Agricultural Economics, 2021 (vol. 67), issue 6

A DEA approach for merging dairy farmsOriginal Paper

Sebastián Lozano, Belarmino Adenso-Díaz

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2021, 67(6):209-219 | DOI: 10.17221/418/2020-AGRICECON  

This paper proposes a model for determining the most advantageous merger within a set of dairy farms. It uses data envelopment analysis (DEA) to estimate the total technical efficiency improvement that the merger would produce and for decomposing it into a learning effect and a pure merger effect. A design of experiments has also been carried to test the effects of various factors (the total number of farms, the standard deviation of herd size, the percentage of farms exhibiting increasing returns to scale, the standard deviation of the current technical efficiency of the farms) on different response variables (the percentage of farms involved in the...

Finite automata model for leaf disease classificationOriginal Paper

Krishnaprasath V.T., Preethi J.

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2021, 67(6):220-226 | DOI: 10.17221/70/2020-AGRICECON  

In this modern era, the detection of plant disease plays a vital role in the sustainability of agricultural ecosystem. Today, India being second in farming, well-timed information related to crop is still questioning. Indian Government's farmer portal is available for pesticides, fertilisers, and farm machinery. To alleviate this problem, the paper describes a model to validate the leaf image, predicting leaf disease and notifying the farmer in an effective way on the harvest failure to stabilise farming income. For specific consideration on the validation, a data set library with predefined, uniformly scaled, regular image patterns of leaf disease,...

Biofortification of tomatoes in Italy: Status and level of knowledgeOriginal Paper

Vera Teresa Foti, Alessandro Scuderi, Claudio Bellia, Giuseppe Timpanaro

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2021, 67(6):227-235 | DOI: 10.17221/334/2020-AGRICECON  

Biofortification is a strategy to reduce micronutrient deficiency in humans by fortifying food through natural processes, agronomic practices and genetic modification. In this study, we seek to shed light on what consumers understand by the term 'biofortified products' and thus to understand their level of knowledge about these products, as well as the reasons that dictate their purchasing choices and the relationship between consumption choices and lifestyles. The analysis focuses on vegetables and, in particular, on tomatoes with a high lycopene content. Research shows that consumers of biofortified food products are generally confused and uninformed,...

Agricultural production index: International comparisonOriginal Paper

İbrahim Bozkurt, M. Veysel Kaya

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2021, 67(6):236-245 | DOI: 10.17221/29/2021-AGRICECON  

This paper investigates the influences of macroeconomic policies on agricultural production and other factors affecting it, based on panel data in a global sample for the period 2010-2017. Because spatial interactions in the agricultural production levels of countries are determined, spatial panel models are employed in the analyses. According to the analysis results, countries' financial, fiscal and monetary policies have an important effect on agricultural production. Besides, other important determinants of agricultural production are climatic conditions, land use and modern input use in agriculture. Our findings have important implications, especially...

Benefits of the LEADER method for Local Agenda 21 - Case study from their application in the Czech RepublicCase Study

Jana Kostalova, Jan Vavra

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2021, 67(6):246-254 | DOI: 10.17221/407/2020-AGRICECON  

The basic characteristic and comparison of the community-led local development tools: Local Agenda 21, used in public administration generally, and of the LEADER method, used within Local Action Groups (LAGs), is presented in this paper. It analyses their application in the Czech Republic. It discusses the potential synergistic effects of the application of these tools in two rural locations - the areas of two towns (Chrudim and Litomerice), which are leaders in the application of Local Agenda 21 in the Czech Republic. Both towns are members of LAGs - LAG Chrudimsko and LAG Ceske Stredohori. This combination of Local Agenda 21 and LEADER method are...