Fulltext search in archive

The intensification of agricultural practices in Bangladesh has caused significant environmental challenges. This has also undermined farmers' economic sustainability, mainly due to the excessive use of subsidised chemical fertilisers. To address these issues and align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Bangladesh has prioritised the adoption of sustainable farming practices, including the recommended fertiliser application (RFA). However, whether the adoption of RFA ensures economic sustainability remains uncertain. This study evaluates how the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute's (BRRI) proposed RFA affects fertiliser use and cost-efficiency. Drawing on five years (2017–2021) of panel data from 2 025 households across three acidic soil regions in Dinajpur, the findings reveal that RFA adoption reduces fertiliser use by 12% while improving cost efficiency by 4.9–5.1%. These results highlight the potential of RFA to mitigate environmental degradation while enhancing economic outcomes, thereby supporting the SDG agenda. In light of these benefits, the study offers key insights for policymakers and development practitioners, emphasising the need for targeted interventions to accelerate RFA adoption and promote sustainable agriculture.

Climate change is intensifying threats to food security across the developing countries, pushing vulnerable nations like Bangladesh towards a breaking point – where resilience is no longer an option but a survival imperative. Despite growing concerns, however limited empirical research exists on how climate resilience influences food security across rural and urban farming households. This study examines climate resilience in northwestern Bangladesh and its impact on farming households' food security. Using multistage random sampling, 498 households across 16 villages in extreme climate zones were surveyed. A climate resilience index (CRI) was developed to assess resilience, and a binary logistic model analysed its effect on food security; the findings indicate a positive association between them. Other key determinants of food security include household income, non-farm employment, crop diversity, education level of the household head and farm size. Also, urban households exhibit greater resilience than rural ones, with 38.7% and 32.8% classified as food secure, respectively. Enhancing climate resilience through adaptive strategies can improve food security, while off-farm activities provide critical financial support. Policy interventions, such as government or NGO-led agricultural financing, could further strengthen food security.

In this study, we examine the efficiency of companies in Hungary's agriculture, fisheries and forestry sector. We analysed corporate efficiency by using stochastic frontier analysis (SFA). We used two methods to perform the SFA calculations - the Cobb-Douglas and translog functions. The result variable for the SFA calculation was gross value added (GVA), and the explanatory variables were tangibles, material costs, employee costs and other costs. The original database contained cross-sectional and time series data and was transformed into a panel database. We used the maximum log-likelihood method for parameter estimation. We performed the efficiency analysis in the case of the Cobb-Douglas and translog functions in two ways - first, without z variables (factor effects) and second, considering different factors (subsectors, workforce categories, ranking by total assets and ranking by total sales). Taking z variables into account increased the value of the efficiency coefficients. The latter model's results show that the companies' average performance in the sector examined was more than 70%. Further calculations also showed that the subsectors of the agriculture, fisheries and forestry sector differed in efficiency scores. The larger companies operated more efficiently than the smaller ones in the sector examined.

Farms are key to agricultural advancement and carbon emission reduction. Understanding the influence of farm size on emissions is vital for eco-friendly farming. Our study used an econometric model with instrumental variable adjustments to examine the effect of farm size on greenhouse gas emissions, revealing an inverted U-shaped relationship. The findings revealed that emissions increased with farm size until a peak and then decreased. We identified an optimal farm size range (0.45 km² to 0.58 km²) for lower emissions, where the farm size maintaining the lowest greenhouse gas emissions per unit area was 0.58 km², while the lowest greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per capita occured at a farm size of 0.69 km². Reducing emissions intensity per unit area is easier than reducing GHG emissions per person. Policymakers should prioritise promoting the expansion to moderately sized farms as a means of achieving emission reduction targets rather than solely increasing the number of farms. Overall, these insights offer policymakers novel approaches for ecological farm planning and the transition toward a low-carbon agriculture sector.

