Tag: agriculture

This paper explores the slow pace of structural change which has characterised the post-transition period in Romania and sheds light on the dynamics of labour adjustments. A multinomial logit is employed to investigate the determinants of inter-sectoral labour movements in the period 2003-06. The high share of farm employment in Romania, mostly characterised by family workers and self-employed, suggests that agriculture serves as a buffer against unemployment. Whereas the main channel of farm labour outflows is closely related to retirement, movements to other sectoral employment are significantly hindered by the low levels of education. The findings are important from a policy point of view, suggesting the need for investments in human capital, specifically in education of the rural population with the purpose of enhancing the mobility of labour and facilitating a smooth transition across activities. At the same time, priority should be placed on rural development to encourage the diversification of the rural economy and the creation of alternative sources of income from non-agricultural activities.

A monopolistically competitive agricultural market structure has some features of competition and some features of monopoly. Monopolistic competition has the following attributes: (a) many sellers; (b) product differentiation; and (c) free entry. In the long-run equilibrium, price equals average total cost, and the agricultural firm earns zero economic profit. The aim of this paper is to construct a relatively simple chaotic long-run monopolistic competitor’s agricultural output growth model that is capable of generating stable equilibria, cycles or chaos. A key hypothesis of this work is based on the idea that the coefficient plays a crucial role in explaining local stability of the monopolistic competitor’s agricultural output, where d is the coefficient of the marginal cost function of the agricultural monopolistic competitor; b is the coefficient of the inverse demand function; a is the coefficient of average cost growth; m is the Pigovian tax rate; and e is the coefficient of the price elasticity of demand.

Chemical pesticides will continue to play a role in pest management for the future. In many situations, the benefits of pesticide use are high relative to the risks or there are no practical alternatives. The number and diversity of biological sources will increase, and products that originate in chemistry laboratories will be designed for particular target sites. Innovations in pesticide delivery systems in plants promise to reduce adverse environmental impacts even further. The correct use of pesticides can deliver significant socioeconomic and environmental benefits in the form of safe, healthy, affordable food; and enable sustainable farm management by improving the efficiency with which we use natural resources such as soil, water and overall land use. Genetically engineered organisms that reduce pest pressure constitute a “new generation” of pest management tools. The use of transgenic crops will probably maintain, or even increase, the need for effective resistance management programmes. However, there remains a need for new chemicals that are compatible with ecologically based pest management and applicator and worker safety. Evaluation of the effectiveness of biocontrol agents should involve consideration of long-term impacts rather than only short-term yield, as is typically done for conventional practices. But it makes sense to establish ...