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In the paper, we overview the benefits of cereal-grain legume mixtures in low-input farming systems and identify the key factors affecting their agricultural performance. The review was based on the data collected from databases such as Google Scholar, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect. The gathered literature covered the original research articles, reviews, book chapters, and, in a few cases, conference proceedings. The focus was on literature coming from Mediterranean countries and Central-Eastern Europe, especially from Poland. Originating from two different plant families, legumes and cereals complement each other. The legumes provide biologically fixed nitrogen for the cereals in the mixture, but also increase its pool available to the following crops. Additional benefits include, but are not limited to more efficient pathogen and weed control, supply of high-quality fodder, and improved economic efficiency. Cultivation of crops after such mixtures usually results in higher and more stable yields. The productivity of cereal-grain legume mixtures largely depends on the soil factors (soil type, pH, water availability, etc.), crop species, crop variety, and crop management. Cereal-grain legume mixtures are particularly relevant to the poor (sandy) soils which are often unsuitable for the production of the components grown as a sole crop and are often linked with low-input farming systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the issues determining the economic situation of farms is the scope of their market integration. It can be therefore assumed that higher market integration leads to an improvement in the economic performance of households. The article has two aims. The first is to indicate the relationship between the degree of market integration of small-scale family farms and their economic condition. The second objective is to discover the determinants of the market integration of farms. The explanatory variables include economic (production value, total farm area, labour input, specialization of production) and demographic (farmer age, education level) factors. The novelty of our paper lies in in depth comparative analysis based on primary data from questionnaire surveys taken in 2018 and 2019 in five countries of Central and Eastern Europe: Serbia, Moldova, Lithuania Romania, and Poland. The results indicate is the existence of a statistically significant positive correlation between the degree of market integration and economic performance. Factors that favorably influence the level of market connection include the scale of production, specialization and, to some extent, level of farmowner's education. The remaining variables are inconclusive or not statistically significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the role that agricultural subsidies have assumed in the lives and decisions of farmers in Hungary. It provides insights into farmer subjectivities within a rapidly transforming rural political economy where individuals are highly dependent on government transfers. Through ethnography, subsidies are shown to rework traditional notions of farm work and value, with consequences for labour and land use strategies. Subsidies are more than economic tools as the Hungarian state manipulates, rewards and disciplines rural actors. In consequence, new farmer subjectivities and habits comprise traits and labours that are synonymous with 'new' farmers who are frequently non-local and mobile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the authors research and analyze the impact of factors that decisively influence making investment decisions in enterprises operating in the agriculture and processing industry sectors. The fact is that significant foreign direct investments have been coming to Serbia for many years, but the development gap with comparable countries in Central and Eastern Europe is not decreasing. Analysis show that economic development cannot be left only to the market and foreign investments, but an appropriate economic policy is needed to encourage public and private investments, based on domestic savings. Authors believe that companies from agriculture and processing industry should be carriers of economic growth and development, employment, exports and the creation of new value, but they need a stable and predictable business environment, as well as the support of official economic policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current European policies for agriculture are characterized by efficiency and economic performance. Their main objective is the stability of the environment. For any European country, European integration represent or must represent stability and economic growth, this two elements being essential to adapt to the current macroeconomic changes. The main objective of this paper is to analyse the evolution of the situation of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe regarding the influence of European funds for agriculture. Being members of the European Union, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe had to adopt the acquis communautaire regarding European agricultural policy and must use EU funds for rural development. The aspect that individualizes this paper is the analysis of regional specialization and concentration of European funds for agriculture using the Herfindahl-Hirschman index. The analysis will be based on data from international institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and metal(loid) resistance genes (MRGs) coexist in organic fertilized agroecosystems based on their correlations in abundance, yet evidence for the genetic linkage of ARG-MRGs co-selected by organic fertilization remains elusive. Here, an analysis of 511 global agricultural soil metagenomes reveals that organic fertilization correlates with a threefold increase in the number of diverse