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In recent years, the European wine industry has faced rising global competition, changing consumer preferences, and repeated economic crises. This paper explores the comparative advantages of the European Union’s (EU) wine-producing and consuming countries targeting international markets from 2010 to 2023, focusing on the specific impacts of economic crises on trade competitiveness. This research identifies the leading EU wine market players and their trade dynamics. Furthermore, it assesses their competitive positions in the world wine market using international wine trade data that assesses symmetric revealed comparative advantages (SRCA) for different wine products (sparkling, bottled, and bulk wines). Furthermore, it applies econometric models to capture the impacts of recent economic crises. Results suggest that traditional wine-exporting countries such as France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal were able to preserve their comparative advantage in the last decades despite declining consumption trends. Results show a stable comparative advantage in bottled wine categories despite the pressure of economic crises. Findings provide recommendations for policymakers and wine industry players to identify the dynamics behind the global wine trade pattern considering, different product segments.

This study investigates profitability gaps and convergence in field-crop farms across Austria, Germany, and the Visegrad countries, benchmarked against the EU27 average. Using harmonised Farm Accountancy Data Network data for 2013–2022 and a decomposition framework, profitability gaps are disaggregated into operational, financial, and fiscal components. The analysis reveals persistent cross-country disparities. Austria, Czechia and Hungary record above-average returns, while Germany, Poland, and Slovakia remain below. Operational components – revenues, costs, labour structures, and capital intensity – account for most cross-country differences, whereas financial and fiscal components play a minor role. Dynamic tests provide indicative evidence of partial convergence. Hungary maintains a comparative advantage, while Slovakia, initially the weakest, shows consistent signals pointing towards a catching-up process. The results suggest that harmonisation on its own is unlikely to eliminate profitability gaps; the paper’s policy relevance lies mainly in how it highlights the importance of improving operational efficiency and labour productivity, as well as the need to target investment support without reinforcing inefficient capital accumulation.

This study assesses the sustainability reporting practices of large food-processing companies in the Visegrad countries from the perspective of the EU Taxonomy. The analysis covers the 2021–2023 period, during the transition from the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). Using a qualitative content analysis and a relative scoring method based on the six environmental objectives and 33 related activities defined in Regulation (EU) 2020/852, we evaluate both the occurrence and quality of disclosed sustainability information. The sample includes large companies representing more than half of sectoral financial indicators in each country. Results show that climate change mitigation receives the highest relative scores across all countries, followed by sustainable water use, biodiversity protection, and circular economy objectives, while climate adaptation and pollution prevention remain less developed. Mandatory reports consistently outperform voluntary ones in quality. The findings highlight both sector-specific sustainability priorities and the significant role of regulatory requirements in enhancing transparency and comparability in sustainability reporting across Central Europe.

This paper investigates the effect of instruments of agricultural policy support and marketing contracts on the farm income distribution in Kosovo. Unconditional quantile regression was employed allowing for heterogeneity in preferences and risk aversion. The empirical results indicate that several policy measures and some attributes of marketing contracts exacerbate income inequality. Direct payments and more detailed marketing contracts favour disproportionally the higher income farms. Investment subsidies and improved buyers’ compliance with the terms of marketing agreements, on the other hand, are most beneficial to the lower income farmers and thus can result in more equitable farm incomes distribution. The large share of direct payments in the present agricultural budget in Kosovo is therefore misplaced since it uses scarce public resources without improving the situation of small low-income farms.

This study examines how farmers form intentions to adopt sustainability-oriented technologies, such as biological control and precision tools, in Albanian horticulture, a transitional smallholder context characterised by fragmented structures and weak advisory support. Using original survey data from 206 apple and greenhouse-vegetable producers, the analysis applies the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), with construct validation via exploratory factor analysis and estimation through multiple regression including demographic moderators. Results indicate that effort expectancy and social influence are the main drivers of behavioural intention, whereas performance expectancy, although positively perceived, does not exert an independent effect once feasibility and social endorsement are considered. No significant moderation by age, education, or farming experience is detected, and the model explains nearly half of the variance in intention. The findings refine UTAUT’s application to transitional agricultural systems by highlighting a feasibility- and trust-based pathway in intention formation and suggest that adoption policies should prioritise reducing learning frictions through sequenced onboarding, short demonstration cycles, and endorsement by trusted agronomists, buyers, and lead farmers.

