This paper investigates the effects of network based individual social capital on the access of rural households to services. In the context of development economics, an innovative data collection approach is used to determine network based social capital. The approach originates from the field...

In this paper, we assess the potential for rehabilitation of comparative analysis under its new guise of benchmarking. After a brief description of comparative analysis, we discuss the deficiencies that surrounded its fall in reputation: neglect of economic principles, limited scope for action,...

There is growing interest in biomass from perennial grasses (e.g. switchgrass and miscanthus) for bioenergy production because of their high yields, their potential to be grown on low quality land with minimal competition with food crops and, and their ability to achieve significant reduction in...

In emerging markets for high-value food products in developing countries, processing companies search for efficient ways to source raw material of consistent quality. One widely embraced approach is contract farming. But relatively little is known about the appropriate design of contracts,...

This article has been made according to my dissertation in which I present some opportunity of risk analysis and risk managementin the decision support of crop production.Plant production is one of the most hazardous agricultural enterprises. Among risk sources seasonal fluctuation of average...

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Top Agro (TA - not its real name) is a small crop protection start-up operating in the European Union. In a relatively short period of time TA has been able to secure a reasonable profit margin and build a solid niche in the Italian crop protection market. The driving force in their success is...

Transgenic pest-resistant varieties are hypothesized to reduce farmers’ demand for on-farm diversity through an act of substitution, as both serve as production risk reducing instruments. This adverse agro-biodiversity impact of technology adoption might be partially counteracted by an...

We provide a general framework for quantifying the effects of genotypic selection prediction accuracy and varying cost ratios of phenotyping to genotyping on the economic performance of genotypic selection relative to traditional phenotypic selection. Economic performance is measured using...