The concept of sustainability is one of the forefront issues in global agricultural production at present, given mounting pressure to increase food production in both a socially responsible and environmentally friendly way. From an Irish perspective the sustainable intensification of agriculture...

There is increasing evidence that improved agricultural technologies benefit smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. This evidence is however relatively clearer for innovations in smallholder crop production systems as compared to innovations in livestock production systems. Moreover, it is...

This paper compares innovation systems in three main Scottish livestock sectors: dairy, beef, and sheep, using the uptake of Estimated Breed Values (EBVs) across these three sectors. We apply an innovation systems approach to identify systemic challenges within these sectors. Barriers to the...

In food retailing a high degree of static price dispersion between and within stores and between brands has been documented, but at the brand and/or retail outlet level the dynamic behaviour of prices, as well as its causes, have not been analysed in the European food market context. In this...

Using a cross-sectional data collected on 400 cocoa farmers from the Ashanti and Western Regions of Ghana, this paper provides empirical evidence on the impacts of cocoa agroforests on yield and household income. The propensity-score matching model was employed. The heterogeneity of high, medium...

A bi-lateral trade agreement between the EU and the South American trading bloc known as Mercosur has been under consideration since 1995, with periodic hiatuses in negotiations since their inception. During the past twelve years there have been concurrent multilateral negotiations taking place...

Two of the primary issues of the next Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) reform are maximum sustainable yield (MSY) and transferable fishing concessions (TFCs). The European Commission set the goal of achieving MSY for all European fisheries by 2015. Besides, the European Commission agreed on...

National greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation strategy can benefit from information on the technical and economic viability of abatement options. The life-cycle-analysis (LCA) and marginal abatement cost curve (MACC) approaches provide a good, although partial, indication for the potential of...

The post 2015 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reforms may bring a substantial change in the way farm payments are paid in Scotland where earlier farm payments were based on historical entitlements. Scottish farms now have to follow a Basic payment Scheme (BPS) which would be determined under a...

The paper investigates determinants of quality upgrading in the European Union agri-food exports using panel data models in the 2000-2011 period. Employing highly disaggregated data we show that export unit value is positively associated with level of economic development and the size of...