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One of the nexus in the modern energy sector are bioenergy companies. To generate green electricity, economic operators trade in the market, incurring transaction costs. The main objective of the paper is to identify and describe the transaction costs using a case study of biomass combined heat and power plant (CHP). The company used for the case study was Polmos Żyrardów. A diagnostic survey with a questionnaire was carried out. It was found that information procurement and negotiation costs are the most significant in the transaction cost structure of a biomass CHP plant. The importance of access to information about biomass suppliers in the region and the company’s closest surroundings was highlighted the most. This factor significantly increases the time-consuming activities that make up the process of acquiring information about a potential business partner. The aspect of the formalisation of the contract and the building of mutual trust between the participants in the transaction were emphasised as elements to minimise the uncertainty and opportunism of the partners. It is argued that the level of transaction costs influences decision-making within the organisation, also translating into the efficiency of the entire biomass CHP area. Conscious management of energy resources and care for the environment has made Polmos Żyrardów self-sufficient in energy. In light of the challenges of the energy transition, bioenergy installations make an important contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and building circular bioeconomy.

The paper aims to make an attempt to identify the factors that determine the purchase of wine that comes from vineyards applying appropriate measures to adopt to climate change. The literature review indicates the growing awareness of wine consumers to issues related to climate change. At the same time, winegrowers are increasingly implementing strategies at a farm level to adjust production to changing climate conditions. These processes can be explained by the complex adaptive system approach. The conducted empirical research is based on a questionnaire distributed among 164 randomly selected Polish consumers investigated in the first half of 2018. The results show that consumers are willing to pay a higher price for wine that comes from vineyards using climate adapted production methods. The factors that significantly influence the purchase of wine from climate-adapted production are, accordingly, monthly spending on wine and the price of wine along with a label indicating eco-friendly methods of production. Whereas those with lower importance are country of origin, type of wine, place and frequency of purchase. The main recommendation is systemic action related to climate change adaptation of production and its appropriate communication to consumers, as their knowledge plays a key role.

The primary objective of this paper was to identify the economic, social and environmental impacts of plants and their beneficial microorganism interactions. As a plant example, the potato (Solanum tuberosum) has been chosen due to its worldwide nutritional and economic importance. Based on a systematic literature review, high importance effects were identified. From an economic point of view these were an increase in plant immunity and yield along with cost reductions and a reduction of abiotic and biotic stresses. From a social point of view, the importance of healthier food, a cleaner environment and resistant ecosystem were identified. From an environmental perspective, the effects of the increase of soil fertility and biodiversity as well as bioremediation opportunities were found to be important. The cross impact analysis of the identified effects indicate the primary importance of the economic effects, however their occurrence is determined by social effects, while the environmental ones are in a supporting position. It is argued, therefore, that the successful implementation of innovative products and technologies in potato production based on the plant – beneficial microorganism interactions will require economic empirical evidence and will be driven by social tension.

The wine sector is of great importance for many national economies of EU countries. The European Union is a world leader in area under grape cultivation and wine production. The goal of the paper was to determine the profitability of farms specializing in winegrape production depending on economic size in selected EU countries in the years 2004-2016. In addition, the level of farm income per 1 ha of viticulture was determined, as well as the level of family income and the share of total subsidies in total income. Overall, it was found that there was an increase in income, however income increased along with economic size. In the examined period, growth was only observed from the fourth economic class (EUR 50-100 thousand). Additionally, the share of income subsidies under CAP decreased along with economic size. The conducted research gave light to information that could prove vital to adapt the European vineyard and wine sector to the opportunities and needs of the market, namely by taking into account the links between economies of scale and economies of scope.

The paper aimed to present the economic effects of applying beneficial microorganisms in viticultural production under climate change conditions. It was found that increasing climate change effects calls for a broad range of adaptation and mitigation strategies in agriculture, especially in viticultural production. One of them might be the innovative use of microorganisms that have the ability to interact with plants, and thus contribute to the prevention of stresses as well as respond to them, both abiotic – like drought and biotic – like pests. Based on the direct survey carried out in 2018 among experienced winegrowers from Germany, Italy and Poland, it was observed that there was a direct economic effect of the inoculation of beneficial microorganisms to the cultivation of resistant grape varieties. The majority of farmers think that such innovation in vineyards could reduce both the costs of protection and cultivation as well as increase direct benefits. Empirical evidence from the case study performed in 2018 in the Italian sustainable farm showed that such innovation, despite increasing the costs of irrigation and organic fertilization, also led to a significant reduction of artificial fertilizer and pesticide use, the costs of which predominated.

This paper is an attempt to present selected Polish consumer food cooperatives as the complex adaptive network. Based on the literature review and structured questionnaire, their compliance with consumer cooperative principles and attitude of the members towards these principles were investigated. It is argued that due to their voluntary character based on networking activities they are subject to adjustment processes. These processes, under the umbrella of the democratic governance, are focused on using these principles as adaptive mechanism.