Despite numerous attempts to remove tariff and non-tariff barriers, the average number of barriers in the agricultural sector, particularly in the palm oil sector, is rising. Non-tariff effects are subjective, which makes them challenging to quantify. A new palm oil trade restrictiveness index that considers each trade barrier imposed on palm oil exports, such as tariff and non-tariff measures, is necessary to facilitate the sector’s exports. Hence, this study aims to calculate the trade restrictiveness index (TRI) of palm oil and analyse its impact on Malaysia’s and Indonesia’s palm oil exports. This study uses a gravity model with Poisson pseudo-maximum likelihood (PPML) estimation to analyse the impact of trade barriers on world palm oil export for a sample of 59 major palm oil importing countries from 2009 to 2019. The study revealed that each importing country imposes different restrictions on Malaysia and Indonesia. The TRI showed a negative and significant relationship influencing palm oil exports in the case of Malaysia, while a positive and significant relationship for Indonesia. The policy implications of this study suggest that policymakers in both Malaysia and Indonesia should take proactive steps to comply with every criterion demanded by the importing country.

The dominant agricultural sector in Slovakia is crop production, with the majority of arable land dedicated to cultivating cereals (57%), followed by fodder crops (20%) and industrial crops (19%). Slovakia has technical and biophysical potential for expanding biomass production. However, it is crucial to identify optimal production practices, alternative costs, and environmental outputs. Farms become more vulnerable to the worldwide threat posed by climate change. Based on research, farmers can effectively mitigate the adverse effects of climate change by making necessary adjustments to their current farming techniques. Thus, by using an advanced tool like integrated farm models, farmers can evaluate and manage a range of risks related to their activities. This paper aims to present the application of integrated modelling frameworks at the farm level and propose a framework for studying the consequences of climate change through a scenario-based approach at the farm level. Integrated assessments provide new insights that complement those derived from more detailed assessments. Based on the model developed, the results of two research questions are provided. Since, from the viewpoint of the farmer, risk and unpredictability associated with lower yields are frequently the main causes of lower income, spatially explicit integrated modelling is applied, enabling economic optimisation of crop production on a selected farm with a focus on maximising net returns while considering biophysical parameters. The modelling results depict the distribution of selected crops on arable land and the most suitable management practices for crop production in terms of nitrogen application and irrigation utilisation. Additionally, we develop an integrated model proposing the estimation of the risk of yield variability and nitrogen emissions for three climate change scenarios for the simulated period of 2020–2100 on the model farm. In response to the problems posed by climate change, this integrated approach can assist evidence-based decision-making and sustainable agriculture practices.

Listed companies in the agribusiness sector of the stock exchange play a key role in driving the economic system of Thailand. They have an important role in terms of being the producers of agricultural commodities by covering all products from the upstream to downstream. The performance measurements of listed companies contain important information for forecasting the trends of agricultural production and yield. The paper studied and considered much of the literature on the performance measurement of organizations to look for relative variables and the optimal methodology. The study used panel data from 2011-2014, which collected the listed annual companies' statements. The aim of the study was to employ the Slacks Based Measure context-dependent Data Envelopment Analysis (SBM context-dependent DEA) for evaluating the efficiency in Decision Making Units (DMUs). The SBM context-dependent DEA was used to measure the performance of listed companies by employing attractiveness and progress scores. The results showed that when a listed company has a higher attractiveness and lower progress score, it has a better performance than its competitors and does not need to improve its efficiency. Therefore, the empirical results of the study can help farmers and governments to realize the trends of agricultural productivity and also help the listed companies to understand the characteristics of their competitors, leading to improvements in their organizations.

Taking China as an example in this study, we aim to reveal the enabling effects of agricultural science and technology advancement on the progress of rural industrial incorporation at a relatively more refined level. The main innovation in this study lies in the decomposition of agricultural science and technology advancement, followed by an analysis of its effect on rural industrial incorporation along both linear and non-linear dimensions. The study results show that, along the linear dimension, agricultural science and technology advancement, agricultural knowledge advancement and agricultural technology advancement play significant driving roles in the progress of rural industrial incorporation. However, although the estimated coefficient of the integration of agricultural knowledge advancement and technology advancement is positive, it is not statistically significant. Along the non-linear dimension, agricultural science and technology advancement, agricultural knowledge advancement and agricultural technology advancement all exhibit significantly positive effects across different intervals. However, although the integration of agricultural knowledge advancement and technology advancement also shows a positive effect, its significance appears only in the second interval, indicating that the effect of this variable in promoting rural industrial incorporation can be realised only under certain conditions

It was widely expected that following European Union's enlargement in 2004, farmers in new member states would improve their performance by increasing the efficiency of their production processes. In this study, using the Farm Accountancy Data Network data, we look at changes in total factor productivity, a measure which captures how efficiently and intensely inputs are utilised in production, that took place in farms producing cereals in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia between 2004 and 2017. We find that in all four countries total factor productivity increased in the first years after the accession, but later declined. Overall, in the three former countries, total factor productivity in 2017 was higher than observed in 2004, whereas in Slovenia it was lower. This pattern largely corresponds to the dynamics observed with technological change: an initial technological progress was followed by a technological regress. Our results also suggest that over time farmers faced increasing problems with finding an optimal size of their operation. Finally, we observe that the technologies adopted on the farms were not used in an efficient way.

