Hungarian Farms Research Articles

Evaluation of Body Measurements of Limousin Young Bulls by Principal Component Analysis

The aim of this study was to analyse how body measurements, live weight and age in young Limousin bulls are interrelated, and what ratio of the phenotype variance can be explained by a group of them, so what traits should be considered in early selection. Body measures of 8-9 months old Limousin young bulls (n=610) in two consecutive years from 32 Hungarian farms were registered, and their covariance structure was studied by principal component analysis. Two components were defined, explaining 71.58% of the total variance. The first component was composed of live weight and body measures; the second component contained age. Live weight, withers’ height and hip height measures had highly definitive effect in the first component. Length of back, width at shoulders, and width at hip bone measurements had lower, but still significant effects. Eigenvalue of the first component had been very high, with 58.36% eigenvalue variance. Only effect of age proved to be highly significant in the second component, with an eigenvalue variance 13.22%. As age contributes less, if correction is needed for transforming results of individuals comparable, then it is advised to be based on live weight. Registered body measurements could be considered together in selection decisions, not needless to take all separately.

Evaluation of Body Measurements of Limousin Heifers in Some Western Hungarian Farms

Body weight and body measurements are important economic traits in beef cattle sector and can be used as selection factors. At young ages they give information on the maturity of the animals. Body measurements (withers height, tail height, width at shoulders, back length, width at hip bones, pin width) of Limousine heifers (n=313; age: 429.2 days) were taken on six Transdanubian farms in Hungary by skilled technicians with standardized equipment under appropriate conditions. Statistical analysis was made by SPSS 24.0. Normal distribution of data was confirmed by Shaphiro-Wilks test. The GLM model was focused on the intercept, the effect of herds (n=1 to 6) and covariant factors (age or live weight). The results showed that body measurement data of heifers in the same region can be evaluated by GLM which contains the effect of herd and age or weight as covariant. All components involved in the models were proven to have significant effects (P<0.001). Regarding their age, heifers of all herds were adequately developed both in live weight (69.6%) and height measurements (84-93%) compared to reference values of mature cows, ensuring a strong basis for successful breeding work in the future. The farm with the heaviest (505.7 kg) heifers had lower values for withers- (118.8 cm) and tail height (127.8 cm), and narrower shoulder (30.6 cm) which draws attention to the fact that large weight is not necessarily paired with a large frame.

First Report of Porcine Parvovirus 8 in Europe: Widespread Detection and Genetic Characterization on Commercial Pig Farms in Hungary and Slovakia.

Porcine parvovirus 8 (PPV8), a novel virus in the Parvoviridae family, was first identified in 2022 in lung samples of domestic pigs from China. Retrospective analyses showed that it had been circulating in China since 1998, but no other countries had reported its presence so far. A recent study conducted in South America did not detect any PPV8-positive samples in that region. Here, we report the detection of PPV8 in Hungarian and Slovakian pig farms and the estimated prevalence of the virus in Hungary. Altogether, 2230 serum, 233 oral fluid, and 115 processing fluid samples were systematically collected from 23 Hungarian and 2 Slovakian pig farms between 2020 and 2023. A real-time quantitative PCR method was developed to detect the viral genome. Our results revealed the presence of PPV8 on 65% of the Hungarian farms and both Slovakian farms included in our study, marking its first detection in Europe. Oral fluid samples showed the highest positivity rates, reaching up to 100% in some herds. The viral genome was successfully detected in serum and processing fluid samples too, but with significantly lower prevalence rates of 4% and 5%, respectively. Genetic analysis of 11 partial VP2 sequences demonstrated high similarity to the original Chinese strain but with unique amino acid mutations, suggesting possible local evolution of the virus. Our study presents the first scientific evidence of PPV8 infection outside of China and offers a comprehensive assessment of its prevalence in the Hungarian pig population. Further research is required to understand its potential impact on swine health.

The Impacts of CAP Subsidies on the Financial Risk and Resilience of Hungarian Farms, 2014–2021

The present paper empirically analyzes the efficiency of European Union (EU) subsidies for farms in the Southern Great Plain region of Hungary between 2014 and 2021. The aim of this analysis was to explore whether the subsidies increased the resilience of farms, enhancing their profitability, liquidity and solvency, and economic efficiency, measured by the usual financial indicators of farm performance. The analysis also evaluated the ability of farm businesses to create and retain jobs, i.e., to increase employment in the rural environment, focusing on differences between the subsidized and non-subsidized farms. The research analyzed all agricultural companies of the selected region. The methodology was a non-parametric statistical analysis (Kruskal–Wallis test, Dunnett’s T3 test) for identifying significant differences between subsidized and non-subsidized farms in the 8-year period. Results show that subsidies significantly improved the financial stability, resilience and efficiency of subsidized farms only in the micro size category, and the employment indicators deteriorated more in subsidized farms than in non-subsidized ones. Thus, the intended purpose of the subsidies was not entirely realized, and positive impacts were noticeable only in the micro enterprises. This might imply that subsidies contributed to the survival of non-viable enterprises instead of enhancing their competitiveness.

