Knowledge As A Factor of Rural Development: ISBN 978-83-7658-378-5

Knowledge as a factor of rural development
Knowledge
as a factor
of rural
development
vol. 10
ISBN 978-83-7658-378-5
vol. 10 Editors:
Paweł Chmieliński
Agnieszka Baer-Nawrocka
EUROPEAN RURAL DEVELOPMENT NETWORK
INSTITUTE OF AGRICULTURE AND FOOD ECONOMICS - NATIONAL

RESEARCH INSTITUTE
POZNAŃ UNIVERSITY OF LIFE SCIENCES
Rural areas and development – vol. 10

Editors: Paweł Chmieliński, Agnieszka Baer-Nawrocka
Knowledge as a factor
of rural development
WARSAW-POZNAŃ 2013
Editors:
Dr Paweł Chmieliński
Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics - National Research Institute (IAFE-NRI)
Świętokrzyska 20
00-002 Warsaw, Poland
Dr Agnieszka Baer-Nawrocka
Poznań University of Life Sciences
Wojska Polskiego 28  
60-637 Poznań, Poland
Reviewers:
Professor Andrzej Kowalski
Professor Walenty Poczta
PUBLISHED by the Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics - National Research Institute
COPYRIGHT by the Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics - National Research Institute
The opinions expressed in the individual papers are the sole responsibility of the authors
Prepared for print by

Krzysztof Kossakowski (IAFE-NRI)
ISBN 978-83-7658-378-5
Contents
Introduction to the volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Chapter 1
Adam Wasilewski, Zbigniew Floriańczyk, Marek Wigier
Governance of Internet development in rural areas in the context
of territorial competitiveness: the case of Poland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Chapter 2
Andrew Fieldsend, Erika Székely
An assessment of the agricultural knowledge and innovation
system in Hungary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
Chapter 3
Konrad Czapiewski, Roman Kulikowski, Jerzy Bański,
Maria Bednarek-Szczepańska, Marcin Mazur, Mariola Ferenc,
Michał Konopski
The use of ICT in Mazovian agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
Chapter 4
Vladimír Székely
Urban-rural relations as a source of transfer of knowledge:
some examples from rural surrounding of Bratislava . . . . . . . . . . .59
Chapter 5
Monica Mihaela Tudor, Violeta Florian, Mihai Alexandru Chitea
Acceptance of innovation diffusion in rural areas -
a Romanian case study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81
Chapter 6
Marie Trantinová, Marie Štolbová
Assessment of farmers role in relation to the support
of rural communities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107
Chapter 7
Arkadiusz Sadowski, Agnieszka Baer-Nawrocka,
Wawrzyniec Czubak
The role of science in sustainable development of agriculture
according to the Polish scientific community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125
Chapter 8
Marcin Żekało
Requirements of organic farming and impact on direct costs
of organic production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137
Chapter 9
Klaus Wagner
Knowledge transfer and innovation network on the example
of the EU-project TECH.FOOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .151
Chapter 10
Krzysztof Hryszko
Evolution of state policy on GMOs and its impact
on the potential of rural areas in Poland. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Chapter 11
Marcin Wójcik
The Farmers’ Calendar as an example of a cultural
factor shaping the knowledge about the countryside
and agriculture in Poland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173
Chapter 12
Cornelia Alboiu, Filon Toderoiu
The dynamic of agrifood systems and institutional impacts
on Romanian vegetable producers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .185
Introduction to the volume
This volume of „Rural areas and development” series has a special cha-
racter while proving sustainability of European Rural Development Network
(ERDN) idea. We are proud of this 10th volume that documents decade of
international cooperation in the field of rural development particularly in Cen-
tral-Eastern Europe. The effort of network members in investigation of rural
processes across Europe provides extensive knowledge needed to understand
what is the meaning of agricultural development. The originally agriculture
sector orientation is strongly moving towards rural space policies. Thanks to
broad multinational and multidisciplinary approach ERDN manages to cap-
ture main streams and regionally specific processes related to changing para-
digms of rural development and provides solid base for policy and strategic
planning formulation.
The tenth volume of the series „Rural areas and development” consists of
12 chapters proposed and discussed during the ERDN conference hosted by
Poznań University of Life Sciences in Zielonka, October 2012. The current
EU development strategy, “Europe 2020 - A strategy for smart, sustainable
and inclusive growth” underlines the role of knowledge in stimulation of eco-
nomic growth and in increasing employment. Namely the smart, sustainable
and supporting social inclusion growth was added to the three main priorities
of the economic growth of Europe. The concept of smart development inclu-
des the continuation of the need for strengthening sectors of economy based
on knowledge and for promoting the innovation. On the other hand the sustai-
nable-development priority has underlined the need to transform the economy
towards technologies more friendly to the natural environment indicating di-
rection of agricultural sector development.
Priorities in the area of social development would stress the need for econo-
mic development towards high employment, and secure social and territorial
cohesion that is directly linked with the rural and urban disparities. In the
strategy the process of the transformation of the European economy through
the implementation of energy- and material-efficient technologies works as
an engine for economic growth. However the differences between stage of
development between rural areas indicate different need for knowledge and its
transfer. The ERDN community possesses extensive knowledge of rural pro-
cesses that would support effectiveness of knowledge transfer to food sector
6 and rural areas. Different scientific backgrounds and cross national origin of
ERDN experts provide complex and interdisciplinary quality solutions. Sub-
mitted papers related with the process of knowledge transfer to food sector
and rural areas provide us evidence that we have interesting research in this
field.
The monograph begins with a chapter by Adam Wasilewski, Zbigniew

Floriańczyk and Marek Wigier, investigating the ICT potential in the process
of improvement in competitiveness of rural areas. On the basis of the case
study conducted in Poland, the authors claim that the low level of incomes of
local population and administration burdens constrain as the main obstacles in
internet diffusion to rural areas. According to the researchers, the internet de-
velopment policy on different regional levels should take into account the dif-
ferences of functional types of rural communes. Since peripheral communes
are at a disadvantage regarding internet diffusion, the internet technology in
this type of communes is unlikely to become leading development factor in
short time perspective.
In the second chapter Andrew Fieldsend and Erika Székely assess the nature of
knowledge flows through the agricultural knowledge and innovation system
(AKIS) in Hungary. According to the authors, to encourage innovation more
effectively the functioning of the AKIS must be improved, i.e. future planning
should be based on a state-of-the-art understanding of AKIS as multi-actor
networks, it is also recommended that new models should be developed and
tested on the basis of experience from other EU Member States.
The following chapter by Konrad Czapiewski, Roman Kulikowski, Jerzy

Bański, Maria Bednarek-Szczepańska, Marcin Mazur, Mariola Ferenc and
Michał Konopski, aims in the diagnosis and evaluation of ICT use in farming.
The research carried out among farmers in Mazovia showed that most of far-
mers in question use a computer and the Internet (if the household is equipped
with them) in a passive way - not requiring user interaction - primarily to
obtain information. The researchers also prove that education is a very strong
factor in differentiating the level and the form of ICT use by farmers.
The next chapter was written by Vladimír Székely and investigates the deve-
lopmental potential of rural areas in the surroundings of Bratislava. The study,
based on the results of newspaper monitoring about “two tier” rural society
and face-to-face interviews with rural inhabitants, shows positive and negati-
ve impact of immigrants and their knowledge transfer into rural environment.
The authors of the fifth chapter, Monica Mihaela Tudor, Violeta Florian and
Mihai Alexandru Chitea, investigate the organisation and functioning of the
Agricultural Knowledge System in Romania. The researchers examined the
set of public and private organisations dedicated to research, education and
extension, and their interaction with knowledge users (traditional farmers).
According to the authors, the processes related to innovation production and 7
knowledge transfer to agriculture and rural areas are still tributary to the tradi-
tional model based on a strong confidence in scientific progress and in the role
of the State as a driver of modernization.
In the following chapter, Marie Trantinová and Marie Štolbová discuss future
of the LEADER programme in the new Czech Rural Development Plan 2014-
2020. The authors point out that it is vitally necessary to increase employment
in rural areas by strengthening rural economy and social capital. It is very
important to exchange experience among European countries during the pre-
paration, implementation, delivery and evaluation of the RDP.
The aim of the research of Arkadiusz Sadowski, Agnieszka Baer-Nawrocka

and Wawrzyniec Czubak was to determine the scientific community represen-
tatives’ opinion on the role of science and its particular fields in the implemen-
tation of sustainable development of agriculture and rural areas. The survey
conducted using a structured interview with 128 representatives of socio-eco-
nomic and life sciences have shown that at the current stage of sustainable
development implementation, the most important factors include scientific
research and transfer of new technologies (in addition to political decisions).
The authors claim that in the future the role of sociology and rural sociology
in implementing concepts will increase most significantly, which may indicate
that a better understanding of social order will be required.
The next chapter considers the issue of organic farming. The study’s author,
Marcin Żekało argues that restricted legislation in organic farming regulates
in detail the manner of production, impacting directly on production character
and also economic results achieved in organic farms. Therefore theoretical
and practical knowledge of farmers are needed to meet these formal require-
ments. But the study on the economics of organic production indicates lower
than in conventional farms direct costs of production, as well as good income
performance from particular production activities.
The chapter by Klaus Wagner characterises the experience of the TECH.

FOOD project aimed at setting up a transnational network for building links
among enterprises and research bodies of a wide area. The research shows that
large enterprises often use their own innovation structures and networks for
national and international interactions. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
often struggle with a lack of time and human resources to concentrate on in-
novation processes and therefore a short term success is very important to
give the financial base for economic survival and to motivate SMEs to invest
in innovation.
The following chapter by Krzysztof Hryszko, provides a revision of evolution

of views on GMO, current legal state in the European Union and Poland, as
well as proposed changes in this regard. The author argues that the political
8 decisions on possible prohibition of marketing of GMO products, especially
including protein feed components, may have negative impact on farmers in-
volved in commodity animal production (poultry and pig livestock, to a lesser
extent bovine animals) in Poland.
The eleventh chapter presents The Farmers’ Calendar as a source of knowledge

about agriculture addressed to farmers. According to the analyses by Marcin
Wójcik, the calendar is not only source of useful information, but should be
also considered as an important expression of the cultural transmission and
the way of thinking of a large group of people engaged in farming in Poland.
The author also argues that the traditional vision of agriculture as a special
profession, enclosed in the religious justification and interpretation, has been
significantly disintegrating.
The book closes with the study of Cornelia Alboiu and Filon Toderoiu which
purpose is to assess the role of collective organization forms in farmers’ par-
ticipation in the Romanian supply chains, more exactly the possibility of far-
mers to adapt to the dynamic retail chains using new institutional economic
theories. The results of the research signal out a small degree of farmers’ parti-
cipation in collective forms of organizations. Also, they reveal a certain degree
of uncertainty among stakeholders in terms of institutional arrangements and
participation in collective action.
We hope that the publication we pass onto your hands will give you a picture
of different approaches to the issues of knowledge diffusion and knowledge
transfer in rural development.
The Editors and Zbigniew Floriańczyk

9
Adam Wasilewski1, Zbigniew Floriańczyk2, Marek Wigier3
Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics – National Research Institute,
Świętokrzyska 20, 00-002 Warsaw, Poland
1
wasilewski@ierigz.waw.pl
2
florianczyk@ierigz.waw.pl
3
wigier@ierigz.waw.pl
Chapter 1
Governance of Internet development
in rural areas in the context
of territorial competitiveness:
the case of Poland
Abstract: Modern Information and Communication Technologies are recognised

as a main factor stimulating socio-economic development of urban and rural
areas. The aim of this article is to investigate the ICT potential in the process of
improvement in competitiveness of rural areas. The classical theoretical develop-
ment approaches are presented in the context of ICT territorial distribution. On
the basis of the case study conducted in Poland the main obstacles to the Internet
development in rural areas are analysed. Potential role of the Internet technolo-
gies in the process of competitiveness improvement of rural areas is investigated.
The analyses have been done with respect to different functional types of rural
areas.
Keywords: governance, ICT, territorial competitiveness, rural areas

10
Adam Wasilewski, Zbigniew Floriańczyk, Marek Wigier Introduction
Strong competition for new investments and an access to markets as well as
capital is a common feature of economies nowadays. This phenomenon can be
observed not only from the perspective of businesses that compete with each
other but also countries and regions (Sirkin, Hemerling, Bhattacharya, 2008).
Such a process concerns in Poland counties, districts and provinces that are
interested in improvement of both their competitiveness and living conditions
of their inhabitants. An active participation of local-government administra-
tive bodies makes them important players of local and regional development.
It results from their engagement in economic processes, the introduction of
innovations or widely considered mobility of labour and capital. Local and
regional communities are perceived as research objects in the context of com-
petitiveness of rural areas. The necessary condition for these communities is
to have an aim which is focused on the development of certain area. A basis
of competitiveness is a rise in efficiency that leads to a rise in incomes and
thus living standards. Also institutional environment and arrangement have
got considerable impact on economic development through transaction costs
linked to market conditions, availability of information, necessity to negoti-
ate and concluding deals and safety assurance (Williamson, Masten, 1999).
In this process the lower level of transaction costs results from the better qua-
lity of institutions provides greater opportunities for economic success.
The recent research on economic development and improvement of regional

competitiveness takes into account potential of new information and com-
munication technologies, particularly Internet (OECD, 2003). They stress the
across economy effects of the modern communication technologies while all
sectors of the economy use information in their production process. However,
ICT impact on economic performance is relatively more visible in the services
than in other sectors of the economy. This suggests that ICT in primary sectors
e.g. agriculture may be less effective in direct stimulation of development
processes. Changing the perspective from agriculture sector to space related
concept of rural areas development amplify the role of the ICT in develop-
ment. This is justified by the growing role of non-agricultural activities in
rural development (OECD, 2006). Improvement in communication stimulates
economic changes in rural areas and utilisation of local resources to provide
varieties of services. Simultaneously the ICT is recognised as influential on
quality aspect of economy improvement (Sudoh, 2005). At the local level this
is related to changes of the interaction structures between enterprises, govern-
ment and citizens. While the direct improvement of economic performance
results from more efficient information flow, the indirect effect is an outcome
of reorganisation of local development stakeholders. The transformation pro-
cess of rural areas connected with ICT utilisation improves the quality of life
of rural people regarding the initial stage of development. Similarly to deve-
loped countries the introduction of ICT technologies in developing ones de-
monstrates their positive impact in all aspects of rural economy (Thadaboina,
2009). Generally, improvement of information flow resulted in better access
of the rural people to public services as well as in the growth of agricultural 11
productivity and the improvement of living standards.
Governance of Internet development in rural areas in the context of territorial competitiveness: ...
The unequal benefits of ICT can be explained by the differences in accessibili-
ty of modern communication technologies. This digital divide phenomena can
be observed from different perspectives: racial, economic, ethnic and educa-
tional (Compaine, 2001). The differences in economic and educational level
of development between urban and rural areas made the problem of unequal
distribution of ICT a territorial issue. Lower accessibility and utilisation of
modern communication technologies known as rural digital divide are clearly
noticeable in less developed countries and regions (FAO, 2002). In most of
them the problem of poor ICT utilisation is of economic and political nature.
Therefore, it requires governmental actions to overcome technological and
social gaps. At the EU level the rural areas are lagging behind urban ones in
term of broadband Internet utilisation (European Commission, 2007). This is
explained by the connectivity and content imperfections (Alakeson, 2003).
Rural inhabitants usually have imperfect knowledge of the Internet potential
and accessibility to the technology. Simultaneously the “user interface” and
“design interface” are less friendly for rural population. Another explanation
of spatial nature of digital divide problem in Europe is failure of liberalised
market that is not able to provide telecommunications services effectively
across regions (European Commission, 2005). The EU current policy stresses
the importance of territorial cohesion and aims at providing better accessibili-
ty to Internet products and services in regions lagging behind in development.
Creation of successful policies aiming at Internet technologies diffusion in

rural areas is the complex issue, because their results depends on a number of
socio-economic conditions (OECD, 2001). Slow pace of spreading the ICT
in rural areas is a result of, among others, pace of economic development,
distance of administrative units to urban centers, local culture and history,
information flow at the local and regional level or access to particular techno-
logies and costs of their implementation. In the case of Poland households as
well as economic entities, especially in rural areas, have been taking advan-
tage of Internet technologies in a relatively short period of time because of late
introduction of the technology and high cost of services (Poland…, 2010) .
It is stressed that lack of competition between the Internet providers in rural
areas results in relatively higher cost of these services. Therefore the local-
government should undertake actions to support Internet infrastructure deve-
lopment or engage in cooperation with private Internet providers. This situati-
on calls for an analysis in order to find out what are the critical factors which
make the process successful on the local – commune level. Relation between
the level of Internet development and competitiveness of local and regio-
nal communities from a theoretical and practical point of view is examined.
A review of literature on development of rural areas and interactions between
this process and the development of the Internet has been conducted. Legal
framework in respect of the Internet development support by the public sector
is to be analysed. Finally the empirical research on the basis of available stati-
12 stical data and questionnaire survey conducted in rural counties of Mazowie-
ckie province is used for the assessment of the decisive factors of the Internet
development and competitiveness improvement of regions.
Theoretical framework for the internet development in rural

areas of Poland
Modern ICT are classified as an element of infrastructure and placed among
most important factors of socio-economic development. This is directly linked
with the growing importance of new economy by itself and its positive effects
on other sectors of economy (Landefeld, Fraumeni, 2001). Improvement in
information and data processing allows for better organisation of production
processes as well as services supply in order to satisfy the market demand.
In other words, economic entities that are advanced in ICT utilisation gain
comparative advantage. This advantage at both local and regional level is like-
ly to be observed in relatively well developed economies. Therefore, the base
for the increase of competitiveness depends on the level of the infrastructure
development, namely the Internet. This makes the development process time
consuming with overlapping development preconditions. Overlapping depen-
ds on the regional or local specific features and reflects the possibility of the
Internet technology and advantages resulted from high overall socio-economic
level of development. In case of relatively limited accessibility to modern ICT
its relation with the socio-economic development should be analysed rather
from the internal specificity of particular territorial unit than standard action–
interaction perspective. It means that ICT can be the driver of development
for some communes but for another ones it can be the effect of development
According to prevailing theories, the ability to absorb new technologies is one

of critical factors of region development (Pillai, Shannon, McKim, 1995; Flo-
rida, 2004; Törnqvist, 2004). The basic assumption is that there is a potential
demand for new technology that is neither known nor presented. Polish rural
areas can be characterised as potentially interested in adopting internet tech-
nologies while the benefits from its utilisation are visible in developed coun-
tries. On the other hand, the low level of the Internet infrastructure develop-
ment can be recognised as an opportunity from private businesses perspective.
The Internet in case of Polish rural areas should be recognised as a relatively
new technology that has a potential for stimulation local development.
Absorption of new technologies is directly linked with diffusion of innovation

process that is a major part of development processes. Reasons of the Internet
territorial diffusion and its innovative character can be explained with the use
of Rogers innovation diffusion theory (Rogers, 1962). According to Rogers
process of innovation diffusion consists of four major elements: the type of
innovation, communication between potential recipients, structures of target
society and time perspective of which communication between potential reci-
pients and structures of targeted society are related to the human factor. From
the perspective of Polish rural areas the level of local residents’ knowledge 13
of the Internet technologies and ability to utilise it is consider to be low. This
point out the human factor among main obstacles in the process of the Internet
diffusion.
The concept of innovation diffusion recognises a number of models of innova-

tion spreading as well as information of that innovation (Meade, Islam, 2006).
Among them the relocation and expansion diffusion concepts are mostly used
for spatial distribution of innovation (Brown, 1981). The expansion diffusion
takes place when the spread of innovation goes through a community and
each individual is passing the knowledge to his neighbours. In such a way the
area of dissemination is growing larger. This pattern of innovation diffusion
is recognised as a prevailing in Polish rural areas (Floriańczyk, Czapiewski,
Stawicka, 2007). However it requires active assistance of the public instituti-
on to introduce new technology to potential stakeholders.
In case of relocation diffusion spread of innovation is related to its movement

from one place to another. While the areas are separated the innovation may
not reach regions that are located between them. These two different patterns
of innovation diffusion is of critical importance while the certain political ac-
tions stimulating development processes are planned (Yong-Tae Park, 1999).
As observed in most developed countries technology diffusion is part of their
macro-technology policy that aims at upgrading technical capacities of regi-
ons. Concerning the concept of relocation diffusion in the Internet innovation
spreading at the commune level it is necessary that local or regional govern-
ments set out a framework for a policy in order to provide the peripheral areas
with the technology.
Formulation of policy aiming at the Internet diffusion in rural areas can be sup-
ported with Christaller's central place theory (Christaller, 1933). This theory
underlines dominant role of certain size towns at the regional scale. Because
of their functional structure and influence on neighbouring area they are consi-
dered to be socio-economic centres. In this theory the concepts of threshold of
minimum market size and range to define border of area of consumers acqui-
ring goods form the centre. This theory was developed by A. Lösch, B. Malisz
(1984), H. Beguin (1992), that pointed out hierarchic structure of cities in
certain area from their functional type perspective. As regards the stimulation
of the Internet diffusion in rural areas the urban centres are likely to be a major
partner in this process. However, their influence according to the theory tends
to decline with growing distance and technological improvement of means of
communication. On the hands the process of technology development would
lead to equalisation of the Internet accessibility and utilisation in rural and
urban areas, making flat space, as suggested by Thomas L. Friedman (2005).
Increasing up-taking of the Internet technology should result in decreasing the
distance between centres and its periphery.
14 From the microeconomic perspective planning policy of the Internet diffusi-
on it to be based on the theory of localisation (Lösch, 1961). Localisation of
economic entities is determined by the scale of benefits and costs that are re-
lated with their activity. Concerning the Internet diffusion localisation theory
has two major implications. Firstly, local community can undertake specific
actions in order to increase the local level of Internet services. This way they
provide attractive environment for investors and stimulate local economic de-
velopment. The second implication of localisation theory is concerned with
the Internet services providers. They are likely to concentrate their effort in
larger, city located markets. This is justified with the relatively higher absorp-
tion of their services. In this light, the chances for improvement accessibility
to Internet services of rural communes basing on free market are relatively
small. Therefore, small communes are not enough attractive for Internet pro-
viders and should be supported in their efforts to provide Internet by central
and regional policies.
The macroeconomic perspective localisation theory is a component of spatial

economy that explains allocation of resources and economic activities over
space and aiming at identification of effective space structures from the re-
gional and national perspective. The spatial economy reflecting the original
model of spatial organisation of agriculture production proposed by J.H. von
Thünen (1826) further developed by E. Hoover, W. Isard, C. Ponsard, A. We-
ber and A. Losch. Their works pointed out the existence of optimal point
of urban centre development that made further concentration economically
unjustified. This could be recognised as a positive phenomenon from the point
of view of the Internet development in rural areas. With the stabilisation of
centres demand one can expect expansion of Internet providers to their sur-
roundings. The globalisation processes boarded the scope of spatial economy
while the new trade environment change the traditional way of businesses
operation (Fujita, Krugman, Venables, 1999). Namely the globalisation pro-
cess underlined regions as opposed to traditional national perspective for eco-
nomic development analysis. In this light the process of expansion of services
are likely to be observed firstly between regions that have high level of urbani-
sation. Recently conducted studies prove the existence of catching-up process
is the diffusion of mobile telecommunications across EU-15 countries (Gio-
vanis, Skiadas, 2007). An inverse relation between the speed of diffusion of
the concerned technology with the time-delay effect suggests Internet services
expansion to less developed regions.
The localisation theory explains the decentralisation of government power as

a result of localisation dispersion. This phenomenon reflects the local admini-
stration underestimation of agglomeration localisation costs and benefits rela-
ted to central administration consuming significant part of national incomes.
The growing range of local government responsibilities and decision creates
environment for participation in benefits related to agglomerations develop-
ment. Namely the communes that are in close proximity to urban centres may
benefit from extension of existing infrastructure. At the same time all rural
communes are required to apply for Internet base communication solution 15
in administration offices. Therefore the public responsibilities stimulate pro-
cess of Internet diffusion. This top-down approach made the administration
technological leader at local level. The above described processes prove that
the Internet diffusion and its relations with socio-economic development have
a complex nature. The social contest in the socio-economic development pro-
cess based on the technology diffusion was characterised by models proposed
by Björn-Sören Gigler (2004) and Mitchell and Gillis (2005). The first one
postulates that the dynamics of the Internet diffusion process depends on in-
terrelationship between innovation and communes that are gaining powers
from it’ adoption. The relationship between the Internet and local develop-
ment was characterised by Mitchell and Gillis as a multi-dimensional where
the different stakeholders interactions deciding on its diffusion dynamic. This
model can be adopted for analysis the balance between different stakeholder
The common opinion of the government stresses weakness of the infrastruc-

ture as a main obstacle of the Internet diffusion in Polish rural areas. This
opinion is likely to underestimate the problem of local development stake-
holders capability to adopt new technology. The central government actions
aiming at upgrading technical capacities of regions might therefore lead to
inefficiency. Particularly this to be a case of rural communes that are remote
from urban centres as explained by relocation diffusion innovation concept.
On the local level creation of attractive environment for private business with
the use of public resources is required. This to rather overcome disadvantages
of local market as compared to the cities and to encourage services providers.
As a result of the increase of suppliers competition on local market impro-
vement of the Internet accessibility is expected. The stressed role of local
government in stimulation development processes should be balanced with
the different stakeholders interests. The coordination of actions between these
stakeholders as pointed out in Mitchell and Gillis model is consider to reflect
the quality of governance of the Internet development in rural areas.
Organisational and legal possibilities of support of the internet

development by the public sector, particularly by regional
and local-government
Development of the Internet utilisation in rural areas based solely on market
instruments meets with serious obstacles. This process can be slowed down
and sometimes even brought to a halt by, inter alia, low population density,
idiosyncrasy of settling network and population’s incomes. In some cases all
the characteristics of local community determine low demand. Thus invest-
ment made by private sector can be inefficient. As a consequence, the dis-
parities in economic potential and quality of social capital keep on growing.
In order to counteract the increase of these negative phenomena it is possi-
ble to undertake coordinated activities at different levels of central and local-
government’s administration. According to the Constitution of the Republic of
16 Poland “(…) social market economy, based on freedom of economic activity,
private ownership and co-operation among social partners compose the basis
of the economic system of the Republic of Poland (…)” (art. 20), and “(…)
public authorities conduct policy leading to full productive employment (…)”
(art. 65). Achieving this goal directly supports actions to be undertaken by
different level administration to facilitate the development of the Internet .
The choice of forms and range of engagement of local-governments in the
development of the Internet should be based on results of cost-benefit analy-
sis. This to take into consideration local community social costs and benefits.
Moreover, supporting the Internet development by local-governments is ju-
stified by constitutional regulations concerning shaping human capital. The
Constitution obliges public authorities to:
• supporting guidance and professional trainings (art. 65)
• elaborating individual systems of financial support for children and studen-
ts in order to ensure equal access to education (art. 70).
To a significant extend the activity of local-governments in fulfilling the above

tasks can be employed to improving the level of the Internet knowledge and
the possibility of using them for economic development in the community
territory. Moreover, individual support systems can include ensuring access
to these technologies. In the context of such activities of vital importance are
the constitutional rights of local-governments for associating and entering in-
ternational associations of local and regional communities (art. 172). These
activities in international organization can contribute to transfer to local com-
munes already tested and functioning solutions. It is expected that from one
hand the speed up of the process of spreading the internet on local level will
take place and from the other hand local-governments expose to unnecessary
costs will be lower.
Mazowieckie region case study - main obstacles

for the internet development in rural areas
The theory of central place as an explanation of the Internet diffusion indi-
cate the Mazowieckie region in Poland as most suitable to illustrate the rela-
ted socio-economic processes. The centre of this region, Warsaw, the capital
city, influences development of other satellite cities as well as rural areas.
The neighbouring small cities and rural communes are of low development
potential in terms of becoming providers of knowledge intensive services.
Centre of the region is growing in importance due to economic development
and expansion of its endo- and exogenous functions. According to central
place theory, self-development and utilisation of Internet technologies result
in growing disparities between advanced cities and peri-urban and rural are-
as. Public policy aiming at Internet diffusion in order to provide equal con-
dition for development of different areas should be therefore harmonised at
local communes as well as regional levels of administration. Case study of
the Internet in Mazowieckie region rural areas was conducted on the level of
commune (Banski, 2008). These were selected represent diverse functionality 17
and endowment patterns, the latter both in terms of natural resources and the
man made ones, including the opportunities offered by the particular loca-
tion. Research covered 85 communes of which 14 were rural-urban ones and
71 rural enabled the identification of the Internet development barriers at the
local level. The questionnaire was directed to representatives of three major
groups of the Internet stakeholders (Floriańczyk, Wasilewski, Chlebek, 2009):
1) Internet expert – specialist most familiar with current Internet issues at the
community level, 2) Local economic leader – the expert with an economic
orientation and 3) Administrative leader – the expert representing the interest
of the community.
The examined communes varied significantly in spreading the internet access.

