The Socio-Economics Factors in Family Farms with Different Economic Sustainability Levels from Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

Economic sustainability plays an important role in shaping conditions for economic growth and social development. The importance of answering the question about the level of sustainability of family farms results from the fact that the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, apart from exceptions (e.g. the Czech Republic and Slovakia), are characterized by a fragmented agrarian structure. Hence, the main goal of this article was to answer two questions: 1) whether the countries of Central and Eastern Europe differ in the level of economic sustainability of small family farms; and 2) whether the same socioeconomic factors impact similarly on the level of economic sustainability of small family farms from countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The study was based on surveys conducted in small family farms: in 2018 from Poland (672 farms) and in 2019 in four other countries (Lithuania; 999 farms, Romania; 834 farms, Serbia; 523 farms, Moldova; 530 farms). The publication includes a critical analysis of the literature, structure analysis and correlation analysis. The results show the occurrence of large differences between the economic sustainability of small family farms from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The research indicates that the larger the area of a small-scale family farm, the greater its economic sustainability. The productivity of these farms increases with their economic sustainability. The results also prove a negative relationship between the age of the farmer and the economic sustainability of their farm in all analysed countries. These trends were found in all analysed countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The results of the analyses support the conclusion that agricultural policy instruments aimed at increasing the economic sustainability of small family farms should lead to: land consolidation, a decrease in the age of farm owners through generational changes, and a decrease in employment in agriculture, which would lead to a reduction in labour input in the agricultural sector.

Enhancing Consumer Experience through Development of Implicit Attitudes Using Food Delivery Applications

“…Finding ways to develop a sustainable supply chain within the pandemic consumption and production framework resides in bringing together various resources at the level of both producers and consumers alike [127,128]. The fast development of technology and, at the same time, the speed of diffusion among users are positive factors that can contribute to the sustainability of supply value chains, especially within fields such as food product delivery.…”

Market-Oriented Perceptions, Organizational Resilience, and Sustainable Development of Family Grain Farms – Evidence from China

“…Additionally, referring to Smedzik-Ambrozy K., Guth M., Majchrzak A., Muntean A.C., Maican S.S. et al's research [23], the control variables are respective items of basic characteristics of family grain farmers and basic characteristics of family grain farms. Items of basic characteristics of family grain farmers are gender, age, and education level, and items of basic characteristics of family grain farms are operation scale, operation years, status of registration by industrial and commercial departments, status of relatively complete financial revenue and expenditure records, the number of owned agricultural machinery and tools, the total value of its own agricultural machinery and tools, status of double cropping, and status of signed sales contracts with agricultural enterprises.…”

Sustainable Development between Demonstration Farm and Agricultural Labor Productivity: Evidence from Family Farms in the Mountainous Area of Western China

“…For instance, mechanisms and tools of agricultural policy, agricultural mechanization, crop establishment, wage labor, quality capabilities of agricultural managers, level of internal management, rural financial credit system, satisfaction of social service demand, support for agricultural science and technology, and quality and safety of agricultural products, etc. [40][41][42][43][44][45][46]. As it should be, objectively speaking, the development of family farms in different countries and regions at different stages of development is affected by natural, social, economic, cultural, technical and other factors.…”

“…We should cultivate new types of professional farmers [37], promote the integration of universities, enterprises and bases through "industry-university-research" cooperation [6], and cultivate demonstration farms with local characteristics [36]. At the same time, there is a need to improve farm infrastructure conditions, promote the rational allocation of resource elements, and strengthen agricultural green technology innovation and diffusion [50] in order to improve the labor productivity and economic sustainability of family farms [43], ensure the healthy and efficient development of family farms, and then accelerate the advancement of agricultural modernization [51].…”