Search

Fair Trade is a global network, a certification system whereby producers meet certain social, economic and environmental standards, with additional funding to improve these conditions and a minimum price set for their products. The literature shows the rapid spread of movements implemented by countries who want fair trade, fair prices and high quality products. The present research demonstrates the need for the implementation of the Fair Trade movement at the level of each country in the European Union and the benefits for the actors involved. At the global movement level, the total number of producer organisations in the FairTrade scheme in 2020 was 1880, of which 950 were registered in Latin America and the Caribbean. The paper is based on the quantitative and qualitative analysis of areas and productions for the 7 main agricultural products: tea, coffee, cocoa, sugar, bananas, cottonseed and plants and flowers, as well as the calculation of the main statistical indicators standard deviation, coefficient of variation and growth rate. At E.U. level there are 16 countries representing national Fair Trade organisations, of which Germany ranked second in terms of retail trade of FairTrade products in 2017. The recognition of certification in Europe is an important asset, as the high living standards in Western European countries mean that they are interested in buying products with this label.

Increased awareness about the importance of a safe food together with human concerns about health have changed people approaches to food they consume and increased the demand for high quality food. Certification is a tools signalizing to consumers that food is safe and has high quality. A growing number of producers make more effort in certifying products they put on the market. In this respect, the goal of this paper is to highlight the importance of food certification, assessing its linkages to other terms. A literature review and a bibliometric analysis were undertaken in order to highlight the importance of food certification. The results show that food certification is a growing global concern because of its role in assuring food safety and, moreover, because of its positive impact on public health, international trade, farmers’ income and ensuring overall food security. The relevance of the research lies in its capacity to enrich literature on food certification and rising awareness about its impact on consumers, producers, government and communities.

This article investigates how governmental agricultural R&D expenditure affect economic prosperity and sustainable development, attempting to verify the hypothesis that agricultural research and development expenditures are among the key factors influencing the farmers’ income, as one of the sustainable development indicators. Statistical data were retrieved from European international databases for the period of 2004–2020 and were analyzed using the regression model. The results of the study indicate positive effects for most of the EU member states. The countries where the results validate the hypothesis are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Croatia, Ireland, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom, as a former member state of the EU. Further, the model confirms that a significant portion of farmers’ income growth is explained by the governmental R&D expenditure. These findings may change the methods and directions regarding the agricultural R&D expenditure, underpinning the macroeconomic policy and agriculture in rural areas along the pathway to achieving the sustainable development goals.

Situated at the crossroads between several sectors, from biology, biochemistry, agronomy, management and economy to technology, the bioeconomy represents all uses of bio-resources, whether they come from agricultural land, sea, forest or waste materials. The current bioeconomy strategy of European Union identifies agriculture as one of the sectors mainly supplying biomass. In the last decades, agriculture was constantly transforming towards a knowledge intensive sector. Being almost entirely the physical support for agriculture, the rural regions are expected to become a key player in the development of the bioeconomy activities of the near future. In the modern biobased economies, the rural regions represent more than just a source of raw materials to bioeconomy industries. Future opportunities for the development of the agricultural sector in Romania, thus boosting rural development were identified by conducting a SWOT analysis of the domain through agriculture development.

The waste management strategies released and applied in EU countries endeavor to achieve the improvement of natural resources use and efficiency towards reducing the air, water and soil pollution due to improper waste disposal or treatment. This paper is a blueprint on waste generation and waste management Policies, Laws and strategies existing in Romania compared to EU countries. According to Directive 2008/98/EC Waste, is defined as “any substance or object which the holder discards or intends or is required to discard”. One of the main principles of waste management strategies is to be able to process the waste generated towards reaching as up as possible the Waste Management Hierarchy. From the circular economy concept point of view, the incorrect treatment of waste is representing an important loss of resources, both in raw materials and energy and therefore recycling and reuse should reach a superior level every year.

Nowadays, agriculture is facing a special challenge – to produce more food for a growing population, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions caused by food production. This piece of research is focused on the impact of agriculture on climate change, starting from the assumption that agriculture is affected by climate variability, but also it contributes to it by emitting greenhouse gases, under the restriction of less per capita land. The paper analyses the connection between agricultural emissions and agricultural output, using a simple regression model, which includes variables corresponding to agricultural production and to greenhouse gas emissions. The results of the research highlight the fact that agricultural production has direct effects on greenhouse gas emissions and, thereby, on climate change. The relevance of the research consists in rising awareness of the emergency to integrate climate change in policies and actions related to food security at all levels. Moreover, the paper contributes to the enrichment of scientific literature, because it presents empirical evidence supporting the different effects of agricultural practices on the environment in Romania, with implications for climate change, a scientific direction that has been little studied in other papers.

