A review on water-saving agriculture in Europe

This paper aims to analyze the research on the current situation of water-saving agriculture development in Europe. Water-saving agriculture in Europe started early, governments and farmers in various countries have a strong awareness of water-saving in agriculture and have achieved certain results. Due to the global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the lack of up-to-date field research, the complexity of various agricultural disciplines and categories, and the lack of information sharing, the current cognition of recent progress in the development of water-saving agriculture in Europe is not comprehensive enough. This paper selects four representative European countries: Spain, Germany, Italy, and Denmark as the research objects. Based on the existing research of Chinese and Western scholars, this paper analyzes and studies the current situation of water-saving agriculture in Europe. It has far-reaching significance for other countries in the world to have further development in water-saving agriculture and to protect water resources.

Farmers' willingness to stabilize the land contract relationship facing the upcoming expiry of land contracts

On the verge of the expiry of land contracts, it is theoretically and practically important to explore the willingness and motivations of farmers to stabilize the land contract relationship, with regards to protecting their land contract rights, addressing potential contradictions during the land contract extension, and maintaining the stability of contracted land. Using China Land Economic Survey Data in 2020, this paper explores the impact of differences in areas per capita of household contracted land on farmers' willingness to stabilize land contract relationship. The findings show that most farmers support the stability of land contract relationship;the smaller areas per capita of contracted land are occupied by households than the average in the village, the weaker of the farmers' willingness to stabilize the land contract relationship. The difference between the areas per capita of contracted land ownership of a household and the average in the village has a greater impact on the willingness to stabilize land contract relationship for middle-and low-income farmers, while the development of land transfer market does not increased the willingness. Affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the land plays a more important role of employment security, which reduces farmers' willingness to stabilize the land contract relationship. Furthermore, the promotion of socialized agricultural service has also mitigated the willingness of farmers o stabilize the land contract relationship.

Consumers' fear regarding food security in Slovenia during the first wave of COVID-19 crisis

The various crises are having a significant impact on the entire food sector and are changing the attitudes of Europeans as well as policies on the importance of food security and sustainably produced quality and safe food for consumer health. The paper focuses on the consumer's fear of food security for the time of the first wave of COVID-19 and the associated concern for food security in the future and the changes in consumer behaviour. The online survey in Slovenia was conducted in June 2020 using a "snowball" method. The sample included 490 individuals. The results showed that both measured forms of fear (i) fear over food security during the first wave of COVID-19 crisis, and (ii) fear over food security in the future were statistically significant, moderately strong and positively associated with almost all forms of self-perceived behaviour change caused by the COVID-19 crisis. The respondents focused more on buying locally produced and processed food, food stockpiling and decreasing food waste. Only minor changes were expressed with regards to their food purchasing channels, with the elderly, the highly educated and those who classified themselves in a higher social class buying more often directly from farmers. In the future, the results of this research should be compared with other countries and the impact of an individual's economic situation and the impact of promotional campaigns on agricultural products on changing consumer behaviour should also be analysed in more detail.

Transmission of broiler egg prices between surplus and deficit areas: exploring the dynamics

Broiler chicken eggs are one of the main and strategic foods for the people of Indonesia and contribute to regional and national inflation. Broiler egg production in Indonesia differs between regions. Areas with a surplus of eggs tend to have lower prices than areas with a deficit. This research is to measure the transmission of broiler egg prices between markets in surplus and deficit areas, using weekly price time series data for the period January 2018-December 2021. Areas of surplus broiler eggs, East Java Province (the highest broiler egg production in Indonesia) which become one of the main suppliers to the Province of East Nusa Tenggara as a deficit area. Using the Johannsen cointegration test it is found that there is no cointegration or there is no relationship between the surplus and deficit regions in the long term but not in the short term. Factors of marketing infrastructure, market information systems, and geographical conditions can be obstacles to the absence of cointegration. The VAR (Vector Auto-Regressive) Vector Error Correction model (VECM) test, found that price transmission occurred between surplus and deficit areas, meaning that between the two regions, there was market integration prior to Covid. The transmission has weakened, and due to the Covid situation, there have been restrictions on the movement of people and goods. The government and other market players need to study the response of the broiler egg market, in the short and long term so that market players can make the right policies.

