This paper analyses the production costs and income of eight groups of farms: five private farms and three belonging to the Andean rural community. These farms are located in Peru and Bolivia and breed alpacas and llama for both meat and fibre. The research is based on case studies. Each case...

Environmental objectives have become increasingly integrated into the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) since the mid-1980s. Integration has been pursued through the attachment of environmental conditions to the receipt of direct payments in Pillar 1 (cross compliance) and the use of...

This paper analyses the impact of tradable and non-tradable single farm payment (SFP) entitlements for farm successors on structural change and the lease market. Using the example of Swiss agriculture, the effects on rental-price trends and farm-exit rates are investigated. An ex-ante normative...

EU agriculture and rural areas face significant medium-term challenges arising from existing and ‘new’ sources; as acknowledged in the EU2020 vision. The European Commission has placed emphasis upon innovation as a key element in achieving transformation, in the coming decade....

This paper will address the changes the CAP postâ€2013 may bring to its second pillar in EU countries. After the presentation of the legislative package put forward by the European Commission, a debate emerged in some countries on how to define rural development strategies for the period...

Policy makers are becoming increasingly aware of the fact that R&D intensive SMEs play a pivotal role in providing sustainable economic growth by maintaining a high rate of innovation. To compensate for their financial vulnerability, these SMEs increasingly conduct innovation in alliances. This...

In the light of growing water scarcity appropriate institutional arrangements are needed to complement technical interventions, in order to ensure more efficient use and allocation of water in agriculture. A theoretically interesting institutional intervention is the installation or improvement...

This article presents a multi-temporal uncertainty-based method that incorporates a statistical regression model with a view to establishing the risk (probability) of land cover changes as a function of a set of environmental and socio-economic driving factors. The morphologic, climatic and...

Innovation and new technology adoption represent two central elements for the business and industry development process in agriculture. One of the most relevant innovations in dairy farms is the robotisation of the milking process through the adoption of Automatic Milking Systems (AMS). The...

Climate change is an important threat to human society. Agriculture is a source of greenhouse gases (GHG), but it also provides alternatives to confront climate change. The expansion of intensive agriculture around the world during recent decades has generated significant environmental damages...