On average 27% of residents in these communes had the internet access in any
form. In rural-urban communes access to the internet (35%) was by almost 10
percentage points higher than in rural ones. Whereas, rural communes were
characterized by wider range in the share of population with the internet ac-
cess (from 5 to 80%). In case of rural-urban communes, especially the ones
located around large urban centers, the differences in the internet access were
much smaller. The research showed that the most burning issue that limits
the internet development is the income situation of the residents (figure 1).
This problem affects in the sane degree people living both in rural as well as
rural-urban communes. This issue was considered important in over 85% of
communes of the first group and over 80% of communes in the second group.
The next economic barrier in the internet development is the insufficient level
of local-governments’ incomes not enabling them active support of underta-
kings serving, for example, extension of technical infrastructure (optical fibre
network, radio transmitters, etc.), or co-financing purchasing of computer
equipment by public institutions (schools, libraries, healthcare centers, etc.).
The problem of insufficient local-governments’ incomes was indicated as im-
portant barrier in the development of the internet in 60% of rural communes
and in 57% of rural-urban ones. Difficulties in development of the internet are
also caused by the lack of sufficient support from local-governments of higher
level or central institutions. In more than a half of the surveyed communes the-
se issues were considered as one of the most important development barriers.
As a cause for insufficient development of the internet network there were also
mentioned personnel shortages and lack of network development specialists
(such answers were given by 1/3 of analyzed units). Other barriers included
underdeveloped competition in the market of internet providers (this problem
was considered important by 50% of the surveyed rural communes and 40%
of the rural-urban ones) and the unwillingness of alternative operators (other
than the largest fixed telephony Polish operator) to undertake investments in
the areas of low density rates and low income levels. However, findings of the
research indicate large interest in the internet’s development among residents,
entrepreneurs and farmers. Only in one of ten of surveyed communes lack of
such an interest among the named groups was indicated as an important barri-
er to development of the network.
18
Figure 1. Barriers to development of the internet in the surveyed communes
Mazowieckie region case study - linkages between internet

development and functional type of a local administrative unit
New ICTs are considered to be a factor stimulating socio-economic develop-
ment in urbanized as well as strictly rural areas. Such a linkage appears at the
moment of achieving relatively high level of endowment with a given techno-
logy, in our case the internet. However, achieving this level requires relatively
long period of time. Yet, in the act of developing a given technology in a spe-
cified administrative unit the turn of dependence vector between the Internet
endowment and socio-economic development can be opposite. Moreover, in
some circumstances this relationship may not occur. Research conducted in
mazowieckie region confirm that internet accessibility in households did not
present any statistically significant dependence with communes’ socio-eco-
nomic potential. Considerable diversity among communes in terms of their
internet development and relatively low number of connections to the network
in communes with the highest internet accessibility show that this technology
is only at the phase of popularizing. The pace of internet popularizing in the
surveyed group of communes was neither a factor of their socio-economic
development nor an effect of their high socio-economic potential. The pace of
popularizing the internet at a local level was conditioned by the administrative
unit’s function. Dominating functions of particular units, such as residential-
commercial, tourism-recreational, agricultural and peripheral, determine spe-
cific social relations closely related to information flow, in this case infor-
mation flow concerning new technologies. These relations also condition the
way of exercising the power by local local-governments and determine the
influence of public consultations on decision making process.
The conducted research shows that specific functional types of communes 19
significantly varied both in their internet accessibility to households and
their socio-economic potential (figure 2). The analysis enabled finding some
patterns. The lowest accessibility rate was observed in peripheral commune
(18,7%), at the same time having the lowest socio-economic potential. Where-
as, the highest rates were observed in communes representing tourism-recre-
ational type (37,7%). Between these extreme groups there were agricultural
communes (29,5%) and residential-commercial ones (22,2%). This last type
was also characterised by the highest socio-economic potential.
Figure 2. Internet accessibility and socio-economic development potential in dif-

ferent functional types communes of Mazovieckie region.
Distribution of access according to commune types and their synthetic

measure of socio-economic potential attest a very difficult situation of pe-
ripheral communes. It is certain that in the near future the access to these
technologies will not elicit development of these communes. Concurrent-
ly, a dynamic internet development will not take place. The differences
between this functional type and the others will deepen. The only way to
counteract it is through elaboration and implementation of cohesive stra-
tegy envisaging participation of external partners representing both public
and private sector in local development. A different situation is observed
in communes of residential-commercial type located generally in the pro-
ximity of large cities. Their residents have common access to this techno-
logy at their workplaces. In this type of communes there is also a higher
number of economic entities registered (than in peripheral ones) for which
internet technology is essential. High economic potential of these com-
munes gives possibility of accelerating pace of equipping local households
with internet access even without the necessity of engaging local-govern-
ments in this process, that is with the exclusive participation of private
sector. Yet, another nature of ICT development is observed in tourism-
20 recreational and agricultural communes where there is relatively the high-
est number of households with the internet access, despite a significant-
ly lower socio-economic potential than in residential-commercial ones.

In this type of communes internet technology is in a much more significant
level used both by households and entrepreneurs. For agro-tourist entities
and non-farming families offering tourist services in the rural areas this
is the cheapest and sometimes even the only accessible form of promoti-
on of conducted activity and advantages of local culture or environment.
The advantages of using this technology are increasingly acknowledged
also by farmers looking for ways of improving the profitability of their far-
ms. In these two types of communes a systematic development in access
and use of internet should be expected. Their relatively low economic po-
tential will be a factor hindering this growth. In this case it would be pro-
fitable to a higher extend engage public sector in supporting this process.
Mazowieckie region case study - the scope for the internet

use in order to improve the competitiveness of territorial units
The range of possibilities for making use of the internet in rural areas con-
stantly widens. High speed internet access strongly conditions commune’s
economic and social development as it becomes the precondition for functio-
ning of enterprises and activity of its residents at the labour market. Strong
correlation between the level of Internet utilisation and productivity grow
proves critical role of this technology in creation comparative advantages
on country and regional level (EC, 2007). The same reports indicate that in
Poland the level of the broadband internet take-up among citizens is among
the lowest in Europe. Therefore the development processes are likely to be
slowed down by poor access to this technology. Access to the Internet, espe-
cially in smaller localities, is of tremendous importance for the development.
It can lead to more intensive population’s activity as well as easier access
to, inter alia, education, job offers or legal regulations Owing to the internet
access it is easier to attract tourists, producers can more in a simpler way
finds customers and establish business relations (Mehrtens, Cragg, Mills,
2001). Internet access signifies, among other: possibility of settling official
affairs, regulating payments, making use of bank accounts. Farmers have the
possibility of on-line monitoring of, i.a., price quotations from commodity
exchanges and market places, which helps them in planning sales, facilitates
transactions at the agro-exchanges, whose number keeps on growing. The
internet is also an up-to-date and source of knowledge concerning cultiva-
tion technologies. It also enables the exchange of experiences at countless
internet forums devoted to the agriculture. Its educational value both for
children and adults also needs to be underlined
The research conducted in communes of Mazowieckie region concerning

their residents’ potential interest in public services provided via the in-
ternet showed that it would be most often used to satisfy their needs for
using the internet library resources - 86% of all the answers. It seems to 21
be a logical consequence of growing popularity of this type of services
among internet users and increasing internet resources of this type. Also
a large number of responses, more than 75%, mentioned using the internet
for settling official affairs, such as filing tax declarations, making use of
job offers from labour offices’ sites, registering in healthcare centres and
hospitals (e-health) and ordering official declarations and duplicates. Fur-
ther places in the popularity ranking of services were taken by: formalities
related to obtaining personal documents, registering vehicles or domicile
registration. Nearly 70% of the total number of respondents reacted posi-
tively to the perspective of providing an on-line access to such services by
local authorities. Lack of acceptance for on-line services in the surveyed
population was low and amounted to 16-20% (“no” answers). Half of the
surveyed respondents expressed positive opinion on the perspective of ha-
ving the possibility to file complaints at the police or enrol children to cre-
che, kindergartens or schools via the internet (1/4 of the surveyed did not
see the possibility of accessing these services on-line). At the bottom of
the ranking there were activities concerning outlook on life. About 44% of
the respondents thought that it should be possible to accomplish formali-
ties related to baptism, wedding or similar issues via the internet, whereas
1/3 expressed a negative opinion.
Findings from the conducted research show that there is large diversity
among different functional types of communes in their potential demand
for public services provided via the internet. An analysis that was focused
on this issue enabled the identification of some regularities. The lowest
readiness for making use of intenet services (figure 3) was observed in
tourism-recreational communes, where only slightly more than 50% of the
surveyed population gave either the answer “probably yes” or “definitely
yes”. In these communes more than 1/3 of the surveyed population has
a negative attitude towards providing some public services via the inter-
net. In agricultural communes this readiness was at a slightly higher level
amounting to almost 2/3 of positive responses. Lack of acceptance for
e-administration was much lower in this group of communes than among
tourism-recreational ones (app. 20% of negative and definitely negative
answers). The highest acceptance level for transferring the contacts with
organs of administration to the internet was observed in two groups the
most different in their level of socio-economic development and location,
that is: residential-commercial and peripheral types. In both cases the pro-
portion of positive responses to the question concerning the readiness to
making use of services provided via the internet reached more than 75%,
whereas the share of negative responses was relatively insignificant and
did not exceed 6 and 14%, respectively. In the surveyed population of
communes there were 66% of positive responses to the posed question and
18% of negative ones.
22
Figure 3. Demand for on-line public services according to commune types (pro-
portion of accepting answers or non-accepting ones to the possibility of accom-
plishing some formalities via the internet)
Future research directions

Lack of profound identification of communes’ equipment with the internet
technologies limits the possibilities of preparing more efficient development
strategy and improving the competitiveness of rural areas. Thus further re-
search concerning profound identification of communes’ equipment with this
infrastructure is necessary. Such research projects should also include pro-
viders of teleinformation services. It would even be better to conduct these
project with participation of services’ providers in order to prepare an initial
assessment of costs linked to the implementation of these technologies in rural
areas.
The impact of spreading the internet access in rural areas can be limited
if central institutions together with local-governments at lower levels of ad-
ministration do not prepare a strategy for popularizing the technology based
on precise criteria of differentiating the policy towards specific functional ty-
pes of communes.
Development of modern ICTs (mainly the internet) is an important factor

in the development of enterprises and improvement of rural areas’ competi-
tiveness. In Poland this factor is still seriously underdeveloped and used by
its residents and entrepreneurs to an unsatisfactory degree. Thus there is still
a need for greater and more effective involvement of administration organs
in developing and popularizing the use of modern ICTs. For this purpose it is
necessary to conduct research concerning linkages between the expansion of
modern information and communication networks and sustainable and cohe-
sive socio-economic development at a local and regional scale in national and
European contexts.
Conclusions 23
Conducted research indicates low level of incomes of local population and
administration financial constrains as the main obstacles in internet diffusion
to rural areas. These problems are followed with the obstacle reflecting defi-
ciency in basic telecommunication infrastructure required to provide internet
services. Potential private business offering such services are not interested
in investing in Internet infrastructure in rural areas. This because low level
of incomes and density of population does not provide environment to gene-
rate satisfactory profits.
Problem of information asymmetry that reflects an imbalance of power in

transactions is recognised as among major market imperfections. This pheno-
mena has a direct influence on competitiveness of rural businesses that are ex-
perience insufficient access to information. Development of the Internet tech-
nology regarded as a most important communication means in last years, has
a potential to reduce the information asymmetry between urban and rural areas.
Conducted study underline the strong dependence between level of socio-

economic development of rural communes and their functional types. Surpri-
singly higher level of socio-economic development wasn’t accompanied with
the significantly higher internet accessibility. Therefore the dynamic of the
Internet development was imperceptibly recognised as a development factor
of all commune types. This study proves that level of the Internet utilisation
is strongly connected with the functional type of communes. The analysis
conducted regarding the functional types of rural communes exposed that
peripheral communes are most disadvantage regarding internet diffusion.
Therefore the internet technology in this type communes is unlikely to be-
come leading development factor in short time perspective.
The possibility to actively stimulate internet diffusion are limited from the
rural communes budget perspectives. Their low economic potential causes
scarce budget to finance large infrastructure projects. This implicate the pos-
sibility to ample the development disparities between different types of rural
communes.
To counteract the negative process of growing development potential between

different types of communes the cohesive strategy should be worked out.
The strategy that takes into account local and regional partners should incor-
porate in the process of its formulation representatives of private sector.
High economic potential provides the environment to stimulate Internet de-

velopment with inextensive engagement of public bodies – based on private
business. High demand in tourist-recreational and agricultural type communes
implies the development of Internet technologies. However this process is slo-
wed down because of low level of economic development of these communes.
24 The Internet development policy on different regional levels should take into
account the differences of functional types of rural communes. These in or-
der to increase the effectiveness of public money (including European Uni-

on found) utilisation devoted to Internet infrastructure development. Local-
governments could improve the efficiency of the Internet diffusion process
with providing the platform for social dialogue between all local development
stakeholders. Such social consultations are proposed to provide to fulfil the
common platform requirement.
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27
Andrew Fieldsend1, Erika Székely
Research Institute of Agricultural Economics, Zsil utca 3-5, 1093 Budapest, Hungary
1
andrew.fieldsend@aki.gov.hu
Chapter 2
An assessment of the agricultural
knowledge and innovation system
in Hungary
Abstract: Knowledge flow systems are an essential component of Agricultural

Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS). A traditional view of a knowledge
flow system would include research as a source of knowledge, extension and edu-
cation as knowledge and information channels, and agricultural entrepreneurs as
recipients of knowledge. More recently, this ‘linear’ view has been widely chal-
lenged, and in view of this the European Union is proposing a new approach to
encouraging innovation in agriculture in the 2014-2020 programming period.
This paper assesses the nature of knowledge flows through the AKIS in Hungary,
and looks at the factors that encourage and discourage these. It concludes that
to more effectively encourage innovation the functioning of the AKIS in Hun-
gary must be improved and makes six recommendations: (a) a comprehensive
review of the AKIS in Hungary should be conducted; (b) the present system of
incentives for knowledge flow through the AKIS should be urgently reviewed; (c)
future planning should be based on a state-of-the-art understanding of AKIS as
multi-actor networks rather than simply as a unidirectional linear flow; (d) new
models should be developed and tested on the basis of experience from other EU
Member States; (e) monitoring of the performance of the AKIS in Hungary should
be improved; and (f) an annual report on the performance of the AKIS should be
prepared by the Hungarian government and submitted to Parliament.
Keywords: knowledge flows, extension services, monitoring, evaluation

28
Andrew Fieldsend, Erika Székely Introduction
Since the 1970s, official organisations such as the OECD and the FAO have
introduced the concept of Agricultural Knowledge and Information Systems
(AKIS) in policy discourses. This acronym has since evolved to describe Ag-
ricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems, a concept that seeks to encom-
pass and influence the complexity of knowledge and innovation processes
in the rural sphere (Klerkx and Leeuwis, 2009). Rivera and Zijp (2002) iden-
tified four main types of actor with an interest in agricultural (and rural deve-
lopment) innovation: research, extension services, education and training, and
support systems (all the organisations providing credit, inputs and producers’
associations, etc.). In their model, all four of these sets of actors act upon the
knowledge of farmers and rural actors and generate innovations.
Knowledge flow systems are the flows of knowledge through an AKIS, in-
cluding producers of knowledge (the supply side), information channels, and
users of knowledge (the demand side). A traditional view of a knowledge flow
system would include research as a source of knowledge, extension and ed-
ucation as knowledge and information channels, and agricultural entrepre-
neurs as recipients of knowledge (Dockès et al., 2011). This ‘linear’ view is
especially applicable to the situation in which researchers produce knowledge
in terms of new technologies, such as farm machinery. Extension and educa-
tion can disseminate this knowledge to the farmers, for instance by demons-
tration or written communication, and the farmers can apply it by using the
new technology or machinery.
A number of factors have led to the erosion of the traditional concept of Ag-
ricultural Knowledge Systems (AKS) that was based on a strong integration,
at national level, of public research, education and extension bodies, under
the control of the Ministry of Agriculture. They include both theoretical and
empirical factors:
• Research, extension and education have undergone a major restructuring.
They have been transformed by the trend towards liberalisation, which has
led to privatisation of service delivery or to public/private partnerships,
the multiplication of extension organisations, farmers contributing towards
the cost of these services, competitive bidding for research and extension
contracts, and tighter evaluation procedures;
• The policy agenda has been modified by increasing concerns about the
environmental impact of industrial agriculture, the quality of life of rural
populations, rural employment and the need to support the positive ‘ex-
ternalities’ (public goods) linked to agricultural production. This has led
to new emphasis being placed on balancing and integrating agricultural
policies with rural development;
• The ‘linear’ model of innovation has progressively been replaced by
a ‘participatory’ network approach, in which innovation is ‘co-produced’
through interactions between firms, researchers, intermediate actors (input 29
providers, experts, distributors etc.) and consumers;
An Assessment of the Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System in Hungary

• The growing disconnection between farmers’ knowledge and research and
extension systems.
A key message of the first Standing Committee on Agricultural Research

(SCAR) foresight exercise (SCAR, 2007) was that the increasing challenges
facing the agri-food and rural sectors in Europe require a review of the links
between the production of knowledge and its use to foster innovation. Re-
search could play a stronger role if different actors were better integrated into
actual agenda setting and became part of the research process via such actions
as innovative networks. The second SCAR foresight exercise (SCAR, 2009)
described the AKIS in Europe as currently unable to absorb and internalise the
fundamental structural and systemic shifts that have occurred. The remaining
publicly funded AKIS ‘appear to be locked into old paradigms based on line-
ar approaches and conventional assumptions’ (p. 63). The report stressed the
need for renewed political attention to the effectiveness, relevance and scale
of Europe’s AKIS and for a redefinition of AKIS.
The European Commission’s (EC) proposals for the CAP after 2013 ack-
nowledge the importance of research, knowledge transfer and innovation in
addressing the challenges faced by European farmers and recognise the cen-
tral role of AKIS (EC, 2011). The EC accepts that a major weakness is the
inadequate information flow and missing links between different actors in
the AKIS. To overcome the bottlenecks to getting research results adopted in
practice, the EC proposes to reinforce the role of the Farm Advisory Service
(FAS) and to create a ‘European Innovation Partnership (EIP) for agricultural
productivity and sustainability’. As a part of the European Network for Rural
Development, the EIP will be a new instrument created to ‘facilitate the infor-
mation flow between research and practice’.
EIPs as a novel approach to innovation were first proposed in the Europe 2020
strategy (EC, 2010a) and further elaborated in the EC’s Communication on an
Innovation Union (EC, 2010b). They focus on improved governance arran-
gements to help speed up the adoption of research findings and to overcome
the fragmentation of research activity in Europe. Through Innovation Part-
nerships, the European Union (EU) aims to rebuild broken links in the chain
between research and bringing innovation to the market.
This paper reviews the current state of the AKIS in Hungary in the light of the-
se recent research and policy developments. It focuses on the nature of know-
ledge flows through the AKIS in general and through the extension services in
particular, and on the factors that encourage and discourage these, rather than
on a simple description of the institutional structures. The paper concludes by
making six recommendations on how the functioning of the AKIS in Hungary
can be improved.
30
Andrew Fieldsend, Erika Székely Methodology
While participating in the SCAR Collaborative Working Group on AKIS
in the period from May 2010 to March 2012, the lead author carried out
desk research and several informal interviews with AKIS actors in Hungary
about the overall structure of the AKIS and its constituent organisations,
and the incentives and monitoring of the AKIS. In 2009 the second author
conducted 28 interviews with representatives of organisations that either di-
rectly or indirectly participated in the advisory system (the Ministry of Rural
Development (VM), NAKVI (an institute of the VM), the Regional Advi-
sory Centres, private consultants, the Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture,
the County Chambers of Agriculture, the Chamber of customer service ad-
visors, the HVI, the ‘Network of Village Agronomists’, and representatives
of commercial companies). These interviews explored the effectiveness
of the extension system. The paper presents results from the research
of both authors.
The general AKIS in Hungary

The most recent study of the entire AKIS in Hungary was undertaken by Tóth
(2005). Székely and Halász (2010) reviewed the institutional conditions and
operational experiences of agricultural advising in Hungary. Reflecting the
continuing importance of agriculture in the Hungarian economy, the four
components of AKIS, research, extension services, education and training,
and support systems, are all strongly represented (table 1).
Table 1. The major components of AKIS in Hungary
RESEARCH
Ministry of Rural Development (VM)

• Nine institutes covering: Agricultural economics; Animal breeding and nutrition; Small
animal breeding and nutrition; Forests; Fisheries; Food; Biotechnology; Agricultural
Engineering; Geodesy, Cartography and Remote Sensing
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
• Six institutes relevant to agricultural producers covering: Agriculture; Pest management;
Soils and agrochemicals; Veterinary; Biological Research; Agricultural economics
• Nine institutes covering: Meat market; Peppers; Vegetables; Milk economy; Fruit and
ornamental plants; Grain
Other state owned institutions
Ministry of National Resources
• 21 institutes belonging to agricultural universities and colleges
Private sector
• Various institutes
31
EXTENSION

Farm Advisory System
• Set up in 2007; maintained, regulated and controlled by the VM and the NAKVI and
mainly funded by the EAFRD; 643 registered active advisors in 2011; seven Regional
Advisory Centres and 51 active Territorial Advisory Centres selected by tender which
deliver upon-payment advice to farmers
Farm Information Service
• Set up in 2007; managed by the Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture; financed 71% by the
EAFRD; provides free information to farmers about the CAP and direct payments; 205
consultants
Network of village agronomists
• The Central Agricultural Office, which is directed by the NÉBIH (Hungarian National
Foodchain Safety Authority), has a long-established network of village agronomists (588
in 2009) who have public administration tasks and also provide free advice to farmers
Commercial services
• Provided by professional advisers such as input suppliers, project proposal writers; in
place since before 2007
EDUCATION
Ministry of National Resources

• Universities: major agricultural, horticultural and veterinary teaching centres in
Debrecen; Szeged; Gödöllő; Budapest (Corvinus University); Kaposvár; Keszthely
(University of Veszprém); Mosonmagyarovár (University of West-Hungary)
• Higher education colleges: major agricultural and horticultural centres in Gyöngyös
(Károly Róbert); Szarvas (Tessedik Sámuel); Kecskemét; Nyíregyháza and Mezőtúr
(Szolnok)
Ministry of Rural Development
• Vocational schools: 19 institutes which are run by the VM covering agriculture,
horticulture, food and related topics
SUPPORT SYSTEMS
Producers’ associations
• Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture (11,000 members); MOSZ and MAGOSZ
Product boards
• Covering: Poultry; Fruit and vegetables; Meat; Grain and feed etc.
Agricultural Administration Office
• Associated with the VM; the Hungarian National Foodchain Safety Authority
(NÉBIH) delivers regulatory, monitoring and accreditation services through local offices
32 Agricultural and Rural Development Agency
• Supervised by the VM; the sole paying agency of EAGF and EAFRD funds and national
funds
Hungarian National Rural Network
• Operates within the Rural Development, Training and Consultancy Institute (NAKVI) of
the VM
Source: authors’ compilation
Source: authors’
Although compilation
several links between the different components can be identified,
which in theory should facilitate the flow of information and knowledge
within Although
the Hungarian AKIS
several links (tablethe2),different
between previous researchcanhas
components be shown that
identified, there
which in
istheory
clearshould
scopefacilitate
for further improvement. Tóth (2005) remarked that ‘extensi-
the flow of information and knowledge within the Hungarian AKIS
on ought to… start to establish and improve relations between organisations’
(Table 2), previous research has shown that there is clear scope for further improvement. Tóth
while Székely and Halász (2010) noted the need ‘to strengthen the relation-
(2005) remarked that ‘extension ought to… start to establish and improve relations between
ships among the participants, to conduct research adjusted to the needs, to
ensure stricterwhile
organisations’ Székely and
co-operation Halászeducation,
between (2010) noted the need
research ‘to strengthen the
and advising’.
relationships among the participants, to conduct research adjusted to the needs, to ensure
Table 2.co-operation
stricter Examples of linkages
between between
education, the different
research components of AKIS in Hungary
and advising’.
• The Ministry of Rural Development controls the Farm Advisory System, and funds both
Table 2:that
Examples
and theofFarm
linkages between the
Information different
System components
mainly of AKIS
via EU funds, in the
and Hungary.
Network of Village
Agronomists from its own budget (support systems-extension)
•• The Ministry
The universities are theDevelopment
of Rural locations of controls
the seventheRegional AdvisorySystem,
Farm Advisory Centresand
of funds
the FAS and
both
(with the colleges) are also the locations of some of the Territorial Advisory
that and the Farm Information System mainly via EU funds, and the Network of Village Centres
(education-extension)
Agronomists from its own budget (support systems-extension)
•• The universitiesFAS
Some of the advisors
are the are of
locations university
the sevenand college
Regional staff orCentres
Advisory teachers
of of
the agricultural
FAS and
vocational
(with schools (education-extension)
the colleges) are also the locations of some of the Territorial Advisory Centres
• The Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture manages the Farm Information System and the
• territorial
Some chambers
of the run 20 ofare
FAS advisors theuniversity
Territorialand
Advisory
collegeCentres (support
staff or systems-extension)
teachers of agricultural
• 21 researchschools
vocational institutes are part of the state universities and colleges (education-research)
• The Hungarian
The Ministry ofChamber
Rural Development owns
of Agriculture nine research
manages the Farminstitutes, supervises
Information Systemthe
andARDA
the
and HNRN
territorial and runs
chambers runsome
20 of of
thethe vocational
Territorial schools
Advisory (support
Centres systems-research;
(support support
systems-extension)
• systems-support
21 systems;
research institutes support
are part of thesystems-education)
state universities and colleges (education-research)
• The Ministry
The research of
institutes of the Ministry
Rural Development ownsofnine
Rural Development
research institutes,claim to have
supervises thetheir
ARDA own
extension
and HNRNactivities
and runs(research-extension)
some of the vocational schools (support systems-research; support
• systems-support systems;
At some universities support
students systems-education)
can study advisory services as an optional subject for two
• The
yearsresearch institutes of the Ministry of Rural Development claim to have their own
extension activities (research-extension)
Source:
• Atauthors’ compilation
some universities students can study advisory services as an optional subject for two
6
90,0 33
80,0

