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Knapp über die Hälfte der Fläche Deutschlands wird landwirtschaftlich genutzt. Zunehmende Konkurrenz um die Fläche, die auch durch den zunehmenden Flächenbedarf anderer Sektoren angetrieben wird, spürt man im landwirtschaftlichen Sektor deutlich. Steigende Bodenpreise treiben den landwirtschaftlichen Strukturwandel an. Eine bottom-up Antwort darauf sind gemeinwohlorientierte Organisationen gemeinschaftlicher Governance für landwirtschaftliche Flächen, die dem Markt zunächst Fläche entziehen und diese langfristig zu ertragsangemessenem Marktzins meist ökologisch wirtschaftenden kleineren Betrieben wieder zur Verfügung stellen. Basierend auf einer deutschlandweiten erstmaligen empirischen Untersuchung verzeichnen diese bottom-up Initiativen zwar noch eine geringe absolute Flächenausbreitung, jedoch ein deutliches Wachstum bei der Anzahl ihrer Mitglieder, Kleininvestoren und Spender. Eine breite Ausdifferenzierung an Organisationsformen ist entstanden, diese gelten als Nukleus der sozialen Entwicklung. Betriebsleiter*innen von landwirtschaftlichen Partnerbetrieben solcher gemeinschaftlichen und gemeinwohlorientierten Organisationen, genau wie Beteiligte und Kapitalgeber*innen aus der breiten Gesellschaft, haben eine Nachfrage und einen Bedarf an gemeinsamer Verantwortung und Mitbestimmung über das Management und den Umgang mit landwirtschaftlichen Flächen sowie der Ressource Boden. Die empirische Datenerhebung im Projekt "Neue Organisationsformen des gemeinschaftlichen Landeigentums" (Curtiss et al. 2022) zeigte einige positive ökonomische Vorteile für Partnerbetriebe, ohne im großen Stil den Bodenmarkt zu verzerren, und relativ stabile Rahmenbedingungen, um ökologische Zielsetzungen langfristig abzusichern. Darüber hinaus konnten als gemeinwohlstiftende Auswirkungen soziale Einflüsse auf und für die ländliche Bevölkerung verdeutlicht werden. Die landwirtschaftliche Bodengesetzgebung muss sich auf Länderebene zu diesen Organisationen positionieren. Eine gemeinwohlorientierte Flächenpolitik bezüglich des Eigentumsverkehrs landwirtschaftlicher Flächen wäre ein Novum.

This paper examines allocative and cost efficiency implications of adopting variable-rate fertiliser application using survey data from Czech wheat farms. Data Envelopment Analysis delivered higher efficiency scores for precision farming (PF) adopters. Correcting for selection bias using a one-step endogenous switching regression reveals that farms displaying a lower cost efficiency score are less likely to adopt PF technology. Nonadopters switching to PF technology would likely be affected by a significant decrease in cost efficiency given their production conditions and/or managerial and technical skills. In line with this, results indicate that human capital and farm size increase the likelihood of PF adoption. Cost (allocative efficiency) implications of PF-related changes in input structure only, on the other hand, are not found to have an impact on the choice of technology. A positive allocative efficiency effect of PF technology is brought about mainly by a farm's ability to better extrapolate the soil's productive potential, which is insufficiently reflected in the land rental prices. The allocative as well as cost efficiency implications of PF technology are further related to technology-specific responses to various farm characteristics and technological practices. PF technology makes farms' efficiency more responsive to production conditions, farm specialisation, legal form and other technological practices. The overall efficiency effect the PF practices is, therefore, conditioned on farm characteristics.

This paper presents a review of financial economics literature and offers a comprehensive discussion and systematisation of determinants of financial capital use. In congruence with modern financial literature, it is acknowledged here that real and financial capital decisions are interdependent. While the fundamental role of the (unconstrained) demand for real capital in the demand for finance is acknowledged, the deliverable focuses on three complementary categories of the determinants of financial capital use: i) capital market imperfections; ii) factors mitigating these imperfections or their impacts; and iii) firm- and sector-related factors, which alter the severity of financial constraints and their effects. To address the question of the optimal choice of financial instruments, theories of firm capital structure are reviewed. The deliverable concludes with theory-derived implications for agricultural and non-agricultural rural business’ finance.

