Fulltext search in archive

The paper concentrates on analytical findings of the RIAE in the sphere of problems associated with the readiness of Czech agriculture for the EU accession. An analysis of the present situation of Czech agriculture is followed by an assessment of potential impacts of the EU conditions on the economic position of the main agricultural commodities. The predictions are conceived by variants, because the future parameters of the CAP are still under negotiations. The conclusions are oriented on the summary assessment of the readiness of Czech agriculture for the EU accession.

The paper deals with the particular stages of development of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in the last forty years. The process and impacts of CAP reforms are analyzed for the particular production industries of agriculture. The paper also presents a detailed description of Agenda 2000 and mid-term review of the Common Agricultural Policy in 2002 that brought about many proposals for the future working of CAP after accession of Central and Eastern European countries.

Farms, farmers, farm families, and even farm policies have changed in the United States and Europe over the decades since World War II. Now it is time to bring the methods of farm policy analysis and the scope of data collection up to date. Agricultural economics, by tradition an empirical discipline, can offer important insights into the design, implementation, and effectiveness of policy. To succeed in this century, though, requires an emphasis on understanding micro-economic behavior at the level of the farm household. The paper presents fundamental aspects on methodology for micro-level farm policy analysis and data requirements for application of its intruments.

The paper presents fundamental ideas of European social market economy that are to be applied to formulate the "European Model of Agriculture". In connection with the needs of further development of the Common Agricultural Policy, food strategy and regional policy, some challenges to the modern and perspective strategy of agriculture and food production in the EU are formulated. A new European challenge to strengthen the principle of solidarity, sustainability, multi-functionality and subsidiarity is an appreciable point of departure to solve the problems in Czech agriculture.

Agriculture, like all sectors of the economy, needs credit for its development. Experience in OECD countries demonstrates that in a competitive financial environment, profitable agriculture can obtain the credit it needs. Due to the difficulties faced by farmers in transition economies in obtaining access to credit, the OECD has periodically called upon member and transition experts to reflect upon the issues at stake and to share relevant lessons and best practices in the field of agricultural finance and credit infrastructure. This paper reviews the key messages from past work on this subject, including some observations from the Czech experience. These messages pertain to: the essential framework conditions for access to credit; the role of government policy-making, and possible channels for financing the agriculture and rural sectors. The paper then briefly suggests some linkages and implications that may be drawn between the EU enlargement and these three themes.

In Hungary, after the political and economical transition period of the nineties, the transformation of agriculture, the privatisation and the partial compensation brought about fundamental change in the land ownership structure. Recently, the private ownership of land has become dominant. As a result of the land compensation and the restoration of individual shares of the co-operatives members, unfavourable farm structures were established in a great number of cases; and consequently the redistribution of land property has become indispensable. The revival of the market is hold up, on one hand, by the present legislation of land acquisition (by Hungarian legal entities and foreigners) and, on the other hand, by the repugnance of the land acquisition of foreigners by a great number of people. The political risks, the EU accession and the changes to be expected concerning the EU subsidy schemes might also affect the land market in the long-term.

Agriculture is a sector in Latvia which plays an important role in the country's economy and the same time performs a significant social, environmental and ethno-cultural function. Latvia has favourable conditions for the development of organic agriculture. The aim of land reform is to reorganise legal, social and economic relationships of land property and land use to facilitate the development of infrastructure, land protection and rational land use according to the interests of society. In Latvia, the land reform is practically carried out in three directions - restitution of real estate rights, privatisation of real property and compensation for previous real estate. At the moment, the main and urgent goal concerns strengthening of the results of land reform. It means that all the information on real estates (land and buildings), uses and area of lease obtained during the previous course of land reform must be reflected into the real property cadastre.