Prevalence Estimation and Genetic Characterization of Porcine Parainfluenza Virus 1 (PPIV-1) in Hungary and the First Report of the Virus in Slovakia

In the last few decades, many new paramyxoviruses have been discovered, causing diverse, mostly respiratory diseases in animals and humans. The porcine parainfluenza virus 1 (PPIV-1, species Porcine respirovirus 1), which has been reported in many countries worldwide, was found in both healthy and clinically ill pigs showing respiratory signs. Here, we report the expected prevalence and genetic diversity of PPIV-1 in Hungarian pig herds and the detection in one Slovakian pig farm, which is the first report of evidence for the presence of the virus in the country. To estimate the prevalence in Hungary 211 oral fluid samples were collected from 23 large-scale swine herds in a systematic way and tested by real-time quantitative RT-PCR. The presence of the virus was detected in 10 of the 23 Hungarian farms (43%) included in our study. One hundred eighty-one nasal swab samples were collected cross-sectionally from three Hungarian and one Slovakian PPIV-1-positive herd and PPIV-1 was most prevalent in 6-week-old pigs on farms located in Hungary and in the 2-week-old pigs on the Slovakian farm. Phylogenetic analysis of three Hungarian and two Slovakian PPIV-1 F-gene sequences showed high-nucleotide identity (>93%) and all belonged to Clade I, together with the other European strains.

Climate Change Perception and Innovative Mitigation Practices Adopted by Hungarian Farms

Climate change is becoming a growing concern for the agricultural sector. Variable weather events, such as droughts and floods, are expected to have a significant negative impact on agricultural losses, earnings and consumption. The agriculture industry in Europe is not immune to these difficulties. This study focuses on Hungary, a country with a strong agricultural focus that, as a result, is particularly susceptible to climate change. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed to synthesis data about the perspectives of Hungarian farmers on the dangers of climate change. Then, latent variables were employed as explanatory variables in the Logit model to investigate the link between the perceptions of climate change risks by Hungarian farmers and their inclination to adopt innovative ways to mitigate its repercussions. Changes in temperature and precipitation, economic damage, water damage, and insect damage are seen as the most serious repercussions of climate change by Hungarian farmers. These beliefs raise the possibility of adopting new strategies to offset harmful consequences, including (i) the adoption of new varieties, (ii) ice and frost protection, and (iii) the use of agro-meteorological data. The results show that the chance of adopting new varieties is substantially influenced by farmers’ assessments of harm caused by pests, pathogens, and illnesses (2.91***). In contrast, water damage concerns seem to have a significant impact on the adoption of novel approaches to reduce cold and frost damage (2.18***). This study’s findings support the efforts of stakeholders and policymakers to encourage the dissemination of technology to protect crops from climate change in Hungary and imply that governments should provide financial incentives to farmers to boost innovation uptake.

Routine microscopy examination of faecal samples as a tool for detection of common gastrointestinal parasites: a preliminary report from two Hungarian farms

Gastrointestinal parasitism in ruminant animals is a cause of major economic loss incurred by the livestock industry. Regardless of the frequency of the adopted therapeutic and prophylactic deworming strategies, the parasitic burden in a farm should be assessed regularly. One of the most widely used techniques to do so is the microscopic faecal egg examination and faecal egg counting method. Despite the technique being almost a century old from its first adoption, the principle behind the newer techniques of faecal egg examination is the same. This technique is still being used in routine farm screening and monitoring gastrointestinal parasitic load and faecal egg count reduction testing to assess the anthelmintic efficacy of the drugs used. Thus, the tool remains a choice for preliminary screening for important parasites and the subsequent deworming strategy. Our study here was part of a larger survey on the treatment efficiency as well as a broad epidemiological study of the trichostrongyle parasites in Hungary. We present a preliminary report on the detection of common gastrointestinal parasites from two farms in Hungary, including a species-specific confirmatory microscopy for Haemonchus contortus eggs.

