The paper reviews the development of the organic sector and the institutional conditions in European countries. On the basis of three case studies the interrelationship between organisations of organic and conventional agriculture in the areas of farming community, agricultural policy and food...

The new European Council Regulation on support for rural development (EC) No. 1698/2005 has opened up the opportunity for two important innovations for the design and implementation of agrienvironmental measures: local action groups (LAG) according to the LEADER approach and calls for tender....

More than a decade ago, path dependence turned out to become a promising research program for agricultural economics. This article reviews important trends in path dependence research and highlights its role in the economics of technology, institutional economics, agricultural economics, and...

The collectivisation of agriculture in most socialistic countries was connected with the development of a dual enterprise structure of large-scale farms and household plots. In Russia, in contrast to other European transition countries, this structure in most regions remained in the main...

Market extension for organic products is restricted due to three types of organizational problems: (1) problems on resourcing (limited supply), (2) deficits in market structure and (3) problems of safeguarding special (pioneer) investment against opportunism. The market of organic products is...

Price premiums are recognized as a central barrier for the diffusion of organic food. On average, the consumer has to pay about 50 % more for organic food than for comparable products. This is also true for large retailers although considerable economies of scale could be expected. Against this...

After describing a series of plans with implications for land use, this study aims to examine the collaboration problems which exist between the main groups involved and elaborate on potential legal solutions. Main results are the following: 1. German law requires that the interests of the...

The article analyses influences on the design of land rental contracts in Poland. Attention is paid to the effect of both the properties of the transaction as identified in Transaction Cost Economics (asset-specificity, uncertainty, frequency) and the features of the institutional environment...

Scandals in the food industry have caused uncertainty about quality and innocuousness of food for many consumers. Direct marketing of products by farmers may be an important way to strengthen consumers´ confidence. In this article, the buyer is focus of the analysis. In contrast to other...

The impact of political institutions, e.g. the organization of legislature, election and party systems, on agricultural protection has hardly been taken into account explicitly in theoretical and empirical studies, yet. In this framework the paper investigates to what extent political...