70,0
60,0
Percentage
50,0
40,0
30,0
20,0
10,0
0,0
0-1 1-5 5-10 10-50 50-100 Over than 100 In all
hectar
Havn't got professional knowlidge Practical experience Basic level Medium level High level
Figure 1. Educational level of Hungarian farmers according to size of farm, 2010

Source: authors’ compilation from Hungarian Central Statistical Office data.
Tóth (2005) found that farmers with primary education demanded extensional
help closely related to their area of agriculture, while those with secondary and
university education received advice in every form of services, i.e. the knowledge
flow was stronger. Managers of larger farms tended to be better educated: more
than three-quarters of farmers farming 5 ha or less (this group accounts for over
90% of Hungarian farmers) have only practical experience at most (figure 1).
The reasons for this are not entirely clear, but the vocational training system
in Hungary is recognised as being very complicated. There are more than 100
vocational schools, but only 19 are under the supervision of the VM. Course
design is restricted by government regulations: the Ministry of National Resour-
ces regulates the length of courses and system of examinations while the VM
strictly defines both the content of courses and the examination requirements.
Courses tend not to be practice oriented, i.e. do not well address the demands
of the farmers, and often certificates are issued for courses of inadequate length
and content. Vocational schools offer a wide range of topics, and courses are
often very specialised e.g. ‘Equine Tour Leader’. Curricula do not include en-
ough training on farm business management i.e. business planning etc. Some
private sector adult training organisations are not up to standard even although
registration is compulsory. Participants tend to be either (a) students aged 14-20,
some of whom go on to be farmers but others of whom do not have a career plan
and (b) farmers and forest holders who attend subsidised adult training courses.
Farm advisory services (extension) in Hungary

The extension service is the main institutional source of knowledge for far-
mers in Hungary. The history and present structure of the service are descri-
bed by Székely and Molnár (2012). Székely and Halász (2010) analysed the
34 factors that discourage the use of advisory services in Hungary and provided
a set of recommendations for addressing these. There are a number of key
questions, or ‘dilemmas’ facing the AKIS in Hungary, specifically regarding

the way in which the advisory service operates, especially in terms of its in-
stitutional structure. The fact that these are still ‘dilemmas’ is due to the fact
that there are convincing reasons both in support of and against each point (see
table 3 as an example):
• Should farmers, especially small farmers, pay for extension services?
The take up rates of paid services are at present relatively low. Would this
change encourage or discourage the take-up of advice by farmers?
• Should there be an official definition of ‘farm advising’ and should the
scope of activities be defined in legislation? Is the present definition hel-
ping to restrict the information flow between the advisory services and the
rest of the AKIS?
• Should parallel services be eliminated? Is this duplication actually serving to
restrict information flow between the parts of the farm advisory network?
• Should farmers (and other stakeholders) be involved in planning the sha-
pe of advisory services? Would this improve trust and responsiveness to
needs?
Table 3. Reasons in favour and reasons against the proposal for eliminating
parallel extension services in Hungary
Reasons in favour: Reasons against:
9 Free and ‘against payment’ services are 8 Users have a choice as to where they wish to
presently offering the same types of support, to the source their advice, or in what form they receive it
detriment of the latter, which may provide higher e.g. farm visits v. specialist publications;
quality support; 8 Parallel services could lead to higher demand
9 Certain types of service could be designated responsiveness and quality, and perhaps to lower
as ‘against payment’ and others as free, as costs in a non-monopoly public sector service;
described above; 8 Such a step is likely to need some kind of
9 A ‘core’ of full-time, specialist advisors regulation which may impose constraints on the
could be established to provide business range of services that are available;
development support, whereas most advisors are 8 It is suggested that in Hungary it is the lack
presently part-time; of communication between networks rather than the
9 Cooperation between the various networks parallel services per se which is the problem;
that provide parallel services is presently lacking; 8 Advertising, which may accompany
9 Farmers will be presented with a clear and competing parallel services, may promote farmer
simple ‘offer’ and thus better understand what is awareness of, and participation in, advisory
available and what is their eligibility to access it. services.
Source: authors’ compilation

Székely and Halász (2010) propose that the efficiency of the advisory activities would 35
be improved if they were more strongly driven by the market. There is evidence to

support this view from other EU Member States where the privatisation of AKIS and
changing demands from the agricultural sector have induced a shift from supply-dri-
ven towards demand-driven modes of working (e.g. Rivera et al., 2002; Heemskerk
et al., 2003; Rivera and Alex, 2004). Farmers become clients, sponsors and stake-
holders rather than just beneficiaries (Neuchâtel Group, 1999; Katz and Barandun,
2002). For this purpose, in the short term, it would be necessary to accurately de-
fine in Hungary the services that may be provided free of charge or in return for
payment. However, whilst any initiative that makes the system more responsive to
needs is to be welcomed, Hungarian experience with the EU co-financed Farm Ad-
visory System (FAS) has shown that several associated issues need to be addressed:
Firstly, the market potential for a purely commercial advisory service present-
ly seems to be very limited. Very big farmers have their own advisors and do
not use the FAS which mainly services farms between (very approximately)
30 and 200 ha in size. Very small farmers do not seek technical advice. There
are very few genuinely independent commercial advisors because farmers do
not like to pay for advice. They cannot see the benefit, only the cost. Specialist
advisors operating through the FAS are frequently under-employed because
demand for their services is low. Commercial advisors, if working for, for
example, input suppliers, may give biased advice.
Secondly, if paid services are to be subsidised from Hungarian government or

EU funds, the administrative procedures must be speeded up. For the current
subsidised services, the Paying Agency was slow to approve applications for
funding (those submitted at the end of October were not approved until the
end of December). It may then take up to 18 months for the farmer to actually
receive the subsidy. A lot of trust in the system was lost and the number of ap-
plicants fell from over 9000 in the first year to less than 4000 in the following
year (table 4). The EU limitation on the number of times a farmer can use the
FAS has now been scrapped so this constraint on take-up has been removed,
but the ceiling of EUR 1500 of advice per farmer per year remains.
Table 4. Activity data for the Farm Advisory System in Hungary, 2007-2010
Number of
Number of Amount of
Amount of aid contracts with
Year applications support
(HUF million) decision support
(persons) (HUF million)
(persons)
2007 9,531 992.8 8,789 909.7

2008 3,821 475.7 3,277 418.1
2009 4,344 574.7 3,892 520.9
2010 2,533 338.9 n/a n/a
Sources: Füsi (2009) and FVM-NAKVI database

36 Thirdly, the quality of the advice given to farmers has been inconsistent, for
a number of reasons. These include the difficulty in locating the right person
to give the advice (there is little possibility to get advice on technical topics
such as plant protection and soil management) and the fact that the best ad-
visors prefer not to be part of the bureaucratic public sector services. Tóth
(2005) notes that methodological knowledge is not required for getting on
to the Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture register of advisors. Székely and
Halász (2010) state that training of the subsidised advisers providing services
against payment usually covers only the explanation of regulatory changes,
opportunities for grant applications and of administrative procedures. Trade-
specific training is inadequate.
When the FAS was introduced, in 2007, a Ministerial Decree established the
definition of ‘agricultural advising’ in Hungary. According to this Decree, only
services that are part of the FAS may be considered as agricultural consulting.
Székely and Halász (2010) believe that this encumbers a clear understanding of
the term. The main purpose of the regulation was to provide a legal foundation
for subsidised farm consulting. The Hungarian experience shows that – although
required by the EU regulations – it is ill-advised to compulsorily establish the
scope of activities to be covered by advisers in the legislation. It would be more
favourable and would better encourage the demand for services if farmers could
decide themselves when and in what matters they wish to seek advice.
Regarding the question of parallel services, Székely and Halász (2010) recom-
mend eliminating parallel activities of the service providers participating in advi-
sing in Hungary. In EU Member States there are many different models for AKIS
and advisory services, as described above. What is of particular concern is that in
Hungary, in spite (or perhaps because) of the identical competences, co-opera-
tion between different parts of the advisory system, and the AKIS as a whole
is only formal or is even entirely lacking (table 3). The EU-funded Farm Infor-
mation Service (FIS) of the Chamber of Agriculture and the long-established
‘Network of Village Agronomists’ were meant to be responsible for awareness
raising, but tend only to publicise their own services. Producers interviewed by
Székely and Halász (2010) principally maintain contacts with the ‘Network of
Village Agronomists’; beyond them, they most frequently consult with the input
producers and distributors. A majority believed (incorrectly) that the FIS might
only be used free of charge by members of the Chamber of Agriculture1. Simi-
larly, they have no contacts with the FAS. Most interviewees attributed the lack
of contacts to their lack of knowledge of the activities of the participants of the
service providers, and to the lack of trust, time and financial resources.
This lack of trust is a recurring theme. Many farmers in Hungary feel that the
system is not there to help them. Several ‘top-down’ possibilities for stimu-
1
According to law number CXXVI enacted in 2012 farmers must be members of the Hungarian Chamber
of Agriculture and have to pay for membership, so this fact will change the current system of Hungarian
extension, but we do not know yet how.
lating take-up of advice have been suggested, such as requiring compulsory 37
qualification levels for acquiring landed property or for starting farming acti-

vities, and prioritising those using advising services during evaluating support
applications; However, this can introduce some inappropriate ‘drivers’ into
the system. For example, young farmers applying for EU funds score an ad-
ditional five points if they have an advisor. Thus it appears that some engage
an advisor just for that reason. The FAS should be more responsive to the
demands of farmers.
All of this evidence suggests that the present system does not adequately re-
flect the needs of potential users, especially as these needs evolve over time.
The ‘bottom up’ approach of consulting with users (i.e. farmers) on their needs
remains an important component of achieving an efficient and effective AKIS.
Incentives and monitoring of the AKIS in Hungary

There is a lack of meaningful incentives in the AKIS in Hungary. The weak
motivation of many farmers to seek advice has already been described. Else-
where, as public sector salaries are low, the opportunity to earn extra money
is the biggest incentive for public sector actors in the AKIS, such as university
lecturers and researchers. This extra money tends not to be ‘consolidated’ into
basic salaries, but is paid either on a consultancy or on a per-project basis.
Hence there is an incentive for individuals to get involved in activities that are
additional to their main job, and this may have the effect of encouraging some
integration between the different components of the AKIS. However, the as-
sessment of quality of outputs is very rudimentary. Staff appraisals that take
into account a wide range of criteria including qualifications, papers produced
etc. are conducted only rarely (perhaps every two years). A positive appraisal
rarely leads to any direct benefit (e.g. salary increase). It is very rare that an
appraisal is very negative; if this does happen the person concerned might, for
example, have to undertake some additional training. This means that the im-
pact of these incentives in terms of fostering innovation is probably very low.
At institutional level, incentives to become more active in the AKIS are also
limited. Universities still tend to be funded mainly on the basis of student
numbers with only some funding determined by a Quality Control Board (re-
search activities, labour market absorption of graduates etc.) Research insti-
tutes agree an annual work plan with the appropriate Ministry and although
in principle if this plan is not completed some sanction could be applied, in
fact this is very rare if not unknown. An official evaluation of the work of the
institutes may take place but this is conducted informally and no results are
published. For experimental stations the level of funding is strongly based on
historical precedent. However, for all institutions, steadily decreasing public
sector budgets is leading to reductions in financing and increasing pressure to
seek external funding through consultancy and projects.
38 There is no routine formal monitoring of the AKIS in Hungary (in terms of
evaluating the activity and impacts of information and knowledge flow bet-
ween agricultural producers and extension, research, education and support

systems), apart from recording the expenditure on the FAS. A brief analysis of
data availability in terms of demand, use, value-added and impact of the farm
advisory services is as follows:
• Demand indicators. Data are available from the Hungarian Central Statisti-
cal Office (KSH) on indicators such as: the number and proportion of indi-
vidual farmers with agricultural training at various levels, broken down by
age, type and size of farm etc., on an annual basis.
• Use indicators. VM-NAKVI collects annual data on the EU co-funded
consultancy support contracts between farmers and advisors including:
number of applications submitted; amount of aid requested (HUF); number
of contracts approved; and the amount of assistance granted (HUF). VM-
NAKVI also has access to data on the incidence of consultancy services
required each year by type (the main headings are: Administrative and in-
formational; Planning; Directly related to production; Other) but apparent-
ly does not formally collate these data (data specially requested for this
study from the VM for all of Hungary, and from two Territorial Advisory
Centres are presented in tables 5 and 6). There is no assessment of the level
of activity in the non-subsidised farm advisory services.
• Value-added indicators. Evaluation by users, including the measurement of
the usefulness of advising, of the advisory services subject to fee is entirely
missing, and is missing in part also in the field of client support services
(subsidised services). The client support advising evaluation methods mea-
sure rather the activity of the advisers and not the benefits derived from the
service. The majority of the advisers perform their work as an auxiliary
activity and the quality of their work is not assessed.
• Impact indicators. There appears to be no attempt to assess the impact of
farm advisory services/AKIS on the performance of the agricultural sector
but the Ministry of Rural Development states that it ‘would be ready to use
any feasible and reliable method’ (personal communication).
The Hungarian government does not formally report to Parliament on the per-
formance of the AKIS. Each year a ‘State of Hungarian Agriculture’ report is
produced by the Ministry of Rural Development for the Hungarian parliament
which is about 150 pages long. It includes only a few references to AKIS
related issues e.g. the number of research institutes and their budget, and the
budget for the FAS.
Table 5. Frequency of type of requested advice 2007-2009, per cent 39
Type of advice 2007 2008 2009

Administration and information 45 45 56
Contribution in management of parcel-register 15 15 19
Good Agricultural Practices 10 1 9
Application Monitoring 9 10 9
Preparing of applications for direct payments 4 7 8
Regulation issues 7 12 11
Planning 21 19 22
Planning of nutrient management plan 14 12 17
Planning of plant-protection plan 7 7 5
Related to production 8 9 8
Financial advice 3 6 5
Cultivation technology 3 2 2
Animal welfare 2 1 1
Other 27 17 13
Total 100 100 100
Source: Ministry of Rural Development data, 2008
Table 6. Frequency of type of requested advice according to Territorial Advisory

Centres 2008-2010, per cent
Type of advice 2008 2009 2010
Administration and information 73.0 76.7 73.4
Electronical data service 1.3 3.2 5.0
Contribution in management of parcel-register 25.9 49.8 56.9
Preparing of direct payments' applications 9.6 7.2 4.3
Regulation issues 15.0 8.2 3.5
Good Agricultural Practices 11.7 4.0 2.0

Application Monitoring 9.5 4.3 1.7
Planning 14.5 16.7 18.9
Planning of plant-protection plan 4.9 4.3 8.3
Planning of nutrient management plan 4.4 11.0 10.6
Business planning 2.0 0.0 0.0
Preparing of applications for direct payments 2.1 1.4 0.0
Cash-flow planning 1.1 0.0 0.0

Related to production 7.9 2.8 3.7
Financial advice 4.3 2.8 3.7
Cultivation technology 3.6 0.0 0.0
Other 4.4 3.8 4.0
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0
Source: Database of the Territorial Advisory Centres of Gödöllő and Debrecen.

40
Andrew Fieldsend, Erika Székely Discussion
In comparison with the evidence in the literature (e.g. SCAR, 2012), the AKIS
in Hungary appears to be functioning neither substantially better nor worse
than AKIS in many other EU Member States. Nonetheless, extension must de-
velop simply from intermediation between research and farmers whose only
goal was technology transfer to the provision of a broader range of communi-
cative functions (Coutts, 1995; van den Ban, 1998; Leeuwis and van den Ban,
2004). The definition of an (agricultural) innovation system by Hall (2006) as
‘a network of organisations, enterprises, and individuals focused on bringing
new products, new processes and new forms of organisation into economic
use, together with the institutions and policies that affect the way different
agents interact, share, access, exchange and use knowledge’ is an appropriate
starting point.
The need to develop our understanding of what constitutes the AKIS as a whole
in Hungary, and on how the flow of information and knowledge through the
AKIS can be improved, is more pressing than any institutional restructuring.
In Hungarian universities there is a huge amount of information about agricu-
ltural topics which can be disseminated to advisors who in turn should disse-
minate it to farmers. But farmers rarely ask questions of advisors, so advisors
are not aware of their problems and therefore cannot pass on any knowledge
of ‘good practice’ they have obtained. Equally, advisors do not proactively
try to identify problems a farmer may have. Farmers need to articulate their
demands and co-operate and interact with research and extension providers.
Even within the advisory system itself, therefore, the flow of information is
inadequate. It is necessary to both provide farmers with accurate information
about what is available, and to convince them to use the available services,
perhaps by providing ‘good practice’ examples of how take-up of advice has
improved the performance of the farm. Experience to date casts doubt on
whether any of the current major players in the advisory system are able to
fulfil this role.
The ‘feedback loop’, where experience of practical problems in the field is

passed back through advisors to academics, is equally important. Many ‘good
practices’ exist amongst Hungarian farmers, but these are rarely disseminated
to other farmers. Part of the reason is that the information is not communica-
ted to advisors. One consequence is that the theoretical knowledge of acade-
mics lacks practical relevance and is therefore of limited value.
The EIP for agricultural productivity and sustainability is expected to address

all of these points. Its purpose goes far beyond speeding up transfer from
laboratory to practice through diffusion of new scientific knowledge (the ‘li-
near innovation model’ referred to above). Rather, the EIP will adopt the ‘in-
teractive innovation model’ which focuses on forming partnerships – using
bottom-up approaches and linking farmers, advisors, researchers, businesses 41
and other actors in Operational Groups. Such an approach is expected to sti-

mulate innovation from all sides and will help to focus the research agenda,
generating new ideas and insights, and including existing, sometimes tacit
knowledge, into targeted solutions.
Székely and Halász (2010) concluded that the flow of knowledge and infor-
mation should be monitored and proposed that a regular (monthly or quarter-
ly) forum should be established and operated that could strengthen co-opera-
tion of the participants, including between research, education and advising.
It could offer a possibility for shaping the needs of farmers and landowners
and forwarding them to the research institutes. A National Advisory Commis-
sion should be set up to serve the purposes of this forum; they note that the
possibility thereof exists theoretically within the Farm Advisory System.
The different components of the AKIS are governed by quite different incen-
tives, e.g. excellence in publications for research, different types of payments
for extension. SCAR (2009) recommends that science based research (a more
traditional linear approach leading in the end to science driven innovation)
should be distinguished from innovation-driven science, where the farming
community and the food industry should be much more empowered in setting
the research agenda.
There is a general lack of suitable indicators for evaluating the performance of

the AKIS (SCAR, 2009). In any case, an EU-wide monitoring system would
imply a common set of agricultural development objectives across the EU,
which would not be appropriate for political reasons. However, it would ap-
pear that in Hungary there are some data sets available that could be more
effectively used to measure the performance of the AKIS.
Policy recommendations
The new EU framework for innovation presently under development, in par-
ticular, the EIP for agricultural productivity and sustainability, could provide
the context within which the changes to the AKIS in Hungary could be imple-
mented. At present, the final shape of the post-2013 EU framework and the
instruments it will incorporate are not yet known. Thus, the recommendations
arising from this study are somewhat of a preliminary nature. However, it
is clear that the opportunity now exists to start planning for a major refresh
of the AKIS in Hungary in order to help the agricultural sector to contribute
to the Europe 2020 objectives of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.
We therefore recommend the following:
• A comprehensive review of the AKIS in Hungary should be conducted
which would include an inventory of the actors in the field: basic and ap-
plied agri-cultural research institutes and universities, advisory and exten-
sion services, and other actors influencing research priorities and practical
42 decision making on farms, e.g. co-operations, supply services, farmers’
organisations and groups, etc. The interactions between all these actors
would be described.
• The present system of incentives for knowledge flow through the AKIS
should be urgently reviewed. How can incentives be modified to stimulate
the flows of knowledge (in both directions) between researchers, exten-
sionists and farmers? What measures (including information campaigns)
can be introduced to make farmers more aware of the available sources
of advice and of the value to their business of taking up this advice? Who
should implement these measures?
• Once the EU proposals on the structure and operation of the EIP are fina-
lised, planning of the implementation of the EIP in Hungary should have
the aim of maximising knowledge flows in the light of the state-of-the-art
understanding of the AKIS as multi-actor networks rather than simply as a
unidirectional linear flow. Close attention should be paid to how to engage
all stakeholders, particularly small farmers and rural women in the rene-
wed AKIS.
• New models for creating the conditions for innovation amongst farmers in
Hungary should be developed and tested on the basis of experience from
other EU Member States. Examples include more opportunities for group
learning and group advice, an approach for which there is significant evi-
dence of success (see e.g. Murphy, 2012), and the possibility of providing
grants or loans for small, local innovation projects developed by farmers
or groups of farmers in partnership with extensionists and/or researchers.
This latter possibility is presently under consideration by the cabinet of EU
Commissioner Dacian Cioloş.
• Monitoring of the performance of the AKIS in Hungary should be impro-
ved in two ways. Firstly by identifying indicators and data sets currently
available in Hungary that can help to measure the quality, rather than just
quantity, of information flow, and to monitor these against by clear and
measurable milestones and performance targets. Secondly by adopting
best practice from other EU Member States, such as a CPD programme
for advisors that builds on the success of initiatives such as the BASIS
programme in the UK (BASIS, 2010).
• An annual report on the performance of the AKIS should be prepared
by the Hungarian government and submitted to Parliament. The benefits
would be those of most reports that monitor: they give the ministry and
parliament an insight into the effectiveness (and perhaps efficiency) of the
policies that govern the system and - if developments in society are re-
ported too - an opportunity to discuss if the system is still robust for future
developments. By linking trends in innovation, productivity and compe-
titive position in the food sector with the performance of AKIS and the
policies that govern the system. Best practices could be identified and pro-
moted.
Acknowledgements 43

The lead author would like to thank the Hungarian Ministry of Rural Develop-
ment for funding his participation in the AKIS-CWG on AKIS. The opinions
expressed in this paper are not necessarily those of the Hungarian Ministry of
Rural Development or the EU.
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45
Konrad Czapiewski1, Roman Kulikowski, Jerzy Bański,
Maria Bednarek-Szczepańska, Marcin Mazur, Mariola Ferenc,
Michał Konopski
Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization, Polish Academy of Sciences,
Twarda 51/55, 00-818 Warsaw, Poland
1
konrad@twarda.pan.pl
Chapter 3
The use of ICT
in Mazovian agriculture1
Abstract: The main objective of this paper is the diagnosis and evaluation of ICT
use in farming. The area of research presented in the study covers the region of
Mazovia, which represents different types of rural areas and diverse forms of
agriculture. Mazovia region is characterised, on the one hand, by the highest va-
lue of GDP per capita indicator in Poland and, on the other, the biggest internal
differentiation.
In our analyses, a variety of research methods were used as well as data sour-
ces - both commonly available (secondary source), as well as data from own
studies. For detailed identification of farm equipment level in ICT and its use by
farmers, primary research was conducted among farmers and local authorities in
20 deliberately selected municipalities. In each municipality, individual in-depth
interviews were conducted with representatives of local government. The second
research method was a survey aimed to be completed by individual farmers – al-
most 1300 were completely filled by farmers.
Own research carried out among farmers in Mazovia showed that nowadays
infrastructural determinants still remain the crucial problem in access to the
Internet – a significant majority of farmers does not have the possibility of choo-
sing the Internet services provider or is forced to use the forms of access that do
not ensure a stable connection and high-speed data transmission. Most farmers
use a computer and the Internet, if the household is equipped in them. However,
1
Publication prepared under the research projects: N 306 058637, Information and Communication Tech-
nologies as an element of modernization and multifunctioning of agriculture. Spatial diagnosis and assess-
ment of the use of ICT in agriculture, financed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.
46 there are used primarily in a passive way - mainly to obtain information. Active
forms of computer and Internet use, requiring user interaction, are much less
Mariola Ferenc, Michał Konopski
Konrad Czapiewski, Roman Kulikowski, Jerzy Bański, Maria Bednarek-Szczepańska,Marcin Mazur,
common. Education is a very strong factor in differentiating the level of ICT use
by farmers - poorly educated farmers are less able to acquire information from
the Internet, while the transfer of knowledge with the use of ICT to best educated
farmers is facilitated. Other characteristics of the economic situation of farms,
the dominant production profile, size and location do not differentiate the levels
of computer and Internet use by farmers as clearly as education, although these
factors are important regulators of the frequency of Internet use for strictly oc-
cupational purposes.
Keywords: Internet, rural areas, agriculture, Mazovia, Poland
Introduction
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are an important deve-
lopment factor in the modern world, supporting the flow of data, services and
people. The role of ICT in rural areas is significant but, more importantly, may
in the near future become crucial. Any changes in the function, improvement
in social and economic situation of particular areas are not possible without
the use of the Internet, the infrastructure of the 21st century, which is a form
of access to infinite resources of data deposited around the world (regardless
of location in space) and enables communication.
The main objective of this paper is the diagnosis and evaluation of ICT use
in farming. The area of research presented in the study covers the region of
Mazovia, which represents different types of rural areas and diverse forms of
agriculture. Mazovia region is characterised, on the one hand, by the highest
value of GDP per capita indicator in Poland and, on the other, the biggest
internal differentiation. The central city of the region, Warszawa, is surroun-
ded by the vast territory of the agglomeration, which has a multi-functional
character, while the peripheral borderland areas display a mono-functional
(agricultural) character, and are much more sparsely populated.
In our analyses, a variety of research methods were used as well as data sour-
ces - both commonly available (secondary source), as well as data from own
studies. Various data from secondary sources allow for the general characteri-
stics of diversity of ICT use and equipment in different spatial scales, referring
to conducted development policy and providing the opportunity to evaluate
web resources. However, in official statistics there is limited information on the
equipment of households of diversified occupational groups in ICT, the use of
ICT by different social and occupational groups, purposes, frequency and time
span of using the Internet or causes for digital exclusion. For detailed identifi-
cation of farm equipment level in ICT and its use by farmers, primary research
was conducted among farmers and local authorities in 20 deliberately selected
municipalities (figure 1). These units differ in terms of location in relation to 47
Warszawa, leading functions as well as level and orientations of specialisation
The use of ICT in Mazovian agriculture

in agriculture.
Among the 20 selected municipalities:

• eight represent mixed farming type (Czosnów, Grudusk, Olszanka, Pacy-
na, Skaryszew, Somianka, Strachówka and Wieczfnia Kościelna);
• three represent specialised agriculture type (Czerwińsk nad Wisłą, Pot-
worów and Radzanów);
• three represent suburban agriculture type (Michałowice, Piaseczno and
Ożarów);
• three represent fruit-growing type (Błędów, Mogielnica and Tarczyn);
• two represent dairy production type (Baranowo and Kadzidło);
• one represents agritourism type (Łąck).
Figure 1. Location of investigated municipalities by type of farming

A - mixed farming, B – specialised farming, C – fruit growing, D - dairying, E - suburban
agriculture, F - agritourism, G - major cities.
Source: own elaboration
In each municipality, individual in-depth interviews were conducted with

representatives of local government. The second research method was a sur-
vey aimed to be completed by individual farmers. The standardised que-
stionnaire consisted mainly of closed questions, which are best suited for
surveys that are completed independently by the respondent. Of 5000 que-
stionnaires sent in total, almost 1300 were completely filled by farmers (the
response rate was 26%).
48 Significance of ICT in rural development and agriculture
Nowadays, possession of mobile phone and access to the Internet has become
a requirement for functioning on the labour market and performing daily acti-
vities. Through the use of communication and information devices people can
communicate and gain increasingly more, relevant information. ICT are also
indispensable in modern agriculture. Because of them, a farmer acquires and
broadens knowledge, establishes contacts with other producers, promotes pro-
ducts and services, orders necessary means of production and resolves official
matters (Heilig, 2003).
Among all sources of knowledge, such as various institutions, agricultural

consulting and traditional media, today the Internet is the fastest and richest
source of information. Moreover, information and communication techno-
logies can be used in almost any location. They can also be applied practi-
cally in every activity, of course with different significances - including the
fundamental (such as information technology, banking, media, research and
development) and complementary activities (e.g. gastronomy, services requi-
ring personal contact). Information and communication technologies allow
for improving efficiency, increasing sales, seeking new markets and supplies,
and above all providing the most recent knowledge and information. The use
of the Internet in rural areas primarily gives the possibility to align the level
of development opportunities with inhabitants of cities. Access to informati-
on and communication technologies is the access to work (telecommuting),
offices, education, services offered online that are impossible to be obtained
at home, various databases, entertainment and contact with other users (Cza-
piewski, Janc, 2009). With access to the Internet it is possible to overcome
some negative location-based determinants in rural areas related to difficult
access to traditional educational institutions, accumulating knowledge and
offering new technologies and information. The Internet is therefore an at-
tractive and effective means of reaching the knowledge previously available
solely from traditional resources.
Taking into account the broader context, it should be clearly noted that ICT
may be important in the transformation processes of rural areas in many di-
mensions. The Internet brings the potential of telecommuting, it is also useful
for acquiring necessary knowledge for management or actions enabling for
functioning in the field of economy (advertising, contact with authorities).
ICT also enables utilisation of resources and local knowledge (Park, 2004;
Akca et al., 2007). This can be especially useful for those rural areas of spe-
cialised crops (e.g. herbs), traditions - can be bound with the use of new tech-
nologies with research institutes, universities, companies, for the purpose of
knowledge transfer and its use to create new products (e.g. medicines).
The primary economic sector is spatially immobile, closely associated with

a specific area, while taking up a modern industrial activity may depend on
several factors, including simple and direct access to knowledge and inno-
vation (Fujita et al, 1999). Industrial activity can to a greater extent be lo- 49
cated where there are most favourable factors and in agricultural production

such opportunities are limited. Owing to the superficial nature of agriculture
and the punctual focused nature of traditional sources of knowledge, farmers
have limited access to them. With the development of modern information and
communication technologies this spatial barrier can gradually be overcome
(Johnson, 2001; Malecki, 2003).
Thus, considering changes in the functioning of the economy and society, the
Internet is seen as one of the significant factors in allowing the socio-econo-
mic development of rural areas. It enables gaining knowledge and new skills
or even acquiring certified education, at the same time helping to overcome
adverse situations associated with the peripheral location of rural areas.

