Search

The article offers the author's insights on the 2011 "Green Paper on Land Reform" by the South African Department of Rural Development and Land Reform with information on the results of the paper. Among the findings include the correlation between policies and constitutional order in the region, property law under the Constitution, and the premise and system of land reform based on the statement "land as a national asset" that "defines national sovereignty."

In 2004 ten Eastern and Southern European countries will join the EU. Agriculture and agricultural policy is an important issue in this EU enlargement process, for several reasons. This paper assesses the implications of the enlargement process for agriculture and agricultural policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper identifies three scientific research programs in agricultural economics. The farm management approach (1870-1933), the farm problem approach (1933-1982) and the domestic and global welfare approach (1982-). In respect to agricultural policy research two competitive research programs developed out of the farm crisis of the 1920s. One program argued for government intervention in agriculture. The other argued for stability in the general economy. The former program degenerated during the 1970s because of countervailing empirical evidence and a change in the understanding of positive economics. The latter program stayed progressive by adding the international dimension and by applying welfare economic analysis. Two other important factors influenced the development of agricultural policy. First, the unique institutional set up of the land grant system in which agricultural economics was founded as an applied science with a bias to help farmers. Second, the convergence of agricultural economics towards general economics that shifted the approach from applied to basic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Romania, the numerous, dispersed family farms with small areas continued their activity in many cases considering a certain tradition as closed or partially open systems. After the accession of our country to the European Union in 2007, there has been a tendency to reduce small holdings through mergers, a phenomenon which is otherwise naturally manifested in all the states of the EU, but not to the extent that would be necessary for Romania. Following the analysis of agricultural holdings in Romania by size class in 2020, it was found that out of the 2,887.00 thousand of agricultural holdings, 2,606.98 are under 5 ha in size (54% are under 1 ha, and 36.30% are between 1 and 5 ha). The average size of farms increased in the period 2010-2020 from 3.45 ha to 4.42 ha. The chronic under capitalization of subsistence and semi-subsistence agricultural holdings also contributes to the modest performance of the Romanian agricultural and agri-food sector, compared to its natural potential and the population's expectations that agriculture and the food industry quickly adapt to the EU's common agricultural policy. Since these categories of farms mostly ensure self-consumption for the rural population in most Romanian villages, their association is required to achieve a level of economic development and efficiency. The purpose of this paper is to present a functional and performing agricultural cooperative from Nădlac, Arad County, Romania, that can be a model of good practices for the association of small farmers and Romanian agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing awareness of the importance of food security and human concerns about the changes that have occurred in ecosystems has led to an increase in research on the impacts of climate change on agriculture. Climate change, a topic addressed worldwide, generates imbalances in the agricultural sector on multiple levels, such as: productivity, profitability and labour requirements. The aim of the present paper is to highlight the importance of approaching the subject related to the impact of climate change on the agricultural sector, at the same time emphasizing the existing connections on different fields of study: strategic management, agronomy, ecology, agricultural practices, agricultural policies. The method used in the research used is bibliographic analysis, with the help of which the process of evaluating the relevant sources of information on the subject of "adaptation of agriculture to climate change" is carried out. The results demonstrate the fact that this theme is increasingly addressed by researchers since 1986, the key words being represented on the one hand by the elements of ecosystems, natural phenomena, but also by the effects felt both at the level of producers and at the level of the whole populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]