The common agricultural policy subsidies and the technical efficiency of Hungarian wine farms

PurposeThe literature argues on ambiguous impacts of different types of the common agricultural policy (CAP) subsidies on farm technical efficiency (TE). The purpose of this paper is to estimate and analyse the TE and the impact of the CAP subsidies on the TE of wine farms in Hungary using the farm accountancy data network data set in the period 2013–2019.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use stochastic frontiers analysis (SFA) models to estimate the TE scores for the Hungarian wine farms with four wine farm-level inputs in terms of agricultural land, labour, capital and intermediate consumption. The TE scores are explained by the CAP subsidies and economic wine farm size. The different SFA models were applied with robustness tests to investigate the drivers of the TE values of wineries.FindingsLike for Hungarian farms in general, the distribution of the wine farm structure is a dual with a greater number of smaller wine farms and a smaller number of bigger wine farms. The agricultural land, capital and intermediate consumption are significantly positively associated with the wine farm TE. With higher capital intensity wine farm TE increase. The results imply that the CAP subsidies decrease the TE of the Hungarian wine farms, whereas economic farm size increase.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first specific efficiency studies on the wine sector in the Central and Eastern European region and the first one for Hungary to evaluate the TE at wine farm level and to assess the impact of CAP subsidies and economic farm size on wine farm (in)efficiency to apply production technologies and use farm resources. This study is among the first that applied the fixed-effects stochastic frontier model at the wine farm level to measure the drivers of the TE scores.

Potential of Including Social Farming Initiatives within Agroecological Transition in Hungarian Farms

Abstract The European Model of Agriculture has been developed based on multifunctional agriculture that plays an essential role in increasing the vitality of rural areas in Europe. The agroecological approach is strongly related to multifunctional agriculture as well as social farming that is unique for visualising the social aspect of sustainability in agriculture. This paper aims to explore and evaluate the awareness and attitude of Hungarian farmers, based on indicators derived from in-depth interviews focused on agroecological transition, in order to identify possible spaces for social farming initiatives. For this purpose, the indicators are analysed using the existing 10 elements of agroecology created by FAO as a reference point. The aim of this analysis is to understand which basic element-related practices are preferred, whether social elements are included or not, and to determine which areas need to be strengthened in education in order to encourage farmers to be open to addressing social issues. The results of the research confirm indicators which are present in the daily practices of those farms that do not necessarily identify themselves as social farms. In addition to their willingness to potentially transition to agroecological systems, they have the basic elements and attitude to adopt social farming.

Detection and characterization of bopiviruses in domestic and wild ruminants.

Highly divergent picornaviruses (PVs) classified in the genus Bopivirus have been recently discovered on faecal samples from sheep and goats in Hungary and from fallow and red deer in Australia. In this study, we investigated the epidemiology of these novel viruses in domestic and wild ruminants from Northwestern Italian Alps by testing archival faecal samples collected from 128 sheep, 167 goats, 61 red deer (Cervus elaphus), 77 roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), 43 chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) and 32 Alpine ibex (Capra ibex). Bopivirus RNA was detected in a total of 19 animals, including 14 sheep (10.9%), 2 red deer (3.3%), 1 roe deer (1.3%), 1 chamois (2.3 %) and 1 Alpine ibex (3.3 %), but not in goats. Upon sequence analysis of the 3DRdRp region, the sequences generated from chamois, roe deer, Alpine ibex and ovine faecal samples showed the highest nucleotide identity (96.8-100%) to bopiviruses detected in goats and sheep from Hungarian farms, whereas strains found in red deer displayed the closest relatedness (90.8%-91.2%) to bopiviruses identified in fallow and red deer in Australia. The nearly complete genome sequence of strains 12/2020/ITA (ON497046) and 14-73/2020/ITA (ON497047) detected in an Alpine ibex and in a sheep, respectively, was determined by combining a modified 3'-RACE protocol with Oxford Nanopore Technologies sequencing platform. On phylogenetic analysis based on the complete polyprotein, both strains segregated into the candidate species Bopivirus B along with ovine and caprine strains detected in Hungary (90.0-94.6% nucleotide and 94.6-98.0% amino acid identities). The findings of this study expand the host range of these novel viruses and hint to a possible virus circulation between domestic ruminants and wild animals.

THE EFFICIENCY OF PRODUCTION FACTORS ON AGRICULTURAL FARMS OF THE VISEGRAD GROUP

The objective of the study was to determine the effectiveness of the use of production factors on farms of the Visegrad Group countries. The research covered farms participating in the European system for collecting accounting data from FADN (Farm Accountancy Data Network) farms. Under the main objective, an assessment was made of the productivity and profitability of land, labour and capital. The research period covered the years 2014-2017. Based on the analyses that was conducted, it was found that the most effective use of land resources was on farms in Hungary and Poland, and the least effective in Slovakia. Considering labour and capital productivity, the highest results were achieved by farms in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, while the lowest by Polish farms. On the other hand, Hungarian farms were characterized by the highest profitability of labour and return on assets, where the analysed indicators were higher than the EU average.