The paper investigates the relationships between agricultural productivity, efficiency and farm’s competitiveness, trying to find out to what extend the farm’s activity is both efficient and competitive? The research starts from the assumption that a farm can be economically inefficient but competitive, and, reciprocally, an economically efficient farm is not necessarily competitive. A case study of a farm from North-West Romania has been considered. It was found that, although the overall activity of the farm is inefficient in some agricultural years, for certain crops, the farm is competitive in those regarding prices and yields. The analysis goes deeper to compare crops between them and proposes solutions for increasing farm’s efficiency by replacing inefficient crops to efficient ones, using the method of balance of gains and losses. The results of the research are useful in helping farmers making their decisions regarding the structure of production.

This article investigates how governmental agricultural R&D expenditure affect economic prosperity and sustainable development, attempting to verify the hypothesis that agricultural research and development expenditures are among the key factors influencing the farmers’ income, as one of the sustainable development indicators. Statistical data were retrieved from European international databases for the period of 2004–2020 and were analyzed using the regression model. The results of the study indicate positive effects for most of the EU member states. The countries where the results validate the hypothesis are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Croatia, Ireland, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom, as a former member state of the EU. Further, the model confirms that a significant portion of farmers’ income growth is explained by the governmental R&D expenditure. These findings may change the methods and directions regarding the agricultural R&D expenditure, underpinning the macroeconomic policy and agriculture in rural areas along the pathway to achieving the sustainable development goals.

During a long period of marketing practice, we have decided to write this article, especially seeing the problems of entrepreneurial beginnings from Romania, and from other countries from EU. In this article are highlighted the entrepreneurial mistakes encountered during my entrepreneurial activity, but also due to a long activity in the marketing theory, that it should be thought, adapted at all entrepreneurial levels. Even if it seems difficult to understand by some investors in various fields of activity, however, entrepreneurial marketing is very complex, and requires very good knowledge in the applicability of marketing combined with other fields of economics. Thus, Romanian entrepreneurs have a relatively good thinking, but in general they only consider the short-term strategy, and from here in the same terms all other components of economic disciplines. Hence a whole series of problems that arise in the development of an enterprise, especially in the second stage, when, after entering the market and the enterprise must develop on the market. Through this article I highlight the wrong decisions from a strategic point of view, with concrete examples, which are very common in Romania, but also in other countries, in entrepreneurial practice, mistakes that are widespread. I could say that, in my practice as an entrepreneur and as a theorist, in the last years I started to give more pro bono consultancy to entrepreneurs and their startups rather than to “negotiate” something with them, at least at a first discussion to help them develop their businesses. So, through quantitative research I aim to achieve as objectives the information of entrepreneurial specialists, but also of specialists in marketing theory, about the current mistakes in the application of marketing, especially where there are mistakes of economic calculations that can be very difficult be correct later.

The purpose of this research is to explore the issue of the land used for sunflower and its production as raw material for edible oil processing industry in Romania. The relations between consumption, as main component of demand, and production and import, as sources of supply, on the sunflower oil market are investigated. The case study of the edible oil market is discussed because of the alarming growth in imports after Romania’s accession to the European Union and, furthermore, because of sunflower crop implications on land use in the context of the food vs. fuel competition. The research answers the issue of the factorial relations between sunflower oil production, import and consumption, as well as the issue of the extent to which the consumption requirements can be met by domestic production. In pursuing this, data regarding the sunflower oil consumption, production and import are computed to investigate their interdependence, using the regression model. The main findings reveal that a one-unit increase in sunflower oil consumption leads to a growth of 0.13 units in oil production, and of 0.19 in oil imports, respectively. The relevance of this study lies in its capacity to lead to better understanding of the interdependence among sunflower oil consumption, production and import, in predicting them, and, furthermore, in identifying investment opportunities in the Romanian sunflower oil processing industry, given the significant potential of sunflower seeds production of this country.