This article is divided into four parts: the first is concerned with the state subsidy and support policy in the year 2001. The second part of the contribution mentions the subsidy development in production and marginal areas in the period 1996-2001 and its influence on the economic result of an average farm. Another part monitors the grant volume and the economic result at a selective sample of the identical firms in the time period from of the year 1997 to the year 2001 in reference to the farm position. The last part will deal with an evaluation of the grant volume where the subsidies are divided according to the subsidy titles in the year 2001 in an average agricultural firm farming in a certain altitude.

The sugar industry in the Czech Republic is one of the branches of food production that since the end of nineties has been strongly protected by agricultural policy. Here, we will deal with the question how the Czech agricultural policy affected the competitiveness of the sugar industry during transformation. From the analysis, it can be derived that not only agricultural measures but also organisational changes inside the enterprises, as well as modernisation and increasing capacity of plants that all took place before the enforced political aid, supported the stabilisation of sugar beet farming and the sugar industry in the Czech Republic and its competitiveness in the national market.

There is a lot of available investigations in the area of company crisis reasons problems nowadays. These inquiries were summarised into the indicators of company crisis reasons. The development and level of these indicators is not possible to consider to be company crisis reasons but above all to be its manifestation. The veritable reason of crisis is the absence of effective control mechanisms in the company, especially of the "natural" control mechanisms. The natural control mechanism means such as rises from the substance of joint stock companies (respectively legal rules of joint stock company). There is a presumption of control activities interaction among the General Assembly, Supervisory Board and Board. Control mechanisms work on the common economic principles' base in this sense and it means that the owner is considered to be the primary managing element and the management acts as the derivative managing element. The assumption of effective economic principles functioning is the existence of standard variable of these relations i. e. the existence of relevant interests.

In the framework of Slovakia entering into the European Union, there was done a PHARE-ACE survey in years 1999-2000. The name of this survey was "Micro-economic analysis of farming households restructuring in pre-accession period to the EU". The survey was finished in 2002. This survey was done in two regions of Slovakia, characterized by different natural conditions, production and economic conditions. This project was aiming not only at private farmers but also at other legal entities producing agricultural products. The monitored group consisted of 412 private farmers, farming in average 43.2 ha of agricultural land. Most of them are farming on 0-2 ha of agricultural land (20.8%) and on 25-100 ha of agricultural land (20.1%).

The paper deals with theoretical and practical aspects of the innovation process as well as its final results and impact on qualitative level of the supply in the market with food products. From this point of view, we consider an innovation process as an alternative approach how to reach competitive advantage. The paper also points at several possibilities how to manage innovation process in order to create a new product with certain features of competitiveness. There follows from the research that the innovation process is not only the question of new product development but it is also the question of technological approach, new markets entering as well as organization changes in the company.

The project of the AGRIS WWW portal proposes from its very beginning to establish a platform for providing information from the spheres of agriculture, food industry, forestry and from other areas related to the countryside. The main objective is to provide access to the already existing information sources, to run its own news service and to help with publishing of the information to the subjects that have limited conditions for electronic (Internet) presentation. This leads to creating of a complex block of information from the industry. This block is to serve for improving availability of the respective information for managers, public administration, students, teachers, consultants and other users.

Precision farming is a very fast developing form of the Farm Management System, especially in crop production, in whole world and in our country as well. There, it is adopted since the second half of the 90s of the 20th century. The system of data collection, analysis, presentation and application of information in precision farming is reaching over the possibilities of their use by common farmers or agricultural companies. Service companies in this case play a very important role as an executor of exacting analysis, data collection and their presentation. Management zones present simplification of the difficult operations and recommendations including economic calculations for the common user involved in the precision farming management.

