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The primary objective of the paper is to assess the extent and exploitation of agricultural land in the CR and EU countries based on selected macro-socioeconomic indicators in order to determine the position of the CR and future desirable exploitation, protection and stabilisation of agricultural land in the CR. The following methods will be employed in order to meet the objective: (1) The Coefficient of Geographical Association (CGA) and my own modified coefficients of association reflecting the impact of exploitation of agricultural land on indicators of the country's economic level. (2) Comparison (shrinkage of agricultural land, workforce in agriculture and market price of agricultural land in selected countries). (3) The Coefficient of Ecological Stability to assess the extent of stable and unstable areas in EU-27 countries. The following data are used for calculations: Eurostat (2009, 2015), World Bank and FAOSTAT (1993-2014). The extent of agricultural land in the CR (2014/1993) has been decreasing more slowly than in the detailed comparison countries (5 countries with the lowest CGA). The price of the agricultural land (2014) is lower than in France, Germany and Poland; nevertheless, the actual price rates are not as contrasting against these countries if purchase parity is considered. The Coefficient of Ecological Stability ranks the Czech Republic in the second half of the list of EU-27 countries (22nd place). While the ecological stability of land has decreased slightly in Germany and France (2009-2015), an improvement has occurred in the CR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper addresses the issue of effective implementation of the information and communication technologies in rural areas with the special focus on the accessibility of regional information and big collections of data related to the location. Presented results comes from long term research at the Department of Information Technologies FEM CULS in Prague in the areas of regional informatics and digital divide, and are compliant with strategic goals of Digital Agenda for Europe: A Europe 2020 Initiative. Description and definition of the general framework of the accessibility of regional information - Regional Information Structure (RIS) and Regional Information Relation (RIR) is introduced in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is focused on the value of the European mountain landscape/ecosystem and evaluates the impact of agriculture and agricultural policy on the value of this public good. Based on the meta-analysis of 22 landscape/ecosystem valuation studies, it was found that the average value of the European mountain landscape/ecosystem is 3,068 EUR per hectare per year, and 3.91 EUR per person per day. However, there are regions with a significantly higher value - Tatra in Poland and Alpujarran in Spain. The value is influenced by the position of agriculture in the national economy. Higher values of the mountain landscape/ ecosystem were achieved in countries where the contribution of agriculture to the gross value added is above average. On the other hand, there is no significant relationship between the proportion of farming in the LFA and the value of the mountain landscape/ecosystem. Public support was found to be insufficient to cover the cost of landscape services performed by farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of paper is to verify validity of some hypotheses which explain income disparity of agriculture under conditions of the current European agricultural model, and further to suggest a possible approach to categorization of this phenomenon. It is not dealt with all hypotheses which were expressed in connection with the income disparity, but also with those oriented to costs. Demand-oriented hypotheses will be a subject of further research. On base of the reached grade of knowledge, the present validity of hypotheses explaining farmers' income disparity by the help of specialities of agricultural production, alternative costs, and introduction of technical progress (Theory of treadmill) is analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the macroeconomic determinants of exports, taking quality into account through vertical differentiation and using data on Portuguese Douro wines. Based on a gravity model from 2006 to 2015 and covering a range of 192 potential trade partners, estimations show that quality influences export performance. However, quality differences are not assimilated in the same way in all international markets, resulting in an export surplus of the best categories of wine to some world regions (West Europe and Anglo- Saxon countries) and a correspondingly export deficit to other regions (Middle East, North Africa, East Europe and Central Asia). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article compares the investment subsidies in agriculture within the EU member states throughout the period of 2004 - 2013 based on the FADN database. Low investment level affects the cost and efficiency of agricultural production and thus the overall competitiveness of agricultural production. European programs providing support for the investments for agriculture aim at improving agricultural competitiveness. Development of subsidies on investment, property and Farm Net Income adjusted to economic size of enterprise by correlation analysis is compared in every EU country. Using cluster analysis, the member states were divided into groups according to subsidies on investments, their share in gross investment and the share of gross investments in fixed assets. The relationship between subsidies on investments and gross investment ranges from middle to higher dependency. The amount of subsidies on investments does not significantly affect the amount of current Farm Net Income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Italian agri-food sector has traditionally been one of the strongest in the national socio-economic system. In the last ten years, commercial exchange trends have shown growing openness towards foreign countries and in particular to European Union (EU) countries. Both the primary sector and food industry are strongly influenced by their territorial location so much so that several authors have highlighted territorial specialisation and its effects on that territory's features also considering the contribution of the Italian Regions. The following work will analyse the patterns of agri-food specialisation in the Italian Regions. In particular, the Lafay Index will be used to evaluate competitive advantag e at a Regional level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]