This paper investigates the effect of pre-COVID credit constraints and the moderating role of government support on agribusiness resilience following the outbreak of COVID-19. Using a dataset covering 42 countries, we provide empirical evidence on how firm characteristics and credit constraints affect agribusinesses’ likelihood of survival and performance during the pandemic. On the enterprise level, size, foreign ownership and gender of the manager are found to display a statistically significant relationship with closure and sales performance. The findings reveal that pre-existing credit constraints tended to magnify the negative impacts of the pandemic. Specifically, agribusinesses with better access to finance were less likely to experience a decline in sales and exit from the market and, hence, were in a better position to withstand pandemic-induced shock. The results further highlighted the positive role of government support on agribusiness resilience, whereas obtaining government aid was found to have no significant effect on moderating the link between financial conditions and resilience. Finally, the results showed that financially constrained agribusinesses are more likely to suffer from liquidity/cash flow problems and experience overdue financial obligations during the pandemic. In coping with their liquidity shortfalls, these agribusinesses were less likely to access formal credit and more likely to delay payments to suppliers/workers.

In recent years, China has promoted large-scale hog farming through various approaches. However, this scale-up process may be affected by economic policy uncertainty. This paper empirically examines the impact of policy uncertainty on hog farming scale-up using provincial panel data from 2016–2022 and a fixed-effects model. Our results indicate that economic policy uncertainty significantly inhibits hog farming scale-up, and this effect remains significant even when we increase the criteria for recognising scale-up, alternative estimation methods include two-stage least squares (2SLS), dynamic panel model and panel Poisson model. Mechanism analysis reveals that economic policy uncertainty not only exacerbates the impact of labour and capital factor prices on scale-up hog farming but also exacerbates the volatility of hog prices, which further raises the risks faced by hog farming and inhibits scale-up hog farming. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the effect of economic policy uncertainty on hog farming scale-up decreases as farm size increases. Higher-level economic policy uncertainty can inhibit scale-up hog farming, while lower-level economic policy uncertainty can instead promote scale-up hog farming. Economic policy uncertainty has a more obvious inhibitory effect on scale-up hog farming in major development areas. These findings have important implications for the promotion of large-scale hog farming and related policy regulation.

The consumption of local wine at tourist destinations plays a fundamental role in creating authentic experiences. However, there is very little research that has looked in depth into the factors that influence tourists' consumption of this product, especially in relation to epistemic benefits and responsible tourist behaviour. This study proposes a theoretical model based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). We conducted a survey involving 619 travellers who regularly consume wine when visiting Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain). The results show that epistemic benefit and responsible tourist behaviour have a positive relationship with attitudes toward local wine consumption, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control. Furthermore, the relationships proposed by the TPB are confirmed, except for the relationship between subjective norms and behavioural intention. These findings provide new knowledge on local wine consumption by tourists which will help to develop strategies to encourage its consumption in tourist destinations.

As the strategy for building a robust agricultural nation gains momentum and agricultural science and technology advances, the quality of agricultural products has seen significant improvement, accompanied by an increase in the economic income of agricultural producers and operators. Therefore, the fair and reasonable implementation of the revenue distribution of the agricultural supply chain is of great significance in improving the quality of agricultural products and ensuring the stable operation of the supply chain. The article focuses on the three main bodies of the agricultural supply chain, namely production and price co-integration enterprises, logistics service enterprises and sales enterprises, and utilises the matrix semi-tensor product to establish the Shapley value revenue allocation model of the interval cooperation game, so as to make the revenue allocation of the governance of agricultural products' quality in the digital supply chain more reasonable and scientific. Finally, numerical examples verify the Shapley value model, demonstrating that this revenue allocation scheme, when applied, can boost the overall supply chain's revenue through cooperative agricultural product quality management, elevate agricultural product quality and market competitiveness, and foster collaboration to ensure the stability of supply chain operations.

