Structural Changes In Agriculture Research Articles

Managing organic resources in agriculture: future challenges from a scientific perspective

Recycling of organic resources into agriculture has the potential to greatly increase nutrient use efficiency and improve soil carbon balance, but improper management can have adverse effects on the environment. Agriculture therefore faces large challenges to increase yields while decreasing these emissions to the environment. In this paper, we review (i) the availability and composition of organic resources, (ii) their agronomic value and risk of emissions, (iii) potential measures to reduce their emissions, and (iv) future challenges to support farmers and policy makers. The total amount of organic resource applied to soil amounted on average 41 kg nitrogen per ha agricultural land, 9 kg phosphorus per ha, and 456 kg carbon per ha in EU-27 + UK in 2017. Solid pig and cattle manures and cattle slurry are the most used organic resources. The availability of new organic resources from food processing, sewage sludge, municipal bio-wastes, and upcoming manure treatment techniques as fertilizer or soil conditioner is expected to strongly increase over the coming decade. Insight is needed into the composition of organic resources, the plant-availability of nutrients, the degradability of organic matter and the presence of contaminants. Measurement techniques become available to characterize soils, manures, crops, and emissions to the environment. However, the interpretation, and integration of data, and recommendations to farmers and policymakers using large amounts of data is expected to become more and more challenging. Many measures are available to improve nutrient and carbon management and to reduce emissions, including proper application, technological measures and structural changes in agriculture. For many measures, there is a risk of trade-offs that could lead to pollution swapping at different scales. We should focus on finding synergies between measures and no-regret management choices to develop effective mitigation strategies. The main future challenge for managing organic resources in agriculture is the development of an integrated nutrient management approach, including (i) the characterization of organic resources, their agronomic value and their environmental risks, (ii) knowledge of potential synergies and trade-offs between management measures, and (iii) implementation of this knowledge into decision support tools, models and legislation to support farmers and policy makers.

Nachhaltige Entwicklung der Landwirtschaft: Förderung von Biodiversität und Klimaneutralität

Abstract To promote biodiversity, a diverse landscape is necessary. Structural change in agriculture and increasing cost pressure have led to the trend of fewer farms and larger farming units with less diversity. Reversing this trend is a societal task that requires a willingness to make sacrifices. For agriculture, we suggest combining new technologies and artificial intelligence to foster “new” ways of thinking for place-based solutions. That is, land management oriented towards natural habitats and more diversity, which is equally economically viable. It is essential to visibly reward the ecological added value.

State agriculture management for sustainable development of the Republic of Kazakhstan

The relevance of the study is that the development and management trends of the structural changes in agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan are at different re- gional levels, the model of which is represented by traditional and modern prerequi- sites associated with the pandemic. The purpose is to determine the role of agricul- ture for the economy exemplified by specific regions of the Republic of Kazakhstan, taking into account the pandemic, as well as to find out the effectiveness of tools and mechanisms for conducting economic activity by the current state policy in this area. The practical significance is to present a comparative analysis of the state agriculture management on the example of specific regions of the Republic of Kazakhstan, tak- ing into account the pandemic.

Does agricultural structural change lead to a weakening of the sector’s social functions? – A case study from north-west Germany

The ongoing shift towards fewer and larger farms is perceived negatively and is often associated with adverse social impacts for rural communities throughout Europe. Empirical evidence on the social functions of agriculture and how these are fulfilled is fragmented. Implications of agricultural structural change for the social dimensions of agricultural multifunctionality have thus remained poorly understood. Addressing this research gap, this paper explores whether, and, if so, how, the declining number of farms affects the social dimensions of agricultural multifunctionality based on a qualitative case study approach. The case we explore is a rural region in North-West Germany. Our case study suggests several linkages between structural change and the social functions of agriculture: first, a declining number of farms is closely related to farming activities being increasingly practised according to industrial logics, which has weakened socio-economic and socio-ecological functions. Second, farm exits have led to fewer farmers being engaged in voluntary work, implying a weakening of socio-ecological and socio-cultural functions. Third, income-diversification activities have gained importance relative to farming activities, reinforcing several of agriculture's social functions. Our results hint at differences between capital- and labour-intensive income-diversification activities with regard to (i) social functions being fulfilled, (ii) a potential departure from the predominant growth paradigm and (iii) the relevance of extending contemporary conceptions of what is part of agriculture. Based on our results, we put forward three claims to inform both future research and debates on policies aiming at a better alignment of agricultural development and societal expectations.

