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.

Beyond COVID-19, which future for agricolture

Agriculture, in the general context of Covid-19, has represented one of the main factors of resilience of society and lives of mankind producing food for humans and a reassuring answer to uncertainty. The report aims to respond to how agriculture will have to change in order to maintain this role in the future as well. In its first section the role of agriculture in the development of mankind and economy is examined together with interactions between Covid-19 and agriculture. The second part presents the evolution of the economy and agriculture trends at world wide and national level in the first year of the Covid-19. The third section presents some economic assessments on measures to fight the pandemic effects on the economy and in particular on the agricultural system, trying to identify the lessons that can be learned from the Covid-19. It also presents some general questions about the future of the world and the foreseeable great adversities. The final remarks identify some characteristics that agriculture must have in the future in order to continue to play its role in supporting mankind's development.

COVID-19, international agricultural economy and animal sectors: the case of China, the United States and the EU

The Covid-19 pandemic is a major global event. A reflection on the first implications of this sanitary crisis for the world agricultural economy and the animal sectors of three geographical areas is proposed in this article. The agri-food systems have been strongly affected by this crisis, whose global economic impacts (a 3.5% drop in world gross domestic product and a 5.3% drop in international trade in goods between 2019 and 2020) are affecting the purchasing power of final consumers. However, they have resisted the crisis well, both in terms of supply (stability or slight growth in the volumes of meat and milk produced on a global scale) and trade. In 2021, the sharp rise in international prices for agricultural products and the rapid resumption of economic growth, particularly in the three zones more specifically studied here (China, the United States and the European Union), suggest that agriculture should remain under pressure from sustained world demand. More than Covid-19, the impact of African swine fever in China has had a major impact on international meat trade flows for several years. In addition, the growing Chinese appetite for dairy products is playing a central role in the development of international dairy markets, to the benefit of exporting areas including the EU and the US.

Assessment of competitiveness factors of agriculture in the context of the pandemic

The article discusses the state of agriculture in the context of a pandemic, as well as factors that influenced the strengthening of the competitive advantages of the industry. The study compared indicators and factors of agricultural competitiveness in 2020 in comparison with the previous period. The analysis showed that agriculture was less affected by restrictions due to the coronavirus than other sectors of the economy, therefore, the main trends in production and the formation of gross value added remained during the pandemic. The study noted that a 3.5% decrease in real money income of the population in 2020 affected the purchasing power of income and the structure of consumption of certain types of food, which could lead to a redistribution of production resources. The article notes the impact of the devaluation of the national currency, which contributed to the rise in the cost of imported food and the strengthening of the competitive advantage of domestic producers in the domestic market and the export of agricultural products. As a result, despite many negative trends, Russian agriculture has demonstrated high stability and positive dynamics of development, strengthening its position in the world market. Positive factors were inelastic demand for food and significant government support, favorable weather conditions, which contributed to agricultural production and an increase in export volumes. As the analysis has shown, the competitive advantages of the industry manifested themselves not only in comparison with other types of economic activity, but also in strengthening the country's position in the world food market, where the country is becoming one of the leading exporters.

Increasing total factor productivity as a condition for enhancing competitiveness of the Russian agriculture: regional features

The aim of the paper is to analyse the dynamics of total factor productivity of agriculture (TFP) in Russia as a whole and in the regional context as the basis for increasing competitiveness of the industry in the context of a pandemic and environmental shocks. As a result of the calculations, it was revealed that the basic index of agricultural growth in Russia for the period from 2005 to 2019 was 1.62, TFP growth occurred with an increase in the output of agricultural products and a decrease in the volume of resources for its production. Against the background of TFP growth, the foreign trade competitiveness of the Russian agriculture increased. The export of agricultural products increased 5.5 times over this period, the country became a net exporter. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, agricultural production increased by 1.5%, and exports grew by 20% in both volume and value. In the federal subjects of Russia, dynamics of output, resources growth vary markedly. Such dynamics lead to big regional differences in agricultural TFP dynamics. Based on the calculations performed for 2005-2019 (2005 is the base year), the authors reveal a significant unevenness of TFP dynamics in the regions of Russia. The first group with the highest TFP rates includes 17 regions from the Central (9 regions), Privolzhsky (3 regions), Northwest (2 regions), Southern (2 regions), North Caucasian (1 region) Federal Districts. In Kursk, Oryol, Belgorod and Lipetsk Oblast, TFP more than doubled over the period under review (2.69;2.57;2.37;2.35, respectively), in the remaining 13 regions of the first group the TFP growth is from 1.65 up to 1.99. The second group consists of regions with cumulative TFP growth values which are less than 1.61, but more than 1.00. It is the most numerous group. It includes 43 regions from all federal districts of the Russian Federation. In 18 regions, the value of TFP growth over the period ranges from 1.31 to 1.61. And in the remaining 25 regions, the values are very low: from 1.00 to 1.31. The third group contains 12 regions, five of which are in the Far Eastern Federal District. The growth of the total factor productivity in the regions that are currently lagging behind in this indicator will contribute to the growth of competitiveness of the Russian agriculture.

Strategic perspectives on quitting or remaining in commercial agriculture in South Africa and why it matters. (Special Issue: Special collection of articles on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on South African agriculture.)

