Volume 122 - Issue 2

This paper analyses the composition and volatility of the total income and wealth of dairy farmers and the importance and volatility of the different components contributing to their total income and wealth based on Dutch FADN data. The results confirm some existing findings on the stabilising impact of CAP subsidies and off-farm income on farmers’ total income. The paper extends the existing analyses by exploring the impact of taxes on income volatility and the important role of savings in stabilising consumption of farm households. In this paper we show that a broader perspective (including off-farm income and wealth) provides a more realistic picture of the income and wealth effects as experienced by farmers.

The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistic composite index composed of life expectancy, education, and per capita income indicators. Currently, wine consumption is increasingly becoming significant both for reducing several diseases and for improving well-being and quality of life. The aim of this paper is to investigate spatial and temporal characteristics of wine consumption in 45 countries belonging to the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region and its relationship with the HDI. We use a balanced panel data by WHO database (2005-2015). Random effects panel data model was selected over the fixed effects model based on the Hausman test in order to assess the effect of HDI, European Union (EU) membership and geographical areas on wine consumption. Results highlight that wine consumption decreases as HDI increases. We noted higher values of wine consumption in EU countries and a positive gradient from West to East in the area considered. These findings highlight the presence of a new consumer profile seeking quality and healthy consumption and whose awareness increases coinciding with a rise in the degree of country development. National and international policies can address issues of consumption style and persuade consumers to have a new eating cultural approach towards buying...

The advancement of crop production has not yet been followed by the increase in maximum permitted nitrogen doses set out in the Hungarian Action Programme of the Nitrate Directive. According to the farmers’ observations, crops grown in nitrate vulnerable zones with good agricultural conditions already have much higher nitrogen uptake than the maximum permitted values, so the genetic potential of the plants cannot be exploited at the current level. In order to prove this, in the autumn of 2017, a small-plot long-term experiment was set up in three different regions of Hungary. The results were evaluated in a complex way, based on an agronomic approach, Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) and an economic approach. In terms of the agronomic evaluation, no clear differences were found between treatments: the highest yields were obtained in respect of different treatments at the three experimental sites, but the differences were not significant. From the point of view of NUE, the Nmax experiment on the Nagyhörcsök calcareous chernozem soil showed the highest values, which, according to the EU N Expert Panel (EUNEP), are already in the unfavourable soil depletion range. From the economic point of view, there was no significant difference in net profits between the...

Soil carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratios can provide essential information on soil health such as nitrogen limitations for plants or soil microorganisms. Determining soil C/N ratios can be challenging for larger geographic units such as for catchments, as nitrogen heterogeneity depends on several factors like land use, soil types, vegetation cover or seasonality. This paper investigates C/N ratio changes at different levels for diverse land management and land uses at plot-, catchment-, and country scale. For the plot- and catchment scale the study also presents data on seasonal variabilities of C/N ratio. For the countrywide evaluation, a digital soil mapping method was applied. Substantial differences were noted in total nitrogen amounts for arable lands, where the ‘no till’ system had up to 54.7% higher TN compared with ploughing. Catchment based monitoring showed the highest fluctuations for TN in the case of forest soils, while C/N ratios were relatively stable over the course of different seasons for the diverse land uses. Comparison of the topsoil C to N ratios in the European LUCAS and national SIM datasets shows that the difference in expected values is considerable (consecutively 10.35 and 7.41). The discrepancy can be explained partly due to different thematic representativity for land...

The paper seeks to link the discussions on diversification and pluriactivity among farm business owners (FBOs) and examine the topic in the context of small-scale farming. It asks households if diversification and wage-seeking behaviour in the rural agripreneurship economy is prompted by “push” or “pull” factors. The quantitative method enabled the analysis of data generated from 480 rural FBOs from Nigeria (regarded as entrepreneurs or agripreneurs). The findings reveal that education, asset endowment, access to credit, and good infrastructure conditions increase the levels of household diversification. Lack of access to capital, low farm income and fluctuations in farm income were the three most influencing factors (push factors) towards diversification.

The study was conducted in Gololcha District of Arsi Zone with the objective of identifying determinants of coffee producer market outlet choice. The primary data were collected through personal interviews from a total of 154 producers, using structured and semi-structured questionnaires. The multivariate probit model result indicated that the sex of the household head, level of education, means of transport ownership and access to information had positively influenced choice of wholesaler and negatively influenced choice of agent middle-men. Level of education was significantly and negatively related with agent middle-men, and significantly and positively influenced cooperatives’ and wholesalers’ channel choice. Enhancing institutional and infrastructural (transportation and extension) facilities is necessary to enable coffee producers to select efficient channels. In addition, the study recommends that steps be taken to establish and support multi-purpose coffee farmers’ cooperatives – grow their membership, as this should increase farmers’ income through marketing activities and supply of important inputs.