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The direct and indirect costs associated with food hypersensitivity in households: A study in the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain
107-117Views:223Background: Recent studies show that food hypersensitivity, such as food allergy or food intolerance, has the potential to affect direct, indirect and intangible economic costs experienced by individuals and their families. This research assesses the direct and indirect economic costs of food hypersensitivity at the household level in the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain.
Methods: A self-administered postal survey was conducted (n=1558). Respondents with food hypersensitivity were clinically diagnosed cases recruited through clinical centres in Poland and Spain. In the Netherlands, food hypersensitivity cases were recruited through hospitals, patient organisations and advertisements. The controls formed the baseline sample and were obtained from households in which none of the members had food hypersensitivity. The monetary value of indirect costs, forgone time, was calculated using the opportunity cost method. The indirect and direct costs were expressed in purchasing power parity. Analysis of co-variance on the cost items was used to test the within-country differences between respondents with food hypersensitivity and respondents without food hypersensitivity, as well as across the three countries.
Results: The average total direct and indirect costs across all countries for families with food hypersensitive family members are not higher than for households without food hypersensitive members. However, the intangible costs for food hypersensitive individuals appear to be higher than for individuals in the control group.
Conclusions: These results do not support the hypothesis that all food allergies incur high costs to the individual. However, being hypersensitive to foods may have a negative impact on quality of life compared to people who are not food hypersensitive. -
Historic landmarks in the development of Agricultural Land Market in Poland after the year 1989
41-44Views:156For a number of decades in the second half of the XXth century, agricultural land has been divided in Poland between three sectors: family, state owned and cooperative farms, with a dominating share of private, individual farmers in land use. As a result, ownership structure of agricultural land in Poland is quite unique among the former socialist Central and East European countries. Until the year1989, when the transformation to a market economy was initiated, the land market in Poland was almost non-existent. The State Land Fund(SLF), an institution created in 1944 was fordecades a substitute to land market. Originally, the Fund was responsible for the implementation of the land reform. After nationalization or confiscation of real estates, state farms have been established on a larger part of agricultural land under Fund’s management. Therest has been divided between formerfarm workers and small farmers owing less than 5 hectares of land.
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Adjustment of poland’s agriculture and food sector to challenges of agricultural policy of the European Union
39-44Views:168Paper is aimed in assessment of first period of Poland’s membership in EU and covering agriculture and rural areas with the support under the Common Agricultural Policy in the context of future challenges faced by the agricultural policy.Analysis shows that accession to EU became a strong impulse for growth of the Polish food economy, however the main challenge for the Common Agricultural Policy in future, from Poland’s perspective, will be strengthening the multifunctional agriculture, i.e. territorial cohesion and positive effects of agricultural activity on natural environment.
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Protected geographical indication recognition and willingness to pay: A case of grojec apple
73-80Views:184The Grojec region of Poland is an important region for apple production and accounts for 40 percent of domestic apple production. Apple growers from the region made an attempt to strengthen their competitive position through registering their apples as Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) products. The European Commission’s PGI allows food producers to obtain market recognition and a premium price for their products. Although the Grojec Apple received PGI registration in 2011, little has been done to promote apples with the PGI label. Two important research questions are addressed: 1) Does the Polish market recognize Grojec Apple PGI, and 2) Does the market value Grojec Apple PGI? Logit and regression models are estimated using survey data collected during an International MBA in Agribusiness and Commerce study week in Warsaw. Only 22% of consumers recognize Grojec Apple PGI. Yet, 70% of consumers indicate they are willing to pay more for the product and their average willingness to pay (WTP) premium is 32%. Results indicate use of the PGI label may be effective in improving sales and profit margins for Grojec Apple producers and their affiliated cooperatives. Older consumers are more likely to indicate a WTP premium. Males, smaller households, and consumers less sensitive to apple price indicate a higher WTP premium. An advertising campaign promoting Grojec Apple PGI as a better product may be effective at increasing consumer likelihood to pay more and WTP premium. Although “Grojec” is already familiar to most consumers in central Poland as a region for apples, a Grojec Apple with PGI label would assure consumers they are purchasing apples from the Grojec region and the apples are high quality.
JEL Code: D12, Q13, Q18
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Future role of agriculture in multifunctional development of rural areas
135-143Views:124In the paper the changes in agriculture in terms of falling share of agriculture in gross domestic product and decrease in the share of persons employed in agriculture in total employment in Poland and selected countries are discussed.The main driver of these changes is a faster pace of development of non-agricultural activities and continually deteriorating relations between the costs of production factors and prices of agricultural products. The rate of growth in labor costs and prices of the means of production for agriculture is much faster than the rate of increase in prices of agricultural products. This causes the decline in profitability of agricultural production which in creases the size of farms. The pace is dependent on the level of economic development of the country. The study also identified trends in the structure of farms, functions and systems of agriculture in the generational perspective.The polarization of the farms will deepen.A strong group of commodity farms and a group of so-called self – subsistence social farms will emerge. Agriculture in Poland will have a dual nature. In addition to the production function and social services agriculture will expand the scope of service functions for the environment and society.