The aim of the paper is to examine the resilience of Czech agricultural enterprises through the perceptions of farm managers and to assess the areas where these businesses perceive themselves as resilient and where they feel vulnerable. The analysis is based on data from a survey conducted by the Institute of Agricultural Economics and Information (IAEI) in June 2022, involving 521 Czech agricultural managers. The study focuses on six key areas: climate change and its impacts, agricultural inputs, labour force, market outlets, land prices and availability, and changes in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Across all areas, managers reported that businesses were more frequently vulnerable than resilient, particularly in relation to agricultural inputs and climate change. The results also highlight differences in the perception of resilience across enterprises of varying sizes, with significant variation noted in how changes to the CAP were viewed. Contrary to the common belief that larger enterprises are more resilient, the survey found that Czech medium-sized and large enterprises (with 200 hectares or more of agricultural land) were more frequently perceived as vulnerable.

Digitisation enables the integration of science, technology and finance, and this trend toward integration can in turn enhance the innovation efficiency of listed agricultural enterprises. By leveraging the quasi-natural experiment of China's 2011 pilot program for technology finance – also known as science, technology, and finance, this paper uses the difference-in-differences (DID) model to demonstrate that the science and technology finance policy positively impacts the innovation levels of agriculture-related listed enterprises. That said, the policy's effect varies across different regions and enterprise sizes. Furthermore, moderating-effect analysis reveals that the digitalisation level of agriculture-related listed enterprises is a critical factor, while the evolutionary game model elucidates this factor's underlying mechanism. Based on these findings, policy recommendations are proposed to further develop science and technology finance platforms for agricultural-related listed enterprises.

Countries are calling for a sustainable transition of agri-food systems due to the volatility of food security in the context of climate change, and the agricultural bioeconomy may be a more dependable solution. By capturing, coding, and displaying word clouds of Chinese agricultural bioeconomy policy texts, this study deconstructs the development framework of China's agricultural bioeconomy policies based on the agricultural biosystem dimension, the policy instrument dimension, and the comprehensive dimension. It concludes that there is a clear trend of sustainable transformation and cross-sectoral linkage in China's agricultural bioeconomy policies. Overall, China's agricultural bioeconomy policies have the following comprehensive features: first, the policy is deeply integrated, considering both economic development and environmental friendliness; second, the policy is safety-oriented, taking into account competitiveness and strategy; and third, the policy is innovation-driven, taking into account fundamentality and foresight. Efforts should be made in the future to enhance the competitiveness of the agricultural bioeconomy within the framework of an all-encompassing approach to food and to help China's agricultural bioeconomy on the road to sustainable transition by improving fiscal and tax support, advocating the use of financial instruments, creating an alliance for the agricultural bioeconomy, and promoting international trade exchanges and cooperation.

Enhancing economic and environmental efficiency is a fundamental objective shared by all European economic sectors, with agriculture being a particular area of focus. In this study, economic and environmental efficiency are considered in parallel and compared in terms of their long-term development. From an economic perspective, the classical production factors of labour, capital and land are compared with economic production output. The environmental perspective of the study focuses on greenhouse gases and acidifying gases, with the investigation based on data from Eurostat from 2009 to 2020. Due to constraints regarding the  availability of data , the study encompassed 22 EU countries.  The findings indicate that Greece, Spain, the Netherlands and Poland demonstrate high levels of economic efficiency, while Ireland and Finland exhibit notable enhancements in this regard. Low economic efficiency scores are evident in Latvia and Austria, where substantial catching-up processes are observable. With respect to ecological efficiency, Greece, Spain and Italy have been found to be dominant, as have Finland, Sweden and Slovakia. Ireland, Luxembourg and Poland have lower ecological efficiency scores, but only Ireland shows signs of convergence. The present study seeks to minimise the impact of volatility and dispersion with a view to providing valid long-term trends for the purpose of benchmarking efforts and r policy decisions.

