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....

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...

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...

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 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...

This paper seeks to answer the following question: what are the impacts of European agri-environmental policy (AEP) on member states’ policy patterns? The concept of Europeanisation is employed, as it relates to the adaptation of domestic policies and policy instruments to existing EU...

This article provides an overview of the most important reforms, their background, and corresponding changes in Estonian agriculture during the transition period from 1988-2008. The past two decades have been divided into three sub-periods to outline differences in dynamics and the direction of...

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...

In this article, legal consequences of the new German genetic engineering act are analyzed. In addition environmental economic analysis is presented of those parts of the act that introduce new litigation regulation to farmers. The different kinds of external costs arising from genetic...