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The aim of this research is to examine the present condition of food security within the framework of preparations for future adoption of reforms under the new Common Agricultural Policy, as well as the development of the National Strategy for the Development of Agriculture and Rural Area (SNDASR) for the period 2012-2027. It evaluates key indicators related to food security and culminates in an examination of a social survey conducted in the North-eastern Region of Romania. This study has specific objectives: to assess the level of food security within Romania and compare it with global and/or European standards using FAO-provided indicators, and to evaluate the extent of food security assurance specifically within the North-eastern Region of Romania. In recent years, there has been a growing focus on food security, particularly concerning food safety. It's important to clarify the distinction between food security and food safety, as they are often conflated. While food security encompasses indicators related to food access for the population, food safety is more concerned with the quality, sanitation, and safety of food products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the assessment and enhancement of food sustainability, exploring the multifaceted factors that shape consumption patterns. In a world marked by growing concerns about food security and environmental sustainability, understanding the dynamics of food consumption becomes paramount. Through a comprehensive analysis, this research delves into various dimensions of food sustainability, encompassing environmental impact, social equity, and economic viability. The methodology involved evaluating primary food sustainability indicators and concluded with a social survey analysis. Forecasts for the average daily food consumption per capita were interpreted. The study examined the Global Food Security Index (GFSI) in Europe, reflecting food access levels and the population's ability to secure adequate, safe, and nutritious food. The aim was to identify the most precise and statistically valid forecast method. Romania ranks 23rd in the GFSI overall score, which is improving. It stands 25th in accessibility, 21st in food availability, and also 21st in quality and security. While the overall score, accessibility, and availability show positive trends, quality and safety exhibit a decline. The critical analysis led to recommendations for a unified strategy to boost food sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change, water and air pollution, global warming, the decline of fauna and flora, eutrophication, correlated with the demands of the modern consumer, led to the formation of a new, much more complex approach regarding the sector of ecological products and its main determinants. The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze the factors that can influence the decision to buy organic products by consumers. In addition, this study provides recommendations that can be considered by consumers when increasing and reinforcing green behavior towards green products. The objectives of the study aim to evaluate the influence of different types of variables (related to person, environment, product and reference group) on the decision to purchase organic products. One of the concepts proposed in the management of environmental problems by involving consumer participation is sustainable consumption. The recommendations are hereby derived from the relevant academic research, theories and results of this research. Both purchasing and consumption behavior can be influenced by certain information received from internal or external sources manifested in the form of stimuli. Thus, the consumer becomes aware of the emergence of a need suggested by different internal stimuli, such as: hunger or thirst, stimuli that, at a given moment, reach a high enough level to become impulses. Knowing these ratios allows the anticipation of future market reactions, reactions that are difficult to predict without a full understanding of the economic and psychological processes underlying consumer behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of sustainable agricultural development has started to be acknowledged in Romania as well, following the identification of various pollution sources and the restrictions affecting industrial and agricultural pollution, from both economic and ecological perspectives. Sustainable development signifies the necessity of raising awareness about environmental protection and educating the population, and this aspect is mirrored in the evolution of communal policies in recent years. These policies have transitioned from an approach based on constraints and sanctions to a higher level of flexibility, grounded in incentives. The purpose of this paper is to provide recommendations for enhancing the existing policy by evaluating economic incentives aimed at encouraging farmers to adopt sustainable farming systems. These systems should support a viable, sustainable agriculture capable of employing the latest technologies, leading to profitability, efficiency, and economic and organizational consolidation. In recent times, Romania has come to appreciate the critical role that sustainable agricultural practices play in safeguarding both the environment and the economy. The acknowledgment of various pollution sources, encompassing both industrial and agricultural sectors, has prompted a reevaluation of traditional practices in favor of more environmentally conscious approaches. Sustainable agriculture is essential to meet the world's growing food demand while mitigating environmental challenges. To achieve this balance, efficient management of key factors in agriculture is imperative. This paper explores optimal management approaches for several critical factors in sustainable agriculture, including soil health, water resources, biodiversity, and pest control. The integration of innovative techniques, precision agriculture, and policy support is vital for achieving sustainability goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic and social problems facing today's global society are increasingly varied. One of these is the concern about the environment status, which has as main directions, in the future, especially the following: the depletion of resources, the decrease of their quality, the increase in the level of pollution and in the prices of basic resources, the negative impact on human health, etc. All these forms of concern are found in a new concept: eco-anxiety, considered an emotional disorder. Specific studies and research show that the most affected segment is that of young people, especially from developed or developing countries. Paradoxically, regarding the presence of this disorder, an inverse relationship proportional to well-being and progress is identified: the higher the level of development of a country, the more present this state of eco-anxiety is. From another perspective, today's society has predominantly become a consumer society, and the interest of individuals to buy more and more has almost become normality. This phenomenon also prevails in developed and developing countries. In addition, in the last 3 years or so, the orientation of purchase and consumption, towards ecological or at least more environment-friendly products and services has been observed. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the mutual influence between two issues of major interest for today's society: ecoanxiety and consumer behavior. It starts from the hypothesis that these two concepts influence each other. The research methods are: observation, literature review, synthesis and interpretation. Thus, it follows that the manifestation of ecoanxiety stimulates interest in the purchase of environmentally friendly products, and the compulsive buying style - a socalled emotional remedy - generates hyper consumption and, implicitly, has negative consequences on the environment, such as: pollution, resource depletion and impressive amounts of waste difficult to manage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to promote the setting up of farms whose size will allow the practice of a viable, sustainable agriculture, capable to apply the newest technologies and lead to profit and efficiency, to the economical and organizational consolidation. The essential criterion in optimizing the crop structure is the economic efficiency, respectively the realized profit. Economic efficiency is constantly changing due to changes in raw material prices and commodity production. Hence the need to optimize the structure of crops in each cycle of agricultural production. The main indicators used in optimizing the structure of crops are: yield per hectare, production costs per unit area, profit per hectare, unit cost and rate of return. As a consequence, the resizing of the agricultural holdings, the partnership between the producers, the integration of the agricultural production, the rural development, the consumers’ constant request for agricultural and food products, the decrease of the deficit of the commercial balance for the agricultural products, the increase of the population’s life standard, the safety of the food, all these are goals that have to be under the continuous attention of the authorities at central and local level. The elaboration of mathematical models was oriented on the design of several structural alternatives and the elaboration of a large number of variants, because analysing the problem of establishing an optimal structure through the prism of several variants creates the possibility of highlighting the development and manifestation of different phenomena, some conclusions, not by subjective assessments or by antithesis, but on the basis of several concrete structures that each variant covers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to analyze the purchasing and food consumption behavior of the population of Iasi, as well as the decision-making act made at individual or group level, in connection with the purchase and consumption of agri-food products, designed to meet food needs, present and future, including both the decision-making processes that precede and those that determine the purchase / consumption of these product categories. Food satisfies the physiological needs of every human being, which cannot be delayed and, therefore, for this satisfaction the needs of the consumer affect a part of their income. The way in which food needs can be met differently, through food of animal or vegetable origin, rationalization of the number of calories, dietary principles, vitamins, minerals, etc., ultimately determines the level of expenditure depending on these options. They differ according to age, social condition, preference for the structure of consumption, degree of civilization, geographical condition, even fashion and imitation, etc. At first glance, defining consumer behaviour seems to be a relatively easy process. In reality, however, the definition of this concept involves taking into account a variety of elements, resulting in a series of definitions presented by the literature over the past decades. Given the complexity of this concept, for its definition, specialists have resorted to various sciences starting with anthropology, sociology and psychology, and ending with economics and marketing. In this paper, the emphasis is on treating the concept of consumer behaviour from a marketing perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to analyse cross-compliance as a component of the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) which conditions the provision of financial support from European and national funds to farmers, so that they comply with basic rules related to the environment, climate change, good agricultural conditions, public health, animal and plant health, animal welfare. The paper also examines the rules of cross-compliance as well as the application of administrative sanctions to reduce payments or exclusion from payment, for one or more years, in case of noncompliance with the rules of cross-compliance. Cross-compliance rules aimed at cultivating the farmer and the land he manages and applies to the entire agricultural area of the farm, including land ineligible for payment or not used for production purposes. An analysis of the evolution of the common agricultural policy (CAP) highlights the continuity and evolving nature of the European agricultural and rural development policy based on specific objectives, implementation mechanisms and defined financial instruments. Any farmer applying direct payments on agricultural land, agrienvironment payments, LFA support payments for the first afforestation of agricultural areas, wine support and other schemes and support measures from EU funds and the national budget must comply with cross-compliance rules. Failure results in the exclusion of payment or payments in relation to the extent, severity, persistence, repetition and deliberate nature of the failure. Moreover, the allocation of all payments in the European financial package for direct payments to farmers in 2014-2020 will continue to be linked to compliance with cross-compliance rules in accordance with regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]