The growth of farms: a Hungarian-Slovenian comparison

ABSTRACT This article describes an investigation of the relationship between farm size and the growth of farms. Theories about the association between farm size and the growth of farms give mixed results by country and over time. The former relationship is tested by assessing the validity of Gibrat’s Law for Hungarian and Slovenian farms in the period 2007–2015. The use of a sample of farms from Farm Accountancy Data Network datasets makes it necessary to avoid biases due to heterogeneous structures across farming systems. Thus, we use quantile regressions to control for farm-size-related heterogeneity in the samples. Results suggest rejection of the validity of Gibrat’s Law for farms in Hungary and to a lesser extent for Slovenian farms when the growth of farms is measured by growth of output per farm (where smaller farms grew faster than the largest farms), but not in the case of an increase in farm inputs (i.e. land and labour per farm). We provide evidence for Hungarian farms that smaller, mostly individual farms grew faster than larger, mostly corporate farms throughout the period of analysis.

To Risk or Not to Risk? Risk Management and Farm Productivity

AbstractThe impact of risk management on farm productivity is still being debated. Using survey data from French and Hungarian farms, we estimate the impacts of different risk management strategies and portfolios under varying levels of risk on total factor productivity. Results from a multinomial endogenous switching regression model show that the impacts can be positive or negative, depending on the risk management strategies adopted, the structure of the farming system, and the probability of risks. The choice of risk management strategies influences the farm's production costs and the allocation of resources. More complex risk management portfolios tend to have larger negative productivity impacts due to higher costs and the larger amount of resources subtracted from the production activity. Our results have important implications for risk management policies.

Sytuacja ekonomiczna gospodarstw specjalizujących się w uprawach polowych w Polsce na tle wybranych krajów UE

Celem badań była ocena wyników ekonomicznych i efektywności produkcji w gospodarstwach specjalizujących się w uprawach polowych sklasyfikowanych według wielkości ekonomicznej w pięciu krajach UE, tj. w Polsce, Bułgarii i Rumunii oraz na Litwie i Węgrzech. W badaniach wykorzystano średnie dwuletnie dane FADN EU, tzn. z lat 2015-2016. Zbadano dochodowość ziemi, efektywność produkcji oraz zadłużenie gospodarstw. Średnio w próbie najwyższy dochód bez dopłat na 1 ha UR uzyskano w gospodarstwach rumuńskich, natomiast w bułgarskich odnotowano stratę. W gospodarstwach bułgarskich z klas wielkości ekonomicznej 3-6 i litewskich z klas 1-3 koszty przewyższały wartość produkcji. Podobna sytuacja wystąpiła w gospodarstwach węgierskich i polskich z szóstej klasy wielkości ekonomicznej. Oznacza to, że produkcja była ekonomicznie nieefektywna. Zadłużenie gospodarstw zwiększało się wraz ze wzrostem wielkości ekonomicznej, jednak nie przekroczyło granicznej wartości, za którą przyjmuje się 50%.

Konkurencyjność polskich gospodarstw ogrodniczych

W artykule przedstawiono konkurencyjność i efektywność polskich gospodarstw ogrodniczych na tle analogicznych gospodarstw wybranych krajów Unii Europejskiej. Analizą objęto gospodarstwa objęte systemem monitoringu FADN w latach 2007-2009 i 2011-2013, specjalizujące się w uprawie warzyw, truskawek, kwiatów i roślin ozdobnych, grzybów i w szkółkarstwie. Konkurencyjność badanych gospodarstw ogrodniczych określono wskaź­nikiem konkurencyjności, obliczonym jako stosunek dochodu z gospodarstwa rolnego do kosztów użycia własnych czynników produkcji: ziemi, pracy i kapitału (za W. Kleinhanssem).

Demand for Farm Insurance Under Financial Constraints

This article investigates the effect of the use of crop insurance on farms’ economic performance. The authors hypothesize the existence of reciprocal causation between crop insurance use and the economic performance of farms in an environment characterized by imperfect financial markets and farm budget constraints. The results confirm the reciprocal causation hypothesis. Economic performance is found to positively influence farms’ demand for insurance, confirming the significance of budget constraints. Moreover, insurance is found to have a negative effect on Hungarian farms’ economic performance, implying that the crop insurance system is inefficient.