The concept of Climate Smart Agriculture couples climate change and food security through the integration of adaptation and mitigation measures, mostly driven by smart-innovations. The paper is an attempt to present how climate smart agriculture concept could be driven by diffusion of the smart innovations in agriculture, and how these innovations could contribute to reduce vulnerability and hence increase resilience to climate change. The results of foresight studies shows that use of innovative technologies could provide benefits through reducing the asymmetry of information coming from natural production systems and through reducing its vulnerability, as well as reducing the environmental pressure and connected with this risk of increased production failures and negative external effects.

The modern agricultural production is facing the problem of a growing society connected with the growing asking for food as well as different environmental threats. To solve this issue, agricultural production should be more sustainable and efficient which can be reached by using new technologies. In the paper the most important technologies, which were evaluated by different research methods to find how and when they could be used for a sustainable intensification of agriculture were highlighted by applying technology and market readiness models. By asking professionals from different fields of agriculture in practice as well as academia it was found that technologies that collect or utilize advanced data (sensors, drones) used for knowledge based management are more applicable for use, contrary to nanotechnologies where the costs of development and applications limits the readiness., DOI: 10.19041/APSTRACT/2018/1-2/7

Celem artykułu jest omówienie wyzwań związanych z rozwojem bioekonomii oraz zarysowanie kierunków badań, w szczególności w zakresie nauk ekonomicznych, odpowiadających na te wyzwania. Stwierdzono, że głównym problemem ograniczającym rozwój bioekonomii jest brak ujmowania jej w badaniach i dyskursie naukowym, strategiach i planach rozwoju oraz w debacie publicznej w sposób holistyczny. Istotna jest nie tylko analiza efektywności poszczególnych podsystemów: społecznego, gospodarczego, przyrodniczego, ale także procesów i powiązań pomiędzy tymi systemami, przy uwzględnieniu interakcji między ich elementami, co przenosi ciężar badań na poziom bardziej szczegółowy i nadaje im charakter dynamiczny

The paper aims to identify factors under climate change conditions that could impact innovativeness in grapevine growing in Poland. It is shown that today the viticulture cultivation in Poland is of little economic significance. However, based on primary data applied to econometric model, it is argued that driven by climate changes as well as due to other factors, grapevine growing might become a significant branch of agriculture. The estimates of the model, although randomized, suggest that there is a significant probability that in Polish viticultural farms adaptation measures applied as a respond to these factors will result with implementation of innovations and through overall development.

The main aim of this paper was an attempt to describe the issue of co-existence in the context of the development of the bioeconomy. An additional aim was to identify categories of costs of coexistence and their size in the situation of parallel production ie. organic and conventional that takes place in farms certified as organic. The study was based on data collected for 2015 from 28 organic farms from Mazovia province. It was found that co-existence as an economic institution allows to ensure for individuals and social groups the freedom of choice and build confidence among them for the integrity and quality of products coming from different production and distribution systems. Thus, given the importance of standards for food safety and quality the coexistence plays a special role in the development of the agro-food chains and distribution of food and feed. In the studied organic farms parallel production can be carried out by implementing proper practices of coexistence, allowing to optimize the organization and economics of their activities. The coexistence costs were related mainly to isolation and segregation and amounted to ca. 4,66% of all costs.

The paper is an attempts to assess the state of development of the knowledge based bio- economy in Ukraine. It also aims to evaluate how the current development complies in line with the concept of innovation diffusion model based on quadruple helix, and through, identify the most important factors strengthening and limiting this development. It was found that Ukraine has significant potential of production factors, in particular biomass, which so far is in limited scale used for the needs of a knowledge-based bioeconomy that is in infancy. The main reason is the low level of diffusion of innovation, mainly in the field of biotechnology. The current development in a low degree is based on the concept of quadruple helix, which on other hands also represents a high potential of growth for the coming years. Adequately oriented economic policies would greatly affect the development of a knowledge-based bioeconomy in Ukraine. / Synopsis. W artykule podjęto próbę oceny stanu rozwoju sektora biogospodarki opartej na wiedzy na Ukrainie. Jednocześnie dokonano oceny na ile obecny rozwój wpisuje się w koncepcję systemu dyfu- zji innowacji opartą na modelu poczwórnej helisy, oraz wskazano na najważniejsze czynniki sprzyjające i ograniczające ów rozwój. Stwierdzono, iż Ukraina posiada znaczący potencjał czynników wytwórczych dla produkcji biomasy, który dotychczas wykorzystywany jest na potrzeby biogospodarki opartej na wiedzy w znikomym stopniu, czego główną przyczyną jest niski stopień dyfuzji innowacji, głównie w zakresie biotechnologii. Obecny rozwój w niskim stopniu oparty jest na koncepcji poczwórnej helisy, co jednocześnie stanowi o dużym potencjale wzrostu na najbliższe lata. Właściwie ukierunkowana polityka gospodarcza może w znacznym stopniu wpłynąć na rozwój biogospodarki opartej na wiedzy na Ukrainie.