The most common ICT device in surveyed farms is the mobile phone, fol-
lowed by the computer and subsequently the Internet, for which 65% of
households are equipped. However, the most interesting phenomenon is the
sequential appearance of various ICT elements - about 80-90% of households
were equipped with a mobile phone as early as 2006, computer in 2009, and
in the case of the Internet such values have not yet been reached. Taking into
account the dynamics of mobile phones and computers dissemination among
farmers, a further gradual increase in the incidence of Internet connections in
the farms of Mazovia is expected.
The Internet access to half of the examined farms is provided by the Polish
Telecom (TP) - mainly in form of Neostrada services and in a small percen-
tage as a dial-up access (via a modem). In 36% of cases, access to the Internet
is provided through a radio or cellular network. Only a minor share is repre-
sented by fixed connections of other operators than TP or via mobile phone.
Almost 90% of farms were using a single form of access to the Internet; in
cases with more than one type of connection, the modem and Neostrada were
mainly mentioned.
One of the greatest barrier to the full use of some websites is a low speed
data transfer. Among the surveyed farmers 78% had Internet access with data
transfer rates of less than 2 Mb/s. In 2010, i.e. at the time of the study, these
values were low.
The most common activity performed on the computer by farmers was to use
a search engine - 93% of Internet users pointed to that skill. Around 45% of
farmers using the computer perform such activities as installation of external
devices, copying or moving a file or folder and using e-mail and sending an
e-mail (figure 2). Less than 20% of surveyed farmers used a spreadsheet and
10% performed a multimedia presentation. Some of these activities were also
50 the subject of the Central Statistical Office (CSO) analyses conducted on a lar-
ger population, representing different social and occupational groups in Poland.
Although the results of the CSO cannot be directly compared with the outcome
of surveys conducted in Mazovia, in general it can be stated that the level of
computer and Internet skills among farmers is lower than in society overall.
It should however be noted that the levels of computer and Internet skills among
farmers increase with the duration and frequency of using the above. Farmers
using computers on a regular basis for more than seven years have the full range
of skills necessary for proper and basic handling of the computer and Internet.
The key step in the widespread use of computer and Internet among farmers is
to convince them to start using ICT. In the next stages, with the time span and
regularity of computer and Internet use, their skills level increases and these
devices can become one of the primary tools used on the farm.
Figure 2. Percentage of Internet users (in the case of web search engine) and
computer (in other cases) able to perform activities mentioned among respon-
dents surveyed by the CSO (A) and farmers surveyed in this study (B)
1 – Using a web search engine, 2 – installing external devices, 3 – Copying a file, 4 – Using
e-mail, 5 – copying an extract of text, 6 – Handling a spreadsheet, 7 – Creating a multimedia
presentation.
Source: own elaboration based on data from the Central Statistical Office (Społeczeństwo
informacyjne..., 2010) and surveys.
Farmers surveyed indicated that the main purpose of their Internet use is to
obtain information – such an answer was given by 83% of respondents. Fur-
ther down were: career goals (agricultural) and entertainment. All three of the-
se objectives can be classified as passive forms of Internet use - the user only
acquires information on websites. Significantly fewer respondents mentioned
more active forms of the Internet use - contacting other people, shopping, e-
banking, official matters disposal - requiring interaction from the user.
Respondents most often seek information via the Internet concerning new 51
technologies and means of production (51%), EU subsidies (46%), sales of

their products (27%) and purchase of means of production (26%); viewing
websites related to agriculture is also quite common (38%). All of these ac-
tivities can be classified as a passive form of Internet use - farmers are only
recipients of web pages content (figure 3). A small percentage of respondents
was featured by the active form of Internet use - every other farmer looking
for information on new technologies and means of production and one in four
is interested in purchasing these devices and materials, whereas only one in
eight eventually purchases such items via the Internet. Similarly, one in six
farmers who seeks information about the possibilities of selling their own
products ultimately makes the transaction through the Internet. Just over 2%
of farmers advertise and promote own products via the Internet. Also, a small
group of respondents is involved in e-training courses for farmers and partici-
pates in online forums related to agriculture.
Figure 3. Main occupational purposes of using the Internet by surveyed farmers

A – acquiring information about technology; B – acquiring information on purchasing the
means of production, C – purchasing the means of production online, D – acquiring in-
formation about the sales of agricultural products; E – selling agricultural products via
Internet, F – promoting agricultural products; G – acquiring information on EU subsidies,
H – participation in training for farmers via Internet, I – reviewing agricultural web-pages,
J – taking part in online forums.
Source: own elaboration.
As shown in the survey, only 2% of Mazovia’s farmers use the Internet to

promote and advertise their services, and an online resources review identifies
only very few entities with their own websites. In this regard, there is still a lot
to do, and the primary causes for such a low popularity of this form of Internet
use among farmers are probably financial reasons and lack of skills, as well as
failing to perceive the benefits from this form of raising the business. Promo-
ting own services via the Internet is a factor of increasing the competitiveness
of agricultural producers. It is to be hoped, therefore, that the number of such
52 sites will increase and thus the use of ICT in agriculture will rise and bring
benefits to farmers.
Farmers with no less than secondary education more often than the surveyed
group with at most vocational education use the Internet for occupational pur-
poses. The differences in activity between the two groups were observed in
all actions indicated by the respondents. However, the most noticeable is the
disparity in active forms of Internet use - farmers with no less than secondary
education are almost three times more likely to advertise their own products
and to sell them online compared to less educated respondents. Increased fre-
quency of selected occupational activities on the Internet is also characteristic
for respondents with agricultural education but in this case the absolute dif-
ferences are smaller compared to the analyses of general level of education.
Figure 4. Frequency of performing various activities on the Internet by surveyed

farmers with at least secondary education (farmers with at most vocational ed-
ucation = 1)
*Designation as in Figure 3.
Source: own elaboration.
Education is a strongly differentiating factor concerning the level of ICT use by

farmers. Our results suggest that poorly educated farmers have a low possibility
of absorbing new technologies, new solutions and knowledge transferred via
the Internet. On the other hand, the transfer of knowledge with the use of ICT to
the best educated farmers is facilitated and taking into account their skills in the
field of information technology it may seem to be effective (at least in the utility
aspect). Assuming that nowadays the use of ICT in obtaining information is the
most common and fastest way, there should emerge polarisation in their use
in agriculture. The best educated farmers mostly use the Internet for acquiring
different types of information (also for agriculture related matters), whereas the
less educated farmers do not use this source of information as often.
Farm size to some extent differentiates the level of Internet use for occupatio- 53
nal purposes. The group of 25% of farmers with the largest farms (over 15 ha)

views agricultural websites and participates in online forums twice as often in
comparison to the group of 25% of farmers with the smallest farms (less than
5 ha) and about one and a half times more often searches for different kinds
of information on new technologies, EU subsidies and sales of agricultural
products. Despite of the lack of differences in the level of equipment and the
use of ICT by farmers of diverse farm sizes, in the case of occupational (agri-
cultural) use of the Internet, discrepancies in this field are apparent. Farmers
running larger farms often use the Internet for occupational purposes, looking
for information.
The share of income from agriculture in total household income of examined

farms was also a differentiating factor concerning the frequency of using the
Internet for agricultural purposes. With the decrease in the share of income
from agriculture in total household income (from over 75% to below 25%)
there is a gradual decline in the frequency of using the Internet to obtain infor-
mation concerning agricultural issues.
Farmers of fruit growing and animal production profile more frequently

use the Internet for business purposes. Almost half of the farmers mana-
ging horticultural holdings and 55% of those in predominantly animal pro-
duction use the Internet for seeking information in the field of agriculture.
This share does not exceed 40% among farmers managing holdings with
a dominance of plant production. Farmers keeping horticultural holdings or
with a dominance of animal production more frequently than others search
the Internet looking for various items of information (about new techno-
logies, marketing opportunities for agricultural products and the purchase
of means of production, EU subsidies, or general information posted on
websites), make purchases via the Internet (especially animal production)
and advertise their products (horticultural holdings in particular). The re-
sults are closely related with the level of investment in farm technology
and the level of intensity of agricultural production. Horticultural holdings
and entities with predominance of animal production are characterised by
a higher level of investment in the means of production and technology
used as well as a greater intensification of production compared to the of-
ten extensive farms with a predominance of plant production. Farmers run-
ning horticultural holdings and with a predominance of animal production
must use more advanced technologies (for example, in terms of using and
starting the spraying, fruit storing, animal feeding methods) and require
detailed current information (e.g. weather forecast, especially important
in horticulture), therefore the use of ICT for agricultural purposes among
these farmers is at a higher level.
54 Digital exclusion among farmers
Among the factors affecting the level of equipment and the use of ICT, the
weakness of rural areas should be emphasised in terms of capacity and cost-
effectiveness of a large part of the initiatives related to the provision of access
to the Internet. A lack of large, innovative companies operating in the field of
advanced technologies that could become initiators of creating a network ba-
sed on fibre optics or other solutions enabling broadband access to the Internet,
and the lower density of conventional telephony and satellite television are
the obstacles in developing an information society in rural areas that would
be equivalent to the urban one. Therefore, it is clear that the rate of Internet
diffusion in rural areas is much lower compared to urban areas (Czapiewski,
Janc, 2009). This is due to: accessibility to infrastructure, and appropriate la-
bour market and knowledge transfer (Forman et al, 2005). If, however, the
infrastructural and financial difficulties are overcome, ensuring full access to
Internet service in rural areas, then the socio-demographic factors will largely
determine the level of information society development. In terms of demogra-
phic and social conditions it can be expected that in the future the disparities
will consolidate at the disadvantage of rural areas. The process of migration
of young, enterprising and educated people from peripheries to the areas of
economic success will strengthen depopulation and population aging in rural
areas. Therefore, it should be clearly stressed that of all factors analysed above
influencing the development and use of ICT, in the future the most important
will be the socio-demographic factors such as level of education, age, and the
so-called mental, social and cultural resources.
Figure 5. Causes for the lack of access to the Internet of respondents surveyed
by the Polish Central Statistical Office (A) and farmers surveyed in this study (B)
Source: own elaboration based on data from the Central Statistical Office (Społeczeństwo
informacyjne..., 2010) and surveys.
Among the farmers surveyed in Mazovia the significant causes of the lack of 55
Internet connection were more often technical and economic conditions than tho-

se resulting from desire and needs (figure 5). It is worth noting that the vast majo-
rity of farmers surveyed use a dedicated line access to the Internet, and only 13%
indicated a connection to the Internet via landline phone (modem, the so-called
dial-up connection). This would imply that technical reasons for households with
Internet are not a serious limitation in the use of the Web. However, among the
responses on the speed of Internet connections as many as 78% concerned the va-
lues not exceeding 2 Mb/s, which in the current context of increasing the capacity
and richness of sites and the commonness of services requiring high bandwidth
services (e.g. television) is a very slow transfer rate. The financial aspect is also
a significant cause for the lack of Internet access among farmers - this group is
characterised by an average income of about a dozen to several dozen per cent
lower compared to the mean value for the country. However, with the introduction
of new technology, legal conditions and increased demand from the providers of
data services, a further decrease in Internet access is anticipated and thereby the
financial cause should be increasingly irrelevant in the future.
When it comes to the socio-demographic determinants, elderly and poorly

educated inhabitants of rural areas are most vulnerable to digital exclusion.
Such people generally do not have sufficient skills to use the Internet and
knowledge concerning opportunities and benefits of using the Internet.
Conclusions
Information and communication technologies are an important factor in social
and economic development. It should be noted, however, that the benefits of
ICT are not available for all – in the case of rural areas, the equipment is not
as important (diagnosed using such elements as cost, speed, quality and band-
width) as the possibility of using existing resources in the Internet. A signifi-
cant aspect in this context is the level of education, understanding the needs,
benefits and skills. It is worth noting that the full equipment in ICT is not
a development factor itself, however the lack of such equipment is certainly
a serious barrier. First of all, appropriate skills are required in order to make
effective use of the existing infrastructure (Malecki, 2003).
The studies conducted at a general level showed that the spatial distribution of
ICT equipment in Mazovia and the levels of its exploitation and utilisation by
residents are similar. Both features determining the level of information socie-
ty development reach top values in highly urbanised areas, whereas the lowest
are noted in rural areas of peripheral location with low population density.
It should be emphasised, however, that the first aspect of information society,
meaning the level of infrastructure accessibility will slowly lose its signifi-
cance – gradually the broadband service will be commonly accessible across
the Mazovia region. Analyses concerning the level of schools’ equipment in
computers with Internet access are an example of such a process. Therefore,
56 it is expected that the socio-cultural aspects related to the use of ICT in the
future will to the greatest extent differentiate the level of information society
development in the region. Currently, the diversification in this respect refers

to the clearly dichotomous division on the “core-periphery” line. The most
advanced information society is concentrated in Warszawa and surrounding
districts with sub-regional centres. All other districts attain low and very low
values in this regard.
On the other hand, our own research carried out among farmers in Mazovia
showed that nowadays infrastructural determinants still remain the crucial pro-
blem in access to the Internet – a significant majority of farmers does not have
the possibility of choosing the Internet services provider or is forced to use
the forms of access that do not ensure a stable connection and high-speed data
transmission. Most farmers use a computer and the Internet, if the household is
equipped in them. However, there are used primarily in a passive way - mainly
to obtain information. Active forms of computer and Internet use, requiring user
interaction, are much less common. Education is a very strong factor in diffe-
rentiating the level of ICT use by farmers - poorly educated farmers are less able
to acquire information from the Internet, while the transfer of knowledge with
the use of ICT to best educated farmers is facilitated. Other characteristics of the
economic situation of farms, the dominant production profile, size and location
do not differentiate the levels of computer and Internet use by farmers as clearly
as education, although these factors are important regulators of the frequency of
Internet use for strictly occupational purposes.
Based on the conducted analyses it can be stated that the farmers surveyed are
at the initial stage of developing their Internet skills. There may be two rea-
sons for such a situation: (1) low levels of knowledge and computer skills do
not allow farmers to actively exploit the opportunities offered by information
and communication technologies, and (2) farmers do not see the benefits of
using more advanced Internet tools for purchasing or selling agricultural pro-
ducts and consequently do not use them. Taking into account the experience
of farmers from Western Europe and the growth of e-services (including e-
commerce) in Poland among all users, it can be assumed that the first of the
presented explanations is the more probable.
The percentage of digitally excluded inhabitants, including farmers, will gra-

dually decrease. Currently, however, special attention is to be paid to the ad-
verse situation in terms of equipment and the use of ICT in peripherally loca-
ted areas with a predominance of low levels commercial production. There is
a coincidence of several reasons for the low levels of investment and Internet
use - these are both factors related to location and infrastructure as well as of
economic nature but above all, the socio-demographic factors.
Assuming that the Internet plays a major role in agricultural production (and
more importantly - in the near future may be even more significant, as evi-
denced by the wide range of agricultural support institutions websites) and the 57
main factor affecting the intensity and effectiveness of the Internet use are skills

(quantified inter alia, by level of education) a recommendation can be specified
for targeting more action on education. A lack of adequate knowledge and skills
to use ICT results in fewer opportunities for agricultural development. Com-
prehensive solutions leading to the development of a system of oriented and
specialised offer of training and support for farmers (instead of self-dependent,
one-off initiatives), should contribute to an increase in Internet use by farmers
and to perceive it as a basic tool or even means of production in agriculture.
Literature
Akca H., Sayil M., Esengun K. (2007). Challenge of rural people to reduce
digital divide in the globalized world: Theory and practice. Government
Information Quarterly, 24, p. 404-413.
Czapiewski K., Janc K. (2009). Kapitał ludzki a rozwój obszarów wiejskich
– współwystępowanie przestrzenne. IERiGŻ-PIB. Warsaw. (manuscript in
Polish).
Forman C., Goldfarb A., Greenstein S. (2005). Geographical Location and
the Diffusion of Internet Technology. Electronic Commerce Research and
Applications 4, p. 1-13.
Fujita M., Krugman P., Venables A. J. (1999). The Spatial Economy. Cities,
Regions and International Trade. The MIT Press. Cambridge.
Heilig G. (2003). Information society and the countryside: can internet-
based system bring income alternatives to rural areas?, (in:) J. Bański,
Owsiński J. (eds.), Alternatives for European Rural Areas. Rural Areas and
Development. 1. ERDN. Warszawa, p. 65-79.
Johnson T. G. (2001). The Rural Economy in a New Century. International
Regional Science Review, 24, p. 21-37.
Malecki E. J. (2003). Digital Development in Rural Areas: Potentials and
Pitfalls, Journal of Rural Studies, 19, p. 201-214.
Park S. O. (2004) Knowledge, networks and regional development in the pe-
riphery in the internet era. Progress in Human Geography, 28, p. 283-286.
Społeczeństwo informacyjne w Polsce. Wyniki badań statystycznych z lat
2006-2010. (2010). GUS. Szczecin. (statistical publication in Polish).
59
Vladimír Székely
Institute of Geography, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Štefánikova 49, 81473
Bratislava, Slovak Republic
szekely@savba.sk
Chapter 4
Urban-rural relations as a source
of transfer of knowledge: some
examples from rural surrounding
of Bratislava
Abstract: In-migration is generally accepted as a decisive factor of rural social

and economic development and potential rural regeneration. Intellectual qua-
lity and practical experiences of new arrivals with their theoretical and practi-
cal knowledge, and also with their network of interpersonal contacts, influence
(or have the potential to influence) the social and economic development trajecto-
ries in positive or negative sense. It was supposed and now is observed the diffusi-
on of innovation (mainly in behaviour) is very dynamic. New forms of neo-liberal
behaviour of new inhabitants of rural areas are in the distinct contradiction with
rural traditional life and contribute not only to the important, but ambivalently
perceived structural changes, but also to the conflicts with locally born population.
The aim of the paper is contribute to the discussion about developmental poten-
tials of rural areas in the surrounding of Bratislava under positive and negati-
ve impact of in-migrants and their knowledge transfer into rural environment.
We use the results of newspaper monitoring about “two tier” rural society, to-
gether with overview of relevant published studies in geography, economy, and
sociology, and additional face-to face interviews with rural inhabitants.
Keywords: suburbanization, urban-rural relations, transfer of knowledge, “two

tier” rural society, rural surrounding of Bratislava, Slovakia
60
Vladimír Székely Introduction
Coexistence of the rural and urban areas is the characteristic feature of any
functional region. Towns and countryside are interconnected via different
links and form a kind functional organism where each of them, the city and
the country, play their specific, mostly complementary roles. A town normally
offers more options of work, education, and culture and country with its plant
and animal production saturates the needs of urban population. Expansion
of towns is practically unimaginable without the population influx from the
rural area and the development of rural tourism is not possible without urban
visitors. Town with the concentration of educated people often produces new
ideas and knowledge that spread to the rural area. The reciprocal process is
when the town exploits the knowledge and creativity capital of rural popula-
tion. The town and the countryside are two sides of the same coin (region),
whose full understanding lies not in their isolated research but on account of
their functional interdependence and applying a holistic approach. Towns and
their surrounding rural areas are (or could be) complementary spaces, which,
through cooperation and exchange of knowledge, are able to create added
value and new quality for both.
During the second half of 20th century the movement from rural areas to the
towns was typical feature of spatial organization of (not only) Slovak society.
Concentration of economic activities and huge building of real estates in the
towns represented visual manifestations of industrialization and urbanization
processes in Slovakia. Selected in-migration young people with their know-
ledge, habits, attitudes and behaviour influenced the form, image and life of the
towns. From the beginning of this century we can observe (but only in indivi-
dual cases) the opposite spatial movement – urban population emigrates from
towns to rural environment. The process of suburbanization is important mainly
in the surroundings of the biggest towns (Bratislava, Košice, …). The reasons
are very heterogonous: from retirement migration to the places of birth, through
commercial relocation of entrepreneurial activities and residential relocation of
their actors to more advantageous rural places, to preferences of young families
to live in healthier (and cheaper) rural environment. Number of rural population
in the hinterlands of the biggest towns is increasing by not-autonomous inhabi-
tants with different hierarchy of values, style of life, knowledge, and interests.
In-migration is generally accepted as a decisive factor of rural social and econo-

mic development and potential rural regeneration. Intellectual quality and prac-
tical experiences of newcomers with their theoretical and practical knowledge,
and also with their network of interpersonal contacts, influence (or have the
potential to influence) the social and economic development trajectories in posi-
tive or negative sense. As supposed and now observed, the diffusion of innova-
tion (mainly in behaviour) is very dynamic. New forms of neo-liberal behaviour
of new inhabitants of rural areas are in the distinct contradiction with the rural
traditional life and contribute not only to the important, but ambivalently per-
ceived structural changes, but also to the conflicts with locally born population.
The aim of the paper is to contribute to the discussion about the developmen- 61
tal potentials of rural areas in the hinterlands of big towns under positive and
Urban-rural relations as a source of transfer of knowledge: some examples from rural surrounding of Bratislava
negative impact of in-migrants and their knowledge transfer into the rural
environment. Results of newspaper monitoring about the “two tier” rural so-
ciety, together with an overview of relevant studies in geography, economy,
and sociology, and additional face-to face interviews with rural inhabitants
are used.
Urban sprawl and suburbanization

Suburbanization and urban sprawl are closely connected processes and terms.
There are several definitions of these terms but their common characteristics
is linked to space – both processes take place along the boundary between the
town and its hinterland, in what is also referred to as the urban-rural fringe.
Suburbanization is the process connected with intraregional migration of the
urban population to rural hinterland and leads to its physical and social trans-
formation (Sýkora, 2003). Intraregional migration is the process when redis-
tribution of population takes place in a relatively small space of a functional
region strictly delimited by relationship between places of permanent living,
and places of working (journey to work).
Anthony’s definition of sprawl (2004) was inspired by an earlier Downs’

(1999) study where the author presented a comprehensive idea of sprawl de-
scribed by the following characteristics: 1. unlimited outward extension of
development, 2. low-density commercial and residential settlement, 3. leap
frog development, 4. fragmentation of powers over land use among many lo-
calities, 5. dominance of transportation by private automotive, 6. lack of cen-
tralized planning and control, 7. widespread strip commercial development,
8. great fiscal disparities among localities, 9. segregation of types of land use
in different zones and 10. reliance on the trickle down or filtering process to
provide housing to low-income households (Anthony, 2004).
The two processes are not spontaneous; they depend on existence of certain
conditions, an aiding environment, which are helping to their development.
According to the European Environment Agency (2006) drivers of urban
sprawl are:
• Macro-economic factors (economic growth, globalisation, European inte-
gration)
• Micro-economic factors (rising living standards, price of land, availability
of cheap agricultural land, competition between municipalities)
• Demographic factors (population growth, increase in household formation)
• Housing preferences (more space per person, housing preferences)
• Inner city problems (poor air quality, noise, small apartments, unsafe en-
vironments, social problems, lack of green open space, poor quality of
schools)
62 • Transportation (private car ownership, availability of roads, low cost of
fuel, poor public transport)
Vladimír Székely
• Regulatory frameworks (weak land use planning, poor enforcement of exi-

sting plans, lack of horizontal and vertical coordination and collaboration).
Each of the quoted factors has its own specific, difficult to measure signi-
ficance. However, in assessing their impact is essential that individual fac-
tors do not operate in isolation and only his partial power. Synergy between
them significantly enhances their overall effect, which influences the spatial
changes and new relations between the towns and their rural hinterlands.
Suburbanization in Slovak context – critical evaluation

Reduced home construction in big cities, increasing prices of real estates in
cities, price comparability of single-family houses in rural areas and dwel-
lings in residential buildings in the cities, but partially also the longer term
economic growth which manifested itself not only in the 47.8% increase of
net monthly income per person in a non-specified household in the 2004-2011
period (Statistical Office of the SR) but also strong social polarization, provo-
ked an increased interest in living in individual family houses and/or moving
to the rural environment. Developers immediately responded to the demand
for living in the countryside by construction of single-family houses in order
to satisfy not only the interested clients from the close lying cities, but also the
numerous interregional immigrants and commuters attracted by the situation
on the labour market in the most important centres of the economic growth.
The ongoing dynamic processes of population deconcentration and residential

and/or commercial suburbanization, which evidently changed the face of the
city and its rural hinterland in Slovakia, triggered an enormous interest in
research into spatial aspects of this very specific phenomenon. Geographical
research aimed predominately at the spatial mobility, a change in land use,
and spatial differentiation of dwellings construction was carried out mainly at
university centres in Bratislava, Košice, Prešov, and Nitra. Leading persons
of Slovak human and regional geography (influenced by numerous incentives
of the Czech geographical school - e.g. Sýkora, 2003; Ouředníček, 2007) de-
termined the direction of research, theoretical and methodological approaches
to such research and led their students preparing the diploma and dissertation
theses to a detailed study of the situation in hinterland of big Slovak cities
(e.g. Bezák, 2000; Dická, 2006; Matlovič and Sedláková, 2007; Zubriczký
2010; Slavík et al., 2011; Šveda 2011, 2012; Repaská 2012). In spite of an
important progress achieved in identification, mapping, comprehension and
explanation of the phenomenon of suburbanization and its consequences for
spatial organization of society and behaviour of individual population groups,
the research vision of Sýkora (2003) still remains an attractive challenge for
further research. Sýkora believes that priorities of suburbanization research
could include: 1. research of such suburban localities, which have been dra-
matically transformed by suburbanization with a specific attention given to the 63
co-existence of locals and newcomers and transformation of local communi-
ties., 2. investigation of suburbanization and its consequences for the changes
of socio-spatial structure of the metropolitan territory – with a special accent
on increasing differentiation of individual parts of the region., 3. investigation
of suburbanization effects on way of life and changes of social relationships
in the society-wide level (Sýkora, 2003).
Suburb is an ambivalently perceived space in society. On the one side, there is

an idea of secluded medium and higher social classes whose houses in suburbs
represent different options of access to sources in a modern society. Owner-
ship of a single-family house became the token of independence, preferred life
style and prestige. On the other side, a suburb in an economically advanced
world is perceived as an agreeable space, which attracts several generations of
people with the enrooted idea of a calm and safe place with good neighbours
and prerequisites of an orderly family life (Galčanová, 2012).
Spatial sociologists, Gajdoš and Moravanská (2010), compiled a map of

451 potentially suburban municipalities in Slovakia (figure 1). Criteria lin-
ked with absolute and relative values of the mechanical population change
(proportion of immigrants in the overall municipality’s population, mi-
gration balance) and home construction (proportion of new dwellings in
overall number of dwellings in a municipality, number of new dwellings)
were used for their identification for the reference period of 2003-2008.
Authors report that the advanced research in potentially suburban munici-
palities spatially concentrated in the south-western part of Slovakia next
to the administrative border of the capital Bratislava confirmed existence
of suburbanization process.