types of ARG-MRG-carrying contigs (AMCCs) in the microbiome (63 types) compared to non-organic fertilized soils (22 types). Metatranscriptomic data indicates increased expression of AMCCs under higher arsenic stress, with co-regulation of the ARG-MRG pairs. Organic fertilization heightens the coexistence of ARG-MRG in genomic elements through impacting soil properties and ARG and MRG abundances. Accordingly, a comprehensive global map was constructed to delineate the distribution of coexistent ARG-MRGs with virulence factors and mobile genes in metagenome-assembled genomes from agricultural lands. The map unveils a heightened relative abundance and potential pathogenicity risks (range of 4-6) for the spread of coexistent ARG-MRGs in Central North America, Eastern Europe, Western Asia, and Northeast China compared to other regions, which acquire a risk range of 1-3. Our findings highlight that organic fertilization co-selects genetically linked ARGs and MRGs in the global soil microbiome, and underscore the need to mitigate the spread of these co-resistant genes to safeguard public health. In this study, the authors analyzed global metagenomic data from agricultural soils and show that organic fertilization co-selects for antibiotic and metal(loid) resistance genes in genomic elements, while metatranscriptomic data additionally provides evidence for co-regulation of these gene sets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• For the first time in Lithuania, food losses in primary production are estimated. • Data come from a survey and Farm Accountancy Data Network. • Food loss rates range from less than 1% for milk to more than 20% for beets. • Environmental factors and quality issues are critical for crop products. • Diseases are the most important for animals. Food loss and waste occur along the whole food supply chain and need to be addressed by dedicated strategies. Among all the stages of the food supply chain, food loss in primary production has been the least studied to date. In order to address this gap, this paper focuses on on-farm food loss, using Lithuania as a case study. The research comprises eleven crop products and five livestock products prevailing in Lithuanian agricultural production. A survey-based method is utilized to collect primary data from farmers. The final data set consists of 408 completely answered questionnaires. The survey-based data are merged with those from the Farm Accountancy Data Network in order to devise an effective framework for estimating self-reported on-farm food loss. The results show that there exists substantial variation in on-farm food loss rates ranging from less than 1% for milk to slightly more than 20% for beets. Environmental factors and those related to consumer and buyer requirements are the main reasons for losses of crop products, while diseases appear as the main causes of death for animals. The food loss and waste reduction measures are derived based on the results of the survey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generally tourism is considered an activity as important as the activity of the following branches: agriculture, industry, trade, etc. Rural tourism is a priority sector of tourism, which includes the development of rural activities and is designed to use local tourism resources (anthropological and natural resources), discovering the rural environment, cultural heritage, local traditions and accommodation structures. This paper presents the dynamic research and analysis of existing accommodation capacities of the collective tourist structures (boarding houses and agro guest houses). The authors focused on the analysis of the following directions: the allocation of financial resources from the state budget in order to implement tourism policies; the share of tourism contribution to GDP; the trend of tourist and excursionist arrivals; the participants in the domestic and foreign tourism; the evolution of indicators related to collective tourist accommodation establishments (boarding houses and agro guest houses), as well as of those indicating the net use of accommodation capacity and the forecast of possible changes until 2021.The authors studied the main ways of rural tourism promotion, which could facilitate the communication process with potential clients through modern information and persuasion methods and techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deforestation, a major cause of climate change, in Eastern European countries has been an activity coupled with agricultural expansion mainly within the time period of political transition. The present study examines the environmental impact of deforestation and its association with agricultural income as synopsized in environmental Kuznets curve. More specifically, carbon emissions generated by deforestation per hectare (COD)–agricultural income relationship as reflected by the net value added (NVA) per capita of the rural population are studied with the assistance of three panel data models, namely the fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS), dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) and Poold Mean Group autoregressive distributed lag (PMG-ARDL) cointegration technique. The research findings do not validate the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) in its traditional form, but they verify the inverse N-shaped trajectory (FMOLS, DOLS), or N-shaped trajectory (PMG–ARDL methodology). The results provide policy makers with motivation to focus on agro-economic expansion based on productivity or use of marginal lands and not on land-use change based on deforestation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Structural change in the agricultural economy may result in the abandonment of agricultural buildings, creating rural brownfield sites. Since the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, post‐agricultural brownfields have become very