Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Josef KRAUSE Author-Name: Ondrej MACHEK Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Strategy, Faculty of Business Administration, University of Economics, Prague, Czech Republic Title: A comparative analysis of organic and conventional farmers in the Czech Republic Abstract: Organic farming has become a topic that receives an increasing academic as well as popular attention. This study examines the financial differences between the organic and conventional farmers, as well as their income volatility. Based on the Student's t-test, the regression analysis and the matched-pair investigation on a sample of Czech 291 organic and 4045 conventional farmers over the period 2009-2013, the study indicates that the organic agricultural companies outperform the conventional companies in the terms of profitability. However, their asset turnover is considerably lower. No evidence of different income volatility has been found. Keywords: ecological agriculture, organic farmers, performance, Czech Republic Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 1-8 Volume: 64 Issue: 1 Year: 2018 DOI: 10.17221/161/2016-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/161/2016-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-201801-0001.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:64:y:2018:i:1:id:161-2016-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Nadezda JANKELOVA Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Management, Faculty of Business Management, University of Economics in Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovak Republic Author-Name: Marian DED Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Sociology and Social Psychology, Faculty of Public Policy and Public Administration, Danubius University, Sládkovičovo, Slovak Republic Author-Name: Branislav KOVACIK Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, Faculty of Political Science and International Relations, Matej Bel University, Banská Bystrica, Slovak Republic Title: Management of the bio-waste processing in crisis conditions in the municipal sector Abstract: Management of the bio-waste processing is a complex issue, which has not yet been elaborated for the municipal administration. Its importance can be seen in the synergic links of three key areas: the crisis in the energy, the bio-waste and its processing as the most prospective opportunity of crisis solution, and the management in the form of tool for the final solution. The main aim of the scientific paper is based on the theoretical knowledge and study of trends in the field of the renewable energy sources to create a universal exemplary model of decision-making for mayors in the process of the bio-waste management in the municipal sector. The necessary data were obtained using the questionnaire form and the data processing was carried out in the statistical program PSPP method Chi-Square, T-test and correlation. The main finding is that the energy crisis is understood as a significant shortage of supply of energy sources to the economy. The results confirm that the utilization rate of the municipal bio-waste for energy purposes is very low. An exemplary model was divided into two main groups, communes and towns. For a more relevant animation, the communes and towns were divided into three sub-categories according to the population. Recommendations are made regarding the collection, processing and use of the bio-waste for each group. Two of the three set out hypotheses were confirmed. Keywords: biomass, bio-residues, energy crisis, municipality, municipal waste, pyrolysis, renewable energy sources, waste degradation, waste hierarchy, waste management, waste-to-energy Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 9-22 Volume: 64 Issue: 1 Year: 2018 DOI: 10.17221/232/2016-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/232/2016-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-201801-0002.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:64:y:2018:i:1:id:232-2016-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Jiarong QIAN Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Agricultural Economics and Development, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China Author-Name: Shoichi ITO Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan Author-Name: MU Yueying Author-Workplace-Name: Collage of Economics and Management, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China Author-Name: Zhijun ZHAO Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Agricultural Economics and Development, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China Author-Name: Xuejun WANG Author-Workplace-Name: College of Economics and Management, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China Title: The role of subsidy policies in achieving grain self-sufficiency in China: a partial equilibrium approach Abstract: Food security is a critically important issue in China and can be enhanced by implementing subsidy policies. This paper employs a partial equilibrium model which takes into account the impact mechanism of subsidy policies to simulate the impact of current subsidy policies on grain supply and demand and on enhancing grain self-sufficiency in China. The simulation results suggest that subsidies can generally promote grain production, reduce consumption, increase imports, reduce exports and increase ending stocks. Subsidies may also result in increases in grain self-sufficiency rate and stock-to-use ratio, but the increases are relatively small, indicating that the subsidies lack efficiency. Given that subsidies constitutes only a very small share of farmers' total income, and that significant scope remains for increasing subsidy levels in China, employing subsidy policies can help to enhance or at least maintain China's grain self-sufficiency at a high level. Various measures should be implemented to improve the inefficiency of the current subsidy system, such as (1) combining different types of subsidies; (2) providing discriminatory subsidies to poor/rich farmers or developing/developed areas; and (3) increasing subsidy rates for wheat and corn. Keywords: equilibrium model, food security, impact of subsidy, simulation, supply and demand Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 23-35 Volume: 64 Issue: 1 Year: 2018 DOI: 10.17221/167/2016-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/167/2016-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-201801-0003.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:64:y:2018:i:1:id:167-2016-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Guillermo BENAVIDES-PERALES Author-Workplace-Name: Tecnológico de Monterrey, EGADE Business School, Mexico City, Mexico Author-Name: Isela Elizabeth TELLEZ-LEON Author-Workplace-Name: Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Escuela Superior de Economía, Mexico City, Mexico Author-Name: Francisco VENEGAS-MARTINEZ Author-Workplace-Name: Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Escuela Superior de Economía, Mexico City, Mexico Title: The impact of banking and external sectors on Mexican agriculture in the period 1995-2015 Abstract: Mexican agricultural production has been characterised by a lack of dynamism in recent years and is losing ground in terms of GDP. This may reflect the lack of funding from commercial and development banks. This research aims at studying the dynamics of the agriculture sector through econometric analysis using Vector Autoregressive (VAR) and Vector Error Correction (VEC) models in order to examine the short- and long-run relationships among agricultural production, terms of trade (ratio of agricultural prices and general price level), agricultural exports and lending from commercial and development banks. The main empirical findings, contrary to what was expected, is that even though there was a precarious level of funding from the banking sector, credit from commercial banking was higher than that from development banking in the last decades. Further, relative prices were found to have a negative relationship with agricultural exports, showing the importance of the external sector in agriculture. Keywords: agricultural financing, agricultural policy, econometric modelling Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 36-49 Volume: 64 Issue: 1 Year: 2018 DOI: 10.17221/193/2016-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/193/2016-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-201801-0004.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:64:y:2018:i:1:id:193-2016-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: editors Title: List of reviewers 2017 Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 430-439 Volume: 64 Issue: 1 Year: 2018 DOI: 10.17221/10767-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/10767-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:64:y:2018:i:1:id:10767-AGRICECON