Figure 1. Location of potential rural suburban municipalities (Gajdoš and Mora-
vanská, 2010)
Source: http://www.sociologia.sav.sk/cms/uploaded/1242_attach_suburbanizacia.pdf
64 Extensive sociological research carried out via electronically mailed questi-
onnaires to representatives of rural self-administrations (rural municipalities)
Vladimír Székely
brought some interesting information: 1. Social environment of municipalities

in hinterland of cities changes with arrival of new inhabitants. It is first of all
young families, which move to municipalities in hinterland of cities. They are
characterized by higher education, higher social status and higher income than
those of the original inhabitants in these rural municipalities., 2. Newcomers
bring a different life style and customs that can mean either a conflict or an im-
pulse for municipality development., 3. Newcomers are either relatively posi-
tively or relatively neutrally met (evaluated) by the local self-administration.,
4. Co-existence of the natives and newcomers is generally good, friendly and
conflictless., 5. The municipality rejuvenates, age and education population
structure improves. Final conclusion of the research, although general and
biased, due to the very specific group of responders – employees of 158 mu-
nicipal offices – is that “suburbanization in Slovakia strengthens the human,
social, economic and cultural capital of rural municipalities” (Gajdoš and
Moravanská, 2010).
Human geographer Podolák (2010), who interprets suburbanization as a very

complex and by other factors determined process with its positive and nega-
tive sides, made an attempt to assess suburbanization and it manifestations in
Slovakia. It is symptomatic that in his synthesised assessment Podolák found
imbalance between the positives and the negatives. He included “only” im-
provement of the dwelling pool quality and fulfilled desire of thousands of
inhabitants to possess an individual dwelling among positives. He also percei-
ves suburbanization as a “rather uncontrolled process” quoting the following
negatives:
• Abrupt increase of road traffic –suburbanites commute and travel to the
city by private cars in pursue of work, education, services, and culture.
The fact that public transport cannot efficiently operate in poorly populated
areas complicates the situation;
• Social segregation –first of all people with higher social status move to
the suburban localities; social isolation of newcomers is deepened by their
almost exclusive use of a car for any movement and if the new dwelling is
spatially separated, there is a minimal contact with the natives;
• Depression of city centres – in some cases city centres progressively lose
their population (they are empty in night hours), old residential and com-
mercial buildings dilapidate, investors are less interested in exploitation of
old industrial zones;
• Commercial constructions (hypermarkets, fast food shops, petrol stations,
multicinemas) concentrate into strips along motor ways and roads, there-
fore they are only accessible by private cars; poor architectural quality of
new buildings represents negative example of the dilemma between poten-
tial and real exploitation of the cultural landscape for living environment;
• Dramatic changes in land use – area of plots suitable for agriculture, forestry
or recreation uses is reduced and the change is irreversible (Podolák, 2010).
Urbanist Hrdina (2010) also assessed suburbanization in negative terms be- 65
cause the process in the 1990-2010 Slovakia did not represent (according to
him) a “consciously organized development”. Hrdina criticizes lack of jobs in
rural municipalities, which is both the cause and consequence of regular com-
muting to cities. Commuting overloads the road traffic. The existing transport
infrastructure is not able to face and solve the problem of redistribution and
mobility of population (favourite the use of private cars), which is the logical
consequence of the limited offer of public transports. Improvement of trans-
port systems though, runs into the barriers like shortage of finances and other
accumulated problems that are given priority by self-administrations. This
situation slows down building of transport infrastructure and deepens the exi-
sting problems (Hrdina, 2010). The subject of the Hrdina´s critical assessment
is mainly Bratislava and its suburbanised rural hinterland.
Delimitation of the concerned terrritory

Geographical position of Bratislava, capital of the Slovak Republic, is fair-
ly specific. Political, economic, cultural and educational centre of Slovakia
with population of more than 411 thousand (in 2011) is situated on contact
of three states: the Slovak Republic, Hungary and Austria (figure 2). The
only Hungarian village that borders on Bratislava is Rajka with 2,550 inha-
bitants (2011). Territories of two Austrian towns: Hainburg am der Donau
(5,935 inhabitants) and Marchegg (2,947 inhabitants) and those of six vil-
lages: Deutsch Jahrndorf (608 inhabitants), Pama (1,090 inhabitants), Kitsee
(2,310 inhabitants), Berg (724 inhabitants), Wolfsthal (870 inhabitants) and
Engelhartstetten (1,890 inhabitants) are Austrian administrative neighbours
of Bratislava.
In the Slovak territory, Bratislava shares common administrative borders

with two towns: Stupava (9,345 inhabitants) and Svätý Jur (5,229 inha-
bitants), and 8 rural municipalities (Hamuliakovo, Kalinkovo, Dunajská
Lužná, Rovinka, Most pri Bratislave, Ivanka pri Dunaji, Borinka, and Ma-
rianka). As the residential suburbanization processes are most intensive
in the village of Chorvátsky Grob, situated only about 500 m away from the
administrative border of the capital, this dramatically transformed “village”
(with status of rural municipality up to now) was also included into the
study area. The development of population in rural settlements in Slova-
kia situated in immediate hinterland of Bratislava is obvious from figure 3,
showing the dramatic increase of population in recent years particularly in
Chorvátsky Grob, Rovinka and Dunajská Lužná. Population number in all
of them, with the exception of Borinka, exceeded 1,000. Scope of suburba-
nization processes in individual rural municipalities expressed by the chan-
ged population number is determined first of all by the type of construction
– dramatic population increase is observed in rural municipalities where the
construction of complex residential areas by developers takes place while
the individual, private construction of houses is limited.
66
Vladimír Székely
SK
AT
HU

Figure 2. Bratislava (SK) and its (rural) surrounding – object of the study
Source: www.maps.google.sk
The public transport of Bratislava responded to the changed population dis-

tribution between city and suburbanized rural municipalities with aim to im-
prove the transport accessibility by expanding its transport lines to Hungarian
Rajka, Austrian Heinburg, and to Chorvátsky Grob in 2010, and prolonged
selected connections linking Bratislava with Záhorská Bystrica (outskirts of
Bratislava) to neighbouring Marianka in 2012. Specificity and exclusivity of
these individual connections, which exceed the administrative space of the
capital, is expressed in the financial evaluation. Connections linking Bratisla-
va with foreign countries are charged € 1.50; Bratislava’s charter travelcards
(owned by about 120 thousand people and used by about 58% passengers) are
not valid and a special single time-limited ticket (15 and 60 minutes priced €
0.70 and € 0.90 respectively) must be purchased for the connections to Ma-
rianka, the same as for the connections between the fringe part of Bratislava
(Vajnory) and the neighbouring village Chorvátsky Grob).
Comparison of the development of Bratislava

and the surrounding rural municipalities – population
deconcentration (?)
Official results of censuses were always considered the basic data about popu-
lation numbers in Slovakia. Pursuant these censuses held regularly every 10
years, in 1970 Bratislava’s permanently resident population amounted to al-
most 306 thousand (table 1). Due to integration of seven surrounding villages 67
into the administrative territory of the city of Bratislava in 1972, after the
1980 Census of population, houses and flats the population number increased
to more than 380 thousand; that is by almost 25 %. The trend of a continuous
increase also existed in the following decade and at the time of the following
Census in 1991, the population of Bratislava amounted to more than 442 thou-
sand. Signals of slow depopulation of the capital (?) were also recognizable
in the results of the 2001 Census, when Bratislava’s population experienced a
decrease for the first time. However, this decrease was not only the result of
demographic processes. An important share in overall decrease of population
is ascribed to the reluctance of people residing in the city in leased houses and
flats to acquire the status of permanent residents. At time of the 2011 Cen-
sus when the population number decreased to around 412 thousand, doubts
whether the data were correct were also accompanied by rather considerable
unwillingness of people to participate in the Census procedure what, as some
experts assert, might have affected the final data. Nevertheless, in spite of it,
the increase of population number in the neighbouring rural municipalities is a
reality, which insinuates not only deconcentration of population but also sub-
urbanization, out-migration of Bratislava’s inhabitants into adjacent, hence
accessible, rural municipalities. The phenomenon is also spurred by shortage
of flats and consequently their extreme prices in the territory of the capital.
Table 1. Development of Bratislava’s population number

Year 1970 1980 1991 2001 2011
Number of inhabitants 305 932 380 259 442 197 428 672 (?) 411 228 (???)

Source: Štatistický úrad SR (Statistical Office of the SR)
Rural municipalities, just like all spatial units, grow due to combination of na-
tural and migration gains. While the natural gain (which is the difference bet-
ween the number of births and number of deaths) indicates the appropriate age
structure of population, migration gain (the difference between the number of
in-migrants and out-migrants) gives evidence of territory’s attractiveness, ca-
pacity to attract new inhabitants due to its inherent offer and living conditions.
Figure 4 represents the time-differentiated official population gain in rural

municipalities in the immediate hinterland of Bratislava exclusively due to
migration balance of population. Unfortunately, the numbers do not always
correspond to reality because newcomers allow themselves time to get famili-
arized with the new place of living before registering the permanent residence.
Another and much graver is the problem of recent in-migrants’ unwillingness
to register their permanent residence in the rural municipality. The reasons are
pragmatic: a flat or company’s seat in Bratislava, cost of the re-registration or
access to medical care at more accessible place of work. Benevolent approach
to application of legislation and existing legal rules is a widespread phenome-
non observed and described by almost all authors involved with suburbaniza-
tion processes in Slovakia (e.g. Slavík et al., 2011; Šveda, 2012).
68
Vladimír Székely

Figure 3. Total population changes in rural municipalities (in Slovakia) closest
to Bratislava

Figure 4. Rural development (newly registered inhabitants) in the surroundings
of Bratislava in 2003-2011
Failure to register the permanent residence (or opposite process - mass

registering in special time of municipal elections, speculative registra-
tion of alien persons in order to support a specific candidate resulted
into invalid elections) directly affects not only the results of analysis
and description of observed spatial changes but also the options of de-
velopment for the concerned rural municipalities. Rural municipalities
are allotted funds (in dependency from population number, as well as 69
other geographically differentiated criteria) from so-called “shared ta-
xes - podielové dane” (a quota of income tax of natural persons) which
greatly contribute (about 33%) to the sum of the overall municipal in-
come and to the financial possibilities of the rational management of in-
dividual municipalities. Supposing that a rural self-goverment receives
€ 200-250 per a permanently resident inhabitant, it is no surprise that
mayors of rural municipalities try to motivate the residing and unre-
gistered inhabitants to register their permanent residence in the rural
municipality. Ways of motivation vary: from positive persuasion to the
restricted access to rural municipal benefits. A typical example is the
access to local schools and preschool facilities limited to the permanent
residents. Rather than a punishment for the indifferent attitude to finan-
cial participation in the administration of a rural suburban municipality,
such measures represent a tool of selection, use of which is forced by
the unregulated chaotic territorial development of municipalities (under
the pressure of developers) and the limited school and preschool capa-
cities (as a consequence of this “development”).

Figure 5. Rural development (new dwellings) in the surroundings of Bratislava
in 2003-2009
Number of (finished) dwellings is an appropriate indicator, which shows

the dynamic construction development in rural settlements in the immediate
hinterland of Bratislava. As figure 5 demonstrates, the continuous increa-
sing number of new dwellings in all rural municipalities is quite evident in
the 2003-2009 period. The greatest gain was observed in Chorvátsky Grob,
where the 7-year intensive constructions brought 1,000 new flats and it is in
70 a sharp contrast with less than 500 flats, which existed here in time of the 2001
Census. More than a 220% increase is the top national one; it made Chorváts-
Vladimír Székely
ky Grob a rural municipality with the most dynamic dwelling construction

in Slovakia (the impact will be evaluated lower). For comparison, the con-
trast between the old and new constructions in Dunajská Lužná, a rural mi-
nucipality with the second top increase in number of dwellings in 2003-2009
and bigger than Chorvátsky Grob, is not so sharp; it had 856 dwellings in
2001 and the increase by 683 dwellings (almost 80%) is not so extreme.
The majority of newly constructed dwellings in the immediate hinterland of

Bratislava are single-family houses (figure 6), while in some municipalities
other type of dwellings (in dwelling houses) not built. Demand of single-fa-
mily houses, price of which was sometimes lower that that of a smaller flat in
a block of flats in Bratislava, was extraordinary. But it was not only connected
with the romantic idea of life in healthy and pure countryside air and the de-
cision to build a one’s own house. The decisive criterion was the price of the
estate that was based not only on the attractiveness of landscape in the concer-
ned locality but also on transport accessibility, connection to motor way and
time necessary for commuting – work, study, leisure activities (Šveda, 2011).
Information about the dynamics of spatially differentiated prices of plots es-
tablished by developers in response to the changed situation in the supply and
demand sphere became accessible to public at large and in combination with
massive advertising campaigns influenced the final decisions of in-migrants.

Figure 6. Structure of new dwellings in the rural surroundings of Bratislava in
2003-2009
The present transfer of inhabitants of the big cities to their immediate

hinterlands, which form a common functional region, is quite diffe-
rent from the one that preceded the 1989 political and economic tran-
sition. Falťan (2010) pointed to the fact that while constructions in ru-
ral areas in the past was carried out pursuant the decision of a person 71
interested in living in rural environment and often in the role of an ac-
tive constructor, now the interested person is in the position of a client
who evaluates the alternative localities and then purchases the goods
(a plot, house, flat) prepared by the developers. Aggressive invasion into
the territory is “the result of “an external pressure and inputs”, and rural
municipality is compelled to accept and potentially solve various discre-
pancies of own development” (Falťan, 2010). According to opinion of
locals, aggressive invasion of developers, as an unwanted phenomenon,
disturbs the targeted development policy of rural municipalities and pro-
vokes a number of socio-pathological and spatial problems.
Chorvátsky Grob – rural municipality with a record increase

of newly built houses, population (and problems)
Chaotic, unplanned suburbanization processes, often missing conceptions,
in rural hinterland of Bratislava cannot be perceived in an isolated manner.
Home construction in the territory of a rural municipality also afflicts the
neighbouring urban territories, which become transitory for the commuters to
the city centre. The missing additional new transport infrastructure and the old
infrastructure, which is not prepared for the enormous increase of traffic, trig-
gered complaints and civil protests of population from peripheral urban parts
directly negatively affected by the new spatial organization of population and
its activities.
Mayor of Vajnory, urban part of Bratislava, pointed to absolute ignorance

of the comprehensive territorial development of the neighbouring Chor-
vátsky Grob and environs in 2010 when the territorial plan of the village,
particularly its part Čierna Voda, was opened to further development ac-
tivities which planned to increase the number of the “rural” population
by 45 thousand. The current unusual expansion of single-family house
compounds (and also multi-storeyed blocks) in the most dynamically de-
veloping rural settlement in Slovakia is accompanied by a huge number of
problems. Some years ago local residents protested and tried to convince
the former self-government authorities about irrationality of such concen-
tration of population in an already problematic territory. They were against
construction of a big housing estate (which is a typical form of housing
in cities and Bratislava in particular) in their village. The aim of protests
was conserving and preserving the already very questionable rural cha-
racter of the village.
Perhaps the the most sensitively is perceived the situation on the exi-
sting transport infrastructure and transport options from Čierna Voda to
Bratislava. As the mayor of Vajnory asserts, 22 thousand cars daily pass
through this marginal part of Bratislava and approval of another extensive
construction may lead to a permanent jam of Vajnory. This is the reason
72 why the mayor requests the change of the territorial plan, which counts
with a population of 60 thousand in “rural” Chorvátsky Grob in about
Vladimír Székely
20 years. Such population number in rural municipality sharply contrasts

with that of the surrounding towns, which is several fold lower. Mayor of
Vajnory initiated negotiations with the mayor of Chorvátsky Grob over
the proposal for approval of constructions of rural and not urban nature
followed by a cut of the planned population number to a maximum of 20
thousand. Support from from the side of current self-government of Chor-
vátsky Grob is enormous. However, it is very difficult to imagine a rural
municipality with population amounting to 20 thousand in Slovakia (the
character of the present biggest rural municipality in Slovakia, the for-
mer part of urban municipality, is distinctly urban - multi-storeyed blocks
of flats - and its population is below 10 thousand). It seems that the repre-
sentatives of self-government rather attempt to solve the situation, which
is product of wrong decisions adopted in the past in favour of developers
and their commercial activities. Solution in case of Chorvátsky Grob and
its part Čierna Voda is connected with financial participation of developers
in building technical infrastructure and amenities in situ.
Administrator of the Region of Bratislava, Pavol Frešo critically assessed

the general regional situation and described the situation of Vajnory as “very,
very bad” in 2010. His commentary will perhaps contribute to a more rational
and better timed preparation of a comprehensive territorial development plan
for the suburban rural municipalities. Pursuing Administrator’s words who
wishes actively negotiate with mayors and developers it is not possible to
approve such an extensive construction of residential comlexes without pre-
vious construction of transport (and other) infrastructure. Obviously though,
solution to conflicts will require lengthy and complicated negotiations among
representatives of regional and local self-governments, as well as the investors
in the position of developers.
The phenomenon of overloaded traffic is the result of inconsistent develop-

ment of the rural municipality Chorvátsky Grob and its part Čierna Voda by
developers as exclusively residential area lacking adequate amenities and
transport infrastructure with the tacit consent of the local authorities. The vil-
lage struggles with the increasing population number, as the necessary school
or preschool capacities, shops and health care centres, etc. are still missing.
It is necessary to commute in pursue of almost everything. Quality of life of
locals decreases. Confrontation between the reality and the declared idyllic
living in an own house in the country is disappointing.
Indicator of plot prices, which differentiates hinterlands of big cities and ap-
peals especially to the less solvent clients in their process of spatial decision,
is applied in estimation of attractiveness of localities. Price of building plots
is dynamic; it responses to new facts that determine it both in negative or po-
sitive sense. If place attractiveness increases due to former racional decisions,
the price of the area plot increases too. In contrary, if due to wrong decision
the positive image of quality place of living vanishes, the price of plots drops. 73
This precisely is the case typical for Chorvátsky Grob, a rural municipali-
ty sometimes referred to as “a good example of a wrong approach to rural
municipality’s development”.

Picture 1. Chorvátsky Grob – old, traditional part of the rural municipality, 2012
(photo: V. Székely)

Picture 2. Chorvátsky Grob – Čierna Voda – new, suburban part of the rural mu-
nicipality, 2012 (photo: V. Székely)
Administration of the municipality, product of the 2010 municipal elections,

actively provides information about municipality’s life. Content-rich munici-
pality website (with information for municipality inhabitants, entrepreneurs,
and visitors) offers also video clips appearing the mayor Miroslav Marynčák,
licensed expert in architecture and urbanism, who explains not only the pre-
sent extremely complicated situation of Chorvátsky Grob caused by previous
74 decisions of developers and representatives of local self-government but, also
presents potential solutions to the problem.
Vladimír Székely
The complimentary municipal bimonthly “Chorvatan”informs by contribu-

tions of mayor about themes subject to debates and approval by the mu-
nicipal deputies and responds to questions of citizens. The content of the
journal suggests that there are problems between the old part of Chorvátsky
Grob and the new part of Čierna Voda, which are perceived by locals as
two independent, isolated and competing spatial units (picture 1, 2). Miros-
lav Marynčák, the mayor, said in 2012 after the municipal self-government
(municipal council) failed to approve the 2013 municipal budget: “Situation
of the municipality is critical. Regretfully, the opinion of what are the gra-
vest problems of this village and what is to be done of the old and new part
of the village ever more differs.” (Matula, 2012). The conflict arose of an
argument whether to fund construction of a new school at Čierna Voda (con-
centration of schoolchildren) or reconstruction of the school in the old part
of Chorvátsky Grob. It is not the only source of arguments, confrontations
or negotiations between the stakeholders of the municipality. The sympto-
matic thing is that majority of them moved in from the city. It was the city
that formed their education and was the source of their expert and managing
knowledge and skills. Life in urban community helped them establish and
develop a network of intesively used social and/or business contacts for
promoting of their interests in rural environment.
One of the causes of the existing situation in social life and social relationships in
the rural municipality is that the people pass the majority of time in urban environ-
ment. Limited work opportunities and limited shopping and leisure time options
prohibitively increase commuting. The need of flexible movement makes peo-
ple depend on cars. Use of cars and absence of newcomers in the village reduce
the possibilities of sharing company with others, of building social links and so-
cial cohesion (engagement in public affairs) in the place of permanent residence.
On the other side, thanks to the modern ICTs, the limited number of people in
a limited space does not define social links anymore. A trend of comparatively
extensive even dominant existence of relationships independent on space prevails
among - regardless of their educational level - young people. The existing social
links can acquire nature of weaker (more superficial?) ties among a greater number
of conventionally and unconventionally communicating persons that declare in-
dependence on spatial distance. If the community of municipality inhabitants is
considered a local spatially determined solidarity network, its relative weakening
can be hypothetically presumed in the sense of the ongoing developments - immi-
gration of prevailingly young people (Galčanová, 2012) - with the corresponding
consequences in terms of interest in communal affairs and active participation
in solution of problems. In this way, the broad-defined non-endogeneuos human
potential of newcomers from urban environment may be wasted in terms of the
communal development with the negative consequences for the management
of communal affairs and the vision of rural sustainable development.
Cross-border suburbanization – example of the Hungarian 75
rural municipality Rajka
Rajka is a peripheral rural municipality situated on the border between Slo-
vakia and Hungary, which lost on an average more than 50 inhabitants a year
in the first decade of the 21st century due to internal out-migration (Központi
Statistikai Hivatal, http://www.ksh.hu). People moved to places more attrac-
tive for permanent residence (for instance to the neighbouring town Moson-
magyaróvár). The increasing interest in purchase of Rajka’s real estates by
Bratislavians most probably also contributed to out-migration of the natives
of Rajka. Excentric peripheral position of the village and the resulting advan-
tageous prices compared with those on the real estate market in Bratislava
were the reasons why there is a great conformity between supply and demand.
Both, the purchasers and sellers are satisfied with their decisions. Friendly pri-
ces of houses and their accessibility on the market motivated first Bratislavi-
ans to purchase and reconstruct old houses. Only later Rajka becomes a place
of developer projects and construction of residential complexes (picture 3).
Picture 3. Hungarian Rajka with Slovak (automobiles and) imigrants, 2012 (pho-
to: V. Székely)
Regarding the preferred living in Rajka (population of 2,550 in 2011), “the re-
verse side of cheap plots” is ever more often mentioned. The reverse side more
or less disturbs the influx of new immigrants from Slovakia. It has several fa-
cets the most serious seems to be the feeling of general threat and problematic
perceiving of general safety. Relationships between Hungary and the Slovak
Republic are not ideal and provocations (mentioned in media) on both sides
of the frontier are comparatively frequent (not only nationalist extremists, but
also significant political representatives). Example from October 2012: part
of Hungarian inhabitants of Rajka protested against the unfortunate and con-
troversial billboard slogan of the real estate agency PASS Reality promoting
76 dwelling in Rajka. It referred to Rajka as the “6th district of Bratislava” (the
administrative territory of Bratislava is divided into 5 districts). Reactions to
Vladimír Székely
the campaign varied from the innocent albeit unconsidered publicity strata-
gem, which totally ignored the present international relationships of the two
countries, as well as empathy with the Hungarian population, to the protesters’
insinuations about changed state frontiers and occupation of the Hungarian
territory by annexing Rajka to Bratislava.
A publicity slogan and advertising campaign, witty and innocent for some
can be provocative or misleading for others. Part of debaters condemns the
creators of publicity campaign from Slovakia for irresponsibility and point to
other theoretically possible variants of Hungarian advertisement agency, as
“Komárno as the second district of Komárom, Šťúrovo as suburb of Eszter-
gom, or Slovenské Nové Mesto as the north-eastern quarter of Sátoraljau-
jhely”. Similar “creative” promotion of Slovak places as parts of Hungarian
towns would most probably also provoke protests of Slovaks.
Commentaries like: “The EU also offers me the option to pursue work, better
living conditions and cheaper house- and this is in Rajka - so I go there live
… no matter whether I am Hungarian, Slovak or Romany” point to the new
political situation and utilitarian preference in the process of spatial choice be-
haviour of an economically thinking person. Social and cultural dimension of
at least a partial breach of human relationships and their significance for a life
quality of a human reduced exclusively to a consumer is suppressed in such
attitudes. Simultaneously it is obvious that the decision to assume permanent
living in the territory of other country can also evoke an idea of hazard. The
opinion that “Our people (citizens of the Slovak Republic) move here only
because of lower prices of plots and dwelling. Any rationally thinking person
must also expect some problems. The fact that we are an EU member state
does not mean that we are safe, although we should be. The idea of the Euro-
pean cohesion and solidarity sometimes fails due to primitivism of individuals
and groups”, is quite frequent and it expresses a self-contained and prudent
estimate of Rajka as a place of permanent residence for foreigners (at this
moment Rajka is “exclusively” attractive as place of living only for Slovaks).
On the other side, stereotypic perception of Hungary, which according to
some discussants is “an economically and politically unstable country which
went bankrupt, experienced extremely high inflation and poverty” also evokes
a number of (un)founded questions regarding rationality of such locational
choice especially in comparison with Austria, image of which, as a place of
permanent residence, is far more positive in the eyes of most Slovaks citizens.
On the other side, research accomplished (Ira et al, 2011; Hardy, 2012) sug-
gests that the people living in Rajka maintain standard neighbour relationships
free from mutual animosities. It may be caused by the newcomers’ way of
life, who are more active in the Slovak territory and they only come to Rajka
to spend the night. Communication with locals is hindered by the language
barrier and lack of time, causes why not only deeper mutual enrichment and
engagement in solution of local issues but also any aspiration to participate in 77
or even take over control in the communal sphere are out of question. All in
all, life in Rajka is a conflictless co-existence of two ethnicities that instead of
living together live side by side.
Conclusion
Spatial changes observed in the immediate rural hinterland of Bratislava are
not exceptional in the European context. Numerous studies point to the subur-
banising processes ongoing practically in every European country. However,
national differences may appear in the level of rational management of urban-
rural space and in contribution of new in-migrants with significant human and
social capital (with acquired knowledge and experience in urban environment)
to sustainable development of rural municipalities. The surviving model of
a monofunctional residential suburb connected with the dominant commuting
to work, school and services from rural environment to urban areas creates
numerous pressures on the rational functioning of the affected areas and is
negatively perceived by both experts and laymen. The outlasting absence of
comprehensive development of suburban rural municipalities most often pre-
sented as the consequence of wrong approaches in the past and the present
lack of funds represents an important threat for their sustainable development.
Elimination of such threat requires diffusion of recent knowledge and inno-
vative approaches to accumulated problems. It also requires educated and en-
gaged creative people capable of modifying their living space. But research
revealed that spatial distribution of such people is extremely irregular and that
creativity is not something that can be simply imported into the rural space.
The deepening social segregation, product of not only differences in income