The incorporation of the Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) to the common agrarian market of the European Union is an entrance the saturated market solving problems with surpluses of main agricultural commodities. That is why an increasing of competition among both current member states and the new members has been anticipated. The question related to productivity of factors as well as technology level influence on competitiveness on the occasion of lower prices of agricultural commodities that could bring about shift of trade between agricultural enterprises and food processors in the first stage of processing within commodity chain into some of new member countries (or changes within them) and steer flows of some of agricultural commodities utilised as raw materials. The decisive position of the second stage of agricultural products processing, characterised by highly finalised products, probably will push forward the existing member states, especially the main producers and major exporters of finalised food products in Europe. Their interest in generation and expansion of this kind of market with highly finalised food products on the CEECs food markets would be expected. Moreover, the "demand driven agriculture" implying qualitative criteria such as food safety and precaution, favourable method of production, environmental impact etc., presented by agricultural policies in last decade and for future, is largely influenced by final stages of agri-food commodity chains. Distributors and well-established processors are those who "translate" the consumer's demand to agricultural producers. Those decide significantly about the dimension, structure and market share of agricultural production in concrete area in essence. This situation has influenced effectiveness of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) exactly. Based upon the last reforms of the CAP in the EU evaluation, the significant changes of commodity markets regulation tools and a new approach partly related to income stabilisation policy partly to support of technological change and restructuring in wider social and regional aspects of the CAP are demonstrated there.

By progression of the expanding use of the International Accounting Standards, fair value is being pushed ahead instead of standard historical costs. The extension of the International Accounting Standards for financial instruments and long-term assets leads to the publishing of real net income of the enterprise. The necessity to express the fair values of assets for accountancy places specialists of this profession in a new position of professionals having a common language with investors. This trend started deepening when the International Valuation Standards Committee began to co-operate with the International Accounting Standards Committee more closely. This caused the harmonization of basic terms used for valuation of property.

The economic importance of agricultural sector in Slovakia declined during transition period. There are several reasons for this: declining terms of agricultural trade, extreme weather, transformation of agricultural sector, unclear property rights in transition period, short-run privatization distortions, transformation of up and downstream sectors, world market fluctuation, decline of real wages, low stability of agricultural policy and other. The development in economic market was paralleled by activity in political market. After initial liberalization, agricultural protection subsequently increased. The EU accession influences both levels of protection as well as instruments of agricultural policy.

The fact that the development of information and communication technologies (ICT) is a key factor of development of individuals, regions, sectors and whole countries is well known at the beginning of the 21st century. The real situation of ICT utilization is very different in particular sections and it fails to reach standards that we would expect. The sphere of the agrarian sector of the Czech Republic is a very good example. The Information and Consulting Centre FEM at the University of Agriculture in Prague (IPC) has been participating on research of the utilization ICT in agriculture for three years. According to the latest data from July 2002, 55% of agrarian enterprises are connected to the Internet, which is much less than in other sectors.

The paper addresses the first experience with the SAPARD Programme in the Czech Republic. Its theoretical background refers to gradualist and shock approaches in coping with social change. These approaches are connected either with theoretical fundaments of neo-classical economic theories (shock approach and methodological individualism; homo-oeconomicus), or classical sociological theories (institutions, norms and rules, social embeddedness, methodological collectivism and Durkheim's social fact). An empirical section of the paper is based on findings from field work and interviews with the SAPARD shareholders. It shows a sociological analysis of the origin of the SAPARD Plan and compares various measures implemented under the SAPARD Programme to indicate who was the winner (medium-scale businesses and farms understanding the SAPARD as a preparation for EU membership) and loser (and why) in competing for funding related to these measures. Also the issue how the SAPARD projects applicants master their action as for preparing and submitting projects is addressed. The role of social capital in the SAPARD Programme preparation is documented.

The article brings the empiric reflection and results-based analysis of the "Programme of Rural Revival" realization in the territory of the Central Bohemia Region (NUTS II/III) in the time of regional self-governing organization in the Czech Republic. The primary interest of the authors was focused on the participation of microregions in the Programme activities, resp. on the item and object spectrum. The scope of the grant title 7 of the " Programme of Rural Revival" is assigned specifically for microregions. The successful request-analysis indicates varying spheres of activity and themes that microregions prefer in their demands for the Programme subsidy. It is, among others, observed through the interest for preparation of projects in the LEADER+ programme intention because the grant title 7 is also available for the LEADER+ preparation purposes. The preferences of microregions reflected in the requests indicate a further trend of territory-development supported activities. Unsuccessful requests analysis points towards broad relations of the Programme realization at the institutional-legislative level. Further evaluation concerned the fundamental Programme aims and their fulfilment presents the failure of agricultural undertaking in the grant requests. As the paper concludes, the authors suggest partial recommendations, in their opinion, for improving the "Programme of Rural Revival" application in the Central Bohemia Region.