Market events have significantly impacted the European meat industry over the past few decades, potentially altering the underlying dynamics and interrelationships of price movements. Notably, the pig market has experienced drastic changes, primarily due to disease outbreaks and a significant increase in production costs. This study examines both cointegration (CI) and partial cointegration (PCI) between Hungary and major European pig markets from 2010 to 2023. Cointegration (CI) refers to the long-run equilibrium of prices, whereas partial cointegration (PCI) represents a less restrictive framework that allows the cointegrating relationship to be decomposed into a mean-reverting component and a stochastic random walk component. Our findings indicated time-varying price co-movement with Germany, the Netherlands, and Austria, which gradually weakened in the second half of the sample period. The price relationship between Hungary and Germany has changed significantly, with evidence of cointegration disappearing in the second half of the sample period. Standard tests for Austria similarly indicated no evidence of linear cointegration. Instead, a statistically and economically significant PCI relationship appears to have developed. These results imply that important price relationships may have diminished or that their nature has shifted. The findings indicate that price relationships in the European pig market are much more...

Short food supply chains (SFSCs) are a model promoted among farmers in many countries. This model is popularised as an opportunity to increase the economic efficiency. However, the research results found in the literature are ambiguous. This study therefore aims to assess the impact of participation in short food supply chains on the productivity and efficiency of farms. Poland and the Czech Republic are taken as examples of countries with a contrasting agrarian structure and different size classes of farms are investigated. Primary data come from semi-structured face-to-face interviews conducted among 375 producers divided into two groups –participating and not participating in SFSCs. The indices of productivity and non-parametric data envelopment analysis (DEA) were applied to assess differences in efficiency for two groups mentioned above. It was demonstrated that in Poland small farms participating in SFSC achieve higher production efficiency than farms not participating in SFSC.

Rather than supporting small agricultural households and rural communities, governments frequently prioritise top-down, extractive, and resource-intensive approaches to agricultural development. This tendency promotes the expansion of large agricultural holdings, which increasingly undermines the viability of smaller farms. As access to land becomes more difficult and land-related inequality escalates, concerns regarding the sustainability of rural communities intensify. It is crucial for all stakeholders – policymakers, agricultural economists, researchers, and those involved in rural development and land use policies – to acknowledge their responsibilities and address these urgent issues proactively. This study employs the Gini coefficient to examine the fairness of accessibility to agricultural land use at the county level in Estonia. The findings indicate a decline in the number of agricultural households, coinciding with a rapid increase in the average land utilised per holding. Larger agricultural holdings are expanding their use of agricultural land, while smaller holdings are experiencing a reduction in their share. As of 2023, just 1% of all agricultural holdings in Estonia managed to utilise 31% of the total agricultural land area, whereas 74% of holdings accounted for only 9% of the area. These results underscore the pressing need to address issues of land concentration and inequality, underscoring...

The Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) are responsible for the flow of information, knowledge, and innovation between the actors of the agricultural and food sector, as well as between those engaged in education, research, and extension. Strengthening cooperation and interaction between actors has become a cross-cutting objective of the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The CAP Strategic Plans in the Member States aim to develop agriculture through two interventions (support of EIP operational groups and the provision of knowledge exchange and dissemination actions). However, the AKIS goes beyond the CAP support, as several additional actions and incentives under national competence are needed for a modern, knowledge-based agricultural economy and well-functioning AKIS. Each EU Member State has developed its own AKIS, according to its specific conditions and needs. Previous studies on the comparison of AKIS across Member States have attempted to collect and analyse the specificities of each Member State, mainly through primary data collection. These studies are less capable of providing an objective comparison of AKIS systems in the Member States based on a common methodology. Although there are several indicator systems available to measure innovation performance, these indicator systems address the national/regional innovation performance but do not...

Alcohol misuse has been a persistent challenge in Hungary, and the COVID 19 pandemic intensified the complexities of how people respond to collective stress. This study offers several new insights into the problem. First, drawing on a nationally representative survey of Hungarian adults, we move beyond broad patterns to pinpoint which demographic and social factors most influenced alcohol consumption during the pandemic. The analysis shows that increased drinking was more common among older adults and women, and among those experiencing financial hardship, while caregiving responsibilities (children under 14 in the household) were associated with a greater likelihood of increase rather than protection. Second, this research deepens understanding by applying Schwartz’s Theory of Basic Human Values in combination with a Heckman selection model. This approach distinguishes not only who drinks, but also how intrinsic values shape drinking behaviour under stress. Disaggregating the ten basic values reveals that Power (status/dominance) was a robust predictor of increased alcohol use across models; Achievement (competence/goal attainment) showed a modest protective tendency; and Hedonism, net of thrill seeking and status, was negatively associated with escalation. In contrast, social focus values (e.g., benevolence, universalism, tradition) did not consistently predict change once other values and covariates were considered....