This paper aims to identify drivers of physical capital adjustments in agriculture. It begins with a review of some of the most important theories and modelling approaches regarding firms’ adjustments of physical capital, ranging from output-based models to more recent approaches that consider irreversibility and uncertainty. Thereafter, it is suggested that determinants of physical capital adjustments in agriculture can be divided into three main groups, namely drivers related to: i)expected (risk-adjusted) profit, ii) expected societal benefits and costs and iii) expected private nonpecuniary benefits and costs. The discussion that follows focuses on the determinants belonging to the first group and covers aspects related to product market conditions, technological conditions, financial conditions and the role of firm structure and organization. Furthermore, the role of subjective beliefs is emphasized. The main part of this paper is concerned with the demand side of the physical capital market and one section also briefly discusses some aspects related to supply of farm assets.

Cooperative and corporate farms have retained an important role for agricultural production in many transition countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Despite this importance, their ownership structure and particularly the ownership's effect on their investment activity vital for efficient restructuring and the sector's future development are still not well understood. This paper aims to analyze the ownership-investment relationship using data on Czech farms from 1997 to 2008. We allow for ownership-specific variability in farm investment behavior analyzed by means of error-correction accelerator model. Empirical results suggest significant differences in the level of investment activity, responsiveness to market signals, investment lumpiness of investment as well as sensitivity to financial variables among farms with different ownership characteristics. Resulting increase in farm performance differences among farms can be expected to lead to farm restructuring in direction of lowering number of owners and increasing ownership concentration.

Semi-subsistence farm households (SFHs) have persevered in Central and Southeastern Europe. An outlook on future perspectives of SFHs asks for reliable information on the phenomenon of SFHs and the impact of policy measures on their development options: (1) intensifying farming, (2) diversifying income creating activities, or (3) exiting farming for waged employment. This article focuses on SFHs and rural non-farm employment (RNFE). On the basis of a comparative 2007-survey of 489 SFHs in Bulgaria, Poland and Romania, three countries with particularly many SFHs, four major types of SFHs (rural pensioners, farmers, rural diversifiers, rural newcomers) were identified. For policy analysis, a multiobjective linear programming household model was developed. In the model, labour can be devoted to (1) farming, (2) self-employment and (3) waged employment. The policy scenarios reflect different development options for SFHs: (1) farm development, (2) start selfemployment, (3) farm development and start self-employment, and (4) stop agriculture. Policy can foster the structural change but the modeling results show that fine targeting to the various types of semi-subsistence farms and country specificities is a strong precondition for success.

The European Union (EU) introduced a special transitional semi-subsistence measure to promote the smallest agricultural producers, so-called semi-subsistence farm households (SFHs) in the enlargement process. An outlook on the future of SFHs requires comprehensive and reliable information on the phenomenon and the impact of policy measures on their development. Therefore, a survey using a standardised questionnaire was conducted in Poland (175 households), Romania (185 households), and Bulgaria (184 households) from July to September 2007. In a first step, four major types of SFHs could be identified by means of cluster analysis: (i) rural diversifiers, (ii) rural pensioners, (iii) farmers, and (iv) rural newcomers. In a second step, a multiobjective linear programming household model was designed to simulate the impact of policy measures and various household strategies on the future viability of the SFHs. Results show that the most preferable combination of strategies for rural diversifiers and rural newcomers is starting a non-farm self-employed activity and developing their farms. Farmers will advance best when they focus on developing their farms only, whereas rural pensioners will mainly remain or become unviable.

Edited volume of the contributions to the mini-symposium of the same title at the IAAE conference 2009.

The paper provides an empirical study of the dynamics of ownership changes in Czech agricultural companies, which are assigned by unique heterogeneity in ownership forms. Since employee ownership has retained a relatively important place in these structures, neoclassical, as well as institutional theories of labour managed firms are considered. Building upon efficiency arguments, both approaches suggest the dissolution of labour managed firms. The empirical analysis utilized detailed survey data from 2004 and accountancy data from 1997 to 2003. We used cluster analysis to classify companies into homogeneous groups with respect to their ownership structure and stage of restructuring, and analysed these characteristics in relation to performance indicators. The companies were found to be in various transition stages. The results reveal that the most progressed and the most profitable are companies with a significantly higher capital concentration, low number of owners and a low share of employee and external ownership. The least restructured companies with higher employee and external ownership show markedly worse performance figures. The restructuring process is complex and farms have adopted different strategies; restructuring only firm's liabilities by capitalising transformation debts appeared insufficient for improving performance.