between the newcomers and and old embedded rural inhabitants, but also of
social changes and inadequate stress on individualism, seems to be another
serious problem of suburbanised rural areas. Parallel and mutually isolated
co-existence of two population groups (“two tier” rural society) does not help
mobilization of local resources and development of social capital and in this
way the benefits of sharing the company and learning of newcomers and na-
tives in common activities or possible unconventional innovative solutions
(Bock, 2012) run into a significant barrier.
Rural space becomes in certain sense an object of consumption, a commodity

and a “battlefield” of different interest groups. The rivalling parties apply spe-
cial convincing techniques in an effort to win over the adversary and to apply
their development strategy. An important role in conservation and strengthe-
ning of sustainable development, which exploits also the endogenous poten-
tial, is that of the selection and moral qualities of the representatives of local
or regional executives and their capacities of comprehensive and indepen-
dent assessment of intentions of domestic and foreign investors. Examples of
Bratislava’s rural hinterland proved that in some cases the developmental tra-
78 jectory of rural municipalities has been distinctly stigmatised by invasion of
an uncontrolled and unregulated“intruder” whose irreversible activities may
Vladimír Székely
(also negatively) affect functioning of the urban-rural space and life quality
of its population.
Acknowledgement
This article was prepared as part of the Project No. 2/0086/12 „Endogenous
potential and exogenous factors of local and regional development in Slo-
vakia“, funded by the Slovak VEGA Grant Agency. The author thanks to the
Slovak VEGA Grant Agency for its financial support.
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81
Monica Mihaela Tudor1, Violeta Florian2, Mihai Alexandru Chitea3
Institute of Agricultural Economics – Romanian Academy, Calea 13 Septembrie 13,
sector 5, 050711, Bucharest, Romania
1
monik_sena@yahoo.com
2
florian_violeta@yahoo.com
3
mihai_chitea@yahoo.com
Chapter 5
Acceptance of innovation diffusion
in rural areas - a Romanian
Case Study
Abstract: In our paper we tried to investigate the organisation and functioning of

the Agricultural Knowledge System in Romania. On the basis of system analysis
approaches, we critically examined the set of public and private organisations
dedicated to research, education and extension, and their interaction with know-
ledge users (traditional farmers) and the main system failures and strengths in the
innovation process in agriculture were identified. The empirical research in this
study had a heuristic value.
Keywords: innovation, agricultural knowledge system, Romania

82
Monica Mihaela Tudor, Violeta Florian, Mihai Alexandru Chitea Introduction
In Romania, the processes related to the innovation production and knowledge
transfer to agriculture and rural areas is still tributary to the traditional model
based on a strong confidence in scientific progress and in the role of the State
as a driver of modernization. Research, education and extension bodies are
seen as strong public institutions, and the approach to ‘innovation adoption’
and ‘transfer of technology’ is used, as a top-down linear process, from re-
search to farming and rural development.
In this paper we propose an analysis of the effectiveness of this approach to the

knowledge transfer and highlight its strengths and weaknesses in the Romanian
context. Our analyses are based on the concrete results in the implementation
in Romania of the FP 7 project (SIRIUS)1 that is implemented in 11 pilot are-
as across the globe; one of these areas is Terasa Nord Braila from Romania.
The main objective of the SIRIUS project is to implement, in the pilot areas,
a computer system for efficient management of water resources (for irrigation) -
so, implementation of a technological innovation. Our paper aims at measuring
the degree of acceptance of innovation diffusion at the main actors involved in
the transfer and implementation of new knowledge through this initiative.
Methodology
The proposed methodology is specific to the qualitative analysis because it is
considered most appropriate for studying this phenomenon. We use 2 types of
methods for data collecting and for data handling and processing.
a. Methods for observation/collecting data:

- The participatory observation is a method in which an observer partici-
pates in the activities of the people being studied. A participatory observer
in innovation projects attends the meetings of the project team, of the pro-
ject participants and of the network meetings in a brother sense.
- In-depth interviews are a good method to study the assumptions, values
and experiences of the project team members, project participants or ex-
ternal parties; at the same time, these are also a good modality to encou-
rage reflection. Within this research method, the monitor can provide the
stimulus for the interviewee to examine things in greater depth, such as the
barriers in the existing system or the interrelationships. The processing of
these interviews was performed using the ATLAS program.
- Collective reflection meting (Focus group) with the interviewees after the
interviews. According to this method, the monitor presents the conclusions
after the interviews and the interviewees give theirs feedback on these re-
sults.
1
Sustainable Irrigation water management and River-basin governance: Implementing User-driven Serv-
ices – SIRIUS – (2010-2013) funded through 7 Framework Programme of the EU
b. Methods used for data handling and processing: 83
- SWOT matrix reflects the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
Acceptance of innovation diffusion in rural areas - a Romanian Case Study

in the innovation system functionality
- Innovation System Performance matrix (ISP matrix) that detailing the main
enablers and barriers in the process of knowledge and innovation transfer.
In the recent specialty literature, the innovative processes are systemical-

ly approached and more and more frequent concepts such as “systems of
innovation are used.” The process of technological innovation involves in-
teractions among a wide range of actors in society, who form a system of
mutually reinforcing learning activities. These interactions and the associa-
ted components represent dynamic “innovation systems” (Fagerberg, 2005).
The concept of a system offers a suitable framework for conveying the no-
tion of parts, their interconnectedness, and their interaction, evolution over
time, and emergence of novel structures. Within countries the innovation
system can vary across localities. Local variations in innovation levels, tech-
nology adoption and diffusion, and the institutional mix are significant fea-
tures for all countries.
The ISP matrix systematically categorizes some typical institutional characte-

ristics of an innovation system, its main actors and their interactions with each
other. As an system analysis, ISP matrix, making the distinction between ac-
tors and the rules which are most related to the system failures: i) actors, i.e.
customers, firms, policy departments, research institutes, consultants etc. that
act and thereby co-create not only products and technologies but also the in-
stitutional framework in which they function; ii) rules/system failures, i.e. the
conditions that are either specifically created by the actors, or have spontane-
ously evolved, which influence not only the functioning of individual actors,
but also the system as a whole. Because of this distinction between actors
and failures, it also becomes possible to make a clearer distinction between
cause and effect in terms of system functioning and outcomes (Woolthuis et
al., 2005; Hermans et al., 2011). According to these theoretical approaches,
the main components of the ISP matrix for our study case area were defined
(see table 1).
The columns of this matrix contain some of the most important actors that
make up the agricultural knowledge system and the lines reflects the different
categories of failures depicted in the ISP matrix: the infrastructure, the institu-
tional context like laws, rules and regulations, values, norms and culture, the
interactions and networks and the capabilities of actors.
A main data source is represented by the monitoring of SIRIUS project imple-

mentation in Romania, SIRIUS project pilot area.
84 Table 1. Innovation System Performance matrix component for analysing the
acceptance of knowledge transfer through SIRIUS project in Romania
Direct beneficiaries Indirect beneficiaries Research Extension

Actors (final users of the (public and private organizations for which the Institutes and advice
innovation and implementation of innovations in agriculture and and
knowledge transfer) rural development contributes indirectly to the Universities
fulfilment of their objectives: reducing pressure on
Rules natural resources, their sustainable management,
conservation of bio-geodiversity, sustainable social
(system failures) and economic development)
Infrastructural failures Being the physical infrastructure that actors need to function (such as IT, telecom, and roads)
and the science and technology infrastructure.
Laws, ‘Hard institutional failure’ refers to laws, regulations and any other formalized rules, or the
rules and lack of them, hampering innovation. For example, the absence of organizational regulations
Institutional regulations generates an institutional vacuum and may slow down certain developments. Incentive
failures mechanisms for researchers which make them more or less inclined to work with farmers
Values, ‘Soft institutional failure’ refers to unwritten rules, norms, values, culture, or ‘the way business
norms and is done’. They affect how actors interact, but also relate to their (in)ability to change their
culture norms and values to enable innovation to take place. For example, different worldviews of
researchers and farmers on what constitutes ‘good irrigation practices’ may affect how they
cooperate in innovation processes.
Interactions and “Strong network failures” being the ‘blindness’ that evolves if actors have close links and as
networks failures a result miss out on new outside developments.
“Weak network failures” being the lack of linkages between actors as a result of which
insufficient use is made of complementarities, interactive learning, and creating new ideas.
Capabilities failures The lack of technical and organizational capacity of the system to adapt to and manage new
technology and organizational innovations (such as a certain level of entrepreneurship,
adequately educated persons, time to dedicate to innovation, networking skills, also referred to as
‘absorptive capacity’)
Source: according with Woolthuis et al. 2005: 610-611; & Hermans et al. 2011: 11-21
Background/Context
Knowledge and innovation creation and transfer in Romania
The formal agricultural knowledge system (AKS), defined as the ‘triangle’ of

agricultural research, education and extension (advisory service) establish-
ments (Rivera and Sulaiman, 2009), and their interaction with knowledge
users, traditionally farmers. In Europe, these organisations traditionally have
been linked in a linear way because AKS was created in coherence with the
idea of a strong confidence in scientific progress and in the role of the State
as a driver of modernization. Research, education and extension bodies were
seen as strong public institutions, and the approach to ‘innovation adoption’
and ‘transfer of technology’ was used as a top-down linear process, from re-
search to farming (Knickel, Brunori et al., 2009; Röling, 2009; Leeuwis and
Aarts, 2011), in line with the common goal of increasing agricultural produc-
tion (Hermans et al., 2011).
In the agricultural and rural innovation literature, as elsewhere, the linear view
of innovation (i.e., agricultural R&D generates technologies that agricultural
extension transfers to agricultural producers for subsequent adoption) is being
criticised as the thinking about innovation processes has become broadened
from processes of knowledge diffusion and knowledge transfer to processes of
knowledge co-creation and social learning (Leeuwis and Van den Ban, 2004;
Smits and Kuhlmann, 2004; Knickel, Brunori et al., 2009).
A recent Review of the Research, Development & Innovation (RD&I) sector 85
in Romania2 concludes that Romania’s RD&I sector is in a silent crisis, with

seriously negative implications for the country’s longer term competitiveness
and growth prospects. This crisis is related to three key factors:
I. research, development, and innovation are not recognized as a linked sy-
stem to promote private sector innovation and economic growth. Con-
sequently, it is not governed as a sector, but rather split among various
ministries and stakeholders who together lack a unified vision or even
minimal coordination;
II. the focus of spending has been on basic research and maintaining a legacy
superstructure of institutes and universities at variance with the applied
research required by the country‘s changed economic structure or the de-
velopment of its areas of comparative advantage. The opportunity cost of
years of marginally productive research spending cannot be recaptured,
but they must not continue;
III. the skills of Romanian entrepreneurs and researchers are not being pro-
perly mobilized, and too often are frittered away. The Romanian scientific
Diaspora is one of the world‘s largest, the level of domestic scientific
output lags far behind the country‘s competitors, and the Romanian high
tech private sector (that group which is sparking growth in neighbouring
countries as well as in global leaders) is an abandoned orphan.
Investment in research and innovation is at the heart of the Europe 2020

strategy, which is aimed at a smarter, greener and more inclusive econo-
my delivering high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion.
Private sector R&D investment plays a particularly important role in this
strategy. Unfortunately, in Romania, investments in research and innova-
tion (0.47% from GDP) are still based mostly on the public contribution,
the private R&D investments account for only 38.3% (the EU average is
61.5%)3. In both public and private sector in Romania, the level of R&D
expenditure is lower than the EU average (38% and 15% respectively of
the EU27 average)4 and these investments are mostly oriented according
to the principles of an efficiency-based economy (low cost resources), as
compared to innovation-based economies in advanced countries. Because
of the realities described above, in 2011, Romania was classified as “modest
innovator”, ranked the 24th of the 27 EU countries according to the summary
aggregated innovation index5.
2
World Bank (2012). “Functional Review of the Research, Development & Innovation Sector”, http://
www.sgg.ro/docs/File/UPP/doc/rapoarte-finale-bm/etapa-II: 7
3
National Authority for Scientific Research (2012). “Evolution of Romania’s R&D and Innovation Sy-
stem”, National Conference of Innovation and Research, November, 7-9, 2012, Bucharest, http://cnci.ancs.
ro/downloads/raport_conferinta.pdf
4
Idem
5
European Commission (2012) “Innovation Union Scoreboard 2011”, Research and Innovation Union
scoreboard, http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/innovation/files/ius-2011_en.pdf.
86
Monica Mihaela Tudor, Violeta Florian, Mihai Alexandru Chitea SIRIUS project (in brief)
This study is based on data collected on ongoing FP7 Project called SIRIUS
– „Sustainable Irrigation water management and River-basin governance: Im-
plementing User-driven Services”. SIRIUS is a trans-national research project
involving 18 partners from 13 countries around the world, aiming to develop
innovative and new Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES)
service capacities for the user community of irrigation water management and
sustainable food production, in accordance with the vision of bridging and
integrating sustainable development and economic competitiveness (figure 1).
main objective: to develop efficient water

resource management services in support
of food production in water-scarce SIRIUS goal
environments. sustainable irrigation water use and
main activities: to develop new services management under conditions of
for water managers and food producers water scarcity and drought
(maps detailing irrigation water
requirements in different areas, crop water
consumption estimates etc.) assisted through the implementation of a
through satellites system and computer technological innovation
in the pilot areas
based
implementation: a set of pilot Case
Studies represents a sample of the wide technological innovation:
range of conditions found in the world a computer system for efficient
(covering Spain, Italy, Romania, Turkey, management of water resources (for
Egypt, Mexico, Brazil, and India). irrigation) based on satellites images
Figure 1. FP 7 SIRIUS project (2010-2013) Sustainable Irrigation water manage-

ment and River-basin governance: Implementing User-driven Services
The SIRIUS project, has the following main objectives: to prepare the service
environment by strengthening the participatory process which is necessary for
efficient and affective irrigation water resources management and by jointly
developing users' requirements portfolios that lead to sustainable future com-
munity agreements for irrigation farming practices assisted by GMES services
in each pilot area, based on cooperation of all stakeholders; to strengthen the
current version (global, local, portable modes) of the System of Participatory
Information, Decision-support and Expert knowledge in River-basin manage-
ment (SPIDER, developed in PLEIADeS) in two ways: placing it robustly
within the overall framework of the GMES SDI, while ensuring it is operational
on the ground with the network of local ppgis communities; to further develop,
validate and consolidate the product generation algorithms for the SIRIUS port-
folio and to operationalize them as far as possible while maintaining user con-
trol procedures where needed; to set up and implement SIRIUS portfolio pro-
duction line, including purpose – oriented quality control, merging data streams
from EO (virtual constellation concept), non EO (in – situ,survey) and models;
to generate products for participatory service assessment with users during one 87
growing season; to develop and deploy a framework of business strategies to

stimulate operative and sustainable SIRIUS service activities capable of provi-
ding benefits to the user community of water resources management; to guide
the local user community in a participatory multi – stakeholder process through
the set up, test-implementation, training, and evaluation of the SIRIUS services
in representative pilot case; to evaluate the social, cultural and economic envi-
ronment for the sustainable implementation of the SIRIUS Service.
SIRIUS project in Romania
The current situation of the irrigation system in Romania
Romania has a total of 15 million hectares of agricultural land, two thirds of

which are arable, giving the agricultural sector considerable potential to pro-
duce a commercially viable and diverse mix of temperate crops and livestock
products. Irrigation is vital to Romanian agriculture out of several reasons.
First, it offsets rain deficits in the country’s semi-arid southern and eastern regi-
ons. The water demands of crops in July and August are 300-500 mm, leaving
a crop water deficit of some 200-350 mm. This makes irrigation necessary for
most summer crops such as maize, vegetables, sugar beet, sunflower, potatoes.
In the communist period, a total area was equipped with irrigation infrastructure
summing up almost 3.1 million hectares (figure 2). These systems were mainly
developed for irrigating crops like maize, wheat, sunflower and sugar beet, as
well as rice and vegetables; these crops were established on large areas, opera-
ted by the state farms. A large part of the irrigated land areas was located on high
terraces, above the water source (the Danube for a large part of the irrigation
infrastructure). In certain cases, irrigation systems were built for irrigating land
areas located at more than 200 m above the respective water source, including
up to 10 repumping stations. The specific costs of the under pressure irrigation
networks are high, and before 1989 the state used to hide the real value of subsi-
dies (mainly for the power used for water pumping) (WB, 2009).
Currently, in Romania, the price for access to water from the irrigation system
is high for farmers and represents around 1/3 of the production cost/ ha (accor-
ding to the information provided by farmers from our pilot area). This reality
is the result of the current situation of the irrigation system:
• Irrigation system in Romania was built in the communist period - conse-
quently irrigation infrastructure is old, outdated and highly energy-inten-
sive due to the deficit of investments in the modernization of the irrigation
system after 1989 (MARD, 2011)
• Irrigation infrastructure was designed to serve the large farms from the
communist era and, currently is inadequate of today's system of land pro-
perties dominated by small dimensions farms
88 • Large consumer of electric power because it is based on extracting water
from the river beds (Danube) and pumping it into irrigation channels –
consequently the total cost of access to water from the national irrigation
system is very high (MARD, 2010) (electric power represent 90% of the
price paid by farmers for the irrigation water)
• Water running through open channels and physical wear of the irrigation
infrastructure generates losses - the loss of water is estimated at around
40% on Braila’s Terrace (our pilot area) (MARD, 2007:15)
Figure 2. Romania – map of irrigations scheme

Source: National Land Reclamation Agency, http://www.anif.ro/patrimoniu/amenajari-iriga-
tii.htm
This situation resulted in the irrigated area representing only 9% in the year
2012 of these 3.1 mil. ha that had been equipped with irrigation facilities in
the communist period. Furthermore, following the depreciation, physical de-
struction of the national irrigation system nowadays, only 30% of these areas
were classified as "viable“ for irrigation (MARD, 2011: 43)
The Romanian Ministry of Agriculture implemented in the period 1994 –

2012 a project for rehabilitation and the reform of irrigation’s system for the
purpose of: evaluation of the current situation of the national irrigation system
functionality and development of a strategy for rehabilitation and reform of
irrigation system. The main goals of the national strategy for irrigation are:
to reduce the drought risk, to increase the economic efficiency of irrigation,
to improve the irrigation management, to improve the energy efficiency of
water irrigation systems, to involve the beneficiaries in the management and
the rehabilitation of irrigation systems. The strategic priorities were divided
according to period of implementation:
- on short term: improving the access and the efficiency of water consumpti-
on for irrigation at farm level through: supporting a institutional reform of
land operation within the irrigation perimeters to increase the access of far-
mers to water; increase the access of farmers at energy saving technologies 89
for irrigation management within interior areas (MARD, 2008: 11-12);

more economic use of irrigation resources by changing the farmers’ and
National Land Reclamation Agency’s (NLRA) behaviours (WB, 2012b)
- on long term: the rehabilitation of irrigation systems through investments
for modernization of the irrigation system infrastructure (MARD, 2007;
MARD, 2011).
The SIRIUS innovative solution for Romanian pilot area is in accordance with
the short term objective of national strategy for irrigation and consists of:
improving the efficiency of irrigation water use at farm level by: facilitating
the access of farmers to satellite information regarding irrigation water requi-
rements; selecting and processing the satellite information that is relevant to
the project’s aim; training the farmers for accessing and using the information
via computer
SIRIUS pilot area in Romania (in brief)
The SIRIUS pilot area in Romania is located in Brăila County (red circle in
figure 1), in a plain zone, with continental climate, with higher temperatures
and lower rainfall in recent years, multi-year averages. Under the conditions
of climate aridity tendency, in which the soil moisture deficit during the gro-
wing season reaches about 350mm/season, irrigation is absolutely necessary
(Symposium, 2007).
Over 90% of the agricultural and arable land areas in Brăila county (92.6%
and respectively 93.3%) have, according to NIS data, available facilities for
irrigation. According to MARD, Brăila is the county in which, by far, irriga-
tions represent an important component of farming, having the largest irriga-
ted area (65% of the actual irrigated area at national level in 2010 – NIS 2012
data base) and the largest quantity of water pumped (46% of water used for
irrigation in 2009 at national level – MARD 2011). However, in the same year
(2010), the use of the irrigation system in Brăila was very low. Effectively
irrigated areas with at least one watering represented only 15% of the total ag-
ricultural area equipped for irrigation at the county level, respectively, 16.4%
of arable land provided with such facilities (NIS, 2012). Given the records of
the irrigation system in the county with the largest area of operation and its use
– Brăila: the irrigation system is still functional in much of the area with such
type of facilities (in 2009, for 62.4% of the county area with hydro-technical
facilities, the irrigation system was classified as “viable”, capable of use and
recipient of the investment in system rehabilitation – MARD 2011).
The Romanian SIRIUS pilot area consists of 4 rural communes (namely Caz-
asu, Silistea, Vadeni and Tudor Vladimirescu) with a total population of 11000
inhabitants. The demo-social capital of this area is defined by:
- a balanced structure of genders, the female population share being 50.2%
90 - critical demographic phenomena: the birth rate in the rural area is 8.5‰
and the death rate is 13.9‰
- the particularity of the occupational pattern consists in the occupational

disequilibrium generated by the prevalence of employment in the agri-
cultural sector. The excessive contraction of the job supply supports this
pattern, which became specific for the rural area from Brăila county. The
excessive high shares of the population employed in agriculture reveal the
excessive economic and social dependence on agriculture, also indicating
the high risk to which the respective rural communities are subject to.
A mono-ocupational structure is materialized into the high vulnerability to
any natural, social and economic risk. The unemployment phenomenon af-
fects the employed population of the investigated area, the most vulnerable
group being the male population.
While at the level of the statistical analysis one can identify problems that
emerged as a result of the lack of jobs, the supply is not diversified and mul-
tiple, at the social analysis level much more complex problems were establis-
hed. In the formal leaders’ opinion, the vulnerability is based on the lack of
funds, poverty, incorrect application of agricultural policies.
The identification of problems is tributary to the socio-economic history of

the area; the collective mentality, generated several decades ago, according to
which the problems are generated only by factors exterior to the community
and must be solved by the exogenous factors are materialized into problems
identified by the leaders.
The defining social capital for the investigated rural communities is characte-
rized by social relations with positive effects (information dissemination,
knowledge and information exchange, internalization of the interests of the
group the rural actors are part of) and negative effects (their sticking to the
traditionality matrix results in the emergence of an „anti-novatory” behaviour
and the low internalization of values referring to natural environment preser-
vation). The first category of social relations is based on the organization of
water users into formalized entities (there are 6 irrigation water users’ asso-
ciations in our pilot area) and on the establishment of producers’ associations
(“Association of sheep and cattle raisers”).
Results
Our paper aims at measuring the degree of acceptance of innovation diffusion at
the main actors involved in the new knowledge transfer and implementation of in-
novations in agriculture. In order to reach this objective, we opted for the systems
approach in agricultural innovation from the perspective of which we make the
difference between the players involved in innovation production and transfer, on
one hand, and the very process of the production and transfer of the new know-
ledge towards agriculture. Thus, the analytical approach is divided into two parts:
1. Actors’ analysis - the goal of this review is to investigate the current orga- 91
nisation and functioning of the AKS actors.