Agricultural informatisation (AgI) is hailed as a 'game-changer' for farmers worldwide, even as climate change increases agriculture's vulnerability to climatic risks and threatens sustainable agrifood production. While AgI aspires to help alleviate hunger and poverty in smallholder farm households by improving on-farm productivity through the promotion of sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs), limited empirical evidence exists on the AgI–SAPs nexus, particularly under severe environmental stress such as drought. We analysed data from a survey of maize farmers in central Zambia – a country exemplifying the impact of severe drought, declared a national emergency and disaster – to explore whether and how AgI can optimise SAP adoption and improve crop yields. Given the potential endogeneity of AgI adoption, we employed a recursive bivariate probit (RBP) and endogenous-treatment regression (ETR) to estimate the former and the latter, respectively. We focused on adoption portfolios of three AgI tools – radio, television and mobile phones – and five SAPs: minimum tillage, residue retention, planting basins, improved seed varieties and irrigation. The results reveal that AgI adoption significantly influences SAP adoption, with varying impacts across different AgI and SAP portfolios. Importantly, the adoption of productivity-enhancing SAPs, particularly improved seed and drip irrigation, produced the largest yield effects (124.46 g/capita/day) for AgI adopters. This increase potentially contributes 43.21% towards daily maize-supply quantity, which is crucial for helping households meet the minimum recommended daily caloric intake. The study therefore underscores that AgI plays a critical role in improving yields through SAP adoption, serving as a compelling pathway for agricultural resilience, especially under adverse climatic conditions. These insights align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly those aimed at zero hunger, climate action and poverty alleviation, which advocate re-thinking and transforming food-production strategies.

This study investigates the effects of digital economy (DE) on agricultural land use (ALU) in seven sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, specifically from 2006 to 2022. Using a moderating mediation model on panel data, the work explores the extent to which the DE, as proxied by fixed telephone subscriptions, internet usage, and mobile penetration, influences the degree and intensity of ALU. The results indicate that ALU is often supported by DE, as technology will lay the groundwork for improved land management and agriculture. Results show that DE has a positive influence on ALU, with a more substantial effect being observed in countries such as Kenya and South Africa, where more developed digital infrastructure and governance are in place. In contrast, Uganda and Zambia exhibit lower impacts due to lower levels of digitalisation and governance barriers. The patent applications (PAs) and water management represent the positive mediators of the efficiency of land-use improvement. The study highlights the need for government-enabling policies and digital infrastructure so that the promise of digital technologies and their uptake for agricultural production in SSA is fully fulfilled. Whenever technology is integrated with an appropriate resource management policy, SSA societies have the potential to achieve sustainable agricultural development and food security.

Global warming has altered regional temperatures and precipitation, potentially leading to deviations from planned biofuel production and emission-reduction targets. This study revisits the market equilibrium of agricultural and biofuel production under climate risk, using updated IPCC projections. It employs a two-stage stochastic programming model to examine the overall effect of climate change on Taiwan's biofuel production. The results indicate that biofuel production depends on the level of climate impact and emission prices. In addition, total input use is generally between 2.79 and 4.72 million tonnes. The higher the gasoline price, the sooner the producer will exhaust its production capacity. While Taiwan could sustain biofuel production when gasoline and emission prices are high, a substantial land-use change would occur. Approximately 74 500–81 900 hectares of idle land will return to production. However, the increase in cropland supply may not lead to biofuel expansion, as it has a limited ability to offset emissions.

This study investigates whether participation in agricultural global value chains (GVCs) leads to slower growth in manufacturing for the period of 1995–2022 in 44 countries. Our baseline estimations indicate that forward GVC integration in agriculture, crop cultivation and animal production supports manufacturing growth. We further explore whether the income level of countries influences the impact of agricultural GVCs on manufacturing growth. Forward participation in agriculture, crop cultivation, and animal production in developing countries increases growth. However, in developed countries, deeper forward integration in animal production and backward integration in crop cultivation have a substantial negative impact on manufacturing growth. Furthermore, we test if resource reliance in manufacturing matters. Our findings reveal that forward participation in agriculture, crop cultivation, and animal production stimulates growth in resource-based manufacturing. For non-resource-based manufacturing, higher integration into backward participation in animal production drives growth. Overall, our results indicate that exporting agricultural intermediaries might not necessarily be a resource curse, instead, they can serve as a catalyst for industrialisation in developing countries.

In view of the increasing negative impacts of climate change, international cereal trade has become a growing concern. This study examines the impact of climate change on cereal exports. The analysis consists of two stages. In the first stage, we investigate convergence in cereal exports across countries and identify potential clusters of similar export behaviour. To this end, club convergence analysis was conducted using export data from 95 countries for the period 2000–2022. The results reveal that countries are grouped into seven distinct clubs, indicating shared convergence paths. In the second stage, the impact of climate change on the formation of these clubs is analysed using the ordered logit model. This model assesses how climatic factors influence a country's likelihood of belonging to a particular convergence club. The findings show that precipitation and carbon emissions significantly increase the likelihood of being in the top two clubs with high cereal trade. This suggests that climate change is a critical dynamic in shaping convergence clubs.