The study investigates determinants of affiliation with the two strongest associations in Czech agriculture. These represent Agricultural Association grouping large-scale enterprises and Association of Private Farmers, respectively. Our objective is to analyze whether associations with different types of members (large-scale enterprises vs. private farmers) experience different motives for joining or lapsing. Moreover, we investigate if there are characteristics of the associations' members which positively correlate to membership. The results imply that political lobbying is the main entry incentive for both large-scale enterprises and individual farmers. Informal information exchange is a more significant motivation for private farmers than for agricultural enterprises. To the question of who affiliates, we found that the probability of association membership of individual private farms significantly increases with employment of external workers and their commercial orientation, and the probability of association membership of large-scale agricultural enterprises significantly increases with the increasing share of livestock production on the total agricultural revenues and the increasing share of employee ownership.

Replaced with revised version of paper 03/01/06.

Market liberalization in Central and Eastern Europe was targeted at establishing incentives that would improve economic performance. While substantial reorganization of enterprises is observed, firms can also be observed which devote resources towards establishing organizational legitimacy. Motivations for such behavior are considered and empirical evidence of its relationship with technical efficiency using a distance function approach is analyzed for the case of Czech agriculture. Contrary to the expectation that such behavior would be inefficient, we find that firms reap private economic gains from legitimacy efforts through improved access to agricultural land, investment subsidies and firm internal social capital. However, its effect on technical efficiency depends on whether such legitimacy efforts are valued by stakeholders or understood as a norm. Evidence of the trade-off between gains or sustainability from legitimacy and reorganization thus brings a new perspective to the understanding of structural changes in transition.

Dieses Discussion Paper enthält die Kurzfassungen der Beiträge, die im Rahmen des Workshops zur Agrarentwicklung in Mittel- und Osteuropa für Doktoranden und Post-Doc’s vorgestellt und diskutiert werden sollen. Dieser Workshop findet zum dritten Mal, vom 11. bis 13. Juli 2005, am IAMO statt, wobei die Anzahl der eingereichten Beiträge ein stabiles Interesse der Teilnehmer signalisiert. Ziel der Veranstaltung ist es, Nachwuchswissenschaftlern die Möglichkeit zu geben, Ihre Forschungsvorhaben zu präsentieren und zu diskutieren. Die folgenden Kurzfassungen sollen allerdings nicht nur als Diskussionsgrundlage für den Workshop dienen, sondern auch einen Querschnittsüberblick über die gegenwärtige Nachwuchsforschung im Agrarbereich zu Mittel- und Osteuropa vermitteln. Obwohl auch in diesem Jahr ein breites Spektrum von relevanten Themen bearbeitet wird, ergaben sich als zwei Schwerpunktthemen ländliche Entwicklung und Agrarhandel mit Mittel- und Osteuropa. Hervorzuheben ist wie in den Vorjahren der hohe Anteil von Wissenschaftlern aus dem europäischen Ausland, die am Workshop teilnehmen. Dieser Umstand dokumentiert die europäische Dimension der Institutstätigkeit und unterstreicht die Rolle des IAMOs als Forum des wissenschaftlichen Austausches. Wir wünschen uns, dass der Workshop zur Agrarentwicklung in Mittel- und Osteuropa für Doktoranden und Post-Doc’s zu fruchtbaren Diskussionen anregt und hoffen, dass die vorliegende Zusammenstellung dazu beiträgt, den Erfahrungsaustausch auch über den engeren Kreis der unmittelbar Beteiligten hinaus zu fördern.

The study investigates the efficiency effect of affiliation with the two strongest associations in Czech agriculture. These represent large-scale enterprises and individual farmers, respectively. The efficiency analysis is supplemented by analyses of incentives for associations' membership and farm characteristics decisive for membership choice. The results imply that political lobbying is the main entry incentive. Commercially-oriented individual farms which employ external workers are more likely to choose association membership, as are agricultural enterprises that specialize in livestock production or preserve a high share of employee ownership. We find that association membership has a significant positive impact on farms' performance, especially among individual farms. Non-members represent a more heterogeneous group. Nevertheless, the best non-members are able to achieve the production potential of association members.