2026 - Volume 128

The reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the period after 2027 has reopened fundamental questions regarding the purpose, governance and financing of agricultural policy in the European Union. This paper argues that the contemporary CAP is justified by a combination of objectives relating to food security and resilience, environmental stewardship, territorial cohesion, and competitiveness and innovation. It examines how these competing rationales shape the current reform debate and assesses them using the principle of European value added. While all four rationales provide legitimate grounds for public intervention, they differ in the extent to which they justify common European financing. The paper argues that the strongest case for EU expenditure arises where collective action problems, cross-border spillovers or economies of scale are most evident, notably in environmental sustainability, crisis preparedness, research, innovation and knowledge exchange. It concludes that the central challenge facing the future CAP will be the prioritisation of expenditure within an increasingly constrained budget. The greater flexibility proposed for Member States in the post- 2027 CAP will make the prioritisation of European value added more difficult.

The complexity of the issues that practitioners in the field of agricultural economics encounter is increasing, with agriculture intersecting with most of the challenges that society faces. Policies related to agriculture need to address an increasing number of objectives, while at the same time it is necessary to understand their related trade-offs. How can policy analysts make use of the available quantitative tools to support an evidence-based policymaking process? In this context, collaborative approaches are increasingly recognised as a vital solution. This paper provides a framework for conducting multi-model analysis for policy and encourages its use in the field of agricultural economics. The following elements are crucial to the success of this method: (i) the development of clear conceptual frameworks identifying the core elements of the problem at hand; (ii) the cooperation between researchers in different fields (or modelling teams); (iii) the identification of synergies and overlaps between models; and (iv) the development of linkages between modelling tools in a largely structured manner. Overall, such an approach ensures that modelling outcomes satisfy policymakers’ needs while keeping the modelling tools manageable. The synergistic use of models that are already well-tested in their respective fields enhances the credibility of the results.

The European Commission’s July 2025 Multiannual Financial Framework proposal introduces structural changes to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the 2028–2034 programming period, raising questions about its alignment with the environmental ambitions of the Green Deal. This paper uses the spatially explicit partial equilibrium model GLOBIOM to assess how the proposed policy shifts alter production incentives and land allocation across EU Member States. We operationalise the reform by linking regional budget envelopes with unit payment rates for the key interventions, including the degressive area-based income support corridor, the consolidated Agri-Environmental and Climate Action (AECA) framework, and expanded coupled income support. Testing Member State implementation strategies ranging from fiscal minimisation to high environmental ambition, we quantify impacts on agricultural production, prices, trade, and greenhouse gas emissions, explicitly capturing the quantity-rationing effects of binding budget constraints. Results show that the aggregate 15% budget cut translates into heterogeneous impacts across instruments and Member States, that payment rate equalisation is the reform’s primary redistributive mechanism, and that without practice conditionality the environmental gains of even ambitious green implementation remain limited.

This article develops a political economy framework to interpret the evolution of rural development policy in Europe. It argues that European rural policy should not be understood as a linear transition from agricultural modernisation to placebased development, but as a layered and contested policy field in which multiple strategies coexist and compete. The paper identifies four ideal-typical strategies: distributive support, agri-food competitiveness, disparity reduction, and holistic place-sensitive development. These strategies are analysed not only as policy paradigms, but also as concrete configurations of instruments, governance arrangements, beneficiaries, delivery mechanisms and financial allocations. Their effectiveness is assessed in relation to two main dimensions: their capacity to reduce territorial disparities and social marginalisation, and their contribution to strengthening the competitiveness and development potential of rural areas. The article shows that distributive and sectoral logics remain resilient because they are supported by established administrative routines, powerful constituencies and policy feedback mechanisms. At the same time, territorial and placesensitive approaches have gained legitimacy in response to depopulation, service decline, rural marginalisation and persistent territorial inequalities, although their consolidation depends on integrated governance, local capacity and multi-fund coordination. The paper further examines how external shocks and crises may rebalance political competition in favour of faster,...

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...