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The agricultural practice of burning straw or vine stem is widespread in the Mediterranean to control excess biomass. Although the practice is widespread, the long-term effects on the structure of the flora, natural ecological restoration and the impact on biodiversity remain poorly understood and researched. Mediterranean species have post-fire ecological strategies, such as the ability to resprout, the persistence of the seed bank, or the ability to grow or disperse. In this work, an abandoned agricultural field (AAF) was burned by an induced fire. Fifteen rings (diameter 0.2 m2) were established on the studied area, five for each variant: I. unburned (UB), II. moderately intensive (MB) and III. high intensive (HB). The results showed that the functional group (FG) of grasses dominated in the MB variant, in contrast to the dominance of legumes in the HB variant. Compared to the AAF, the number of grasses FG slightly decreased in both burn variants (MB, HB). The predominant strategy was competitors (C), followed by ruderal plants (R), the number of which increased slightly after burning in the MB and HB variants, while stress tolerance decreased significantly in both variants. These results indicate that the intensity of HB does not promote the survival of grasses in the first year after burning, while legumes and grasses are more resistant to higher fire intensity and therefore have a higher chance of survival. In summary, the burning of straw or vine stem on AAF initiates complex ecological processes that shape the landscape and can significantly influence the biodiversity of the area.

The different sectors of the livestock industry play an important role in meeting the increasing demand for animal products in both Hungary and Croatia. The general objective of this study was to investigate and compare the efficiency of the livestock sectors in Croatia and Hungary using the Data Envelopment Analysis method. In this paper, the technical efficiency of the dairy, beef, broiler, sheep and goat, and pig sectors from 2014 to 2017 is investigated based on the Farm Accountancy Data Network database. This paper compared farms of different size classes based on the Standard Production Value for more detailed insights. Among the five main livestock sectors, Hungary performs better in terms of farm technical efficiency in the dairy and beef sectors, while Croatia has higher efficiency scores in the sheep sector. The performances in the pig and broiler sectors are almost the same in both countries. Moreover, in the Hungarian poultry, pig, sheep and goat sectors and the Croatian dairy, beef and pig sectors, the technical efficiency of small-sized farms is better than that of medium-sized farms.

It is of high interest of a society to explore and support self-employment which is a prerequisite for development of entrepreneurship and, consequently, the growth of economy. Keeping in mind political and economic differences in Croatia, Poland, Serbia and Slovakia, the level of self-employment intentions was investigated among students at agricultural or life science universities in these countries. The self-employment intention level (SEINT) was measured on a scale of 1 to 5. The total sample of 1,156 respondents involved students from Nitra, Warsaw, Zagreb and Novi Sad. The average SEINT value was 2.97, with students located in Novi Sad expressing significantly higher scores than the other three universities. It was found that some of socio-demographic factors are significantly related to the SEINT. However, the main reasons for significant difference in SEINT for Novi Sad students are believed to be due to the differences in macroeconomic conditions in the country.