This paper investigates the state of food security in Romania and its place in the world. We analysed the level of food security indicators for 1990–2012, in Romania, and their average levels worldwide. References are also made to developed and developing countries. The research seeks to answer the questions: Is food security achieved in Romania and, if so, what kind of structural changes can be made towards improving food quality and people’s living standards? As indicators show, the findings indicate that food security is ensured, on average, in Romania. Dietary energy supply is above dietary energy requirements, the ratio of cereals import dependency is below its average level worldwide, and the daily diet is balanced between vegetal and animal origin food. Having solved the quantitative aspect of food security, Romania can look towards improving the qualitative aspects of it. In this regard, organic food may be considered as a direction of developing sustainable agricultural economy.

The objective of the paper is to identify how large is the sector of organic farming in Romania, as part of agro-food system. The research question is: what are the dimensions of organic farming in Romania? In pursuing this, statistical data regarding agricultural areas and livestock under organic farming are gathered and analysed. Results show that organic sector has insignificant weight in agro-food system. However, accelerated growth of indicators shows the high potential of developing organic farming in Romania. The subject is more attractive and of high interest as there are many voices that emphasize the role of the farming in a fast growing population and the challenges that are associated with this process.

Although almost any conference tackles the issue of organic foods, we consider that this article does not fit into normal patterns of research. Our paper proposes a complex analysis in the field of organic food products. It also highlights the need of developing new competences of managers and marketers in analysing market for getting a competitive position on it. The method used is the Six Thinking Hats, devised by Edward de Bono. This method appeals to the driving creative thinking; it can be applied in almost any field of analysis. The outcomes show that, using creative thinking, the leaders develop new competences which enable them to better analyse organic food market and to identify and gain competitive positions on it.

Sustainable development is a concern of governments and groups of countries around the world. The topic is on top agenda because the need for a coherent development strategy became imminent under global crisis conditions. The objectives of the work consist in identifying the level of sustainable development of agriculture in Romania, by quantifying the indicators developed by the European Union and those published by the United Nations. The main results show a slight progress in sustainable agricultural development of Romania, at least in those regarding the area under organic farming, which increased 8 times from 2000 to 2009.

Private brands are representing an important vector for retailers, helping them to build sustainable relationships with their customers. Usually, private brands are perceived as products differentiated by lower prices. The purpose of this research is to identify consumers’ trust level in private brands used in food retail and their perceptions about the quality of retailers’ own products. The research question is: What are consumers’ perceptions about using private brands in food retail? Pursuing this question, a survey based on a questionnaire was carried out. Research findings showed that the main reason why people buy private brands’ products is lower price rather than high quality. The interviews showed that the typical private brand user is male, aged between 45 and 65 years old, with middle-level income, and employees with secondary education. These results are useful for retailers in their efforts to decide strategies for their private brands and for building consumers’ trust. The findings are useful for food producers as well, because they should reconsider their marketing strategies in order to adapt themselves to the continuous growth of retailers’ private brands.

This chapter presents the key elements of green agricultural marketing, referring to distribution and promotion. Similarities and discrepancies of conventional and green marketing of agricultural products are identified, using comparative analysis. Models of sustainable distribution and promotions are designed. The results and discussions reveal that green products, distribution and promotion meet both ecological principles (referring to environment), and economic ones (reduced costs). Green agricultural marketing is ethical, beneficial and safe for individuals and target groups.

Growing attention is paid by economists worldwide to research and assessment of economic sustainability. The relevance of ensurance of sustainable development is explained by the necessity to provide certain conditions for sustainable development and raising of living standards by means of effective utilization of the existing resources. The range of definitions, which describe the essence of sustainable development, are interpreted broadly, but all definitions agree that sustainable development considers a correspondence of current and future life necessities. However, the issue of sustainable rural development is even broader, since it unites the complex aggregation of economic, agricultural, environmental, infrastructural, cultural, and social aspects. Besides, it is necessary to consider the regional specifics of particular rural territories. We believe that such complexity of issues related to ensurance of sustainable rural development should be researched through an effective combination of national and international approaches. While the national approach lets to study particular problems of rural territories within the country (or even more locally, within a region or territory), international approach provides a broader vision of those problems, gives an opportunity to study experiences of other countries and to gain the best practices from them. This monograph is a result of joint research of international team from four countries: Russia, Serbia, Romania, and Ukraine. It addresses a wide range of issues related to ensurance of sustainable rural development by means of international and national agrarian policies, liberalization of international trade, rural tourism, development of resort areas, utilization of environmental and resort potentials of Europe, CIS and Russia. Apart from general issues of sustainable development on the international and national levels (international trade, liberalization, food security, state support of agriculture, international and state agrarian policies, etc.), the monograph presents the case studies of several regions, including Danube region and Caucasus Mineral Waters resort area. It considers perspectives of rural tourism as a driver of sustainable rural development, issues of rational nature management and utilization of environmental and resort resources in various countries, financial aspects of sustainable development and perspectives of agricultural cooperative structures in rural territories. The special consideration is given to environmental issues of sustainable rural development. The researches present their investigations of ecological sustainability within agriculture, environmental aspects of European reforms and new Common Agricultural Policies, and problems of effective preservation and increase of rational implementation of environmental, climatic, natural curative and recreational resources. We appreciate all authors of the monograph for their high level of professionalism, invaluable contributions, manifold approaches and research methods implemented, as well as for their devotion to the problems of sustainable development. We believe that the results of the given research would impact into the ensurance of sustainable rural development in our countries, and would be beneficial to other related researches worldwide.