Is irrigation fit for purpose? A review of the relationships between scheme size and performance of irrigation systems

Irrigation is increasingly being called upon to help stabilize and grow food and water security in the face of multiple crises;these crises include climate change, but also recent global food and energy price crises, including the 2007/08 food and energy price crises, and the more recent crises triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic and the war on Ukraine. While irrigation development used to focus on public, large-scale, surface- and reservoir-fed systems, over the last several decades, private small-scale investments in groundwater irrigation have grown in importance and are expected to see rapid future growth, particularly in connection with solar-powered pumping systems. But is irrigation 'fit-for-purpose' to support population growth, economic development, and multiple food, energy and climate crises? This paper reviews how fit-for-purpose irrigation is with a focus on economies of scale of surface and groundwater systems, and a particular examination of systems in Sub-Saharan Africa where the need for expansion is largest. The review finds challenges for both larger surface and smaller groundwater systems in the face of growing demand for irrigated agriculture and dwindling and less reliable water supplies. To support resilience of the sector, we propose both a holistic design and management improvement agenda for larger surface systems, and a series of suggestions to improve sustainability concerns of groundwater systems.

The impact of price insulation on world wheat markets during COVID-19 and the Ukraine crisis

This paper begins with a survey of recent commodity price developments that highlights the magnitude of this price surge and identifies the rapid rise in wheat prices as a key element. The analysis in this paper focuses on the extent to which domestic markets are insulated from these changes and on the resulting impacts on world prices. An econometric analysis using Error Correction Models finds stable long-term relationships between world wheat prices and most domestic prices of wheat and wheat products, but with considerable variation across countries in the rate of price transmission. A case study of the price shocks during the Covid pandemic and the Ukraine food price crisis finds that price insulation roughly doubled the overall increase in world wheat prices and raised their volatility both during periods of price increase and price decline.

Reaction of the cereal market to the disruption of trade flows in Romania

The paper presents the reaction of the Romanian cereal market to the disruption of trade flows caused by certain shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which lead to changes with high impact on the functioning of this market, representing an important test for the resilience of the sector. Due to trade liberalization in global markets, including agri-food markets, the competitiveness of exports has become increasingly important, contributing to the creation of the country's competitive advantage. Any restrictions to trade in agri-food products can distort trade flows, and this disruption will have an impact on supply and prices. Maintaining a balance between imports and exports is essential to ensure domestic market stability. International trade in agri-food products plays an important role in global food security. The results show that Romania mainly exports unprocessed agricultural products, with cereals having the largest share in the export structure, cereal supply is dependent on climate change, yet it is one of the products with the lowest volatility. The cereal market shows a more elastic reaction to price responses, even though demand for staple foods is generally inelastic.

The animal keeping culture and the motivation of animal keepers in Hungary

Background: In the past few decades the animal keeping culture and habits have changed a lot internationally, some animals have become family members. The COVID-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented situation in the world, including Hungary. In many places, the quarantine period was associated with Isolation and, therefore, an increase in the number of companion animals. Objectives: Our aims were to (1) survey the animal keeping culture and habits, (2) examine the motivation of the owners and (3) explore the attitudes about adoption, neutering, breeding and the use of livestock animals in Hungary. Materials and Methods: Specialized surveys were conducted among 843 persons through social media and personal interviews from 20 June to 30 August 2021 by using a questionnaire including 16 questions. The chosen groups were compared with Fisher's Exact test and Chi-square test. Results and Discussion: 97.0% of the respondents regard their dog as a family member. Nearly 25% of the respondents do not wish to neuter their dogs, because they want to breed the dogs or they find it unnecessary. The primary reason for cat keepers not to neuter their pet is the financial issue. Animal keepers and women are significantly more likely to consider their animal as a family member (p < 0.001). Men, the elderly, people who live in the countryside and those who have only elementary education think that neutering is of less importance (p < 0.001). Non-animal keepers, elderly people and men think more negatively about adoption. Buying an animal from a breeder is more important to the younger age groups (p < 0.001) arid those who live in Budapest (p < 0.01). 42.3% of the respondents gave the lowest evaluation scores to the assessment of the livestock units. Women, people from younger age groups (p < 0.05) and those who have higher education (p < 0.001) think more negatively about the use of farm animals. Non-animal keepers, the elderly and people of lower education consider the livestock animals' emotional intelligence lower (p < 0.05). Men (p < 0.001), people over 65 years of age (p < 0.001) and of lower education (p < 0:01), and also non-animal keepers (p < 0.001) accept significantly easier the use of livestock animals.

Resilience of U.S. cattle and beef sectors: lessons from COVID-19. (Special Issue: COVID-19 impacts on selected commodities.)