Domestic Herbivores, the Crucial Trophic Level for Sustainable Agriculture: Avenues for Reconnecting Livestock to Cropping Systems

Domestic herbivores have been closely associated with the historical evolution and development of agriculture systems worldwide as a complementary system for providing milk, meat, wool, leather, and animal power. However, their major role was to enhance and maintain agricultural soil fertility through the recycling of nutrients. In turn, cereal production increased, enabling to feed a progressively increasing human population living in expanding urban areas. Further, digestion of organic matter through the rumen microbiome can also be viewed as enhancing the soil microbiome activity. In particular, when animal droppings are deposited directly in grazing areas or applied to fields as manure, the mineralization–immobilization turnover determines the availability of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and other nutrients in the plant rhizosphere. Recently, this close coupling between livestock production and cereal cropping systems has been disrupted as a consequence of the tremendous use of industrial mineral fertilizers. The intensification of production within these separate and disconnected systems has resulted in huge emissions of nitrogen (N) to the environment and a dramatic deterioration in the quality of soil, air, and ground- and surface water. Consequently, to reduce drastically the dependency of modern and intensified agriculture on the massive use of N and phosphorus (P) fertilizers, we argue that a close reconnection at the local scale, of herbivore livestock production systems with cereal-based cropping systems, would help farmers to maintain and recover the fertility of their soils. This would result in more diverse agricultural landscapes including, besides cereals, grasslands as well as forage and grain crops with a higher proportion of legume species. We developed two examples showing such a beneficial reconnection through (i) an agro-ecological scenario with profound agricultural structural changes on a European scale, and (ii) typical Brazilian integrated crop–livestock systems (ICLS). On the whole, despite domestic herbivores emit methane (CH4), an important greenhouse gas, they participate to nutrient recycling, which can be viewed as a solution to maintaining long-term soil fertility in agro-ecosystems; at a moderate stocking density, ecosystem services provided by ruminants would be greater than the adverse effect of greenhouse gas (GHG).

Dynamics of structural change in agriculture, transaction cost theory and market efficiency: The case of cultivation contracts between agricultural enterprises and the food industry

In developed economies, the increasing openness of markets, the ease of trade and the speed of information lead to territorial imbalance and marginalization phenomena of small agricultural activities that cannot compete with the new models of agri-food systems. In this research, starting from this situation, we analyze through the Transaction Cost Theory what can be practised too recover competitiveness margins for small farms. From the study, it emerges that cultivation contracts represent a valid tool for the solution of various marginalization problems of many agricultural enterprises. In particular, from the experience gained over the past few years in Sicily, the cultivation contract brings benefits to both the food and agricultural enterprise. The validity of the food supply chain vertical integration model is based on this aspect. • Coordination between companies is a strategy to increase competitiveness. • Transaction cost theory shows that coordination between firms increases market efficiency. • Cultivation contracts are a form of vertical coordination between companies in the agri-food chain. • Cultivation contracts improve the allocative efficiency of resources.

Updating the Approaches to Farms’ Development in Vietnam: Institutional Aspect

Over the past 30 years of serious economic reform, structural changes in agriculture in the Republic of Vietnam have led to a decline in the number of small farms. The main purpose of this article is to reveal the features of their institutionalization by means of an overview of the main stages in farms’ operation. The results show that the structure of farms in the agricultural system of Vietnam developed under the influence of the negative trends of the 1990s, when economic conditions and policies were adequately adjusted due to self-organized production and commercial measures in the 2000s. However, even today there are problems that hinder their development, such as underdevelopment of the banking system, presence of institutional narrow spaces, technical and technological limitations, low potential of labor resources, and complicated access to sources of financing and land. The discrepancy between the structure of farms and the requirements for the development of the agro-industrial complex in the face of new challenges and risks creates obstacles and complicates the process of making effective decisions on innovation. Thus, the most important directions for the future development of farming are connected with increasing production and developing effective business support measures (including capital, labor, technology, information and market) in order to increase competitiveness and create an institutional environment for innovative agricultural development in Vietnam.