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Future role of agriculture in multifunctional development of rural areas
29-37Views:132In the paper the changes in agriculture in terms of falling share of agriculture in gross domestic product and decrease in the share of persons employed in agriculture in total employment in Poland and selected countries are discussed.The main driver of these changes is a faster pace of development of non-agricultural activities and continually deteriorating relations between the costs of production factors and prices of agricultural products. The rate of growth in labor costs and prices of the means of production for agriculture is much faster than the rate of increase in prices of agricultural products.This causes the decline in profitability of agricultural production which increases the size of farms. The pace is dependent on the level of economic development of the country. The study also identified trends in the structure of farms, functions and systems of agriculture in the generational perspective. The polarization of the farms will deepen.A strong group of commodity farms and a group of so-called self – subsistence social farms will emerge. Agriculture in Poland will have a dual nature. In addition to the production function and social services agriculture will expand the scope of service functions for the environment and society.
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„Green” Public Relations (Public relations in the sector of products and services for Polish agriculture)
67-74Views:128The field of Public Relations has undoubtedly been assuming growing importance in Poland. Understood as an element of marketing communication or a function of company management, it has a significant impact on company’s external and internal environment. According to Puls Biznesu3 the value of the Polish PR market amounted to 250m PLN in 2005, which is a 20% increase as compared to 2004. According to the author Urszula S ´wiatl⁄owska, “the turnover of PR agencies is growing and even smaller companies demonstrate their interest in the services”. Considering this, it can be assumed that PR activities will soon be initiated by many smaller Polish companies, often connected with the agricultural sector. The change discussed by the authors of the article reflects the phenomenon of PR’s growing importance among other communication channels in Poland.
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The influence of direct support under common agricultural policy on farm incomes in Poland
33-37Views:160The main objective of the paper is the analysis of changes on the level of income of agricultural producers, which took place in Poland in the early years of the accession to the EU, as well as a determination of the scale of the impact of financial support under the Common Agricultural Policy on the farm income situation. Poland’s membership in the EU gives rural farms opportunities to improve their economic situation. Financial aid, mainly in the form of a direct payment, has been the main factor determining the economical status of rural farms, whilst the other income making factors, such as improved productivity and increased agricultural production have played a much smaller role. The increase in revenue has enabled farmers not only to increase current expenditures, but also to carry out modernization efforts, which will determine the future economic and structural situation of the Polish agricultural sector and its competitiveness. However, a strong differentiation in terms of the economic situation of rural farms according to their size and specialization in production was also noticed. As a result, there is a still large number of farms in which the revenues received by farmers are insufficient to assure them adequate life standard. Therefore such farms are not able to both develop and invest. Only economically strong rural farms with high production potential have such opportunities, meaning that EU support will never be able to fully minimize the effects of small-scale production or to offset the insufficient efficiency and productivity of production factors.
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ONLINE AND E-LEARNING BEST PRACTICES, NEEDS AND HABITS FOR THE INTERNATIONAL AGRIMBA NETWORK
Views:166From the literature part of this research, it shows that, some of the most popular Learning Management Systems (LMS), such as Moodle, Canvas and Blackboard, are used by many universities and colleges worldwide and their popularity is steadily increasing as more institutions adopt online learning. The usage statistics of LMSs by universities can be influenced by a number of factors, such as the size of the university, the specific requirements of the institution, the availability of alternative solutions, and the preferences of faculty and students. In addition, the popularity of LMSs among universities may change over time as new systems enter the market or as existing systems improve and evolve. Based on the number of customers, Moodle's three biggest competitors in the learning management systems category are Google Classroom with 11.70%, LinkedIn Learning with 8.87% and TalentLMS with 5.16% market share.
The most frequently used functionalities of the e-learning system are: study content creation, course management and content library, and the least frequently used are integration with other systems, multilanguage utility, plagiarism checking, accessibility to people with disabilities and personalized learning. Similarly, the most popular functionalities are course management, study content creation and assessment and testing. Respondents least liked the functions of integration with other systems, webinars, accessibility for inclusion, and video hosting and streaming.
Lectures or slides are most often uploaded to platforms, followed by written materials and links, then videos, pictures and tables. Judging by the answers received, the majority of respondents are either completely satisfied (34%) or moderately satisfied (42%) with the e-learning systems they are using now.
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Importance of the generic segment of thye plant protection products – the case of the Polish market
25-33Views:152Authors present results of the analysis of developments in the plant protection products industry, with a focus on its generic part. Authors concentrate on long-term changes of prices, volumes and values of generic pesticides launched into the market. There were two strategic groups of producers identified: research and development (R&D) and generic. The analyses conducted prove that there is a relationship between the amount of generic products on the market and their prices. It is also clear that the number of competitors significantly influences the speed and range of price erosion. Used as examples generic plant protection products were placed on the market with an average price 15% lower comparing to branded pesticides.
