Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Igor Ostapchuk Author-Workplace-Name: Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO), Halle, Germany Author-Name: Taras Gagalyuk Author-Workplace-Name: Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO), Halle, Germany Title: What drives post-acquisition farm growth? Empirical evidence from Ukraine Abstract: This study contributes to the limited body of research on mergers and acquisitions in primary agriculture by examining how large corporate agroholdings achieve profitable post-acquisition growth for the farms they acquire. Using System GMM estimation, we analyse farm-level data from 648 farms acquired by agroholdings in Ukraine between 2005 and 2016. Our findings show that agroholdings facilitate post-acquisition growth and performance improvements by employing several integration strategies. Specifically, they leverage horizontally integrated structures to: (i) consolidate land resources of acquired farms to achieve scale economies; (ii) reallocate farm resources toward more profitable production lines; and (iii) intensify production on acquired farms. These results support established firm growth theories, namely, the independence of firm growth rates from firm size (Gibrat's law) and the existence of Penrosean limits to growth. Keywords: agroholdings, farm resources, mergers and acquisitions, organic growth, post-acquisition integration Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 171-189 Volume: 72 Issue: 3 Year: 2026 DOI: 10.17221/385/2024-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/385/2024-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-202603-0001.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:72:y:2026:i:3:id:385-2024-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Asunción Agulló-Torres Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Agro-Environmental Economics, Agro-Food and Agro-Environmental Research and Innovation Institute (CIAGRO), Miguel Hernández University, Elche, Spain Author-Name: Francisco-José Del Campo-Gomis Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Agro-Environmental Economics, Agro-Food and Agro-Environmental Research and Innovation Institute (CIAGRO), Miguel Hernández University, Elche, Spain Author-Name: David-Bernardo López-Lluch Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Agro-Environmental Economics, Agro-Food and Agro-Environmental Research and Innovation Institute (CIAGRO), Miguel Hernández University, Elche, Spain Author-Name: Irene Arias-Navarro Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Agro-Environmental Economics, Agro-Food and Agro-Environmental Research and Innovation Institute (CIAGRO), Miguel Hernández University, Elche, Spain Title: Evaluation of the environmental commitment of all large and medium-sized Spanish wineries based on objective information from their websites Abstract: In the contemporary era, organisations have embraced the internet as a platform through which they disseminate information about their economic activities and their corporate social responsibility, including their environmental responsibility. Consequently, the extent to which an organisation's actions are visible on its website can be taken as an indicator of its commitment to environmental issues. The present article proposes a model for evaluating the environmental commitment of agri-food companies through the visibility of objective information on their environmental actions on their websites. The information is presented in tabular form, consisting of 33 items, and the combination of these with a predetermined weight gives an index called the Environmental Commitment Web Index (ECWI). The model was applied to all large and medium-sized Spanish wineries in 2018 and 2024. The findings indicate an improvement in the environmental commitment of these wineries, as reflected by the doubling of the ECWI during this period from 9.8 points in 2018 to 20.2 points in 2024. Nonetheless, the overwhelming majority of these wineries were regarded as exhibiting a 'very poor' environmental commitment: 94.2% in 2018 and 81.4% in 2024. It is concluded that all large and medium-sized Spanish wineries should undertake sustained endeavours to disseminate environmental initiatives on their websites. Keywords: agri-food companies, corporate social responsibility (CSR), online transparency, sustainability reporting, environmental initiatives disclosure, agri-food sector sustainability Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 190-206 Volume: 72 Issue: 3 Year: 2026 DOI: 10.17221/41/2025-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/41/2025-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-202603-0002.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:72:y:2026:i:3:id:41-2025-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Congxian He Author-Workplace-Name: Soviet Area Revitalization Institute, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, P.R. China Author-Workplace-Name: Research Base for Revitalization and Development of Old Revolutionary Base Areas of Jiangxi Province, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, P.R. China Author-Name: Lulu Yu Author-Workplace-Name: Soviet Area Revitalization Institute, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, P.R. China Author-Workplace-Name: School of Marxism, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, P.R. China Author-Name: Huwei Wen Author-Workplace-Name: School of Economics and Management, Nanchang University, Nanchang, P.R. China Title: Subsidies and farming: A microempirical analysis of financial allocation to promote agricultural production Abstract: Agriculture's stable development is vital to the national economy, and its vulnerability justifies fiscal support. On the basis of data from the China Family Panel Studies from 2012 to 2022, this study examines how fiscal allocation affects agricultural production, particularly rural households' grain-growing enthusiasm and their productive income. Results show that public expenditure significantly boosts agricultural production, supported by ordered probit and ordinary least squares fixed effect models and confirmed in robustness tests. Mechanistic tests indicate that agricultural public expenditure promotes agricultural production by improving agricultural technical levels, enhancing production services, and expanding the agricultural scale. Heterogeneity analysis shows that agricultural public expenditure has a stronger effect on grain-growing enthusiasm among low-educated rural households and on productive income in major grain production areas. It also has a stronger effect on productive income for rural households with emerging and prime-aged farmers, in nonmajor grain production areas, and those with high educational attainment. The research offers empirical insights for exploring ways to achieve the 'dual goals' of food security and poverty alleviation. Keywords: agricultural production, fiscal allocation, food security, rural household Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 156-170 Volume: 72 Issue: 3 Year: 2026 DOI: 10.17221/187/2025-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/187/2025-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-202603-0003.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:72:y:2026:i:3:id:187-2025-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Abdul Salami Bah Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Management, Njala University, Njala campus, Sierra Leone Author-Name: Yongqiang Wang Author-Name: Yuchun Zhu Author-Name: Saffa Mohamed Massaquoi Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Management, Njala University, Njala campus, Sierra Leone Author-Name: Nomore Nkhoma Title: How do green finance, digital technology, trade openness, and climate change interact to shape food production in sub-Saharan Africa? Abstract: The promotion of sustainable food productivity through innovative technologies remains a central priority in economic development, attracting increasing attention from scholars, policymakers, and industry stakeholders. With the continuing rise in global food demand, resource-efficient solutions are essential to ensuring long-term agricultural growth and stability in food production. This study examines the impact of green finance, agricultural innovation, digital technology, trade openness, and climate change on food production in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Using the method of moments quantile regression (MMQR) and the generalised method of moments (GMM), it analyses a balanced panel dataset covering 46 SSA countries from 2001 to 2023. The findings highlight the positive influence of green finance, agricultural innovation, and digital technology in enhancing food production, particularly in lower production sectors, suggesting important bidirectional policy implications. Trade openness is found to promote agricultural growth but exhibits diminishing effects at higher levels of productivity, indicating the relevance of a unidirectional policy focus. In contrast, climate change has a negative effect on food production. The study also identifies key mediation pathways, including green finance stimulating research and development, digital technology improving agricultural credit and farmers' education, and trade openness attracting foreign direct investment. These results emphasise the importance of integrated policy frameworks that combine financial support, technological advancement, and trade openness to promote sustainable agricultural growth and strengthen food security across SSA. Keywords: agricultural trade, digital agriculture, environmental change, food security, sub-Saharan Africa, sustainable finance Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 135-155 Volume: 72 Issue: 3 Year: 2026 DOI: 10.17221/227/2025-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/227/2025-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-202603-0004.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:72:y:2026:i:3:id:227-2025-AGRICECON