Predator or prey? Effects of farm growth on neighbouring farms

AbstractWe provide explorative insights on how farms which manage strong and successful growth affect farms in their neighbourhoods through spatial competition for land. The study is based on an exploratory analysis of repeated framed experiments within the business game FarmAgriPoliS (Appel & Balmann, Ecological Complexity, 40, 2019). In particular, we analyse the spatial influences of different behavioural clusters of farm managers. Our analysis finds that farms which manage strong growth substantially affect the development of farms in a spatial neighbourhood of some 10 km. Although the influence on the neighbourhood decreases with distance, the functional correlations of farm growth as well as exits are neither linear nor exponential, but eventually rather wave‐like. We further discuss the spatial interdependence of farms and the related overlaps of the predator–prey phenomenon with the phenomena of farms' path dependency and agricultural structural change. We conclude that along with farmers' strategies and their abilities, the characteristics of their neighbours and the distances between neighbouring farms also determine who is ‘predator’ and who is ‘prey’.

African agricultural development: How are we contributing?

AbstractA database of journal articles and conference papers that cover the economics of agricultural development in Africa during the period 2016–2020 was compiled. These papers are first described in terms of demographic and bibliometric criteria, followed by a network analysis of the main centers of origin and of influence of this research. Finally, three different processes were used to test the policy relevance of the work. These include a simple enumeration of the policy recommendations in a sample of the papers, a megatrend analysis, and a comparison of their focus with the standard narrative of the role of agriculture in economic development. The results show that a large proportion of the literature is not forward‐looking, and is weak on policy relevance. We ignore a number of issues that engage the attention of those concerned with implementing structural change in agriculture across the many very different but very real natural resource, political, social, economic, and technological environments around the continent.

Structural change in agriculture and farmers' social contacts: Insights from a Swiss mountain region

CONTEXTFarm numbers are steadily declining in Europe and globally while farms become larger and more intensive. Driven in part by worsening macroeconomic conditions, these structural changes and the associated rationalization of agricultural supply chains have affected social relations in rural areas. In turn, farmers' social contacts influence farming decisions. Social and structural changes are thus interconnected, and they affect the resilience of rural areas through their influence on environmental, social, and economic capital. OBJECTIVEWe examine the connection between farm structures and farmers' social contacts in the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Entlebuch (UBE), a mountain region in central Switzerland with a strong presence of family farms, and explore the implications of social and structural change for rural resilience. METHODSWe conduct a survey of N = 102 farming households and combine it with farm-level agricultural census data and interviews with key stakeholders (N = 13) to analyze farmers' current social contacts and their changes since the year 2000. We use regression and cluster analyses to examine the relationship between (changes in) social contacts and farm-level characteristics. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONSFarmers in the UBE have a high, but decreasing frequency of contacts with family, friends, and colleagues and lower, but increasing frequency of commercial and administrative contacts. Workloads have increased by 6% in five years, driven by farm-level expansion of agricultural area (+5%)—including expanding ecological compensation areas—and intensification in managed areas (+3%), leading to parallel processes of intensification and extensification. Since most of these family farms do not hire workers, growing workloads directly impinge on farmers' free time, affecting informal contacts most. Farm managers in larger and more intensive farms have more frequent and more diverse, but also more rapidly declining, social contacts. Our results point to a net loss in social capital as social contacts become less frequent and shift from local and informal to regional and national professional contacts. SIGNIFICANCEA 17% decline in farm numbers in 15 years reflects the vulnerability of farms in this region. Growing financial strain, workloads, time pressure and the associated erosion of informal contacts contribute to this vulnerability. Policymakers from local to national should recognize the contribution of farmers' diverse social networks towards rural resilience and seek options to maintain and enhance such networks. Beyond direct interventions that foster social capital, policymakers should more rigorously consider the short- and long-term interconnections and tradeoffs between different forms of capital.

