultural technology, and downstream actors. Significant differences between adopters and non-adopters are observed across the three types of digital technologies examined in the study (disembodied digital, embodied-knowledge and information-intensive technologies). The study highlights the importance of rethinking the roles and practices of innovation actors in the context of digital agriculture. Greater attention to trust can help to better align information and innovation processes between farmers and other innovation actors in the digital agriculture innovation system, enabling farmers to make informed decisions about adopting digital technologies. The results of this study may be of particular interest to those interested...

This article aims to assess the firm performance of the wine industry in Portugal. A two-stage efficiency analysis was applied to a sample of firms from the Amadeus database, where a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and a fractional regression model were used to quantify efficiency and to determine the influence external environmental factors have on it. The results highlighted a dichotomy in terms of resources and strategies between small and medium-sized companies on the one hand, and large companies on the other hand. Efficient and inefficient companies differ mainly in terms of their output variables. Territorial opportunities associated with sustainability and innovation positively influence firm performance in the industry. Our findings extend knowledge relating to the relationship between efficiency, environmental context and firm strategy, and may help managers to adopt measures to improve performance and policymakers to design new policy measures.

Studies on the impact assessment of subsidy schemes on farm performance indicators show contradictory results. Some studies indicate improvements in farm efficiency, while others highlight distortions and negative externalities. This paper analyses the impact of budgetary support provided to dairy farms in Albania based on a structured farm survey. The impact is assessed using causal forest, an adaptation of Breiman’s random forest algorithm for treatment effect estimation. Results suggest that subsidies positively impact the number of milking cows, output (quantity of milk sold), and revenues but have no impact on employment, yields, investment, or future investment plans. The study suggests that public support to dairy farmers should be conditioned on technology improvement measures and CAP-like cross-compliance obligations.

The Brazilian forestry sector plays a significant role in Brazil’s economy. Rio Grande do Sul is the southernmost state in the country, and its forestry sector is a sustainable development activity. Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) is an economic approach that offers an analytical framework for understanding how institutions shape the functioning of agro-industrial chains. This article aims to analyse the governance of forestry transactions in southern Brazil in the light of TCE. The research methodology is descriptive and uses a mixed methods approach. The qualitative stage used semi-structured interviews with key players in the forestry chain. The quantitative part sought to measure the characteristics of farm-level transactions by applying a questionnaire to 24 producers who own forests in 16 cities in southern Brazil. Content analysis (qualitative stage), descriptive statistics, non-parametric hypothesis tests, and logistic regression (quantitative stage) were used as data analysis techniques. The research results show that the largest eucalyptus production areas are used for cellulose production, the sale of which to paper industries is negotiated via contracts. On the other hand, the forestry production of the smaller areas is destined for firewood, whose suppliers trade via the market and transact, as a rule, with end consumers. The logistic...

The rearing of young stock in tropical countries is considered a substantial investment for dairy farmers due to non-productivity and the higher risk of mortality in the first 2 to 3 years of youngstock life. ICalculating the rearing costs of young calves, especially on non-commercial farms, is challenging due to incomplete farm records. This study, which was conducted at Keningau, Sabah, East Malaysia, estimated the costs of rearing dairy young stock from birth to the first calving age, taking into account uncertainty regarding young stock mortality. A stochastic bioeconomic model was developed at the animal level to calculate the cost of young stock rearing. Our results revealed that the average total costs of rearing dairy young stock from birth to the first calving age for non-commercial and commercial farms were €1,689 and €1,645, with average mortality costs of €15 (0.88%) and €13 (0.79%), respectively. The first calving age of dairy young stock were 32.1 months (442.87 kg) and 24 months (585 kg) in non-commercial and commercial farms, respectively. Sensitivity analysis showed that a 2% decrease in mortality rate reduced rearing costs by €7 for non-commercial farms and €5 for commercial farms. In conclusion, non-commercial (smallscale) dairy farmers should pay more...

Comprehensive assessment of challenges facing Ukraine on its path towards EU accession must inevitably include identification of those faced by the Ukrainian agricultural sector. Here, it is necessary to adapt to the rules, norms, and standards of the European Union, especially in the cases of the Common Agricultural Policy and the European Green Deal, as well as to identify ways to expand mutually beneficial cooperation between all connected parties within agricultural value chains. Analysis of Ukraine’s Input-Output tables and turnover of goods and services undertaken by the authors of this paper reveals deep integration of Ukrainian agriculture within the global economy. Dynamics of Ukrainian agri-food exports in 2014-2023, analysed according to the product structure and geographical directions, demonstrate stability of volumes and shares of exports to the EU, both in the pre-war period and currently – in conditions of a full-scale war. Furthermore, the study confirms the economic implausibility of most of the claims made recently by Eastern European farmers regarding the extreme influx of Ukrainian agri-food products. Among the anticipated benefits for Ukrainian agricultural sector accruing from joining the EU are the sector’s potential greening and diversification, as well as the likely development of domestic agri-food processing and increase...

This paper examines the impact of the macroeconomic turmoil, in particular the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukrainian war (RUW) in Ukraine, on Ukrainian agroholdings. Before the full-scale Russian invasion, Ukraine was a major global exporter of agricultural commodities, playing a crucial role in global food security and contributing significantly to the national economy. However, the outbreak of war in Ukraine brought with it unprecedented challenges such as loss of assets, damage to infrastructure, labour shortages and more. Despite these adversities, the Ukrainian agricultural sector remains resilient, attracting investment and maintaining its global presence in agriculture. This study aims to comprehensively analyse the resilience and vulnerability of Ukrainian agroholdings before and after these shocks. Our analysis shows different responses to the pandemic and war shocks, with agroholdings being resilient during the first shock but suffering significant setbacks during the second shock. These results underline the crucial role of the Ukrainian agricultural sector and provide valuable insights into its adaptability under turbulent macroeconomic conditions.

Rural local communities of Ukraine have faced serious socio-economic problems under theconditions of war. Among the most critical are the low level of entrepreneurial activity and pre-existing challenges related to the quality of governance. As a result, the resource potential utilisation of these communities has become less efficient, against a further backdrop of deteriorating human capital quality and investment attractiveness. All this creates a number of barriers to Ukraine’s further integration into the EU and limits the prospects for post-war economic development of its rural economy. This being so, it is advisable to focus on the implementation of managerial innovations that can enhance the efficiency of governance of rural local communities in Ukraine and facilitate their adaptation to EU institutional standards. Primarily, this concerns the implementation of modern project management tools, activation of cross-sector partnerships, application of effective territorial marketing and branding means, and the dissemination of democratic public administration practices, among other measures. At the same time, significant attention should be given to the educational component, which should ensure that the managerial competence of local self-government employees in rural local communities is enhanced as well as stimulate the entrepreneurial activity of their residents. This will enable Ukraine to attract...

Agriculture is a leading sector in the Ukrainian economy, providing a significant share of export revenues and guaranteeing the food security of other countries. However, the war with Russia has profoundly challenged the sector, which now faces the following problems: insufficient financial resources to ensure the production of agricultural products; reduced fertiliser use; crisis in animal husbandry sectors; labour shortage; destruction of the infrastructure for production, processing and storage of products; environmental threats; and insufficient attention on the part of the EU to the environmental component in support programmes. Different support programmes have been created to ease the challenges above, and these are analysed by the paper. In light of the country’s prospective EU membership, the paper proposes the following solutions to ensure safe and high-quality production of Ukrainian food: budget financing, effective taxation, a fair price policy, soft loans (in particular for organic farming), grant support, and new subsidy programmes.