The upheaval wrought on the U.S. beef industry by the global COVID-19 pandemic carried with it several lessons that might help improve resiliency should there be a reoccurrence. First, the futures market for fed cattle fell well before cash prices, which sent a signal to market cattle early, and those who did so benefited. Second, the decline in futures anticipated the closure of slaughter plants and provided an opportunity to purchase and store beef primals in anticipation of future scarcity. Third, the beef industry has ways of slowing or stopping the pipeline of animals destined for feed yards and can "store" these animals in background feeding facilities or on pasture or rangeland. Producers who waited to sell feeder cattle benefited from higher feeder cattle prices once the processing facilities reopened. Fourth, cow slaughter plants responded to the pandemic and subsequent scarcity of labor much better than large fed-cattle plants. Cow plants are not as sophisticated and complex as fed-cattle plants. This relative simplicity may help explain the superior performance of these plants during the crisis. Sixth, the academic work on the value of building smaller plants as a response against concentration provides mixed results-these plants require more labor per animal and can be even more susceptible to labor scarcity. Seventh, the observed increase in boxed beef prices, even as fed cattle prices fell, demonstrates the risk-mitigating impact of producer ownership of downstream activities in the value chain.

Perspectives of agricultural cooperatives re-development after COVID 19 pandemic in Slovakia

The Covid 19 pandemic is a global, not only, health crisis with devasting impact on the world economy in general. These impacts are also visible more and more in food and agriculture sector as the main sector of population nourishment. In spite of adopted measures in many countries, spread of the virus is starting to distrupt the supply of agrofood products to markets and consumers, both within and across borders. Most major economies are expected to enter recession as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic, and the OECD has estimated that for each month the necessary containment measures continue the drop in output is equivalent to a decline in annual GDP growth up to 2 percentage points. How damaging these impacts tourn out to be for individual agricultural production of countries and agricultural cooperatives which are consider as the more viable during crisis is the objective of this paper.

E-food trade effects on purchasing approach regarding customer behavior

Our world is changing too fast. The distances have been shortened and communication has been increased by the invention and widespread use of the internet. Our habits started to change in many aspects of our lives by the development of digitalization. Especially during the pandemic Covid-19 that has started at the end of 2019, it's observed that mobility of people have been decreased and however, they began to have difficulties in meeting the needs. There has been a great demand for companies that sell over the internet. In particular, the tendencies of people to purchase food items which are their vital need over the internet have increased to a great extent. Looking at the e-commerce market on a sectorial basis during the pandemic, the biggest increase was seen in e-food trade with a growth of approximately 400%. Within that period, it is predicted that our purchasing habits will change rapidly and virtual markets will become much more important in our lives. The delivery of food products to the consumer has always been a big problem. The risk of deterioration of the products in a short time and the physical destruction of the products during their transportation has increased the importance of food logistics. The logistics channels are needed to be developed in order to increase e-food trade. For this reason, contemporary logistics channels have started to be used by integrating developed logistics applications to the traditional logistics channels. It will be much faster and cost-efficient to deliver the products to the consumer with the new logistics channels in the near future. Yield penalty due to transportation will decrease, and since the number of stock brokers is reduced, the consumer will be able to reach the product they demand at a more affordable price from the producer that they have chosen. In the future, physical stores will be replaced by logistics-supported virtual markets. The agriculture and food sector should also start working in order to accommodate quickly to the new trade order.

Impact of COVID-19 (2020-2022) on cotton and garments market of Bangladesh: a small country case. (Special Issue: COVID-19 impacts on selected commodities.)

Bangladesh imports roughly 98% of cotton from abroad to produce fabric or yarn (USDA 2020. Cotton and Products Update. Bangladesh. Also available at https://apps.fas.usda.gov/newgainapi/api/Report/DownloadReportByFileName?fileName=Cotton%20and%20Products%20Update_Dhaka_Bangladesh_11-30-2020). The production of textiles in Bangladesh depends on the price of raw material, the demand for garment products in the importing countries, smooth supply chain management, and the domestic supply of cheap garment laborers. The global pandemic of COVID-19 disrupted the supply chain of almost all physical goods and services, including textiles. It caused the price of textiles to fall due to a drop in worldwide demand, and increased the marginal cost of textile production due to supply chain interruptions. This paper shows how the decline in the demand for garments, coupled with an increase in cost, shrinks the producer welfare of textile manufacturing and garment exports of the small producing country, Bangladesh.