Real Drivers and Spatial Characteristics of CO2 Emissions from Animal Husbandry: A Regional Empirical Study of China

(1) Studying the driving factors and spatiotemporal characteristics of China’s regional animal husbandry emissions is highly relevant to policy formulation. (2) Methods: We calculated the total CO2 equivalent emissions of animal husbandry across the country and each province separately, and then used the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) to analyze how the driving forces of animal husbandry emissions changed across the country and in different provinces from 2001 to 2019. (3) Results: ① During the period 2001–2019, national animal husbandry carbon emissions showed an overall downward trend. Economic growth and population contributed positively to the emissions (which means more CO2), while technological advancement, structural change in agriculture, and change in the national industrial structure had negative effects (which means less CO2). ② Using aspects of provincial animal husbandry, we categorized 31 provinces into four types: fluctuating rising, fast falling, slow falling, and steadily falling. Then, according to the magnitude of the different driving forces in different provinces, we classified 31 provinces into three types: economic structure adjustment-driven, technological progress-driven, and economic growth-driven. ③ The driving effects of agricultural structural change and population in some provinces are not consistent with the effects shown at the national level.

Farm growth and land concentration

Structural change in agriculture is characterized by the interdependency of farms’ growth decisions due to the scarcity of agricultural land. This paper adds to the sparse empirical literature on the relation between land market concentration and farm size changes, considering different definitions of the relevant market. Using data from the Integrated Administrative Control System (IACS) from 2005 until 2017 for Brandenburg, Germany, we find that about half of the land transactions occur beyond municipality borders. This emphasizes the importance of carefully defining the relevant market. The descriptive analysis shows that although concentration rates, on average, did not increase over time, spatial differences are present. In the econometric analysis, we apply a two-stage model to analyze how competition for agricultural land impacts the probability and relative level of expansion. For farms that remained active between 2005 and 2017, we find a negative relation between farm size and relative growth. Our conjecture that higher inequality of land distribution fosters the expansion of large farms was not confirmed.

Toward Agricultural Intersectionality? Farm Intergenerational Transfer at the Fringe. A Comparative Analysis of the Urban-Influenced Ontario's Greenbelt, Canada and Toulouse InterSCoT, France

Peri-urban agriculture can foster the resilience of metropolitan areas through the provision of local food and other multifunctional agricultural amenities and externalities. However, in peri-urban areas, farming is characterized by strong social uncertainties, which slow the intergenerational transfer of farm operations. In this article, we tackle the beliefs that underlie farmers' decision-making to identify planning opportunities that may support farm intergenerational transfers. The design of an institutionalist conceptual framework based on Keynesian uncertainty and Commonsian Futurity aims to analyze farmers' beliefs associated with farm intergenerational transfer dynamics. The dataset of this comparative analysis includes 41 interviews with farmers involved in animal, cash-crop, and horticulture farming in the urban-influenced Ontario's Greenbelt, Canada, and Toulouse InterSCoT, France, during which farmers designed a mental model of their investment decision-making. The results highlight the dominance of a capital-intensive farm model framed by a money-land-market nexus that slows farm structural change. The subsequent access inequalities, which are based on characteristics of farmers and their farm projects, support the idea of the existence of an agricultural intersectionality. The results also highlight the positive role of the institutional context; when farmers' beliefs are well-aligned with the beliefs that shape their institutional environment, the frictions that slow farm structural change in peri-urban areas are moderated by a shared vision of the future.

МОДЕЛЬНЫЕ ОЦЕНКИ СТРУКТУРНЫХ СДВИГОВ В ЭКОНОМИКЕ СЕЛЬСКОГО ХОЗЯЙСТВА ПРИ РЕАЛИЗАЦИИ РАЗЛИЧНЫХ КЛИМАТИЧЕСКИХ СЦЕНАРИЕВ

Uncontrolled climate change on our planet will cause major structural changes in agriculture. Adaptation scenarios will also face territorial and sectoral adjustment of the existing agrarian structure of production. Modeling using the scenario approach makes it possible to obtain reasonable estimates of regional differences in adaptation to climate change.