Activities on plant genetic resources in the Czech Republic are concentrated in the National Programme on Conservation and Utilisation of Plant Genetic Resources. Eleven institutions maintain 51,000 accessions, of which 17.3% belong to vegetatively propagated species. Research Institute of Crop Production (RICP) Prague has the responsibility for the coordination of the Programme; it holds more than half of all accessions in collections of genetic resources, runs the national information system and provides long-term storage for all seed-propagated species. All Czech collections are fully documented in passport data. Evaluation data (based on National descriptor lists for 29 crops) are available for 33% of the accessions. Much work is currently spent to the description and evaluation of collections, to facilitate their utilisation in breeding and agricultural practice. Also collecting missions on the Czech territory, conservation and monitoring of valuable resources maintained in situ contributeto the maintenance and evaluation of local resources. Landraces are considered a valuable part of the collections. Suitable ways of "on farm" conservation are investigated for selected accessions, to support their utilisation in agricultural practice and to enrich the existing diversity of crops and cultivars. Cultivars and landraces of neglected crops (buckwheat, millet, hulled wheat species) were successfully used to enrich the agro-biodiversity and for specific purposes of human nutrition. Close collaboration with producers (often organic farms) and processing industry has been established. Selected alternative crops and catch crops were studied as potential new crops.

Achievements and prospects of wheat breeding for disease resistance in the world and in the Czech Republic are reviewed. Attention is paid to rusts, powdery mildew, leaf blotch, glume blotch, tan spot, fusarium head blight, common and dwarf bunt, eyespot, barley yellow dwarf virus on wheat and wheat dwarf virus. Genes for resistance to rusts and powdery mildew in the cultivars registered in the Czech Republic are listed. Promising resistance genes and sources of resistance to the above mentioned diseases are reviewed. Prospects of resistance breeding including application of methods of molecular genetics and development of synthetic hexaploids are outlined.

Genetically modified organisms have become a part of our environment and food chain. Roundup Ready soybean is at the moment the most frequent one that man can meet. National regulations require careful monitoring and detection of GMOs. We present in this investigation comparison of several protocols and individual steps, which are included in the whole detection procedure. Currently used CTAB based protocol is suitable for DNA isolation from the green plant tissue but also from the flour. Lectin coding sequence specific primers were suitable for soybean DNA detection unlike leu-tRNA gene specific primers. Only one of the tested CaMV sequence specific primer pairs did not amplify unspecific products under condition tested. NOS terminator specific primer pair was found suitable for routine screening. EPSPS gene was detected using two different protocols; the same primers did not identify other Roundup Ready GM crops.

The random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique was used to evaluate both genetic diversity among 19 soybean accessions included in the Czech National Collection of Soybean Genotypes and their potential as a new source of genetic variations for soybean breeding programs. Only 22 of all the 40 random primers used in RAPD reactions showed polymorphism acceptable for an effective characterisation of these accessions. Altogether 122 highly reproducible RAPD fragments were generated, 55 of them were polymorphic (46%). However, because of the previously observed low degree of RAPD polymorphism in the case of Glycine max, fragments with low level of informativeness were evaluated, too. Presented results enable the selection of genetically distinct individuals. Such information may be useful to breeders willing to use genetically diverse introductions in soybean improvement process.