common in Central and Eastern Europe. Our aim is to uncover and understand the reuse preferences for 16 reuse options, among 1275 survey respondents (local residents) from 272 rural communities with post‐agricultural brownfields in the Czech Republic. The influence of respondent status, the socioeconomic characteristics of those communities and environmental characteristics of communities were tested using redundancy analysis and variation partitioning. Three types of reuse were identified as most preferred among respondents: agricultural reuse, industrial reuse and reuse for housing, services and leisure time activities. We found strong and significant ties between the pattern of preferences for potential reuse options and demographic, community socioeconomic and environmental context variables. It can therefore be concluded that preferences for rural renewal tend to be constructed comprehensively and encompass social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability. In order to implement a vision that promotes sustainable rural development, we need to recognise that the preferences of rural residents are fundamentally shaped by the local environment and are therefore highly dependent on the place‐based circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current scholarship suggests that Neo-Eneolithic systems of settlement and subsistence in Eastern Europe were defined by short-to-medium range migration, while sparsely populated land in peripheral regions allowed for the continual colonization of new territories. We address the Eastern Tripolye Culture (ETC), a sub-group of the Cucuteni-Tripolye cultural complex that flourished ca. 4300–2950 BC by expanding into the forest-steppe ecozone of Central Ukraine. While a general lack of multi-layer sites complicates regional chronology, we resolve several longstanding questions in Ukrainian archaeological discourse by combining traditional relative chronologies of ceramic types with high-precision AMS dating of material from key sites. We offer a revision of the chronology of Tripolye BI and BI-II, which, rather than consisting of distinct "early" and "late" temporal periods, instead constitute a single period characterized by stylistic diversity in material culture. With an absolute chronology established, we then analyze the space-time distribution of sites, revealing a southwest-to-northeast migratory vector across Central Ukraine characterized by punctuated episodes of "leapfrog" colonization. The establishment of this vector by the ETC presages larger-scale population movements by the Western Tripolye Culture (WTC), which led to the establishment of the giant-settlement phenomenon during the first part of the 4th millennium BC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

African swine fever (ASF) in domestic pigs has, since its discovery in Africa more than a century ago, been associated with subsistence pig keeping with low levels of biosecurity. Likewise, smallholder and backyard pig farming in resource-limited settings have been notably affected during the ongoing epidemic in Eastern Europe, Asia, the Pacific, and Caribbean regions. Many challenges to managing ASF in such settings have been identified in the ongoing as well as previous epidemics. Consistent implementation of biosecurity at all nodes in the value chain remains most important for controlling and preventing ASF. Recent research from Asia, Africa, and Europe has provided science-based information that can be of value in overcoming some of the hurdles faced for implementing biosecurity in resource-limited contexts. In this narrative review we examine a selection of these studies elucidating innovative solutions such as shorter boiling times for inactivating ASF virus in swill, participatory planning of interventions for risk mitigation for ASF, better understanding of smallholder pig-keeper perceptions and constraints, modified culling, and safe alternatives for disposal of carcasses of pigs that have died of ASF. The aim of the review is to increase acceptance and implementation of science-based approaches that increase the feasibility of managing, and the possibility to prevent, ASF in resource-limited settings. This could contribute to protecting hundreds of thousands of livelihoods that depend upon pigs and enable small-scale pig production to reach its full potential for poverty alleviation and food security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Biotechnology in Animal Husbandry is the property of Institute for Animal Husbandry and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper compares those posters with agricultural subjects that were created in Central and Eastern Europe in the 1950s. Countries in the Soviet sphere of influence not only had very similar political goals and official ideologies, but also shared the methods by which they popularised their aims and ideals. Similar propagandistic goals appear on the posters of various nations: they mobilise the rural population for joining co-operatives, the complete fulfillment of the required produce delivery, the introduction of Soviet production methods, learning, studying, participation in agricultural shows or harvest festivals. The posters do not differ in executio|i either, as all of them display the hallmarks of Socialist realism. Strict adherence to naturalistic depiction, well-worn visual cliches, idealised characters and intense, loud colours, resulted in remarkably similar works which, as a consequence, lack the impact of novelty and attraction that one would expect from the poster as an art form. The source of the analysis is the material presented in the international poster exhibition in the Agricultural Museum of Szreniawa, Poland in 2010. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Invasive alien plants constitute a major threat to local biodiversity. Moreover, their appearance often coincides with land use change. Many endangered groups of organisms suffer from habitat loss, which is often a consequence of the invasion of alien plants. This paper examines how invasive alien goldenrods Solidago spp. affect the richness of endangered grassland bird species and numbers of breeding pairs in abandoned meadows in southern Poland. Meadows invaded by goldenrods (n =15) had lower bird species richness and a lower number of breeding pairs than meadows in which goldenrods were absent (n =15). Two important factors positively influencing bird species richness were meadow area and shrub density (the latter only in meadows without goldenrods). Moreover, both the index of potential food density (number of butterflies) and plant species richness were much lower in meadows invaded by goldenrods than in meadows without these plants. Urgent action aimed at preventing the invasion of alien goldenrods in abandoned meadows is needed and such measures should involve regular mowing. Our results also highlight the fact that land abandonment in Central and Eastern Europe is not necessarily as beneficial for biodiversity as it is commonly believed and it may even lead to a decrease in the populations of several bird species in the agricultural landscape. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article attempts to describe the gender dimensions and aspects of agrarian transition/transformation in post-socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe with a focus on family farms. This farming model is characterised by a conflation of labour, land, capital, management and human bonding and was promoted by the privatisation policy of post-socialist restructuring. Several problems of the new family farms are looked at with a gender perspective, singling out ideological, social and economic parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the implications of the structural adjustment experience in developing countries for Eastern European agriculture. Political influence of land-owning agricultural factions; Political and institutional hurdles that must be overcome by individuals and businesses when they are not a part of the dominant political-economic faction.

Copyright of Sociologia Ruralis is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Addresses the issues discussed in a commentary dealing with the organization of serfdom in Eastern Europe. Argument on the extended coverage of countries involved in the Eastern European agriculture; Contention on the social aspect behind the landlord-serf interaction; Clarification of the term rent as applied to land utilization.

The hypothesis that crop production is more variable under socialism than under capitalism because of systematic differences between incentives and the structure of property rights in private and socialized farms is tested in two ways. The first test compares the variability of output for seven crops in five eastern European countries for a period when agriculture was private with a period when it was socialized. The second test compares the variability of output in state, collective, and private farms within each country. These tests confirm that socialization of agriculture increases the variability of crop output and that the source of this increased variability is not greater fluctuations in yields but rather in the acreage devoted to individual crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current commercial flow of Romanian agricultural products proves the requirement of a new paradigm in making efficient use of land resources. This article aims to assess Romanian agri-food commodities' volume on the world trade market for the latest available period. How good is doing Romania in terms volumes and values of trade, compared to other countries for the agri-food sector? How competitive is Romania in a sector where the country can be the second-largest producer in Central and Eastern Europe? The findings confirm that Romanian mostly export low-value-added products such as wheat, maize, sunflower seed, cigarettes, rapeseed, barley. Considering volumes, Romania ranks far behind its potential both at the European and global level. The results prove that new measures focused on stimulating the sector's competitiveness are mandatory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various models and datasets related to aflatoxins in the maize and dairy production chain have been developed and used but they have not yet been linked with each other. This study aimed to investigate the impacts of climate change on aflatoxin B1 production in maize and its consequences on aflatoxin M1 contamination in dairy cow’s milk, using a full chain modelling approach. To this end, available models and input data were chained together in a modelling framework. As a case study, we focused on maize grown in Eastern Europe and imported to the Netherlands to be fed–as part of dairy cows’ compound feed–to dairy cows in the Netherlands. Three different climate models, one aflatoxin B1 prediction model and five different carryover models were used. For this particular case study of East European maize, most of the calculations suggest an increase (up to 50%) of maximum mean aflatoxin M1 in milk by 2030, except for one climate (DMI) model suggesting a decrease. Results from all combinations of carryover and climate models suggest a similar or slight increase (up to 0.6%) of the chance of finding aflatoxin M1 in milk above the EC limit of 0.05 μg/kg by 2030. Results varied mainly with the climate model data and carryover model considered. The model framework infrastructure is flexible so that forecasting models for other mycotoxins or other food safety hazards as well as other production chains, together with necessary input databases, can easily be included as well. This modelling framework for the first time links datasets and models related to aflatoxin B1 in maize and related aflatoxin M1 the dairy production chain to obtain a unique