Irish Organics, Innovation and Farm Collaboration: A Pathway to Farm Viability and Generational Renewal

The family farm has been the pillar of rural society for decades, stabilising rural economies and strengthening social and cultural traditions. Nonetheless, family farm numbers across Europe are declining as farmers endeavour to overcome issues of climate change, viability, farm structural change and intergenerational farm succession. Issues around farm viability and a lack of innovative agricultural practices play a key role in succession decisions, preventing older farmers from passing on the farm, and younger farmers from taking up the mantel. A multifunctional farming environment, however, increasingly encourages family farms to embrace diversity and look towards innovative and sustainable practices. Across the European Union, organic farming has always been a strong diversification option, and although, historically, its progress was limited within an Irish context, its popularity is growing. To examine the impact of organic farm diversification on issues facing the Irish farm family, this paper draws on a qualitative case study with a group of Irish organic farmers engaged in the Maximising Organic Production System (MOPS) EIP-AGRI Project. The case study was constructed using a phased approach where each stage shaped the next. This started with a desk-based analysis, then moving on to semi-structured interviews and a focus group, which were then consolidated with a final feedback session. Data gathering occurred in mid to late 2020. Research results reveal the uptake of innovative practices not only improve farm viability, but also encourage the next generation of young farmers to commit to the family farm and consider farming long-term.

Market Power in Agricultural Land Markets: Concepts and Empirical Challenges

This paper provides review about challenges and opportunities to assess and quantify market power in agricultural land markets. Measuring land market power is challenging because the characteristics of this production factor hinder the direct application of familiar concepts from commodity markets. Immobility, fixed availability, and large heterogeneity of land and potential users contradict assumptions of fictitious point market for homogeneous goods. Moreover, the use of concentration indicators for policy assessments is hampered by two problems. First, defining the relevant regional size of the market is challenging and concentration indicators are not robust with regard to market size and number of actors. Second, high concentration of land ownership or land operation may point at potential market power, but it may also be the result of an efficient allocation of land due to structural change in agriculture. The aforementioned challenges are illustrated with a case study for the Federal State of Brandenburg in Germany. Using available data for land sales, a regression analysis reveals a negative relationship between land use concentration and farmland prices. This result can be interpreted as an indication of market power on the buyer side in agricultural land markets. However, it is hardly possible to translate this finding into recommendations for land market regulations because the evaluation of the potential misuse of dominant positions in land markets requires a case-specific analysis. Providing evidence for the exertion of market power in land markets is extremely complex and deserves further attention from researchers and politicians.

The sustainability prism of structural changes in the European Union agricultural system: The nexus between production, employment and energy emissions

AbstractOver the recent decades, the evolution of the European Union (EU) agricultural system has resulted in significant structural changes in member states. Knowledge about the nature and main patterns of structural change is critical to select a sustainable development path for the EU agriculture. This paper contributes to the academic discourse on structural changes in agriculture demonstrating the nexus between socio‐economic and environmental aspects of development. In this regard, results are important to understand the contribution of the EU agriculture to climate change, because study deals with energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. The research covers period from 2008 to 2018 and investigates the fundamental structural change measures, namely, gross value added, labour and agriculture‐related energy emissions, in EU member states. Structural changes are investigated applying a shift‐share analysis that allows calculating a performance of individual member states, compared to the EU economy. The applied shift‐share model investigates the situation of individual member states employing three components. The first component tracks the development of the selected measures with the EU economy growth, the second component shows the change due to effect of economic activities and the third shows competitiveness of agriculture in member states. The shift‐share analysis empowers ranking member states in accordance with their progress towards the sustainable development. Findings suggest that EU economy faces the outflow of labour from agriculture and this trend is common for most countries. The changes of gross value added and emissions for fuel combustion demonstrate both upward and downward trends. However, research results suggest that new member states often face more fundamental changes.