KONKURENCYJNOŚĆ POLSKICH GOSPODARSTW SADOWNICZYCH

The paper presents competitiveness and efficiency of the Polish fruit farms against similar farms from selected European Union countries. The analysis covered farms specialising in fruit trees and bushes covered by FADN monitoring in 2007-2009 and 2011-2013. Competitiveness of the researched fruit farms was determined by competitiveness index calculated as a ratio of farm income to costs of using own factors of production: land, labour and capital (as in: W. Kleinhanss). Whereas effectiveness was described by the index of productivity of land, assets and labour. Competitive abilities were demonstrated by Polish fruit farms with economic size of EUR 25-50 thousand of SO and EUR 50-100 thousand of SO and area of 17.70 ha of UAA and 38.80 ha of UAA, respectively. These abilities were also demonstrated by Hungarian farms of the clases of EUR 50-500 thousand of SO, Romanian – EUR 100-500 thousand of SO, German – EUR 50-500 thousand of SO, French – EUR 25-50 thousand of SO, Italian – EUR 500 thousand of SO and more, and Spanish – EUR 100-500 thousand of SO. Area of competitive fruit farms from Western European countries was lower than that of the Polish farms in corresponding economic size classes.

Dairy farms efficiency analysis before the quota system abolishment

The abolishment of the dairy quota system in the EU is expected to increase competition across dairy farms in Europe. Assuming a common price for milk in the EU, only the most efficient farms will survive in the new environment. The main objective of the research is to compare dairy farms in Germany, The Netherlands and Hungary about their technical efficiency. In the first part of the research, the efficiency is measured by partial efficiency indexes using one dimensional efficiency measuring. In the second part, the Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) have to be used to measure efficiency in a multidimensional space, using six inputs and two outputs. It appears from the results that the highest efficiency farms are in the Netherlands, and then Germany and Hungary follow thus, we get that the most efficient farms are in the Netherlands with 84% efficient. The German farms are 76% efficient. The Hungarian farms are 68% efficient. With respect the abolishment of the dairy quota system, our results suggest that the Dutch farms are the most efficient, thus probably they will increase their production after the quota system. But because the size of the country we cannot expect dramatic changes in the European Dairy market. The Germans farms efficiency is lower, but their efficiency is also lower, so we won’t expect high increase about the dairy supply. The Hungarian dairy sector is not so efficient like the Dutch, and the size of the sector has also small among the European countries, thus if they want to survive the quota system demolishing, they have to increase their technical efficiency.

Dairy welfare in Hungary and in the United Kingdom vs. National and European Union legislation

Dairy industries in Eastern and Western Europe have different history, heritage, but the same aim to produce cheap, high quantity of good quality milk with the care of dairy welfare. Member countries of European Union had choice to either implement minimum standards provided by the European Commission, like in Hungary, or to create their own legislation also covering minimum standards, like in the Great Britain. British, Hungarian and European Union legislation was compared with dairy welfare measures taken on 53 farms in the UK and on 27 farms in Hungary. Among 13 welfare measures observed 8 were found to be statistically different (p<0.05. p<0.01 or p<0.001) between countries. Fewer cows were reported with dirty hind limbs, hock hair losses, non hock injuries, being dull or with greater flight distance on Hungarian farms than in the UK. There were fewer cows with dirty udders, being fat or lame in the UK in comparison to Hungarian farms. Cheaper bedding materials in Hungary are thought to be the major factors cows are found cleaner. More farm workers per one animal make more attention is paid for providing cattle with suitable conditions for resting what also might impact shorter flight distance. In the Great Britain cleaner udders might be related to modern husbandry systems providing cleaner conditions. Education is also thought to be playing a great role in lower proportion of cows being lame, with digestion problems and mastitis in the UK in comparison to Hungary.

Efficiency, productivity and technology comparison for farms in Central and Western Europe: The case of field crop and dairy farming in Hungary and France

This paper investigates the differences in technical efficiency and productivity change, and the technology gaps, between French and Hungarian farms in the dairy and cereal, oilseed and protein crops (COP) sectors during the period 2001–2007. The analyses were performed with national Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) data and the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach under each country's respective frontier and under a metafrontier.Results reveal that French COP farms were on average more efficient under their own technology than Hungarian farms under theirs, but there was no difference between the two countries for dairy farms. However, metatechnology ratios calculated with the construction of the metafrontier indicate that Hungarian technology was the more productive in both the dairy and the COP sectors, but more noticeably in COP production.