In our understanding, AKS consists of those actors that are purposefully en-
gaged in knowledge development and knowledge intensive service delivery in
agriculture and rural development (it is part of their ‘core-business’).
2. System failures analysis - in the process of the acceptance of knowledge
transfer in Romanian agriculture, using as example the implementation
of a high-tech innovation in the water management for irrigation through
SIRIUS project in Romania.
The analyses of the innovation system functionality were based on secondary

information from the literature review regarding the innovation actors and pro-
cess in Romanian agriculture and rural development, and on our investigations
and data collected through field survey methods such as: participatory observa-
tions, in-depth interviews, focus group with the main actors involved in AKS.
Main actors involved in the agricultural knowledge system

in Romania (according to our case study)
According to the literature review, we identified the main categories of actors

involved in the process of knowledge and innovation creation and transfer in
the area of irrigation, namely:
- Research and education bodies, responsible with the development of new
ideas in water management and with the theoretical and practical training
of final beneficiaries.
- Extension and advice bodies that manage / mediates the relationships bet-
ween the innovators and final users of the innovation. They should act as
“innovation intermediary”.6
- Direct beneficiaries - final users of the innovation and knowledge transfer
(farmers).
- Indirect beneficiaries - public and private organizations for which innova-
tion implementation in agriculture and rural development indirectly contri-
butes to the fulfilment of their objectives: lowering the pressure on natural
resources, their sustainable management, bio-geodiversity conservation,
sustainable social and economic development etc.
The characteristics of these players are defining for their capacity/ability to

assume an active, efficient and effective role in a modern innovation transfer
process.
6
An innovation intermediary, according to Howells (2006) is "an organization or body that acts as an agent
or broker in any aspect of the innovation process between two or more parties. Such intermediary activities
include: helping to provide information about potential collaborators; brokering a transaction between two or
more parties; acting as a mediator, or go-between bodies or organizations that are already collaborating; and
helping find advice, funding and support for the innovation outcomes of such collaborations."
92 Often innovation systems do not act as systems and display imperfections or
system failures that hinder learning and innovation. Creating and fostering
effective linkages among heterogeneous sets of actors (i.e. the formation of

adequate innovation configurations, public-private partnerships etc) is often
hindered by different technological, social, economic and cultural divides
(Hall 2006). Such divides may be caused, for example, by different incentive
systems for public and private actors, differences between local indigenous
knowledge systems and formal scientific knowledge systems, social and cul-
tural differences that cause exclusion of certain actors and ideological diffe-
rences.
Organisation of the Agricultural Knowledge System for agriculture (particu-

larly for the irrigation sector) in Romania
The links between knowledge creators and users were broken with the downfall
of socialist agriculture. Technological innovations, but also innovations regar-
ding farm management in irrigation and produce marketing only reach a small
fraction of farms (especially big farmers that operate large areas of land).
Education and research
A few old agricultural universities have recently established departments on

sustainable agriculture and are also involved in environmental issues: sustai-
nable use of resources (water in our case), conservation of the natural re-
sources. However, they mostly do the same research as before, under a new
name. Theoretical education prevails, and links with the sector are sparse.
When training is a pre-requisite for receiving subsidies or other financial
support, Romanian farmers mostly opt for vocational or continuing training.
A lot of private training centres were established in the last few years that offer
short courses of training, retraining; these courses are funded mainly from EU
structural funds, and are less connected to the rural local labour market needs.
The research in the area of irrigation is funded from different national (public)
or international programs. Since the early 90s World Bank developed more
projects in Romania for the evaluation, reform and rehabilitation of irrigation
system. The main Romanian public institution involved in the research for
irrigation is the National Institute of Research and Development for Land Re-
clamation (ISPIF), which currently experiences great problems in relation to
funding its research activities, due to the public budget restrictions.
The agricultural extension systems do not have a lot of political support

anymore. The coverage of services was quite good (each commune had one
advisor) until 2010, when the National Agency for Agricultural Consultancy
was dissolved. The chambers of agriculture also provide advisory services.
At present, at national or at county level, there are a lot of free advisors availa-
ble that provide services in areas with an excessive diversification, without
a strategic coherence and convergence. The quality of the (free) advice is of- 93
ten low because of: excessive thematic specialization of the advisors, lack of

connectivity between them and the farmers needs etc.
The beneficiaries of innovation generated and transferred through SIRIUS

project were divided into two categories (direct and indirect beneficiaries): ac-
cording to theirs status in the implementation of the project findings, according
to theirs status in the implementation of the project findings and depending on
how the SIRIUS project implementation contributes to the achievement of
strategic objectives of the various actors, considered as beneficiaries.
Table 2. Main characteristics of actors involved in the innovation transfer in the

Romanian pilot area of SIRIUS project
Direct beneficiaries Indirect beneficiaries Research Extension
Farmers IWUA NLRA Government Institutes and
Small farms Big farms (Irrigation Water (National Land and advice
< 10 ha > 50 ha Users Reclamation
Associations) Agency) Universities
-operate 28.4% of the -operate 60.7% - associations of - public institution - responsible for - education on - structural
area equipped for of the area farmers with under the MARD strategically agriculture is excessive
irrigation equipped for access to - manages the orientation in mostly public diversification
- in 2007 applied irrigation irrigation primary and agriculture and - research is funded - non convergent
watering only for - in 2007 facilities (private) secondary irrigation from different - lake of
1/10 of these areas applied - manages the irrigation - fund the national (public) connectivity
- subsistence watering for relationship infrastructure national or international - excessive spatial
agriculture 1/2 of these between users - provides water for research and programmes and thematic
- predominantly areas (farmers) and irrigation system education -“ISPIF” specialization
agricultural - good skills for suppliers (NLRA) from Danube programmes experienced big
incomes:87% farming of water for River - fund the NLRA problems with the
- traditional - good irrigation - organizational activities funding of their
agricultural model knowledge - became the incoherence: - bureaucratic research activities
- deficit of regarding the owners of tertiary rated fluctuations structure
agricultural skills irrigation irrigation empirically un- - functional
- 70% have empirical system infrastructure in adapted confusions and
knowledge their territory - lack of incoherence
regarding the - recent history: organizational
irrigation system organizational culture, values
oscillations
- organizations
dominated by big
farms
Source: own assessments according with the literature review, interviews with the main
actors representatives, focus group with stakeholders, participatory observation. For
more details see Annex 1.
The direct beneficiaries of SIRIUS project are the farmers and the Irrigation
Water Users Associations (IWUA) from the pilot area – Cazasu from Braila
County (see red circle in the figure 1).
The farms structure from our pilot area is dominated by farms that operate
more than 50 ha, are the main beneficiary of water from the irrigation sy-
stem, have good farming skills and knowledge about the functionality of
the irrigation system. The small farms are more dominated by a subsistence
agricultural activity; they rely on a traditional agricultural model, having
a deficit of agricultural skills and mostly empirical knowledge regarding the
irrigation system.
94 The Romanian irrigation infrastructure was designed to serve the large farms
from the communist era and it is inadequate for the post-communist land opera-
tion system. Out of this reason, beginning with 1999, the Irrigation Water Users’
Associations (IWUA) was set up, as private associations of farmers with access
to irrigation facilities. The IWUAs were established on territorial criteria (location
in the area served by pumping / repumping water station) in order to facilitate the
supply of water to the farms located in the coverage area of the repumping stations
and to enable the calculation of the delivered water price to farmers (water price is
different from one pumping station to another and depends on the altitude of water
pumping from the extraction source). The IWUAs became the owners of tertiary
irrigation infrastructure in their territory, and by this the farmers (IWUA members)
become responsible for the maintenance and repair of the irrigation infrastructure
that belongs to the IWUA. IWUA activity funding is from own sources and it can
also apply for investment programs in the irrigation system rehabilitation funded
by the Ministry of Agriculture, with 50% co-financing from IWUAs. Unfortuna-
tely, the farmers’ financial capacity to pay from own funds for the rehabilitation of
an irrigation infrastructure in which no investments have been made even before
1989 is low, and the funds made available by the Ministry of Agriculture for this
purpose are quite difficult to access.
The farmers, as potential users of water from the irrigation system and the
farmers’ associations have to bear the consequences of the current situation
of the Romanian irrigation infrastructure - old, out-dated, highly energy-in-
tensive, costly and with great water losses. The direct consequence of this
situation for the end users consists in a high price of the access to the national
irrigation system and a high irrigation water cost (in Romania, the price that a
farmer has to pay for 1000 m3 water from the national irrigation system is ten
times as high compared to Hungary). SIRIUS Project provides an innovative
solution for increasing the efficiency of irrigation water consumption, which
can help farmers to lower their costs in the case of this agricultural input.
An increased efficiency of irrigation water use at the level of farmers also
lowers the costs of their associations.
The main characteristics of direct beneficiaries, described in table 2 reveals that

only big farmers are able to implement the innovation provided through SIRIUS
project, because they operate and use the majority of irrigation infrastructure,
have good farming skills and a good knowledge of the irrigation system.
Because of the aim of our paper, we place policy makers in the category of
indirect beneficiaries, governmental institutions can interact with other actors
in evaluating the innovation developed under SIRIUS project and can include
this innovation in their strategic action plans if SIRIUS solutions are consi-
dered viable for the entire irrigation system in Romania. Thus, the Ministry of
Education and Research could better orient its public policies from its activity
field on the sustainable water use and development of research exploring the
opportunities to extend and adapt the results of such projects as SIRIUS at
national level.
The Ministry of Agriculture succeeded in designing a coherent strategy for the 95
irrigation system only in the year 2011, although the project that targeted its
establishment was initiated even in 1997 under the World Bank consultancy.

Due to the bureaucratic structure of governmental institutions, there is a risk
that the SIRIUS project findings be presented to the decision-makers with
great delay, and the funding of satellite data processing necessary for the inno-
vative system operation, after project finalization, be not possible.
Moreover, the SIRIUS innovation consists of a more efficient use of water re-
sources. Thus, SIRIUS contributes to the sustainable use of resources, which
is one of the main goals in the Regional Operational Program, managed by the
Ministry of Development. The lack of convergence and coordination between
different strategies can become a restriction for a mutually agreed strategy on
the importance of innovation adoption at national level.
After 1990, the land reclamation sector suffered frequent changes as regards its
organization, management, responsibilities, financial support. While at the begin-
ning of this period the land reclamation was a public affair in totality, at present
this responsibility is split between public and private institutions, but their attri-
butions and relations are still not clear defined and functional. At present, in the
irrigation area, the main operator in land reclamation is represented by the Natio-
nal Land Reclamation Agency (NLRA), which was established in 2011 as public
institution under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. NLRA is
responsible with management of the primary and secondary irrigation infrastruc-
ture, is financed from subsidies from the state budget (for “public utility” invest-
ments for land reclamation) and from own revenues (from the price of delivered
water for irrigation to IWUAs). The major public investments in the rehabilitation
of primary and secondary irrigation infrastructure keep still awaited.
Water flow: Water payment flow:

- the water needed for irrigations is taken - annually, the NLRA establish
out of the Danube River by NLRA the prices of water from the
(primary infrastructure). The Quantity national irrigation system that
and the period than the water is taken out differ from a
is establish on the basis of annual pumping/repumping station to
agreements with IWUAs another due to the cost of
- the water is then pumped through the personal and electric power
adduction open channel and introduced in necessary for pumping the water
the distribution network at the solicitation to IWUAs
of IWUA (secondary infrastructure) - according to water
- IWUA distributes water to farmers consumption at farms level,
based on the farmers' water demand IWUA collect the cost of water
(tertiary infrastructure) from farmers and pays the
services of NLRA.
Figure 3. The mechanism of water access for farmers
96 The mechanism of water access for farmers, described in figure 3, reveals
that the farmers support all the costs of delays in reform, modernization and
restructuring of the national irrigation system and they have to pay for the
economic inefficiency.
The observed system failures in the process of knowledge

transfer acceptance in agriculture in Romania (particularly
for irrigation)
The system analysis through ISP matrix is a tool that provides insights into
the actors and factors that are working against the innovation adoption: the
inhibitors (the system failures) and, on the other hand, the driving forces, and
the system opportunities that actually encourage the acceptance of knowledge
transfer.
In the next section we shall proceed to the inventory and analysis of system
failures and system opportunities from the perspectives of implementation op-
portunities in Romania of an innovation of high technological level in agricu-
lture using, as analytical foundation, the experience in the implementation of
a computer-assisted efficient irrigation water management service.
Using this framework, we can identify where systemic failures occur,

and which actors should be addressed to make innovation possible. Most pro-
blems in the innovation system will not be uni-dimensional but will consist of
a complex mix of causes and effects, and involved several actors (Woolthuis
et al., 2005: 614). By using ISP matrix, it is possible to identify where the
major bottlenecks are located in the innovation system, to evaluate where the
projects, programs, policy actions focussed on, and, very important, one can
evaluate the extent to which the project measures addressed the right systemic
failures or actors.
According to ISP matrix methodology, the observed system failures and

strengths in the innovation process in the area of sustainable water use for
irrigation were synthesized; we identified the main inhibitors/driving forces
for each actor involved in the knowledge and innovation creation and transfer
(Annex 2).
• Infrastructural failures
The infrastructure consists of the knowledge infrastructure and the physical

infrastructure. The arrangement of the infrastructure facilitates or obstructs
the access and development of knowledge, but also the actors’ accessibility.
The knowledge infrastructure is dominated by factors that rather inhibit the

innovation process. Thus, with regard to public policies, the research and in-
novation in agriculture is divided into several governmental entities: while the 97
Ministry of Education and Research largely coordinates basic research activi-

ties, the Ministry of Agriculture oriented its public policies towards the applied
research, and the coordination/convergence between the research policies of
the two ministries is rather weak. Due to the rigid bureaucratic structure, the
decision making takes a long time and involves several bureaucratic levels,
which makes the re-orienting of public policies in research and education be
possible only on the medium and long term.
The investments in research and innovation in Romania represent only 0.47%

of GDP, which means an under-funding of the sector, which determined the
migration of the research staff towards other segments of the economy of
their emigration to other countries. The financial allocations provided to the
land reclamation sector (irrigations included) were modest after 1989, and the
main Romanian institution involved in the research for irrigation - National
Institute of Research and Development for Land Reclamation (ISPIF) focused
its activity on other categories of works, mainly studies on industrial, civil
and/or other constructions (Maria, 2008:5-8). The research thematic in agri-
culture suffered from an excessive segmentation as it is trying to address the
numerous problems the sector is facing and it lacks a clear prioritization of the
strategic orientations.
As we mentioned above, the extension and advisory services for agriculture

suffered from an inefficient segmentation of entities which, although in great
number, are not adapted to the final beneficiaries’ needs and are established
in relation to their chances to obtain finance for their advisory activities from
EU or national funds.
The Romanian physical infrastructure for irrigation needs massive invest-

ments in modernization and technological reshaping in order to increase its
efficiency. However, the financing from public budget of the maintenance ac-
tivity for primary and secondary irrigation infrastructure, operated by NLRA,
is considered as state aid and it is not allowed by EU. In their turn, IWUAs
also faced difficulties in accessing the funds from the Ministry of Agriculture
for investments in the modernization of tertiary irrigation infrastructure be-
cause these needed 50% co-financing and the banks provide agricultural loans
with great difficulty; in the second place, because these funds did not have the
irrigation sector as special destination but rather the rural infrastructure and
IWUAs competed against other potential beneficiaries that had greater oppor-
tunities to get a better position in the hierarchy of scores.
At the level of small farms, there is a scarcity of irrigation equipment, as this

category of farms used irrigations to a lesser extent and the tertiary irriga-
tion infrastructure on their territory rather suffered from physical depreciation.
The large-sized farms from the pilot area are generally better equipped with
the access facilities to irrigation water and the managers of these farms also
98 have good technical knowledge in agriculture and IT knowledge and skills
that enable them to have access to the innovating solutions for irrigation water
management proposed by SIRIUS Project.
As regards the institutional failures, the systemic analysis of the innovation

process revealed the existence of both forms with inhibiting effect, as follows.
• Hard institutional failures are manifested under the form of:
Excessive abundance of formalized rules in the application of sectoral public

policies which most often are not adapted to the realities. For instance, alt-
hough MARD designed a strategy for drought control, another strategy for
investments in the rehabilitation of the irrigation system, and irrigations are
a priority in the National Rural Development Plan 2007-2013, the funds that
should be made available to NLRA for the operationalization of these strategic
measures (including the investments in innovations for system moderniza-
tion and effectiveness) were considered a state aid by the EU and the funding
of investments in the rehabilitation of the main irrigation infrastructure was
constrained.
Both the absence of regulations in terms of extension and advice for farmers
and the frequent modifications of the rules in case of land reclamation gene-
rates institutional vacuum, in the first case, the themes of interest for farmers
are not the object of extension services (for instance, the deficient operation
of the information channels on the new regulations, norms, finance opportuni-
ties, etc.); in the second case, the change of the organization form and attribu-
tions of land reclamation operators need periods of institutional reconstruction
and construction of organizational culture.
Weak incentives for researchers make them less willing to work with farmers.
For direct beneficiaries (farmers), the institutional failures consist of: legis-
lative and institutional ignorance, in the case of small farmers who manage
their business in a traditional manner and are not interested to know the new
regulations); “legal corruption” phenomenon in the case of larger farmers who
have influence upon the decision makers.
• Soft institutional failures (values, norms and culture)
In the segment of policy makers and of the innovation generators for agriculture,
Romania experiences an excessive formalization of organizations norms and
values that affect their creativity in the interactions with other stakeholders and
their ability to promote new ideas in their work. The attempt to impose Western
values in the operation of institutions from Romania is confronted with a strong
resistance to change of theses institutions (which holds true for the most part
public institutions) and with a superficial internalization of these values.
In the case of NLRA, the organizational culture is under permanent change, 99
due to the frequent modifications of their status. This contributes to fluctua-

tions in their network relations with other actors from the agricultural know-
ledge system, thus affecting the cooperation opportunities in the innovation
processes.
In the case of farmers, the organizational culture models are different accor-
ding to the purposes of their business. The small farmers are more traditiona-
list, their values are specific to the empirical knowledge transfer model (from
a farmer to another) and they are rather “prisoners” of the traditional view of
”making agriculture”. Unlike small farmers, the larger farmers are more open
to innovation, as these have profit increase expectations; however, at the same
time, the latter are not so willing to pay for innovation.
The irrigation water users’ asociations are a relational “core” benefiting the
entire rural community.
The organizational cohesion is characteristic for them because: “We get on

well together, we are like a family, we have no problems.” (IWUA president Petroiu);
“There are no problems, it is the farmer with 440 hectares who pays, then he gets his
money back.” (IWUA member APT Comăneasca, commune Tudor Vladimirescu).
The organizational solidarity on IWUA was based on the respect of members’

rights and on helping the members; the legal norms ensured the emergence
and development of this type of association and succeeded in implementing
a modern economic behaviour: “The rights are ensured by law” (IWUA president
Siliştea)..... “Farmers get help, water is paid for the small farmers who became mem-
bers because they grow vegetables.”(IWUA member APT Comăneasca, commune
Tudor Vladimirescu).
• Interactions and networking failures
The main failures in interactions and networking that were identified in the
process of knowledge production and transfer to agriculture (irrigation in par-
ticular) appears in the segment of coordination, creation and extension of the
innovation process.
The policy makers interact more in a formal manner with the other actors from
AKS. These interactions are more frequently based on the traditional relation
between policy makers, on one hand, and public research and extension insti-
tutions, on the other hand. The final beneficiaries’ real needs for innovation
reach the public agenda with difficulty if their interests do not get support
from strong organizations. In the field of irrigations, the farmers began to get
organized as water users only in 1999 and their organizations do not have
enough negotiation power yet.
100 The research in the field of agriculture and irrigations suffers from thema-
tic and methodological isolation due to its funding from national research
programs that often are not connected to the final beneficiaries’ real needs.
In Romania, the research brokerage is not a reality yet, and the results of the
innovations resulting from research are often listed in a large research work
that remains locked in a drawer.
The extension and advisory services are poorly connected with the research
institutions and the innovation dissemination to final users is insufficient.
Moreover, the bottom-up approach in research is very difficult to achieve in
this context.
In the case of the irrigation water users’ associations, the relational system
with the oter actors form AKS is functional: “We have very good relations
with the Agricultural Directorate, they keep us informed about the modifica-
tion, each month, help us to draw the documentation and now we also ap-
pealed to them.” (IWUA President Siliştea). “The relations existed, because
there were years when they provided subsidies and had to report to National
Association for land irrigation.” (IWUA member APT Comăneasca, com-
mune Tudor Vladimirescu).
The farmers have close links with each other, they frequently interact due
to the physical closeness, and they exchange information and knowledge.
The large farmers appeal to the extension and advisory services in the problems
they are interested in, but most frequently they received the necessary informa-
tion from the other farmers or they looked for information on the internet.
• Capabilities failures are important inhibitors for innovation.
The policy makers have only little reflexivity on the AKS functionality be-
cause they do not have the ability to request a feedback and to learn from
experiences. Universities have nearly no practical orientation and the research
suffered from inadequate mechanisms for the delivery of research outputs (eit-
her as new knowledge or new technologies) to farmers through demonstration
or via advisors, trainers and educationalists.
Extension providers are uncoordinated, without basic education in advisory

techniques, communication skills, quality management procedures etc.; as
a result, their actions may confuse the final beneficiaries. NLRA has a weak
technical capacity for innovative actions due to the lack of funds for that ac-
tivity.
IWUAs suffered for a weak organizational capacity because they do not have
the networking skills for this type of activity yet, they do not have specialized
staff for this and do not have the ability to mobilize all their members to invest
in innovation. In the case of small farmers, the capabilities failures consist in:
low level of formal agricultural education, lack of knowledge demand capaci- 101
ty, low professional qualifications in the key-problems. Large farmers benefits

form ��
specialized university education in the agricultural field; they are IT us-
ers, yet with a limited time that can be devoted to innovation. This means that
they have limited innovation absorptive capacity.
Conclusions
The innovation and the mechanisms by which it is produced, transmitted and
promoted among farmers can be considered the key-factor towards a sustaina-
ble development of this economic sector.
In Romania, the processes related with innovation production and knowledge

transfer to agriculture and rural areas is still tributary to the traditional model
based on a strong confidence in scientific progress and in the role of the State
as a driver of modernization. Research, education and extension bodies are
seen as strong public institutions, and the approach of ‘adoption of innova-
tions’ and ‘transfer of technology’ is used, as a top-down linear process, from
research to farming and rural development.
There are strong barriers in the dissemination of information through the top-
down channels of the classic system for transfer of knowledge and innovation
in Romanian agriculture and rural development. One of the main reasons is
the bureaucratic structure of this system and the deficiencies in the qualifi-
cation and involvement of the leadership and employees from these public
institutions.
The dissemination segment of agricultural knowledge system is not capable

of transmitting and determining the implementation of innovations to the
final beneficiaries in an efficient and effective manner because:
- there is little integration and cooperation regarding the exchange of know-
ledge and know-now between researchers and extensions actors, on one
hand and between extension and advice bodies and the final users on the
other hand
- traditional culture and superficial organizational culture - at the level of
research, governmental, non-governmental, extension entities – there are
strong barriers
- there is no network that integrate all the entities involved in the process of
knowledge and innovation transfer.
In figure 4, a short overview is given of the bottlenecks and opportunities as

they were experienced by Romanian knowledge and innovation system for
agriculture and rural development, with a particular attention for the innova-
tion process in the irrigation area. Using the Innovation System Performance
matrix, we plotted these failures and driving forces with circles that represents
102 the areas in which system barriers (red circles) or opportunities (green cir-
cles) are observed and the actors that are related to them. In the same figure,
we plotted in blue colour the actors and rules that are addressed on SIRIUS
project.
Actors Farmers Research

Extension
Small Big Institutes
IWUA NLRA Government and
Rules farms farms and
advice
(system failures) Universities
Infrastructural failures
Laws, Openness
rules and to innovations without rules and norms
Institutional regulations and good capacities to regulate the coordination and
failures Values, and capabilities cooperation in theirs innovation
norms and to put them creation and transfer
culture in practice activities
Interactions and networks

Strong network
failures Weak network failures
failures Focus
Capabilities failures on the SIRIUS
project
Figure 4. The observed system failures and strengths vs. the actually addressed
points in knowledge transfer through SIRIUS project in Romania
The main failures that were identified in Romanian agricultural innovation

system functionality and the actors that were affected by them are following:
the policy makers, researchers, educational institutions and extension bodies

act without rules and norms to regulate the coordination and cooperation
theirs activities in providing innovation oriented public policies, creating the
innovations and transferring them to the final users
because of the lack of linkages between the public actors from AKS (research,
extension, advice, policy makers) weak network failures appears due to the
fact that the actors mentioned above are not well connected and fruitful cy-
cles of learning and innovation may be prevented because there is no creative
recombination of knowledge and resources
the final users from our case study (farmers – irrigation water users) have
close links between with each other and acts as closed networks in which the
learning process is more related to the confidence in the other members of
this small community, this fact causing myopia and blocking new ideas from
entering.
Innovation System Performances analysis for the implementation of SIRIUS

project in the Romanian pilot area reveled the existence of a good openness
to innovations at the big farmers level and, in the same time, they have good
capacities and capabilities to put the innovation that was proposed through
SIRIUS in practice. There is a strong direct relationship between the degree
of openness to the innovation of the direct beneficiaries and theirs profes- 103
sional training. In the same time, the final beneficiaries are not so willing to

pay for innovation. The SIRIUS project addresses exactly the actors that are
more interested in their innovation through creating a direct link between the
researchers and final users.
Establishing a direct link between researchers - generators of innovations -

and end-users of theirs innovations, SIRIUS project bypassing the traditional
channels of transfer of innovation and through that, avoid the failures from
Romanian innovation system.
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Annex 1. Description of the main actors involved in the innovation transfer in Romanian pilot area of SIRIUS project
Direct beneficiaries Indirect beneficiaries

Farmers NLRA
IWUA’s (National Land Extension and advise
Small Reclamation Government Research Institutes and Universities
Big farms (Irrigation Water
farms
(> 50 ha) Users Associations) Agency)
(< 10 ha)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
- public institution 6.1.Education on agriculture 7.1 County’s Chambers
5.1 Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
under the Ministry of - is mostly public of Agriculture
- manages the Development
Agriculture and Rural 7.2. County’s
relationship between - provide laws, regulations that govern the good - 6 universities and/or faculties related to
Development Chambers of
users (farmers) and functionality of national irrigation system and the agriculture
- financed from own - Chambers of Agriculture, some private Commerce, Industry
suppliers (NLRA) of relations between the actors involved in the
revenues (from the NGO's and firms organize training on and Agriculture
water for irrigation irrigation process
commercial by annual agreements price of delivered 7.3. Innovative firms-
- operate - fund the NLRA activities (but not operational agriculture for farmers under governmental
water for irrigation) or EU funded programs or projects based on research
28.4% of farms - the ownership of the and subsidies from costs for the irrigation system functionality) 7.4.Associations/groups
the area tertiary irrigation - is represented in territory by County 6.2. Research on irrigation
the state budget (for of agricultural
equipped - operate infrastructure (which Department of Agriculture that are responsible 6.2.a National research system
“public utility” producers
for 60.7% of the was built in the for the implementation, at the county level, of the National Institute of Research and
investments for land 7.5. Local Action
irrigation area communist period) ministry strategy and governance program for Development for Land Reclamation
reclamation) Groups
- in 2007 equipped for was transferred to the - manage the agriculture, food production, land reclamation, “ISPIF”(working under the scientifically co-
7.6. National Rural
these irrigation IWUA (after 1999). etc. ordination of the Academy of Forestry and
primary and Development Network-
farmers - in 2007 Farmers become 5.2. Ministry of Regional Development and Agricultural Sciences, Bucharest) provides
secondary irrigation Romania
applied these responsible in Tourism through the 8 Regional Development technical assistance in construction,
infrastructure 7.7. Technical
watering farmers maintaining and Agencies at regional level operation and maintenance for all kinds of
- operate, manage, assistance
only for applied repairing the irrigation - manage the Regional Operational Programme - land reclamation works such as irrigation,
maintain and repair projects/programmes
1/10 of watering for infrastructure that the overall objective of the ROP consists of drainage, soil erosion control, fisheries,
the investments made 7.8. National Romanian
these 1/2 of these belongs to the IWUA for land reclamation supporting and promoting sustainable local environment protection, rural development Committee for
areas areas - in the Romanian development, both economically and socially, in and applied informatics
that are declared at Irrigations and
pilot area, the big Romania`s regions, by improving the 6.2.b. International entities
“public utility” Drainage
farms represents the infrastructure conditions and business - WB programs – for evaluation, reform
- provide water 7.9. Association for
majority of the environment, which support economic growth and rehabilitation of Romanian irrigation
needed for Land Improvements
members of IWUA 5.3. Ministry of Education and Research system
irrigations to and Rural
(≈80%) - responsible for national education and research 6.2.c. EU programmes
IWUA’s on the basis Constructions from
policy through multiannual programms - FP 7 - SIRIUS project
of annual agreements Romania