Integrating farmers into the modern agricultural industrial system is key to sustaining rural household income growth. Based on field survey data from rural areas in three western Chinese provinces, this study uses an endogenous switching regression (ESR) model to analyse the impact of farmers' participation in agricultural supply chains on their income, and explores the heterogeneous effects of credit constraints and agricultural loans on the incomes of participating and non-participating farmers. The results show that supply chain participation significantly increases farmers' total and operational income, while driving the modernisation of agricultural production methods. Specifically, supply chain participation enables farmers to use agricultural loans efficiently to drive income growth and alleviate income constraints caused by credit restrictions. Furthermore, the positive effect of supply chain participation on operational income is more prominent, especially for low- and middle-income farmers. In contrast, the income-increasing benefits of agricultural loans are more pronounced among middle- and high-income farmers, reflecting differences in loan utilisation capacity across income groups.

Climate change threatens the possibility of ensuring sufficient and quality food for the population. The agricultural sector, considered to be one of the main contributors to the increase of CO₂-equivalents (CO₂-eq) in the atmosphere, faces one of the most difficult challenges for the sector: increasing production while reducing its impact on the environment. The improvement of adopted practices should be preceded by the quantification of generated emissions. This study aims to provide information on the analysis of the global warming potential (GWP) of tomatoes in Sicily, comparing organic and conventional cultivation methods. The methodology applied is the Life Cycle Assessment, which revealed a reduction in CO₂-eq for the organic method compared to the conventional one due to the use of organic fertilisers and crop protection products allowed by organic specifications. The possibility of reducing tomato GWP offers farmers the opportunity to act on the cultivation stage by making it more sustainable and at the same time to communicate the beneficial action, towards the environment, through the product label. The research also highlights that organic production, with the application of new production and pest management techniques, is comparable in terms of quantity produced per hectare to conventional production and with excellent fruit quality.

The last years have seen a momentous transformation in Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The focus of interventions has shifted from production toward rural development but recognising the role of farmers. Although the attitudes of farmers to CAP have long been previously studied, little attention has been focused on the views of citizens. Using data from the ‘Special Eurobarometer 520: Europeans, Agriculture and the CAP’, we sought to provide a clearer understanding of citizens’ opinions about the future of agriculture and rural areas in the European Union. In particular, we assessed rural-urban differences and examined disparities across countries, paying attention to the importance of rural development in the planned expenditure under CAP 2023–2027. The results showed that the perceived importance is higher for respondents living in rural areas and that there are disparities across countries. From a policy perspective, targeted efforts should be made in each country to address the specific challenges each country faces.

Agricultural subsidy policy can improve the planting enthusiasm of rural households by increasing their income. It is of great significance to assess and summarise the effect of the soybean and cotton target price subsidy policy and to determine future policy direction. Using the national rural fixed-observation point socioeconomic survey data from 2009 to 2017, the study employed the difference-in-differences (DID) method to evaluate the impact of the target price policy (TPP) on rural household income in China. TPP had no significant impact on the total income of rural households. Specifically, TPP increased the farm income of rural households but simultaneously reduced the wage income and had no significant impact on the other income. Moreover, the impact of TPP on rural household income varied with the planting scale and income level; the effect of TPP was strong among the non-poor or scale operation rural households. TPP implementation affected rural household farm and wage income by affecting farmers’ allocation of working time and cost input. Therefore, implementing TPP should consider farmers’ participation in non-farm employment, further adjust the subsidy intensity and scope, and combine direct subsidies with the poverty reduction effect in poor areas. The contribution of this article is to explore the implementation effect of target price subsidy policies from the perspective of farmers’ income, to deconstruct farmers’ income, and explore the mechanism of policy action. This paper provides a theoretical basis and policy inspiration for China to improve and adjust the agricultural subsidy policy, mobilise farmers’ enthusiasm to cultivate, and ensure national food security.

