Tag: organic farming

The paper aims at exploring further the potential of organic agriculture by increasing the knowledge about consumers’ perceptions of organic products. The United States (Florida) and Poland are interesting examples in which the level of organic market development varies and this allows us to test whether consumer perceptions of organic food products vary with market development. A survey was conducted amongst students at the University of Florida (United States) and at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences-SGGW (Poland). The results obtained from an online survey were analysed through econometric modelling. The model used for this study was the ordered probability model, which was used to compare the frequency of organic consumption between the United States and Polish students. The findings indicate that students from the two countries have different perceptions of organic products. The less the market is developed (such as in Poland), the more important is basic knowledge about the products. With a higher level of market development (for example in the United States), consumers already have this basic knowledge about the products, such as origin or organic label, and are more focused on their qualities, such as taste or variety. These differences should be taken into account by ...

The cost-profit relations of organic and conventional farming were examined on the basis of natural and financial data of a large agricultural - company in western Hungary and of economic models characterising private farms in eastern Hungary. The differences in cost structures reflect variable conditions relating to certain crops, but they can be well explained by the differences in the technologies used. According to the production data, in organic farming direct costs per hectare were lower in all of the four examined crops. Even cost per production unit and contribution were more favourable in three of the investigated crops. Regarding the calculation done by economy models, the costs per hectare relating to the two production methods were not significantly different. Yields in organic plant production were typically lower but costs per unit and selling prices were higher. Differences in gross profits may be explained by different yields and selling prices. In a majority of the model variations organic farming is more profitable, but the extra bio price ensuring this, in accordance with trends from literature, is not sufficient for achieving a higher profit in every year.