Evolution of oilseed sector in Romania - an analysis from the perspective of effects produced by the COVID-19 pandemic

Romania ranks first in the European Union for the production of sunflower seeds, third for the production of soybeans and seventh for the production of rapeseed. The paper aims to analyse the effects produced by the COVID-19 pandemic on the evolution of the oilseed sector in Romania. Thus, the following indicators were analysed: evolution of areas under oilseeds, total oilseed production and average yields, as well as the volatility of selling prices for oilseeds. The results of the study reveal that Romania has been the largest producer of sunflower seeds in the European Union. The average yields in sunflower, soybeans and rapeseed have shown great variations in the analysed period. According to Eurostat data, it can be noticed that although Romania is the third large producer of oilseeds in the EU, the average yields continue to be low compared to those from other large EU producers. Yields are also among the most volatile in the EU. The selling prices for soybeans showed a higher increase in the year 2020 than in 2019 in Romania, compared to the increase in the average selling prices of the EU-27 (+9.89%). The selling prices for rapeseed also had a higher increase in 2020 than in 2019 in Romania, compared to the increase in the average selling prices of the EU-27 (+2.31%).

Consortium biofertilizers to economise nutrient use and sustain productivity in cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz)

Climate change events and the COVID-19 pandemic have brought to focus the significance of cassava as a supplementary food crop worldwide. However, the high yield potential of the crop necessitates timely and adequate enrichment of the soil with nutrient inputs. Consortium biofertilizers offer a viable option for reducing intensive fertilizer use to sustain soil health and productivity in cassava. The efficacy of a liquid consortium biofertilizer, specifically a plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) Mix - I, in economizing nutrient use in cassava was evaluated in a 4 x 3 factorial randomized block design, replicated thrice. The treatments consisted of combinations of four levels of biofertilizers and three levels of nutrients. Biometric and yield observations were recorded, and soil properties were analyzed before and after the harvest of the crop. The results showed that the liquid biofertilizer consortium at a concentration of 5% + 75% of the recommended dose, with 37.5:37.5:75 kg NPK/ha as chemical fertilizers, recorded significantly superior tuber yield in cassava. Considering the economics, the application of the PGPR liquid formulation (5%) thrice (basal, 2 and 4 MAP) along with 37.5:37.5:75 kg NPK/ha, or at a concentration of 2% with 50:50:100 kg NPK/ha, realized higher benefit-cost ratios and can be recommended for use in cassava.

Coping strategies in mitigating COVID-19 pandemic's effect on farming household income in Osun State, Nigeria

Income of farming households with low socio-economic status is a task in emerging nations, rural parts of Nigeria inclusive. In connection with this, the entrance of Covid-19 pandemic posed a grave risk to the economy of the households. This study, therefore, investigate the coping strategies in mitigating Covid-19 pandemic's effect on the farming households' income. Data for the paper were collected from 150 farming household heads, through multistage sampling method, with the use of interview scheduled and analysed using appropriate statistics. The findings showed that many (57.3%) of the respondents were male. The widely practiced coping strategies during the pandemic were rationed spending (=2.63), job diversification (=2.40), reduction in hired labour (=2.36), household food rationing (=2.28) among others. There is substantial relationship between household size (r = 0.075, p = 0.003), annual income (r = 0.033, p = 0.004) and coping strategies practiced at p0.005. It was concluded that the pandemic had great effect on the income of the farming household. The study recommends formulation of necessary, effective and urgent policies for assisting and generating fresh employments and revenue producing prospects for affected households.

Special Issue: COVID-19 impacts on selected commodities. (Special Issue: COVID-19 impacts on selected commodities.)

This special issue consists of seven articles examining the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the markets of selected commodities, including: seafood, lumber, crawfish, cattle/beef, fruits and vegetables in the USA, cotton and garments in Bangladesh, and fuel oil globally.

