Suchergebnisse

In this paper, we study the evolution of agricultural product specialisation at farm and county level from 1979 to 1997 in Spain, thus covering all the stages of the gradual implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy. We use a multiproduct version of Theil and Finizza's index of segregation that allows us to decompose farm product specialisation into county specialisation with respect to the national level, i.e., the usual measure of regional specialisation, and farm specialisation within counties. Our results confirm the importance of increasing regional specialisation but also highlight that trends of farm specialisation within counties have varied across large agricultural areas. In particular, regions more specialised in export-oriented products seem to have speeded regional specialisation.

This paper aims at the critical review of the studies concerning family farming in Greece by looking both at more general treatments of family farming issues connected with its integration into the wider economy and at specific empirical research on family farm operation. First, the paper discusses the definition and theoretical underpinnings of the family farm as developed in western literature. Then it provides the contextual information for the discussion following on Greek family farming. The next parts are devoted to a review of the debate over the development of capitalism in Greek agriculture and a critical evaluation of the work produced on family farming in the post‐1980 period in the country. This review deals mainly with methodological and theoretical arguments rather than actual empirical research on Greek family farming. Finally, a discussion is developed in search of a more holistic treatment of family farming in Greece.

The use of intensive high-yield agricultural systems has proved to be a feasible alternative to traditional systems as they able to meet the objective of guaranteeing long-term sustainability in the supply of food. In order to implement these systems, it is necessary to replace the traditional model of "extract-use-consume-dispose" with a model based on the principles of the Circular Economy (CE), optimizing the use of resources and minimizing the generation of waste. Almería has become a paradigm of this type of high-yield agricultural system, with the largest concentration of greenhouses in the world. This study analyses the opportunities that the CE can offer the intensive agriculture sector in Almería in order to obtain long-term sustainability. The results show a wide variety of alternatives, both on an agricultural exploitation level and in the case of the product packaging and wholesale centers. The priority areas of action are waste management, the prevention of product waste and the improvement in the efficiency of the use of water and energy. The principal limitations for adopting circular practices are the large investment required, the limited transfer of knowledge between the different users and the lack of sufficient support from the government and the sector.