Precision farming may play an important role in agricultural innovation. The study focuses on the attitude of Hungarian farmers toward precision farming. Based on the relevant technical literature, we performed a nationally representative questionnaire survey of 594 farmers and deep interviews with experts and farmers (30 persons). As regards the questionnaire, the authors found that the management of the average farm size in Hungary has the highest willingness to innovate and the second highest level of education among the developed clusters. The survey shows undertrained farmers with large farms to be the second most open group, which may result in the partial application of precision farming techniques. One of the most unexpected results of the Precision Farmers’ cluster is that the positive socio-economic utility of precision farming is rated as extremely low. In-depth interviews prove that the use of precision technologies does not increase local social cohesion. Strong organisational isolation of precision farmers prevents the spread of innovation knowledge and precision farming amongst the farming community, and the challenges of competitiveness alone do not force farmers to apply precision farming. Our results may be useful for the establishment of agricultural strategy.

The basic question of our research is what crop-producing farmers know about PF (precision farming), and how economic value and social factors motivate the acceptance and implementation of PF. We conducted a cross-sectional survey, using standardized questionnaires, in 2018, that was nationally representative of Hungarian crop producers. Besides this, we conducted 30 semi-structured interviews about the meaning of PF, with the farmers who use PF in practice. They defined it as a tool of strategic planning, to serve input savings, using state-of-the-art technologies. Based on the questionnaire, we found that the farmers currently applying PF do not seem to have such a significant impact on the agricultural society that would make others want to move to precision technology, following their example. As a result of the factor analysis, we could differentiate direct and indirect factors. Potential human resources are undereducated, their willingness to improve their knowledge is low, and the level of cooperation ability is low, making it excessively difficult, or even impossible, to acquire the equipment necessary for a technology switch and to purchase the necessary services. It can be concluded that age, production, and technical usefulness carries greater weight over things like monetary factors, productivity of cultivated land, knowledge capital, and willingness of Hungarian farmers to cooperate.

The price of the agricultural irrigation is determined by the water resources levy and agricultural water supply fee, which are regulated under Article 15/A. (1) and Article 15/F. (1) of the Act LVII of 1995 on Water Management. A kind of dualism concerning the price of the irrigation can be observed in Hungary. On the one hand, the necessity to irrigate has to be reflected in the price due to the negative impacts of drought on crop production, although irrigation scores low on the hierarchy of water uses. On the other hand, the price must also express the value of water as an irreplaceable natural resource with limited renewable capacity. Based on the analysis of the said provisions, it can be concluded that though allowing derogations from paying for the agricultural irrigation can be justified in many cases,  concerns can be raised regarding their uniform application without involving discretion regardless, among others factors, of the differences in the economic situation of the farmers.

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2013 tavaszán jelent meg Szilágyi János Ede, a Miskolci Egyetem Állam- és Jogtudományi Kar Agrár- és Munkajogi Tanszéke egyetemi docensének könyve, Vízjog: Aktuális kihívások a vizek jogi szabályozásában címmel. A 262 oldal terjedelmű könyv egy TÁMOP kutatási program  keretében készült el, és a Miskolci Egyetem gondozásában jelent meg. 

A tanulmány célja, hogy átfogó képet nyújtson a nemzetközi vízjog egyik speciális terültének, a vízszennyezésnek a nemzetközi jogi szabályozásáról.Ennek keretében először a víz, mint természeti erőforrás és annak jelentősége, valamint a jogi szabályozás sajátosságai kerülnek bemutatásra. Ezt követik a vízszennyezéshez kapcsolódó nemzetközi jogforrások, nevezetesen a Nemzetközi Jogi Egyesület édesvizekre vonatkozó szabályai, az 1997-es New York-iEgyezmény a nemzetközi folyóvizek nem hajózási célú használatáról, illetve a nemzetközi környezetjognak a vízszennyezéshez legszorosabban kapcsolódó alapelveinek rövid ismertetése. Végezetül, a folyóvizek és a tengeri környezet minősége közötti kapcsolat bemutatására, valamint következtetetések levonására kerül sor.

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