Explore the vast range of titles available.

The fall of the Soviet Union was a transformative event for the national political economies of Eastern Europe, leading not only to new regimes of ownership and development but to dramatic changes in the natural world itself. This painstakingly researched volume focuses on the emblematic case of postsocialist Romania, in which the transition from collectivization to privatization profoundly reshaped the nation's forests, farmlands, and rivers. From bureaucrats abetting illegal deforestation to peasants opposing government agricultural policies, it reveals the social and political mechanisms by which neoliberalism was introduced into the Romanian landscape.

This scientific study focuses on the assessment of the legislation on land valuation, which takes place in the framework of selected administrative procedures in the Slovak Republic. The issue of land valuation is regulated in several pieces of legislation and, in terms of content, is their unifying feature of the valuation of land for public purposes. The reason for examining the determination of the so-called \"administrative price of land\" is the fact that, in practice, the administrative procedures analyzed are extremely time-consuming and considerably inefficient compared to other administrative practices. Another reason for analyzing the legislation on land valuation is the fact that they also have a direct impact on the speed of the related administrative procedures and on the use of land for private purposes and, therefore, on the actual exercise of the property rights to which the parties to those proceedings are legally entitled. The main objective of this study is to examine the quantity, quality, and differences of legislation allowing land valuation for land consolidation purposes and to compare it with land valuation for restitution and expropriation purposes. In the processing of the topic, we primarily used the method of critical legal analysis and suitable and available scientific methods designed for law examinations, such as description or synthesis. In the context of the examination, we also applied a comparative method to compare the development of the legal situation of the Slovak Republic with the Czech Republic. We also used scientific and doctrinal interpretations associated with the application of case law on Slovak and Czech legislation, as well as professional and scientific literature contained in the Web of Science and Scopus databases. The results of the study indicate that, despite the multi-annual effectiveness of the legislation, it would be appropriate to resolve the problems encountered in the Slovak Republic by adopting a new code regulating the issue of land consolidation.

Purpose It has been argued that scholars in management and organization studies (MOS) need to take the peasantry into account in their work. This study aims to address the complexity revealed by these arguments, suggesting that one needs clearer definitions and an appreciation of the complexities of historical development if one is to gain appreciation of the impaction of agriculture more generally on MOS. Design/methodology/approach This study uses historical material to develop a conceptual argument that challenges the homogenous nature of the peasantry. It uses a detailed contrast between two peasant groups in 19th and early 20th century Scotland to suggest divergent patterns of development. Findings Paying closer attention to definitions and historical development indicates that, as well as the survival of so-called archaic practices alongside highly developed agriculture, the main impact of agriculture on MOS might be the legitimacy it accords, as a cultural resource, to particular forms of organizing. While the issues outlined by previous authors are significant, they need to be discussed with more care to avoid a scattergun approach to analysis. Originality/value This study points to the neglect of agriculture more broadly and not just the peasantry, in MOS. It suggests the need to look at not only the economic impact but also the cultural resonance of agriculture in ideas about legitimate forms of organization. It also demonstrates the value and necessity of paying close attention to history in the analyses.

PurposeAgriculture in Ethiopia relies heavily on traditional farm power sources and is designated by the lowest farm machinery access, in contrast to other Sub-Sahara African (SSA) countries. The purpose of this research is to analyze the heterogeneity of mechanization service transactions and factors determining farmers' cooperation in mechanization clusters and willingness to accept land consolidation.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a cross-sectional survey of producer households in major crop production areas in the Oromia, SNNPR, Amhara and Tigray regions. The sampling design involved three stages: districts were selected using a stratified sampling approach accompanied by simple random samples of kebele units and producer households in the second and final stages, respectively.FindingsThis study’s results show that mechanization service costs, service relationships, clustering and land consolidation exhibit significant heterogeneity across the study areas. Cluster farming was found to be advantageous against diseconomies, rationalized by upgrading the mechanization scale. The probit model parameterization of the probability distributions reveals that household, land, crop, mechanization service, remoteness and location-related factors determine participation in mechanization clusters and willingness to accept land consolidation.Research limitations/implicationsFostering cooperation by focusing on constraints and demand of users is suggested to reduce transaction costs and expand hired mechanization services to unaddressed areas. The findings are relevant to most SSA countries where mechanization development is hampered by land fragmentation.Originality/valueLimited information is available on agricultural mechanization development for smallholder farmers, particularly in Ethiopia, and this study adds empirical evidence about the synergy between cluster farming and mechanization, horizontal coordination and alternative supply models.