predictive methodology based on Monte Carlo simulation. Such an integrated approach with scenario analysis provides possibilities for policy makers and risk managers to study the effects of changes in the beginning of the chain on the end product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The primary contributions of smallholders during the communist and early postcommunist periods have been food production and labour for large farms. Those conditions are changing, however, as modern farms require less labour and food supply may be imported. For most smallholders in Central and Eastern European and former Soviet Union countries, the postcommunist neoliberal environment has not brought significant improvement, and strong arguments can be made that land grabbing, social and economic exclusion, and rural poverty are worse than regime bias during the communist period. Cooperatives, which have empowered smallholders in other parts of the world, have not been as well developed in postcommunist nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mechanical composition of the grapes is expressed by numerical ratio between the structural elements of the cluster (uvologic units): clusters, skins, pulp and seeds. The research in this paper aims the mechanical structure and uvologic values of three grape varieties for superior white wines: 'Fetească albă', 'Fetească regală' and 'Riesling italian', cultivated in NW Romania in 2013. The highest weight of a grape was recorded in the 'Fetească albă' variety cultivated in Şimleul Silvaniei (135 g) and the lowest was recorded in Fetească regală, in Baia Mare (91 g). The lowest index structure was recorded in 'Fetească albă' in Turulung Vii (21.54) and the higher was registered in 'Fetească regală' (36.69) in Şimleul Silvaniei area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extreme northeastern Europe constitutes a marginal historical transition zone from the, at least partially, agriculturally based economy of North Russia and the hunting-gathering economy of the indigenous Finnish and Samoyed peoples of the North. Climate and trade are crucial for the economy, and these are assumed to be the two main factors in understanding the regional historical development. I present a multi-archive mean annual temperature reconstruction for northeastern Europe spanning the past two millennia, which is used to develop a comparative chronology of climatic and historical events in the study region. It is argued that climate had a profound impact on the Slavic population’s economy and directions of migration, facilitating penetration into higher latitudes in warmer and abandonment in colder climatic phases. It is virtually certain that the mode and speed of development and northeastward expansion of the Russian State from the Middle Ages to the Modern Time were in many ways dependent on natural and geographical factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ecological Chemistry & Engineering S / Chemia i Inzynieria Ekologiczna S is the property of Sciendo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Based on conventional learning and supported in no small measure by stereotypes, agriculture as a vocation was not considered as part of the occupational profile of Jewish society in Eastern Europe until the Second World War. However, various studies show that in different regions in this area, primarily Lithuania, White Russia, north eastern Poland, and Bessarabia, tens of thousands of Jews made a living from direct engagement in various branches of agriculture, including field crops, orchards, lake fishing, etc. These Jews lived mainly in the rural areas and were a factor, and at times a highly significant one, in the local demographic and economic structure. The first part of this article examines the question whether these Jews, who were part of the general rural society living in the countryside, developed a certain type of rural cultural identity. This question is discussed by examining various aspects of their attitude towards nature. The second part of the article considers the possible influence of the agricultural occupation on the shaping of a unique peasant cultural identity among these rural Jews and the ways they coped with the accompanying religious, social and cultural implications. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Traditional rural landscapes of Eastern Europe are undergoing major changes due to agricultural intensification, land abandonment, change in agricultural practices and infrastructural development. Small man-made ponds are important yet vulnerable components of rural landscapes. Despite their important role for biodiversity, these ponds tend to be excluded from conservation strategies. Methodology/Findings: Our study was conducted in a traditional rural landscape in Eastern Europe. The aim of this study is twofold: (i) to model the distribution of four major man-made pond types and (ii) to present the importance of man-made ponds for the endangered Yellow Bellied Toad (Bombina variegata) and the Common Toad (Bufo bufo). Six environmental variables were used to model pond distribution: Corine landcover, the heterogeneity of the landcover, slope, road distance, distance to closest village and the human population density. Land cover heterogeneity was the most important driver for the distribution of fishponds. Areas used for agriculture with significant areas of natural vegetation were the most important predictors for the distribution of temporary ponds. In addition, areas covered by transitional woodland and scrub were important for the open cattle ponds. Bombina variegata was found predominantly in the temporary ponds (e.g. ponds created by cattle and buffalo, dirt road ponds and concrete ponds created for livestock drinking) and Bufo bufo in fishponds. Conclusions/Significance: Our Maxent models revealed that the highest probability of occurrence for amphibian ponds was