Analytic measurement data acquired by an SFE/CGC analysis were compared with sensory evaluation of two wines from South Moravia. The sensory descriptive analysis showed a large variation in sensory quality from neutral character to full expression of the variety. Whereas the cluster analysis of volatiles was sufficient for differentiating both wines, the sensory observation data based on seven descriptors did not suffice either for bouquet or flavour characteristic. The descriptor citrus could be related to analytically established substances whose statistical significance was supported by a stepwise multiple analysis. The possibility of recognising vine cultivars via sensory descriptors is statistically feasible only by nutty and caramel descriptors in the case of bouquet and by big fruit for flavour.

Leaf samples from 12 peach cultivars (Prunus persica [L.] Batsch.) (Early Crest, May Crest, Flavor Crest,Sun Crest, Fayette, Katherina, Loadel, Andross, Everts, May Grand, Firebrite and Fairlane) grafted on four peach root-stocks were analyzed for their nutrient content. The analysis of variance for leaf nutrient concentrations indicated very significant effects and interactions among cultivars and rootstocks. The rootstock effect on the absorption of nutrient elements was higher for Ca, K, P, Mg, N, and lower for Cu, Zn, Fe, Mn, and B. Generally cultivars grafted on GF 677 had higher N, K, Fe, Cu and lower Zn, Mn, and B, while leaves from cultivars grafted on wild seedlings were found to contain higher Mg and lower P, K, Fe concentrations. Leaf B and Ca were higher for cultivars grafted on Sant Julien GF 655/2, while cultivars on Damas GF 1869 had higher P, Zn, Mn and lower N, B, Ca, Cu concentrations. Leaf N was lower for Fayette on all four rootstocks and significantly different from all other cultivars. Leaf P was lower for Everts and higher for Katherina. Lower concentrations were observed in Early Crest for Fe and Zn, in Andross for Mn, and in Loadel for B, while Flavor Crest had higher concentrations of all these elements. Leaf Zn was the highest for Sun Crest on wild seedling and the lowest for Early Crest on the same rootstock. Similarly leaf N was the highest for Katherina on Damas and the lowest for Fayetteon the same rootstock. Also leaf Mg was the highest for Fayette on Damas and the lowest for Fairlane on Damas. Peach tree mortality was the highest for Damas 1869 and lowest for Sant Julien. Also tree mortality was highest for Early Crest and Sun Crest and lowest for May Grand, Firebrite, and Katherina. The observed trends in the leaf nutrient composition, as regards the cultivars, rootstocks and their interactions, emphasize the importance of these factors on a new peach orchard establishment and macro-microelement fertilization.

The phenophase course in a group of 20 apricot genotypes was evaluated in South Moravian conditions in Lednice, Czech Republic, from 1994 to 1999. The evaluated phases were as follows: "beginning of blossoming", "beginning of picking maturity" and "end of picking maturity". The aim was to evaluate the variability of these phenophases and their relationships. The amplitude of the phenophase "beginning of blossoming" did not exceed 9 days. The amplitude of phenophases between the different years was about three times higher than the average amplitude between the genotypes. The average amplitude of the factor "beginning of picking maturity" observed in all genotypes was 39 days, but a comparison between the years showed that the largest amplitude for a given genotype was only 16 days. No statistical correlation was found between the phenophases "beginning of blossoming" and "beginning of picking maturity" in any of the six observed years. The genotypes whose maturity occurs at the beginning or at the end of picking season showed higher year to year variability of the phenophase "beginning of picking maturity" than the genotypes maturing in the middle of the season. The rate of fruit development from blossoming to picking was considerably different depending on the apricot genotype. The number of days between the beginning of blossoming and the beginning of picking maturity was characteristic of each genotype. The variability of this interval for the six years was very low and the value of variation coefficients did not exceed 10%. This amplitude observed in the control variety Velkopavlovická LE-6/2 was on average 100 days. A very high statistically significant correlation (r = 0.996⁺⁺) was observed between the intervals from the "beginning of blossoming" to the "beginning of picking maturity" and to the "end of picking maturity".