Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Marie PECHROVÁ Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Management, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic Title: Impact of the Rural Development Programme Subsidies on the farms' inefficiency and efficiency Abstract: The aim of the paper is to assess the impact of subsidies from the Rural Development Programme of the Czech Republic for the years 2007-2013 (RDP) on the technical inefficiency and the efficiency of Czech agricultural holdings. An unbalanced panel includes 454 Czech farms and 2103 observations for years 2007-2013. The Parametric Stochastic Frontier Analysis is used to assess the technical inefficiency and efficiency. A "true" fixed effects model with RDP subsidies explaining the variance of the inefficiency term is estimated. The results are ambiguous. On one hand, the RDP subsidies contributed to the decrease of variance of the inefficiency term, but on the other, the effect is statistically significant only at 90% level of significance. Therefore, we further tested the medians of inefficiency (efficiency) which are lower (higher) in the subsidized farms. We concluded that there are statistically significant differences depending on whether the farm received the RDP subsidies or not. However, we suggest a further examination of the particular projects using the efficiency of investments indicators. Keywords: Common Agricultural Policy, Stochastic Frontier Analysis, subsidy, "true" fixed effects model Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 197-204 Volume: 61 Issue: 5 Year: 2015 DOI: 10.17221/110/2014-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/110/2014-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-201505-0001.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:61:y:2015:i:5:id:110-2014-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Bing Zhang Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Finance and Insurance, Business School, Nanjing University, China Title: Is there co-movement between the China and US agricultural futures markets? Abstract: The paper examines the co-movements between the agricultural markets of China and the US. First, the empirical findings indicate that long-term equilibrium exists between the China and US soybean futures markets but not in the wheat futures markets. Second, there exists a significant spillover effect from the US to China in the wheat futures market, but the opposite effect is not strong; furthermore, for soybean futures, the spillover effect is bi-directional. Third, there is a unidirectional leading effect by the US agricultural futures markets on the Chinese market, particularly for agricultural products weakly controlled by the Chinese government. Keywords: spillover effect, soybean, wheat Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 205-213 Volume: 61 Issue: 5 Year: 2015 DOI: 10.17221/134/2014-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/134/2014-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-201505-0002.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:61:y:2015:i:5:id:134-2014-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Giray GOZGOR Author-Workplace-Name: Economics and Finance, Dogus University, Istanbul, Turkey Author-Name: Cahit MEMIS Author-Workplace-Name: Risk Active, Istanbul, Turkey Title: Price volatility spillovers among agricultural commodity and crude oil markets: Evidence from the range-based estimator Abstract: The paper examines the price volatility spillovers among the crude oil, soybeans, corn, wheat, and sugar futures markets over the period 1/1/2006-11/29/2013. We separately investigate the periods of the pre-crisis, the crisis, and the post-crisis in financial markets. We use the Yang-Zhang estimators for the historical volatility and find that there is a volatility sprawl from the crude oil to corn markets. There is also bi-directional causality between the corn and soybeans markets. In addition, we observe significant volatility spillovers from both the soybeans and the corn markets to the wheat markets. The results are also valid in a different sub-period analysis. Keywords: agricultural commodity market, financial crisis of 2008-2009, futures markets, historical price volatility, intra-day data Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 214-221 Volume: 61 Issue: 5 Year: 2015 DOI: 10.17221/162/2014-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/162/2014-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-201505-0003.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:61:y:2015:i:5:id:162-2014-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Volker BECKMANN Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Law and Economics, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany Author-Name: Ilona M. OTTO Author-Workplace-Name: School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China Author-Workplace-Name: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam, Germany Author-Name: Rong TAN Author-Workplace-Name: School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China Title: Overcoming the legacy of the past? Analyzing the modes of governance used by the Polish agricultural producer groups Abstract: The cooperative movement in Poland has a long but difficult history, which has caused farmers to have an aversion to cooperatives. Nonetheless, in the early 1990s, the first farmers' cooperative marketing organizations, which were called agricultural producer groups, appeared in the market. These groups are bottom-up, voluntary organizations the primary purpose of which is to jointly sell their members' output. In this paper, it is investigated why the new forms of governance, namely cooperative arrangements, were chosen, and we evaluate the implications of these choices on the market success of these groups. Empirical data were collected from 62 producer groups in one Polish province. We found that the groups were typically functioning as associations, unions, and limited liability companies. The factors that had an impact on the choices made were the number of members and the specific investment per member. Additionally, if the initial investment level was low, not only set-up and operational costs but also tax considerations played a role in the decision. Therefore, we argue that the new bottom-up cooperatives, which are theoretically suitable when the start-up capital is high or the number of members is large, will gradually be recognized and accepted in the market despite the fact that these cooperatives have a "bad reputation" caused by the socialist legacy. The new cooperative development trend confirms this argument. Keywords: co-operatives, governance, organizational choice, Poland, socialist legacy Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 222-233 Volume: 61 Issue: 5 Year: 2015 DOI: 10.17221/190/2014-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/190/2014-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-201505-0004.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:61:y:2015:i:5:id:190-2014-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Vladimír JENÍČEK Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of International Relation, University of Economics, Prague, Czech Republic Author-Name: Šárka GROFOVÁ Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of International Relation, University of Economics, Prague, Czech Republic Title: Least developed countries - the case of Burundi Abstract: The contribution is focused on the food problem in the least developed countries, on the chosen areas where the overall situation is the most problematic. It deals with Burundi, belonging to the low income food deficit countries with one of the world's lowest rates of the gross domestic product per capita. The paper defines the food security situation in the global connection, representing a wide complex of economic, social, demographic, technologic and political aspects of production, distribution, shift and consumption of foodstuffs. The inter-related causes of food insecurity are mainly the long lasting civil wars, a limited access to land, environmental degradation, climatic shocks and the rapid population growth resulting from the high birth rates and the return of refugees. Subsistence crops and livestock products represent the main source of income for most households. The performance of these subsectors is very low, and generates chronic food deficits. Agriculture is thus the key sector in the predominantly rural economies and there is still a significant room for growth, diversification, increasing productivity and improving competitiveness. Keywords: agriculture, conflict, economic growth, food security, poverty Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 234-247 Volume: 61 Issue: 5 Year: 2015 DOI: 10.17221/48/2014-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/48/2014-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-201505-0005.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:61:y:2015:i:5:id:48-2014-AGRICECON