Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Jindřich ŠPIČKA Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Strategy, Faculty of Business Administration, University of Economics, Prague, Czech Republic Author-Name: Luboš SMUTKA Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Management, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic Author-Name: Richard SELBY Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Management, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic Title: Recent areas of innovation activities in the Czech dairy industry Abstract: The aim of the article is to compare and identify differences between the innovations within the Czech dairy industry. Dairy products are the export pillars of Czech agrarian foreign trade, and the dairy industry was one of the most important recipients of public support on innovations from the Rural Development Programme (RDP). The core of this research is an analysis of sixteen projects, supported under RDP sub-measure I.1.3.2 from 2007 to September 2013. Data from the representative sample of approved projects have been converted into a set of questions and answers to enable them to be evaluated, both quantitatively and qualitatively. The dataset is analysed by means of a counterfactual analysis, descriptive statistics, and correlation analysis. The results show that innovations, and public support of innovations, enabled dairies to stabilise their profits, and to increase their competiveness, during the period of economic crisis. There were five types of innovation trends in the Czech dairy industry in recent years: (i) The processing and efficient use of by-products (whey, buttermilk); (ii) The production of new products with health benefits; (iii) Improved processing of dairy products with particular focus on long-life products having better sensory parameters; (iv) Improved efficiency of transport and storage of milk and dairy products; (v) Improved wastewater treatment. The real innovative effect was, however, very limited because individual companies were not looking for their own new added value, but were more focused on the implementation of already-existing innovations. Keywords: competitiveness, innovations, milk processing, technology Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 249-264 Volume: 61 Issue: 6 Year: 2015 DOI: 10.17221/128/2014-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/128/2014-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-201506-0001.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:61:y:2015:i:6:id:128-2014-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Peter ADAMIŠIN Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Environmental Management, Faculty of Management, University of Presov, Prešov, Slovak Republic Author-Name: Rastislav KOTULIČ Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Economic Sciences and Economy, Faculty of Management, University of Presov, Prešov, Slovak Republic Author-Name: Ivana KRAVČÁKOVÁ VOZÁROVÁ Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Economic Sciences and Economy, Faculty of Management, University of Presov, Prešov, Slovak Republic Author-Name: Roman VAVREK Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Finance and Accounting, Faculty of Management, University of Presov, Prešov, Slovak Republic Title: Natural climatic conditions as a determinant of productivity and economic efficiency of agricultural entities Abstract: The scientific contribution builds on the previous scientific studies analysing the determinants of productivity and economic efficiency of the agricultural entities and extends the knowledge of the spatial econometrics area at the NUTS IV level (at the district level) for the reporting period. The paper aimed to assess the development of productivity and economic efficiency of the agricultural entities in the reporting period based on the synthetic evaluation of the selected economic indicators by the methods of cluster analysis, and so to create a spatial map according to the regional differentiation at the NUTS IV level. On the basis of the completed analysis, we can conclude that the natural and climatic conditions have a dominant influence on the achievable productivity and economic efficiency of the agricultural entities in ensuring the sustainability of the economic performance of agriculture in different regions of Slovakia. On the basis of conducting the analysis, there were clearly defined two relatively coherent areas in Slovakia (at the district level), which are characterized by differences in the achieved production indicators and allow the regional differentiation of Slovakia into districts with more and less prosperous agricultural enterprises. Keywords: economic performance, agrarian businesses, spatial econometrics, cluster analysis Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 265-274 Volume: 61 Issue: 6 Year: 2015 DOI: 10.17221/153/2014-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/153/2014-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-201506-0002.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:61:y:2015:i:6:id:153-2014-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Anna NOWAK Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Economics and Agribusiness, Faculty of Agrobioengineering, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Lublin, Poland Author-Name: Tomasz KIJEK Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Economics and Agribusiness, Faculty of Agrobioengineering, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Lublin, Poland Author-Name: Katarzyna DOMAŃSKA Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Economics and Agribusiness, Faculty of Agrobioengineering, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Lublin, Poland Title: Technical efficiency and its determinants in the European Union Abstract: The study concerns the measurement of the technical efficiency of agriculture in the 27 European Union (EU) countries in 2010. The studies were conducted based on the result-oriented DEA method assuming variable advantages of scale. Moreover, in the study, the factors affecting technical efficiency were identified, and the econometric modelling of their impact was performed with the use of the Tobit model. The studies indicate that across the 27 EU Member States, the level of the technical efficiency of agriculture is diverse, and the difference between the states with the highest and the lowest efficiencies is 40%. Cyprus, Denmark, Greece, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy and Malta were identified as the countries with the thoroughly technically efficient agriculture. In turn, the least technically efficient agriculture is observed for the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia and Slovakia. Taking into account the factors determining the technical agriculture efficiency, it should be noted that the stimulants have proven to be such factors as: the soil quality, the age of the head of the household and the surcharges for investments. In turn, the size of the farm appeared to be irrelevant from the viewpoint of the technical efficiency of the agricultural sector. Keywords: efficiency of agriculture, EU Member States, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 275-283 Volume: 61 Issue: 6 Year: 2015 DOI: 10.17221/200/2014-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/200/2014-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-201506-0003.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:61:y:2015:i:6:id:200-2014-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Meng-Shiuh CHANG Author-Workplace-Name: School of Public Finance and Taxation, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu, China Author-Name: Wen WANG Author-Workplace-Name: School of Public Finance and Taxation, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu, China Author-Name: Chih-Chun KUNG Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Poyang Lake Eco-economics, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Nanchang, China Title: Economic effects of the biochar application on rice supply in Taiwan Abstract: The objective of the study is to analyze the economics of the bio-energy production for Taiwan in terms of the bio-energy production, social welfare and crop yield increase under the conventional bio-power, ethanol and pyrolysis. The effects on rice production patterns are also examined for the fast and slow pyrolysis plus the biochar application. In addition to adopting the mathematical programming model (Modified Taiwan Agricultural Sector Model) in the analysis of the bio-energy production and the crop cultivation patterns, the study further employs a nonparametric kernel regression model to forecast the increased benefits of rice from using biochar under various scenarios. With the biochar application, Taiwan's rice production could increase ranging from 6308 to 38 118 tons annually, depending on the pyrolysis type and the plant location. The results indicate that the biochar utilization can potentially increase social benefits if rice is planted. The net increase of farmer>s and the environmental revenues can achieve up to NT$ 419 400. Moreover, we find that farmers should give priority to the improvement of nutrient saving to make higher benefits. Second, the total benefits could be improved if the seed use is efficient and harvesting and transporting costs for the energy crop and processing and the hauling cost of biochar are lower. Simulation results indicate that Taiwan benefits from the bio-energy production in terms of energy security, farmers revenue, social welfare and rice supply. The results show that, in general, pyrolysis plus the biochar application not only increase the domestic renewable energy supply but also enhance the farmers' and environmental revenues significantly. Keywords: bio-ethanol, energy security, food supply, nonparametric analysis, pyrolysis Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 284-295 Volume: 61 Issue: 6 Year: 2015 DOI: 10.17221/147/2014-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/147/2014-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-201506-0004.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:61:y:2015:i:6:id:147-2014-AGRICECON