This paper explores reasons why some commercial producers in South Africa are expecting to quit and sell their farms, and others are not. Of 450 respondents to a voluntary survey, distinctly different groups of producers emerged concerning their longer-term strategic planning and how they experience and absorb current threats and challenges. Unsupervised learning on the dataset is imposed using a cluster analysis to explore the commonalities and the underlying factors why producers would expect to exit or not. Factors that the researchers hypothesised might play a role included a producer's age and financial position, rural safety concerns, labor problems, industry-related problems, and opportunities for off-farm earnings. The factors the potentially exiting producers had in common were financial difficulty, which was uncorrelated to turnover, problems with access to dependable labor, uncertainty regarding land reform policy, and rural safety concerns. Intention to retire also played a role, although to a lesser extent. It is more often a combination of factors, rather than a single factor, that makes a producer more likely to decide to quit and sell in the future. With the exclusion of farm safety concerns and labor problems, the identified factors in this study are in step with those found internationally.

Special Issue: Special collection of articles on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on South African agriculture. (Special Issue: Special collection of articles on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on South African agriculture.)

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a disruptive impact on the world economy and the lives of all people. The pandemic is characteristic of a typical "Black Swan" event with unprecedented scope, characteristics, consequences and responses by governments in all countries. The legislative constraints imposed by governments in most countries on the movement of people and goods and services disrupted the global economy dramatically with large negative impacts on the growth and absolute size of economies. Although agricultural and food production across the world was deemed an essential service for the basic needs of people, the sector did not fully escape the disruptive impact of the pandemic.

Saving Bavarian hops in a "parallel universe": lessons on the biopolitics of agricultural labor in Germany during the Corona pandemic. (Special Issue: More than disaster: creativity in growing, distributing, and accessing food during covid-19.)

When countries closed their borders to curb the spread of COVID-19 in spring 2020, seasonal migrant workers in agriculture were either unable to travel or faced unsafe conditions when performing "essential" field work. Some countries, like Germany, subsequently implemented policies to let them travel to work, and simultaneously, called on their residents to temporarily help farmers harvest crops. This paper explores the case of these temporary pandemic workers on Bavarian hops farms. Based on ethnographic research and interviews, this paper discusses the complex relationships between temporary pandemic workers, farmers, and the mostly absent seasonal workers in the exceptional moment of a global pandemic. The researchers argue that in the state of exception of the Corona pandemic in Germany, biopolitical sorting highlighted migrant workers' indispensability and disposability in a peculiar way: their short-term replaceability through recruited temporary pandemic workers formed a self-ascribed "parallel universe" or "Coronal bubble". Through new encounters (with farmers) and hands-on experiences in agricultural fields, the parallel universe often also meant uncomfortable insights into an unjust agricultural system. For those widely unexposed to agriculture, the state of exception revealed both the general and temporary biopolitics of seasonal migrant workers in agriculture and the key role they play for German agriculture as a whole.

Agricultural cooperatives in Europe: importance for rural development, government support

The article presents the main research results on the peculiarities of the functioning of agricultural cooperatives and the practices of state regulation of their activities in the countries of the European Union. The high importance of agricultural cooperatives is justified, first of all, by their multifunctionality, and, consequently, by their contribution both to the development of the agricultural economy and to the stability of rural areas. The main trends in the development of agricultural cooperation in Europe are: (1) the enlargement of the cooperative business;(2) the development of vertical integration along the technological chain, (3) all kinds of organizational innovations to expand financial opportunities, (4) strengthening competitiveness through the growth of the scale of activities and all kinds of innovations, (5) socialization of cooperative activities in order to improve the living conditions of rural communities. The specificity of state support for European agricultural cooperatives lies in expanding the range of mechanisms and instruments used by the state, providing financial assistance mainly to small regional cooperatives (performing functions important for rural areas), taking into account the possibilities of cooperative activities under extraordinary conditions (such as the COVID-19 pandemic or emerging natural cataclysms).

Bulgarian agriculture in the focus of representative statistical surveys

The aim of the article is to highlight certain trends in Bulgarian agriculture. The article is based on representative empirical information from the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) and Farm structure survey (FSS). Changes in land use are registered with a significant impact on the development of land relations in our country. The results reveal processes of different nature and express the effect of the dominance of the Community agricultural policy on the economic conjuncture for the development of agriculture in our country. The dichotomy in the used agricultural area is an expression of increased competitiveness, which is inherent mainly in the production of extensive crops, with the presence of significant features for monoculture agriculture. At the same time, systemic problems in the intensive crops stand out, for the production of which Bulgaria possesses monopoly natural-climatic conditions. These results highlight the role of land relations and reveal/bring out potential opportunities for increasing the importance of agriculture in improving public relations and the socio-economic environment not only in the sector but also in the country as a whole. The Covid-19 challenge creates the preconditions for re-evaluating some existing stereotypes. The results of surveys over the last ten years reveal processes of consolidation of the utilized agricultural area and its concentration in a small number of large agricultural holdings. Extensive crop production is increasing. Intensive production, vegetables, fruit and livestock fall into the group of "vulnerable sectors". The number of small actors is decreasing;the processes of medium-sized ones are unstable. This creates difficulties in establishing sustainable family farms and is a potential risk of depopulation in some rural areas in Bulgaria. The registered processes are in dissonance with the goal setting of the Common agricultural policy (CAP). FADN 2020 reaffirms this trend, as the utilized agricultural area in Bulgarian agriculture continues to grow and monoculture production remains sustainable. The crisis with COVID-19 has revealed a number of problems in the supply of agricultural goods, which is an occasion to rethink the role of national policy to provide consumers with products of local origin and frames the need for cognition in the analysis of complex contemporary socio-economic processes.