in areas used as farmland. The traditional farming practices combined with a low level of infrastructure development produces a large number of amphibian ponds. The challenge is to harmonize economic development and the maintenance of high densities of ponds in these traditional rural landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The collectivization of agriculture in the Soviet bloc caused millions of peasants to sign away their rights to land and join collective farms. How did Party cadres accomplish this extraordinary change? In this article, drawn from a large collaborative project, the authors present examples from Romania to describe one of the central techniques used: “persuasion work.” The authors focus on how the persuaders sought to create their authority with villagers, peasants’ and cadres’ reciprocal manipulations of kinship and gender, cadres’ disruptions of the accustomed spatial and temporal organization of village life and peasant responses to them, bargaining and negotiations between cadres and villagers, and more overt forms of “persuasive” coercion. Although persuasion was ostensibly about creating an inner state of belief—convincing peasants of the superiority of collective agriculture—the authors argue that it is more appropriately seen as a performative matter, in which peasants learned to perform the consent that was required of them, whether they believed in the virtues of collectivizing or not. Among the reasons was that Romania’s cadres were largely ill prepared for the job and were unable to be very persuasive. Thus, they both relied on force (thereby heightening peasants’ resistance to joining the collectives) and settled for villagers’ pro forma adherence rather than their active conviction. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In Central and Eastern Europe, economic reform consistent with Bretton Woods and European Union (EU) demands has replicated not only the rules and institutions that prevail in Western societies but also their patterns of consensus and conflict. Although central bank policy has been largely depoliticized in the 2004 accession states through the institutionalization of central bank independence, agricultural interests were mobilized--in some instances against the EU--in the course of accession negotiations. This article argues that as they engage in the explicit transfer of economic policy to postcommunist states, international institutions simultaneously transmit beliefs about who has legitimate claims on the state. The methods through which international institutions help construct new markets in transition states have consequences for the development of domestic cleavages and for the cultivation of political support for economic integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Present-day Central and East European agriculture is characterized by a high incidence of small-scale farmers who are not producing for the market. This article uses household-level data from comparative farm surveys in Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania to analyze the extent of subsistence farming and to investigate which farm household characteristics and endowments influence commercialization of agricultural produce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the impact of privatization and market-oriented reforms on East European agriculture. Development of rural economy in East Europe; Expansion of market capital in East Europe. According to the article, the market-oriented reforms and the privatization of agriculture in Romania has been harmful to the people of Romania and has created an economic depression. The article discusses capitalist reforms, the social and economic impact of privatization, the distribution of land, and the destruction of collective farms.

Discusses some measures of the pattern of regional and global agricultural trade flows, with emphasis on selected Central and East Europe countries (CEECs). Differences between intra-industry and inter-industry trade flows; International terms of trade for agricultural products; Consistency test for trade indicators as cardinal measures.

Presents information on a study which compared the agricultural restitution and co-operative transformation in the Czech, Slovak and Hungarian experiences both at the national and local levels. Receptiveness to agricultural change; Common features of the restitution and transformation processes; Impact of transition in the Czech and Slovak Republics; Conclusions.

Focuses on agricultural reform in Eastern European countries. Devaluation of exchange rate; Relative price changes; Producer prices, consumer prices and international prices; Credit, financial institutions and marketing boards; Property rights, land tenure and privatization.

Examines agricultural changes in Eastern Europe at the beginning of the 1990s. Position of agriculture in the region; Agricultural growth and production outcomes; Development of food consumption; Tractors used in agricultural production; Average yields in 1989; Future farming structure.

This article talks about agriculture in Eastern Europe. As a result of overpopulation and underproduction, the agricultural output per head of the population of Eastern Europe is significantly low as compared with that in the U.S. According to the author, the small consumption of meat and other animal products in the region greatly affects the whole character of agriculture, as a consequent lack of fertilizing manure results in low crop yields. He explained that war affected Eastern Europe's agricultural production, with military operations precluding the cultivation of soil over considerable areas, peasants being driven away from their homes and their animals being carried away for military use.

Comments on the economic conditions in Eastern Europe as of January 1996. Portfolio investment management; Liberalization of agricultural trade; Economic integration.