Re-evaluating the precision of yield targets set by MOET app v.2.0

This paper presents the evaluation results of the yield target setting precision of the revised MOET App (v.2.0), following the inclusion of the correction factors generated from rice biomass correlations between MOET and nutrient omission plot setups obtained from 2017 to 2018. The project started with trainings on MOET kit and MOET App use for the seed production personnel across PhilRice stations in Nueva Ecija, Negros, Bukidnon and Agusan in 2018 DS. Included in the trainings were the establishment of MOET kit tests and generation of variety- and site-specific recommendations via the MOET App for several nationally or regionally recommended varieties (NSIC Rc 122, 160, 216, 218, 222, 238, 286, 300, 358, 402, 436, 440, 442, 480, PSB Rc18 and PSB Rc82) that each PhilRice station intended to produce in the succeeding 4 cropping periods from 2019 to 2020. Relative yield advantages and economic benefits from using the MOET App fertilizer recommendations over PhilRice' current fertilizer management in seed production per station were monitored every cropping while the precision evaluation of yield target setting was done after the last cropping of 2020 WS. In 2019, relative yield advantages averaged 0.43t ha-1 in DS and 0.25t ha-1 in WS. In 2020 DS, an average relative yield advantage of 0.63t ha-1 was obtained across stations and 0.93t ha-1 in 2020 WS in Nueva Ecija only due to travel restrictions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Economic benefits of using the MOET App showed an average of 0.50t ha-1 and 0.65t ha-1 yield increase over the seed production units' fertilizer management in DS and WS, respectively. While savings in fertilizer cost were better realized during the WS at an average of Php 4,126.34 ha-1 season-1 across stations. Results of the precision evaluation of the yield target showed marked improvements with a 95.24% probability of achieving 17% higher grain yields than the target set by MOET App v.2.0. However, the overall normalized Root Mean Square Error (nRMSE) of 38.14% exceeded the range for a fairly acceptable fit with the model due to large gaps between target and actual yields obtained from DS field trials.

Vegetable production and the COVID-19 lockdown

Due to various policies measures to curtail the virus, one of which was lockdown, the occurrence of COVID-19 had a negative impact on the nation's economy, especially the rural smallholder farmers. The study looked into how Covid-19 lockdowns affected Nigerian vegetable production. Descriptive statistics, budgetary approaches, multiple regression analysis, and a Likert scale were all used for the analysis. The findings show that most of vegetable growers in the research region were married women (88.33%). About 70% of respondents have completed at least their primary education. The multiple regression analysis results disclosed that number of extensions contact, farm size, market access and transportation cost were significantly affected the level of vegetable production with positive sign while household size had a negative effect on the vegetable production. The findings also showed that after the COVID-19 lockdown, vegetable production was extremely profitable in the study area, with an average gross margin of 82,836.04 that was statistically higher than the 60,709.97 gross margin generated from vegetable production during COVID-19 and the 71,234.91 gross margin generated prior to COVID-19. The constraints faced by vegetable farmers during the covid - 19 restrictions include: high cost of transportation, price fluctuation, and high cost of input, perishability of the produce and lack of improved seeds. It was concluded that Covid 19 pandemic has greater effect on vegetable production in the study areas.

Oilseeds development in Morocco in the current international context

Oilseeds are grown mainly for the extraction of vegetable oils and for its by-products needed in livestock feed and in other industrial uses. The oils obtained from them are becoming a staple food used in daily cooking in several countries, and as a result the world demand is constantly increasing. This situation, combined with the exponential increase in the world population and other cyclical factors, is leading to a surge pricing, especially in importing countries. This increase in prices is fueled by soaring oil prices and disruption in supplies following Covid-19 pandemic and geopolitical tensions in the Black Sea. Morocco is directly impacted by these fluctuations given that the country imports almost its total needs in vegetable oils, oilseeds and meals. The high dependence on imported vegetable oils and oilseed products has a detrimental effect on the economy of Morocco and weighs heavily on the country's trade balance. Considering their increasingly important role in society, the development of a local oilseed sector to reduce Morocco's dependence on imports and cope with the vagaries of global markets has never been more topical in the current context of sustainable agriculture and food sovereignty.

Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on milk production per hectare in Ecuadorian herds

Dairy production systems in Ecuador have been studied in the last 10 years. During the Covid-2019 pandemic, the entire human society was harmed and agricultural activities affected by the disease and by the restrictions implemented to prevent its spread. The dairy industry did not escape this global situation and was affected in various countries. Reports from Ecuador and Asian countries indicate the unfavorable effect that this global health emergency situation had on dairy production. However, according to a report by the Argentine Dairy Chain Observatory1, world milk production had a constant growth of around 3%. It is considered that the activities carried out by veterinarians, milking and animal handling operators, inseminators and by the personnel dedicated to the management of paddocks were affected by Covid-19. Likewise, the supply of medicines, agricultural inputs and technology had a critical situation due to the pandemic. In addition, the response times were not always adequate, especially due to the absenteeism of livestock personnel, human mortality and effects on the health and well-being of people . Therefore, it is of interest to investigate the effects the pandemic could have on the country's cattle farms. The objective of this work was to evaluate whether the pandemic period affected milk production per hectare per year in Ecuadorian herds.