Agricultural Economics, 2020 (vol. 66), issue 1

A statistical analysis of the financial performance of organic and conventional farms in the Czech Republic with respect to their sizeOriginal Paper

Filip Hampl

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2020, 66(1):1-9 | DOI: 10.17221/78/2019-AGRICECON  

Organic farming represents an environment-friendly alternative to conventional farming techniques. The aim of this paper is to assess whether there are differences in financial performance of the Czech agricultural enterprises as measured by financial analysis indicators in relation to the selected farming system (conventional vs. organic), the farm size (with respect to organic and conventional farms) and the interaction of these two factors in the period 2012-2016. A three-step approach including two-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), non-parametric two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), specifically the Scheirer-Ray-Hare test, and post...

Nutrition information, Mediterranean diet, and weight: A structural equation approachOriginal Paper

Alessia Cavaliere, Elena Siletti, Alessandro Banterle

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2020, 66(1):10-18 | DOI: 10.17221/25/2019-AGRICECON  

This paper studies the relationships between adherence to the Mediterranean diet, food-related information, and possible effects they could jointly exert on weight status. The empirical analysis was conducted via a consumer survey using face-to-face interviews, and a structural equation model was implemented to the data analysis. This model choice was led by its ability to simultaneously evaluate multiple constructs. The results outline the central role played by adherence to the Mediterranean diet and food-related information, both in terms of nutritional knowledge and expert recommendations, which seem to be the key drivers affecting healthy weight....

Milk price changes in Poland in the context of the Common Agricultural PolicyOriginal Paper

Piotr Borawski, Marta Guth, Wojciech Truszkowski, Dagmara Zuzek, Aneta Beldycka-Borawska, Bartosz Mickiewicz, Elzbieta Szymanska, Jayson Kennedy Harper, James William Dunn

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2020, 66(1):19-26 | DOI: 10.17221/178/2019-AGRICECON  

Changes in the retail prices of pasteurised milk, purchase prices, and the price relationship between retail prices for pasteurised milk and other food products are analysed for Poland during the period from 2004-2018. In addition, the paper presents factors affecting changes in milk prices in Poland and characterises the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) on the milk market. The adoption of a long period of analysis allows for the study of periods of both high and low variability. The data analysis uses various methods including the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test and the Autoregressive-Moving-Average Model (ARMA). The milk market showed significant...

The effects of capital constraints on the growth of agricultural cooperativesOriginal Paper

Meng-Fen Yen, Mario J. Miranda, Ani Katchova

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2020, 66(1):27-33 | DOI: 10.17221/151/2019-AGRICECON  

In this paper, we examine how capital constraints affect the growth of US agricultural cooperatives. Employing a panel data set obtained from CoBank on 669 US agricultural cooperatives over 5 years, we employ system-generalised method of moments to estimate models of cooperative growth that incorporate long-term debt, allocated reserves, and retained earnings as continuous measures of capital constraints. We find that long-term debt use and size have positive impacts on cooperative growth, in violation of Gibrat's law, which posits that firm size and firm growth are independent. In particular, cash flow, unallocated equity and long-term debt financing...

'Products mapping' and trade in agri-food products between Nigeria and the EU28Original Paper

Nahanga Verter, Ivo Zdráhal, Věra Bečvářová, Libor Grega

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2020, 66(1):34-45 | DOI: 10.17221/145/2019-AGRICECON  

This paper investigates the dynamics of comparative advantage in agri-food products between Nigeria and the European Union (EU28). Using 'products mapping' approach based on trade balance index (TBI), Balassa index (BI), Lafay index (LFI) and other descriptive approaches, the findings show that Nigeria substantially recorded adverse TBI in trading both with the world and the EU28. The share of total Nigerian food exports and imports which the EU28 accounted for, declined from 72% and 40% to 37% and 27% between 1995 and 2017, respectively. The findings of both BI and LFI reveals that between 1995 and 2017, Nigeria's comparative advantages in trading...

Land redistribution and the South African economyOriginal Paper

Julius Mukarati, Itumeleng P. Mongale, Godswill Makombe

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2020, 66(1):46-54 | DOI: 10.17221/120/2019-AGRICECON  

Land redistributive policies can be viewed as effective tools for reducing rural poverty mainly because agriculture continues to be a major source of rural livelihood and a contributor to rural economic growth. For the structural changes and economy-wide impacts, including behavioural changes of rural land distribution, to be assessed and captured through time, a South African Social Accounting Matrix can be used as a database to construct a dynamic computable general equilibrium simulation model to simulate the potential impact on household welfare in South Africa. This study seeks to assess how government redistributive policies may affect household...