JEL code: M31
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The assessment of intellectual capital in Polish regions
101-105Views:178In a knowledge-based economy intangible assets are indispensable to achieve competitive advantages. Resources like intellectual capital are perceived as crucial factors especially for regional growth. Intellectual capital is comprehended as a multidimensional concept, defined and explained in many various ways, depending on the context and further application. The purposes of this article is to consider the role and importance of the intellectual capital for regional development and competitiveness and to try to use it for an estimation of regional advance progress. On the basis of literature review the article provides a framework to analyse the intellectual capital and its main components. The central attention of the paper focuses on the evaluation of the intellectual capital in Polish regions and its influence on regional performance. The paper surveys the empirical examination of 16 Polish regions in terms of intellectual capital and simultaneously assesses the level of intellectual capital in rural areas. The article provides the insight into the role and value of the intellectual capital in Polish regions.
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Assessing Readiness Levels of Production Technologies for Sustainable Intensification of Agriculture
47-52Views:229The modern agricultural production is facing the problem of a growing society connected with the growing asking for food as well as different environmental threats. To solve this issue, agricultural production should be more sustainable and efficient which can be reached by using new technologies. In the paper the most important technologies, which were evaluated by different research methods to find how and when they could be used for a sustainable intensification of agriculture were highlighted by applying technology and market readiness models. By asking professionals from different fields of agriculture in practice as well as academia it was found that technologies that collect or utilize advanced data (sensors, drones) used for knowledge based management are more applicable for use, contrary to nanotechnologies where the costs of development and applications limits the readiness.
JEL Classification: Q16
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The efficiency of porkers production of intensively and extensively feeded
69-74Views:151The aim of this study is a comparative analysis of the costs of production of intensively and extensively fed porkers in view of the qualitative parameters of meat obtained after slaughter. The production experiment, which involved the parallel fattening of 3 groups of 30 porkers (fed intensively up to a weight of about 120 kg and extensively up to weights of about 100 kg and 120 kg), was carried out between 2011 and 2012 in a deliberately selected farm. The researchers assumed average prices of the means of production and prices of livestock pigs in individual meatiness classes noted in Poland in 2012. The fattening started when the animals weighed about 40 kg. The feeds used for extensive fattening contained less total protein, energy and basic exogenous amino acids, but more raw fibre. The analysis proved that the extensive production of porkers up to 100 kg in 2012 was not profitable. The most profitable production was the intensive production up to 120 kg (a profit of €0.100 per kg, whereas in the extensive feeding up to 120 kg the profit was €0.072 per kg. The porkers which were fed less intensively had a higher slaughter value, thinner fatback, higher dressing percentage and smaller content of fatback in the half-carcase, whereas their meat contained more water and less protein, fat and ash than the meat from the group of porkers fed with the mix richer in protein and energy.
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Competitiveness of Polish regional Agro-clusters
35-40Views:198The present paper concerns the analysis and evaluation of the performance of regional agro-clusters in Poland and also the examination of the significant basic factors which have influence on it. The objective of the paper is both to rank the 16 Polish regions according to their competitive position in the agrocomplex and to present their economic and social position, show differences and regional contrasts. Also, we compare the outcomes with the overall Polish regional competitive index, which was created in accordance with the Huggins Institute approach.
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The impact of the “greening” of the common agricultural policy on the financial situation of Polish farms
49-55Views:340This paper presents an assessment of the impacts of introducing the greening scenario of the CAP, proposed by the European Commission as an alternative for the reformed CAP after 2013. In the past, the CAP has undergone numerous transformations in response to the changing macroeconomic environment and in reaction to developments in the farming sectors in EU countries. On the 12th of October 2011, the Commission presented a set of legal proposals designed to make the CAP a more effective policy to encourage more competitive and sustainable agriculture and vibrant rural areas. The proposal brings various new elements under consideration, some of them raising strong controversies such as introducing “greening” as a component of direct payments. Changes in the direct payments scheme in line with the EC proposition include forcing adjustments in the cropping pattern and creating ecological focus areas (EFA) on 7% of the farm land ; the consequences of such a proposal on the size and structure of agricultural production, and thus on the economic performance of farms and the whole agricultural sector are uncertain. The authors analyse historical changes to the CAP with a focus on a growing importance of the environmental component of the CAP, discuss different scenarios of shaping the direct payments system and present the results of modelling the impacts of greening the CAP on the Polish farming sector with the use of the LP optimisation model. The study was based on Polish FADN data. Results show that the majority of farmers in Poland comply with the crop diversification constraint of greening. However, establishing the required EFAs and necessary diversification on farms with simplified cropping structures will have a negative impact on the volume of agricultural production as well as on farm incomes.
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Economic effectivity of fairs – KAVA Model testing on agricultural exhibitions
115-121Views:168This paper discusses the first experiences with the newly-developed KAVA-model. This model works on cash basis and evaluates cash inflow, outflow and Net Cash-Flow (NCF) in connection with four different interest groups connected to the given exhibition. The model was tested on four different exhibitions: Farmerexpo (Debrecen, Hungary) in 2005 and 2006, OMÉK (Budapest, Hungary) from 2005 and PolagraFarm (Poznan, Poland) 2006.The different fairs can be compared by their relative „economic values” that makes the auditing more reliable.