This document contains the proceedings of the international conference called Agro-Food and Rural Economy Competitiveness in Terms of Global Crisis, held in Bucharest, Romania, on 23-24th September, 2011 with a international participation and it was published as a special issue of the journal Economics of Agriculture, published by Institute of Agriculture Economics, Belgrade, The Balkan Scientific Association of Agrarian Economists and Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania.

Agricultural activity, unlike other economic areas, is accompanied by a high degree of risk and uncertainty, caused mainly by environmental factors. The influence of weather on growth and developing processes of crops, orchards and vineyards is the science which studies and determines agricultural biotope necessary to achieve optimal biological productivity. Thus, agro meteorology involves agro-climatic resources’ management and conservation in developing agricultural production process (weather - deepening relationship). Agriculture, as user of agro meteorological information, recover their combination with specialized information (agricultural, technological, economic, etc.) for preventing and minimizing climatic risk upon plant species, but also for establishing sustainable development strategies. In order to prevent and reduce the negative impact on wine production, it is necessary to monitor weather forecasts and hazardous to achieve decision-making system of protection and assurance wine production.

The article analyzes consumers’ concern for healthy food, emphasizing the role of the vegetarian diet. Studies on the topic are available world-wide; however, none of these focuses on the role of vegetarian diet within the concern for healthy food, in Romania. In answering this question, a qualitative research was carried out on the customers of a store that sells natural food products and products certified as organic. The results indicate that vegetarian diet has a central role within the wider concern for healthy food, endorsing arguments to support the assertion. Hence, propensities in the consumer concerns to turn to healthier diets were identified, based on a system that diminishes or eliminates meat based diets. The conclusion of the qualitative research is a premise for future development of quantitative research, assessing the dimensions of this phenomenon.

Romanian agro-food products’ competitivity depends, as a priority, on their quality. There are some factors that conduct to a decrease in productivity for agricultural production in Romania and in its quality, the main are: financial difficulties in input supply, small dimension of the farms and lack of the technologies, management and marketing for the main part of the farms. In order to improve agro-food products’ quality, it is necessary to harmonize Romanian quality standards to those of the European Union and to support the quality of the traded agro-food products. One of the agro-food branches of the economy which may become competitive on the European Union market is wine, with the condition of quality improving. In this paper we present some measures for wine quality improving. We intend to present some ways of improving the wine quality.

The paper presents an overview of the wine chain in Romania, analysing the areasunder vine, in a structural approach, the yields and the production of grapes and the wine industry.The data regarding the lands under vines, yields, productions of grapes and wine industry havebeen collected from the National Institute of Statistics.The main results show that Romania has high potential for wine production; 1.3% of theagricultural areas are cultivated with vineyards, but it has structural problems. Among the 189,000ha of vines, 48% are hybrids, which produce wines forbidden to be traded on the market. Thoseareas belong to small exploitations that produce for self-consumption, while bigger exploitationscultivate grafted vineyards that produce noble assortments of wine.

Nowadays, in the EU and worldwide, agriculture and food industry face new trends of developing green alternatives. This agriculture sector emerged as a result of people concerns about health and environment due to the intensification of agriculture technologies, and uses of chemicals, in both agriculture and food processing industry. These problems appeared and acknowledged by the developed countries, among others, are strictly related to environmental pollution and increasing problems of health degradation. The present study investigates the possibilities of developing organic farming in Romania and Serbia. The results show that there is a great application that can ensure its development, considering many factors relating to the way in which resources are exploited. Thus, statistical data about agricultural areas under organic farming, uncultivated areas, use of chemicals, and number of semi-subsistent farms are gathered in both countries and comparative analyzed. This article makes a foray in assessing the resources that countries can rely on in developing strategies based on organic agriculture.