Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Victor MOUTINHO Author-Workplace-Name: University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal Author-Name: Margarita ROBAINA Author-Workplace-Name: University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal Author-Name: Pedro MACEDO Title: Economic-environmental efficiency of European agriculture - a generalized maximum entropy approach Abstract: The study aims to estimate the agricultural economic-environmental efficiency (eco-efficiency) for European countries. Eco-efficiency is obtained by the data envelopment analysis (DEA) and stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) using a generalized maximum entropy (GME) approach. Agriculture gross value added (GVA) is considered as the desirable output and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as the undesirable output. Capital, labour, land, energy and nutrients are regarded as inputs. The GVA/GHG ratio is the measure of eco-efficiency. The estimation was made for the years 2005 and 2010, which correspond to the 1st year of commitment to the Kyoto Protocol and the most recent year with information concerning all the variables in the study, and is a period that can allow us to see some changes after the agreement. The results show that in 2005, Austria, Slovenia, Hungary, the Netherlands and Portugal revealed the higher levels of eco-efficiency; and countries such as Estonia, Germany, Ireland, Latvia and Slovakia are the group with the lowest levels of eco-efficiency. In 2010, Bulgaria, Finland, Greece, the Netherlands and Portugal are the group of countries with the higher levels of eco-efficiency, while Denmark, Germany, Latvia, Romania and the United Kingdom are the group with the lowest levels of eco-efficiency. Keywords: agriculture, economic-environmental efficiency, European countries, stochastic frontier analysis Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 423-435 Volume: 64 Issue: 10 Year: 2018 DOI: 10.17221/45/2017-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/45/2017-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-201810-0001.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:64:y:2018:i:10:id:45-2017-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Eva HYBLOVA Author-Name: Roman SKALICKY Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Economics and Administration, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic Title: Return on sales and wheat yields per hectare of European agricultural entities Abstract: Performance of agricultural entities can be observed from several different perspectives: using macroeconomic indicators, the quantity of agricultural production units, or by measuring the profitability. The paper present focuses on the relationship between profitability, return on sales (ROS) and wheat yields per hectare in agricultural entities in member states of the European Union (EU), divided into size categories by quantity standard output (SO). Due to the high proportion of subsidies in agriculture, the ROS indicator was rated in two versions: including subsidies and excluding subsidies. The aim of the paper is to confirm or refute the mutual relationship between these indicators, i.e. wheat yields per hectare, return on sales, and the size of the farm. The comparison is performed by means of indicators of descriptive statistics and tests of mathematical statistics. The results of the research show that return on sales drops with the size of the farm, while yields per hectare grow. Keywords: agricultural entities, agricultural production, performance, profitability, return on sales Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 436-444 Volume: 64 Issue: 10 Year: 2018 DOI: 10.17221/209/2017-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/209/2017-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-201810-0002.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:64:y:2018:i:10:id:209-2017-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Chih-Chun KUNG Title: A dynamic framework of sustainable development in agriculture and bioenergy Abstract: The use of fossil fuels raises serious environmental concerns and causes major adverse effects such as the ocean level rise and the increased occurrence of hurricanes. To alleviate such problems, a global movement towards the generation of renewable energy is considered to be an effective way to help reducing the global greenhouse gas emissions and to sustain social development. Bioenergy is one attractive renewable energy source in Taiwan because a substantial amount of cropland has been released after the participation in the World Trade Organization (WTO). This study proposes two dynamic agricultural sector models to analyse how changes in the land fertility affect agricultural activities and bioenergy development. The analytical result indicates that economic incentives such as the direct subsidy and tax credit can be used to maintain a desired fertility level. In addition, the objectives of bioenergy development must be defined in advance because changes in discount rates and planning horizons have considerable influences on the effectiveness of policies. Keywords: agricultural activities, bioenergy, dynamic programming, intergenerational equity Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 445-455 Volume: 64 Issue: 10 Year: 2018 DOI: 10.17221/281/2017-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/281/2017-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-201810-0003.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:64:y:2018:i:10:id:281-2017-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Jana POLAKOVA Title: Is economic institutional adaptation feasible for agri-environmental policy? Case of Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition standards Abstract: This review focuses on Czech implementation of standards for soil and water protection called Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions (GAEC), with linkage to the European Union (EU) level. I investigate different elements of adaptive institutional economics: (i) summarise current knowledge regarding the social reasons for introducing GAEC; (ii) assess the evidence linked to GAEC to better understand the potential as well as boundaries of formalizing cause-effect links; (iii) clarify the pertinence of producers' claims on costs accruing from GAEC implementation. These three points highlight the thesis of this paper: implementation in farmers' practices of the theoretical concept of sustainability in terms of bridging together economics, society and the environment. The economic reasoning for GAEC introduction within adaptive institutional economics stems from the relational positioning of the knowledge of the costs of the impact of agricultural land use on other characteristic rural land uses. GAEC are needed, albeit the size of support obtained by producers surpasses the costs of complying; therefore, the result pays off for farms. We have learned that GAEC implementation is important from regional to EU levels and that its role is more related to economic institutional adaptation than to regulation. Adaptation of institutional economics is therefore feasible, making it possible to understand GAEC as a network which manages and enables knowledge transfer linked directly to regulation. Institutional economics can link sustainability with farmers' practices and accounts for the behaviour of the farmers. In this review, I find that, for society, it is necessary to require measurement of agri-environmental outcomes for water resources, soil and biodiversity through GAEC at appropriate scales. These scales are likely to be relevant to adaptive institutional economy localities perceived by the rural public. Keywords: groundwater protection, producers, rural development Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 456-463 Volume: 64 Issue: 10 Year: 2018 DOI: 10.17221/138/2017-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/138/2017-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-201810-0004.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:64:y:2018:i:10:id:138-2017-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Viet HOANG Title: Assessing the agricultural trade complementarity of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries Abstract: This paper aims to investigate the agricultural trade complementarity of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries on the global agricultural market over the period 1997-2015 by employing the trade complementarity index (TCI), the export similarity index (ESI), and Spearman's rank correlation coefficients for competitiveness indicators. The results indicate that: (i) the ASEAN countries' agricultural export patterns are weakly complementary in matching the regional import demands; while (ii) they are relatively complementary in exporting agricultural products to the world market; (iii) the countries' agricultural competitiveness patterns are more affected by and benefited from the global integration than the regional integration; and (iv) the countries, moreover, tend to become more substitutable over time. The research results suggest that the ASEAN countries should cooperate and utilise the internal markets to enhance the competitiveness and predominantly focus on the external global markets. Keywords: Association of Southeast Asian Nations, agriculture, competitiveness, complementary, similarity Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 464-475 Volume: 64 Issue: 10 Year: 2018 DOI: 10.17221/253/2017-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/253/2017-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-201810-0005.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:64:y:2018:i:10:id:253-2017-AGRICECON