We argue that farm survival is influenced by neighboring farmers' characteristics and, in particular, by the direct payments neighboring farmers receive. The article shows empirically that these interdependencies are crucial for an assessment of the effects of direct payments on farm survival. Using spatially explicit farm-level data for nearly all Norwegian farms, a spatial probit model is estimated to explain farm survival from 1999 to 2009 controlling for spatial farm interdependence. We show that ignoring spatial interdependencies between farms leads to a substantial overestimation of the effects of direct payments on farm survival. To our knowledge, this article is the first attempt to empirically analyze the importance of neighboring interdependencies for the effects of direct payments on farm survival.

Transaction costs may be a barrier to participation in USDA conservation programs. Data on perceived barriers and transaction costs from the 2012 USDA Agricultural Resources Management Survey of soybean farmers were analyzed. Of farmers who had not applied for programs, almost a third agreed that applying for programs and documenting compliance (perceived transaction costs) were barriers to participation. The measured magnitudes of transaction costs of those who did apply varied by program but do not seem particularly onerous and are lower than in European studies. Regression analysis indicates that complexity of the program and the farming system may increase transaction costs.

Redistributive land reforms implemented in post-WWII Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan have often been considered a substantial stimulus for these countries' subsequent economic growth. Before the reforms, there were a small number of large landlords and many small tenant cultivators, but after the reforms, tenancy effectively disappeared. This article assesses the impact of reforms on structural change and income per capita, and shows that reforms were responsible for at least half of the actual reallocation of labor out of agriculture in each of these countries in the aftermath of the reforms. By contrast, their impact on income per capita was small.

Owing to climate change, population growth and tenurial changes, the past decade has witnessed high interest among migrant and settler pastoralist groups in the vegetal-rich customary lands of the Agogo Traditional Area. This has resulted in lease grants of large land areas to pastoralists by traditional authorities and usufruct families, for reasons of ensuring optimum use and gaining the highest returns from lands. This paper examines the implications of consequent competing interests over land resources between farmers and herders on indigenous farmer’s agricultural investment decisions. The study uses qualitative methods and empirical evidence is given by primary data from semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions in the case study area. Results indicated that land owners exploit lapses in customary land administration systems to allocate lands in exchange for money, to pastoralists while neglecting indigenous farmers’ land use rights. Thus, indigenous farmers report land tenure insecurity and a sense of deprivation from their customary lands. Despite tenure insecurity concerns, farmer’s agricultural investment decisions remain unchanged because such changes in investment decisions may reduce incomes and compromise their livelihoods. The findings herein contradict theoretical expectations and provide new perspectives for understanding the relationship between tenure (in)security and investment decisions.

Although the policy impacts on farms accumulate year by year, most farm decision models focus on short-term decisions, evaluating policies based on snapshots. Structural changes are gradually built; therefore, farm decision models should consider the sequences within the period under study. Multiyear data from the arable sector in Thessaly, Greece, have fed a newly developed farm-level recursive linear programming model mainly to simulate farm structural change dynamics. The proposed model incorporates new evidence on the strategic decision of arable crop farms regarding their remaining in the production system and farm expansion. Results reveal an evident gradual farmland concentration in relatively large farms, accompanied by a gradual expansion of the most profitable cropping activities, verifying the real-world survival strategy of farms.