The land in the South Tasikmalaya Regency is dominated by dry land with a steep and hilly land contour. In addition, the area has a shallow soil solum, so it has a high potential for erosion and landslides. Therefore, it is necessary to innovate an integrated cultivation system that is economically feasible, but still maintains environmental sustainability. In this research, the aim is to formulate a model for the development of integrated plantation polyculture farming (IPPF) for the welfare of farmers. The method in this study uses a mixed method design. The location of the research carried out is in the Tasikmalaya Regency. The data used are the results of interviews and questionnaires to 250 IPPF farmers. The data used were obtained by multistage cluster random sampling. The sustainable IPPF development model was analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). This analysis is used to determine the various potential capital factors for agricultural development on the sustainable development of the IPPF and farmers’ welfare. The results of the study show that the potential development capital [natural resources (SDA) capital, economic capital, socio-cultural capital, physical capital, and multifunctional IPPF], jointly or partially affect the IPPF sustainability. Human resource capital has no effect on the sustainable IPPF development, while the sustainable IPPF development affects the farmers’ welfare levels, and the potential agricultural development capital and its multifunctionality affect the sustainable IPPF development and farmers’ welfare. The IPPF development model that improves the welfare of farmers is carried out through the development of specific local superior commodities, increasing the added value and cooperation, developing access to credit, regenerating farmers, sustainable assistance and infrastructure improvements. The results of this study are expected to be a reference for the government in improving IPPF sustainability to achieve the welfare of its farmers. Apart from that, the model that has been developed can make a contribution to science in the form of a comprehensive analysis of the factors that influence the sustainability of IPPF.

In an era marked by an ageing agricultural workforce and intensifying environmental pressures, agricultural infrastructure plays a crucial role in enhancing green productivity. This study investigates the impact of agricultural infrastructure construction and population ageing on agricultural green total factor productivity (agricultural GTFP), utilising provincial panel data from 2004 to 2022 in China. Our findings reveal that the agricultural infrastructure construction significantly boosts agricultural GTFP and significantly mitigates the negative effects of ageing on agricultural green production at the 0.01 level. Notably, different types of infrastructure exhibit varying impacts, with electricity and irrigation infrastructure demonstrating the most significant positive effects. We further identify a strong mediating effect of farmland transfer and agricultural mechanisation in facilitating infrastructure-driven agricultural GTFP growth. Our analysis reveals a pronounced regional heterogeneity, with non-food producing, central, western regions of China benefiting most from agricultural infrastructure investments. To address the challenges posed by ageing, we recommend giving priority to expanding agricultural infrastructure construction, fostering agricultural socialised services, and tailoring infrastructure programs to regional resource endowments. These strategies aim to compensate for labour shortages, enhance resource utilisation, and ultimately drive improvements in agricultural green productivity.

This study aims to evaluate the perceptions of Spanish primary producers on waste management practices and different regulatory and administrative proposals. In addition, it identifies the socioeconomic and technical factors influencing these perceptions and highlights the types of agricultural residues that present the greatest management challenges for primary producers. To achieve these objectives, a survey was conducted among 396 primary producers throughout Spain. Results revealed two distinct groups of producers: younger, more educated individuals who showed higher awareness of waste management and older, less educated producers who perceived waste management as less critical. The study also analysed the magnitude of the relationships between these influencing factors and waste management perceptions. Agricultural plastics, biomass, and used oil emerged as the most problematic waste types. The findings suggest the need for a national strategy to improve agricultural waste management in Spain, including awareness campaigns, financial incentives, and stricter regulations to ensure sustainable practices.

The capacity for flexibility, personal development, and intrinsic motivation is a crucial aspect needed by employees in the process of transforming agricultural organisations. This paper aims to determine the typically oriented groups of employees in terms of their motivation and verify whether the identified groups are invariant even under changing conditions over time. The data from 2019–2023 (from 374 respondents employed in agricultural enterprises in south-central Slovakia) were evaluated using descriptive and inferential (K-means cluster) statistics. According to preferences and constancy of attitudes, three clusters of employees called ‘Materialists’, ‘Team progressives’, and ‘Preferences settled’ were determined. The clusters were also solved in terms of stability over time. Despite the differences in the preferences of these clusters, relational factors indeed played one of the most critical roles, even in the case of materialistically oriented employees. The practical result of the research is the possibility of designing a differentiated motivation program specifically targeted to individual groups of employees with similar motivational preferences based on a competent statistical analysis of motivation. The results are used by agricultural businesses to design motivation programs for similarly motivationally oriented employees sophisticatedly.