Сучасні тенденції формування ринку кормозбиральної техніки

The purpose of the article is to investigate the tendencies of the machinery for field forage production in Ukraine and to substantiate the main criteria for decision-making by the management of the agricultural enterprises and agroservice structures in the formation of their fleets. Identify ways to improve the production of equipment for field fodder production in Ukraine Research methods. The methodological basis of the research is the dialectical method of cognition of the processes and phenomena, scientific works of the domestic scientists on the problems of formation, development and functioning of the agricultural machinery markets. The following research methods have been applied to solve the problems set in the work: monographic (for analyzing the peculiarities of the formation of the forage harvesters market in Ukraine), empirical (for complex assessment of the current state of the research object), abstract and logical (for generalization and formulation of the conclusions). Research results. The current state, preconditions and peculiarities of the market formation of field forage harvesters and provision with them of the rural producers have been analyzed. The factors that hinder the organization of production of complex agricultural machinery in Ukraine during the days of the state independence have been investigated. The main directions of implementation of the scientific and technological progress in the constructions of complex agricultural machinery of the leading world producers have been analyzed. The scientifically substantiated proposals on the criteria of decision-making in the formation of the forage harvesters fleets have been worked out. Ways to improve the production of equipment for field fodder production in Ukraine have been identified. Scientific novelty. The theoretical provisions on the formation of the agricultural machinery market have been further developed, taking into account the introduction of the latest innovative achievements of the scientific and technological progress in agricultural machinery construction and structural changes in agriculture of Ukraine. Practical significance. The main technical and technological, economic factors influencing the formation of the market of technical means for field forage production in Ukraine have been identified. The proposals for determining the criteria for managerial decision-making in the formation of the forage harvesters fleets by the agricultural enterprises and agroservice structures have been developed. Ways to improve the production of domestic equipment are proposed. Tabl.: 1. Figs.: 1. Refs.: 22.

Using Aggregated Farm Location Information to Predict Regional Structural Change of Farm Specialisation, Size and Exit/Entry in Norway Agriculture

In this paper, we extend the analysis of farm structural change with respect to farm specialisation, size and exit in Norway by, first, explicitly incorporating the location information of farms generating a number of neighbouring farms within a certain range and, second, by predicting farm numbers in addition to farm group shares, which allows for consideration of the exit farm group. We use Norwegian single-farm full census data for the period 1996–2015. Four production specialisations and seven size classes represent farm groups, as well as a residual and an exit farm group at the regional level. The estimates indicate the explanatory power and importance of aggregated farm location information in the model. Simulation analysis showed that the farm groups develop differently, given a change in the number of neighbouring farms with respect to the farm numbers and farm group shares.

Smallholder Farms in Bulgaria and Their Contributions to Food and Social Security

Bulgaria has a long tradition of smallholder farming, predominantly producing for self-consumption. As a result of land reform and farm restructuring, many rural households received agricultural land. Some developed commercial farms but most households stayed as subsistence farmers and used their small pieces of land to produce for self-consumption and market the excess output to top up their non-farm incomes or meagre pensions. They had little capital and insecure access to markets. The paper employs semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 10 smallholders for obtaining detailed information about individuals’ behaviour and exploring issues in greater detail. In particular, the study looks at the drivers of the diverse strategies pursued by smallholder farms, their importance for household food security and incomes, and the prospects of smallholder farms in the future, especially the possibilities for productivity increases. The Bulgarian study on contemporary smallholder farms shows that subsistence production constitutes a valuable safety net for households with low incomes, and therefore, it acts as an extension of the limited social security system of the country. Despite all the challenges faced by smallholders, half of the interviewed households succeeded to commercialise and increase marketable surplus. Policies for increased commercialisation of smallholder farms and a structural change in agriculture should address, besides market factors, the socioeconomic aspects which contribute to the persistence of subsistence farming. Furthermore, when prioritising different policies, the chosen livelihood strategies of the households should be taken into account.