105
Monica Mihaela Tudor, Violeta Florian, Mihai Alexandru Chitea 106
Annex 2. The observed system failures in the process of the acceptance of knowledge transfer through SIRIUS project in Romania
Actors Farmers
Research Institutes and Extension and
Rules IWUA’s NLRA Government
Small farms Big farms Universities advice
(system failures)
Infrastructural failures Dispose of Good infrastructure Difficult access to Financing the - Bureaucratic - Insufficient public - Structural void
irrigation including IT knowledge funds for maintenance activity system investments in research - Inefficient
equipment in investments in the for irrigation - Lack of infrastructure segmentation of
a small modernization of infrastructure, operated convergence - Excessive segmentation entities
degree tertiary irrigation by NLRA, is of thematic
infrastructure considered as state aid-
it is not allowed by EU
Institutional Laws, rules Legislative - Well informed, but not by Frequent modification -Formal framework -Weak incentives for Institutional
failures and and official channels of duties -Legislative researchers vacuum
regulations institutional -“Legal corruption” abundance
ignorance phenomenon -Empirical
inadaptability of
laws
Values, norms Traditional -Open to new if they -Young Lack of -Excessive - Weak motivation
and culture values benefit from organization organizational culture formalization of - Good intentions
specific to - Not so willing to pay for - Organizational values values - Segmented
empirical innovation solidarity and -Inadequacy of formalization of norms
knowledge -Acculturation phenomena: cohesion imposed values - Superficial
modern values internalization of
superimposed on traditional modern values
ones
Interactions and networks Have close Closed networks Functional Bureaucratic Weak (formal) - Inadequacy of - Lack of
failures links each interaction formalization of the linkages with other dissemination forms connectivity
other relations between actors - Thematic, - Weak
actors methodological isolation coordination and
correlation
Capabilities failures Weak - Limited time that can be Weak Weak technical Formal, stated Weak technical capacity Socially
educational devoted to innovation organizational capacity interest inefficient
capabilities - Specialized university capacity strategies
education, IT users
Source: own determination according to ISP matrix methodology, blue color marks the identified strengths in the process of innovation creation
and transfer, red color highlights the system failures
107
Marie Trantinová1, Marie Štolbová2
Institute of Agricultural Economics and Information, Mánesova 1453/75, 120 56
Praha 2, Czech Republic
1
trantinova.marie@uzei.cz
2
stolbova.marie@uzei.cz
Chapter 6
Assessment of farmers role
in relation to the support
of rural communities
Abstract: All EU countries prepare new Rural Development Plan 2014-2020 for
agriculture and rural areas incl. LEADER. An integral part of the planned docu-
ment is analysis of rural areas and the LEADER programme. Some key questions
were solved during the analysis. Such as: “How to target financial support to ru-
ral areas to achieve high effect in the social, economic and environmental terms.”
The analysis requires objective documented data of results of many studies and
surveys. Experience shows that often it is not easy to obtain the required data
concerning awareness among applicants, the potential of social capital or the
needs to improve infrastructures or level of enterprise in rural areas. Very impor-
tant source was the RDP 2011 Mid-term review in the Czech Republic. The main
results of the analysis showed that it is vitally necessary to increase employment
in rural areas by strengthening rural economy and social capital. It is very impor-
tant to exchange experience among European countries during the preparation,
implementation delivery and evaluation of the RDP.
Keywords: Rural Development Plan, LEADER, evaluation of measures of the

Axis III of the RDP
108
Marie Trantinova, Marie Štolbová Introduction
Within the preparation for the coming programme period it is necessary to
elaborate thorough analyses of operation of the Common Agricultural Policy
(CAP). This analysis focuses on subsidies provided within measures of Pillar
3 of the CAP in the Czech Republic. The European Union, within its “Europe
2020” strategy, aims to achieve new economic growth in the coming decade
(European Commission, 2010A). It aims to generate smart, sustainable and
inclusive economic growth in the EU.��
These
��
three mutually reinforcing priori-
ties should help the EU and the Member States deliver high levels of employ-
ment, productivity and social cohesion.
The future CAP should aim at the following targets:

- viable food production;
- sustainable management of natural resources and measures within the
sphere of climate; and
- balanced territorial development.
In accordance with the Europe 2020 strategy there were set the following six
priorities for the rural development in the period 2014-2020: (European Com-
mission, 2011):
1. support of sharing of knowledge and innovation in agriculture, forestry and
the rural areas;
2. enhancement of competitiveness of all types of agricultural activity and
improvement of viability of agricultural companies;
3. support of organisation of food chain and risk management in agriculture;
4. reconstruction, preservation and enhancement of ecosystems dependent on
agriculture and forestry;
5. support of efficient utilisation of resources within the branches of agricul-
ture, food industry and forestry and transfer to low-carbon economy resist-
ant to climate changes;
6. support of social inclusion, poverty reduction and stimulation of economic
development in rural areas.
This article focuses on results of the work achieved in detailed analyses of the
problem related to the 6th priority. Both the elaborated analyses of the present
situation in agriculture and in rural areas of the Czech Republic, as well as
the findings on operation of the programme cycle measures concerning rural
communities and provided under the existing Axis III of the RDP 2007-13,
that were obtained on the basis of negotiations with representatives of the
concerned institutions and stakeholders, were used as basis for framing of
measures for the next programme period. Authors of the article are involved
in preparation of programme documents for the RDP of the Czech Republic
for the period 2014-20.
This work tries to define - what is a barrier to more effective utilisation of 109
subsidies of the RDP in order to increase employment and improve living
Assessment of farmers role in relation to the support of rural communities

conditions in Czech rural areas.
Sources and Methods

The primary methodology of definition of rural areas is the OECD regional ty-
pology based on the ratio of inhabitants living in communities with population
density below 150 inhabitants per square kilometre. The Czech rural areas at
the NUTS 3 level (regions) were defined according to this typology. Vysočina
region was marked as a predominantly rural region (over 50% of inhabitants
live in rural communities), only the City of Prague is a predominantly urban
region and all the other regions fall into the group of significantly rural re-
gions. This basic definition also provides the general frame for the RDP for
the coming period.
Apart from this general typology of rural communities, there were also used
other definitions, e.g. according to size of the community with regard to
number of inhabitants. In 2011, there were 5.578 communities with less than
2.000 inhabitants in the Czech Republic, which represented nearly 90% of all
municipalities in the Czech Republic and nearly 73% of acreage of the Czech
Republic. There lived 26.4% of inhabitants of the country.
This article analysed statistical data, gathered on rural communities by the

Czech Statistics Office, as well as data from Eurostat, the Farm Accountancy
Data Network (FADN) database as well as data from administrative sources
(e.g. The State Agricultural Intervention Fund and the Land Parcel Identifica-
tion System). There were also used outcomes of surveys of subjects operating
in rural areas (Local Action Groups – LAG) and negotiations with representa-
tives of NGOs operating in rural areas. A brainstorming on outcomes of the
analyses was organised within the group composed of representatives of re-
search organisations, universities, and government departments as well as rep-
resentatives of communities and individual groups of stakeholders.��
��
Informa-
tion gathered within activity of working groups preparing the RDP 2014-20
was used to identify causes of problems.��
There
��
were made inquiries on opin-
ions of representatives of NGOs and relevant experts and scientists dealing
with problems of rural areas.
In order to assess the previous performance of the measures with regard to

institutional policy and approach to realisation of the programme cycle there
were questioned representatives at three levels:
I. Level of communities (decision of the representatives of communities
and farms leading to improvement of quality of life in rural areas)
II. Level of policy implementation (agricultural administration implement-
ing special procedures and monitoring)
III. Level of policy making (policy makers at national and regional level)
110
Marie Trantinova, Marie Štolbová Results and Discussions
Conditions at Czech Rural Areas
Structure of communities on the territory of the Czech Republic was subject

to historical development. Compared to other European countries, the Czech
Republic has quite a high number of autonomous communities LAU 2 (over 6
thousand). The average area of community acreage in the Czech Republic is
12.5 km2 and it is similar to France or Cyprus.
Such a structure of communities causes problems related to access to services,

inadequate technical infrastructure and traffic service. On the other hand small
and remote communities have better qualifications in the sphere of leisure
activities related to attractiveness of the area (serenity, scenery).
In the last decades the rural communities in the Czech Republic became re-
markably polarised, namely depending on their geographic position. While
communities within urban proximity are growing, numbers of inhabitants in
communities and whole micro-regions in peripheral areas (Musil, Müller 2008;
Jančák et al., 2008) stagnate or even drop. This is accompanied by worsening of
socio-demographic indicators in individual communities (ageing of inhabitants,
higher unemployment rate, loss of employment opportunities etc.).
The map in figure 1 shows migration of inhabitants into communities in prox-

imity to big cities (Prague, Pilsen, Brno) in the last decade. ��
The
��
phenom-
enon of the last couple of years is movement of young families to newly built
family houses in communities surrounding big cities. This type of migration
contributes to strengthening of social capital in the given areas, as proved by
a study done in Ireland (Farrell M., Mahon M., McDonagh J., 2012). In the
given areas the age, educational and income situation of rural communities
showed a positive development and this distorts data presented by statistic
surveys for evaluation of rural areas in general.
However, there still prevails disadvantageous educational structure of popu-

lation in smaller communities. Share of population with basic education and
higher education in the total number of inhabitants above 15 years-of-age in
average per categories of communities according to their size and number of
inhabitants is shown in figure 2.
The average annual registered unemployment rate in rural areas in 2010

reached 10.2%, while in towns and cities it reached 8.6%. The economically
active population in rural areas is predominantly dependent on job offers in
towns and cities, rural areas themselves are not able to generate sufficient
number of working positions for their own population.��
��
Therefore the unem-
ployment rate in the Czech Republic is subjective for each region and it sub-
stantially hits especially the remote regions. This demonstrates figure 3.
111

Figure 1. Change in number of inhabitants according to administrative areas of
communities with extended powers in 2011: 2001 (%)
Source: CZSO, Population and Housing Census 2010
Note:��
��
Some operations of the state administration were transferred to the so-called com-
munities with extended powers (CEP), these in average include area of about 30 LAU 2.

Figure 2. Educational structure of inhabitants according to size of communities
in 2011
Source: CZSO 2011
112
Marie Trantinova, Marie Štolbová

Figure��
��
3. Rate of unemployed population to economically active population ac-
cording to administrative areas of communities with extended powers in 2011
Source: CZSO, Population and Housing Census 2010
The income level in rural areas is lower compared to towns and cities
(in 2010 people in rural areas achieved 89.9% of gross and 91% of net income
of population in towns and cities). The highest share in incomes of population
of rural areas comes from incomes from employment (employees) and their
share is slightly growing. On the other hand incomes from private businesses
stagnate. However, viable rural areas are highly depending on development of
small and medium businesses in these areas. Development of such economic
activities in predominantly rural areas is more complicated compared to other
regions. For example the predominantly rural Vysočina region has the small-
est number of micro-businesses per 1.000 inhabitants (15.9), while indicators
in the significantly rural regions reach the values 16.9-21.9.
Conditions of Czech Agriculture
More than one half of the Czech territory has soil and climatic conditions
unfavourable for agriculture.��
The
��
ratio of mountain regions in the Czech Re-
public puts it to the 10th position among the EU 27. The mountain regions
with conditions unfavourable for agricultural production in many cases cor-
respond with areas with the high unemployment rate and a negative migra-
tion rate.
The Czech Republic belongs among countries in which the absolute major-
ity of agricultural land, even in the LFA, is managed by bigger farms, unlike
for example in Slovenia, Poland, Italy, or Austria. In the Czech Republic the
farms over 500 ha manage 70% of land registered in the LPIS. At the same
time, according to the Farm Structure Survey (FSS) of the CZSO of 2010, 113
70.9% of agricultural land in the Czech Republic was managed by legal enti-

ties, i.e. limited liability companies and joint-stock companies and co-opera-
tives. According to the CZSO (2012) survey the numbers of legal entities are
increasing (in ten years up to 2010 by 9.1%), while the numbers of private
farms are dropping (in the same period by 16.6%).
Farming is not the dominant economic activity in the Czech rural areas any-
more. The number of people employed in agriculture dropped remarkably.
In the period of 10 years (up to 2010) it dropped by 43% and according to
the structure survey of the CSZO FSS 2010 there were 108.000 workers
(AWU) in agriculture. The drop in number of agricultural employees con-
tinued even after accession of the Czech Republic to the EU and it applies
to all its regions (figure 4). According to the FADN in the recent years the
average number of workers is 3 workers per 100 ha UAA and lowers in all
natural conditions.

Figure 4. Development of number of workers per 100 ha UAA
Source: FADN 2001-10, calculated by Stolbova
With regard to the measures taken for development of rural settlements, we

have to take into account that most of this agricultural working force is em-
ployees. But a manager only is making decision on diversification of farm
activities.��
��
Following accession of the Czech Republic into the EU the im-
portance of farming in the Czech Republic is gradually decreasing even with
regard to production indicators.��
��
There also decreases share of arable land ac-
companied by drop in acreage of crops and drop in numbers of live-stock
(Stolbova et al., 2012).
From 2004 there increased dependence of economic results on subsidies in all

types of farms. In the last couple of years, income of many farms comes only
from subsidies (figure 5).
114

Figure 5. Development of subsidies calculated per a worker
Source: FADN 2001-10, calculated by Stolbova, an exchange rate of CZK 25 per EUR was
used for the calculation
The increase of dependence of farmers on subsidies is a serious problem in the

entire EU, Harvey (2004).��
��
The longer are the subsidies granted, the more ben-
eficiaries become dependent on it.��
��
According to the author the state is also es-
tablishing many other structures depending on subsidies, whether distribution
or control bodies, or political structures, therefore it is not easy to get out of
this dependence. The Czech Republic belongs among the EU countries with
strong dependence of agriculture on subsidies. According to analyses carried
out by the European Commission (2010B) the share of direct payments and
all other subsidies on the agricultural income in the Czech Republic is about
75% and it is nearly double compared to average of the EU countries (40%
share of subsidies on the income). Quite high subsidies per a farming worker
can be one of the causes of small activity of representatives of farmers in the
LEADER type programmes.
The champions among the Czech agricultural companies are the big and very
big farms, as they manage to maximise their income from subsidies with
a minimum number of employees. We cannot expect that the existing trend
of decline of livestock production which demands more workforces can be
easily diverted. Withdrawal of more farming workers will create pressure on
increase of unemployment in rural areas.��
��
In future the problems of rural com-
munities should be solved by the RDP measures that are directly targeted at
rural communities.
The Most Serious Current Problems of Rural Areas:
1. Inadequate transport, technical and community facilities in smaller and re-

mote communities
The smaller the community, the less facilities present. Technical infrastructure
facilities are the lowest in the smallest communities.��
For
��
example small com-
munities up to 200 or��
��
500 inhabitants are in many cases absolutely depend- 115
ing on the local water sources (wells). There is also unfavourable situation

concerning cleaning of waste waters. Apart from connection to gas, sewage
system with sewage treatment plant or public water supply, also kindergar-
tens, school, doctor or availability of social services are important for de-
velopment of a community. There is dropping number of communities with
schools, libraries and post offices.��
��
The actual limit indicators or even stand-
ards of level of availability of individual facilities (post offices, healthcare
services, and social care) are not always explicitly set, however they may be
expressed indirectly, e.g. by the minimum number of pupils in a class. There
is dropping number of communities with a doctor’s office. On the other hand
there increased number of flats with care-taking service. According to Škabal
et al. (2006) the biggest problems with primary services have inhabitants in
communities with less than 1.000 inhabitants.
The most frequent cause of problems with availability of civic facilities in

rural communities is insufficiency of its own financial sources. The inquired
representatives of interest groups within the rural areas see the fundamental
cause of problems in insufficient subsidising of rural areas, difficult access
to loans and other financial services (small communities with small budgets
frequently cannot apply for a subsidy as they do not dispose of sources for co-
financing or pre-financing of the investment prior to receipt of the subsidy).
These communities are not interesting for private investors either, as return-
ability of investments is too lengthy even for the private capital.
It is also due to the fact that mayors of small communities only execute their
duties after their own working hours and they cannot devote their full capacity
to needs of the village.
2. Unfavourable situation at the job market
Lower economic activity of inhabitants is also due to unfavourable age and

educational structure of the population. The remarkably lower educational
level of the rural population on one hand determines the potential extent and
qualification level of their working positions, on the other hand rural areas of-
fer only few working position for people with higher education compared to
towns and cities.
The low population density is unfavourable for some types of businesses

e.g. services. Inhabitants of rural areas are much more directly dependent on
production, agricultural as well as industrial. Related to development of new
business structures in rural areas (especially micro-businesses) there is also in-
creasing competition among newly established lines of businesses and trades.
It is more and more demanding to succeed at this market. Another serious
problem is insufficient promotion and infrastructure of non-farming activities
at the farms. The current situation in the Czech Republic requires an emphasis
116 on similar activities as mentioned in their research by Katona-Kovács,High,
Nemes (2011).��
��
Moreover the accommodation, catering and information serv-
ices do not meet the EU standards (DHV, 2010). Entrepreneurship in Czech

rural areas is still insufficiently utilising potential of the human capital avail-
able there.
There is also limited utilisation of the local natural resources, e.g. for energetic
purposes, as a potential source of incomes and working positions for rural
population.��
The
��
problems of utilisation of the local energy production are usu-
ally high costs and problematic distribution of energy within rural areas.��
Dis-
tribution of heat produced locally is difficult due to technological issues and
little effective in rural areas with low density of potential consumers.
More detailed analyses (Konečná, Pražan 2009) show that regions with high
human capital utilise most of the funds, while the regions with low economic
activity do not show demand for suitable development projects nor capacity
to draw such subsidies.��
��
One of the causes is the low human capital – insuf-
ficient competence, insufficient experience in funding policy of individual ap-
plicants, public administration representatives (especially small communities,
which do not have sufficient personnel even for the ordinary agenda and no
capacity for development activities), as well as of businessmen and farmers
and smaller voluntary non-profit organisations (associations, church organisa-
tions, associations of voluntary firemen etc.).
3. Relatively low activity of farmers in the LEADER programme
Philosophy of the LEADER method is based on the presumption that only

local communities are well aware of strong and weak points of the given re-
gion and they themselves are capable of solving their own problems. Local
communities and partnerships of citizens, public administration, non-profit
organisations and businessmen form organisations called local action groups
(LAG), these should elaborate territorial development strategy and should be
responsible for its implementation.
M. Delín (2012) monitored development of a number of farming subjects

that are LAG members. He tested the concept of external social inclusion
(Thuesen 2010), or how the share of individual sectors changes in time, par-
ticularly of one of segments of the business sector, especially with regard to
the legal form.
Even though in the absolute numbers the number of farming subjects, that
became LAG members, increased, their increase was the lowest among all the
sectors and in fact their relative rate is decreasing. Nevertheless it is also due
to limited number of farming subjects in rural areas and due to the fact that
unlike other business and non-business subjects it is harder to increase their
numbers.
4. Insufficiently developed LEADER principles 117

Among the LEADER principles there seem to be not completely settled the
issues of independence, responsibility and competence of the LAGs in realisa-
tion of the LEADER Strategic Plan, the issue of partnership at the project level
and the issues of integrated action and innovation at the plan and project level.
As well as in the other post-communist countries, even the Czech Republic
had insufficient counselling and assistance with project animation (Katona-
Kovács J., High Ch., Nemes G. 2011).
On the other hand thanks to the RPD support there substantially increased
absorption capacity to 112 supported LAGs (DHV, 2010). Currently there is
established 150 LAGs in the Czech Republic.
Results of Assessment of the Programme Cycle
On the bases of the elaborated analyses and observations gathered from actors in
the sphere of policy focused on support of rural communities, at central as well
as regional level, there was assessed the programme cycle of these measures.
It aimed at identification of weak points of the existing policy and to point at them
so that these findings could be taken into consideration for the programme period
2013-20. The general scheme of the programme cycle is shown in figure 6.

Figure 6. Programme Cycle Scheme
Source: amended according to the OECD
Identification of Problem
On the basis of analysis of the situation mentioned in the existing RDP

we may say that the problems were identified correctly. However it is
obvious that in many cases their extent and causes were not sufficiently
studied in such a way so that it would be possible to set targets and en-
118 able responsible process of policy evaluation (Pražan, 2009).��
��
The exist-
ing policy is based on knowledge of local problems and identification
of needs was based more on intuition. Results of the research, however,

were not transparently utilised in the strategy and especially not in the
financial allocation of sources in the Axis III and IV of the RDP. For
the next programming period it is advisable to analyse the situation
and define the targets in more detail on the basis of thorough analyses
and findings of previous measures. These aims become an important
part of planning and assessment of the RDP in relation to the European
Commission (assessment of millstones and subsequential release of the
remaining budget etc,), as well as it shall enable more exact assessment
of the RDP in its regular evaluation.
Proposal of Measures
Proposal of measures and coordination of their targeting to rural areas in

some cases did not successfully manage to cover the entire rural areas.
There were insufficiently set limits of competence of individual programmes
in rural areas (RDP – Rural Operation Programme – other Operation Pro-
grammes).
It was also proved that too detailed formulation of legible expenses together
with inconsistent interpretation of the rules in individual regional branches
of the SAIF (State Agricultural Intervention Fund) caused complications in
the first phase of the programme and even caused financial losses due to non-
recognition of the expenses and imposed sanctions.
In general there seems to be insufficient volume of allocated sources of the

Axis III (with regard to the needs). For example up to 2010 it was possible
to pay out only 10.3% of the required amount for the registered projects for
revitalisation of villages.��
Allocation
��
of the sources was influenced by par-
ticular interests of some agricultural lobbies, which were stronger than the
un-organised representatives of rural communities. The 52% share of the
total RDP 2007-13 sources places the Czech Republic among countries with
majority of financial sources directed towards the Axis II “Improvement
of environment and landscape”. The highest shares allocated into the Axis
III “Quality of Life in Rural Areas and Diversification of Rural Economy”
among the EU countries were allocated by Bulgaria, Netherlands, Roma-
nia, Germany, and Poland. The Czech Republic allocated 17% of the RDP
sources into this Axis. The amount of sources allocated to the LEADER
(5.7% of the RDP sources) did not enable the LAGs to have substantial
influence on the territory and to implement development policy according
to the LEADER programme strategy. On the other hand it consolidated the
LAG institution and it gradually improved their ability to manage support of
the rural areas from below.
Implementation 119

The insufficiencies became obvious especially in the initial years after the
measures were introduced, the situation is gradually improving.��
��
The individ-
ual assessed measures were not implemented in such a way to enable assist-
ance to the applicants e.g. by examples of successful cases from neighbouring
areas and there was not available adequate counselling. This became evident
in regions with lower business activity (e.g. Vysočina region). There were
fewer applications for support in such regions than desirable with regard to
real needs of the region. There failed promotion and counselling in areas with
insufficiently developed social capital. In general it became evident that in the
sphere of measures of the Axis III of the RDP, apart from insufficient financ-
ing, there was also missing complex counselling, which would look for solu-
tions for the given area, community, region.
The LAGs did not have access to methodologies and instruments for project
evaluation, utilised by the SAIF, which caused high failure rate in applying for
support from the LEADER. With regard to problems and needs of rural areas,
LEADER did not become horizontal priority of the RDP implementation, it
was not successfully promoted in other rural areas (outside the area of compe-
tence of the supported LAGs) nor was it organically included in the system of
management of rural areas.
Monitoring and Evaluation
Only drawing of resources for regular reports for the European Commission
was formally monitored. Apart from this the monitoring committee of the
Ministry of Agriculture carries out annual evaluations of the LAGs. On the
basis of the multi-criteria point evaluation, the LAGs are classified into four
groups.
Group A 150-130 the best functioning LAGs
Group B 129-105 well functioning LAGs
Group C 104-80 average LAGs
Group D 79-0 LAGs, these should re-consider their attitude, as the only meet
the formal rules.
The figure 7 shows that work of the LAGs gradually improved in the past
years.
The Ministry of Agriculture did not submit research tasks or more profound
methodical and methodology studies of influence of subsidies in rural com-
munities. There were not elaborated studies which could explain why certain
policy achieved or did not achieve the required results. Within the mid-term
assessment there were only made single surveys in order to answer monitoring
questions.��
These
��
assessments did not prove presupposition that for communi-
120 ties, where certain LAG is working, such a LAG is the best mediator of plan-
ning, the most liked favourite of the council, or the most frequent mediator
of partnership projects etc., it is not even the primary source of financing of

community projects.
Figure 7. Development of results of evaluation of the LAGs in the period 2010-12

Source: Ministry of Agriculture
Within the LAG sphere, there were not set uniform monitoring indicators,
therefore it is very difficult to make clear assessment of success of the LAGs
and compare the proposed measures.
Conclusions and Suggestions for the Coming Programme

Period
It became evident that formulation of measures for support of development
of rural areas 2007-13 included many failures preventing better utilisation of
the Pillar 2 of the CAP for the benefit of rural areas. In the last couple of years
there is increasing differentiation among regions that are part of the Czech ru-
ral areas. On one hand part of the urban population prefers living in rural areas
and leaves for newly built houses in villages with good transport services in
the neighbourhood of big towns and cities. The age and educational structure
of this type of rural areas is good, the unemployment rate is low. On the other
hand, remote areas have increasing unemployment, especially smaller villages
have poor community facilities. They have unfavourable educational struc-
ture and a higher rate of problematic groups of inhabitants, this also causes
increase of social tensions. All these phenomena are reflected in the negative
migration rate in population.
We may say that contribution of farmers to employment in rural areas and de-
velopment of business activities in rural areas of the Czech Republic is quite
negligible. It is not only due to permanently dropping numbers of employees
in agriculture. We also have to take into consideration that most of the farming
land in the Czech Republic is managed by big farms. Their employees, apart 121
from the management and owners, have no chance to make decisions on focus

of the farms towards increase of number of working positions. Such activity
may also be slowed down by quite high average subsidies per one worker.
This is also related to also quite low activity of farmers in the LEADER pro-
grammes.
In conditions of the Czech Republic it might be desirable to support develop-

ment of rural communities by sources directed to the communities directly
from the axis 3 of the Programme of rural development and directing of other
structural funds focusing preferably into the most lagging regions. However,
the problem of these areas is the very low social capital and it proves to be the
main obstacle in successful utilisation of subsidies. In the coming programme
period it shall be necessary to improve adequate counselling, improve transfer
of necessary information towards potential beneficiaries of the subsidies and
animation of projects.
Analysis of the programme cycle related to measures of the Axis III of the
RDP proved that the Czech Republic experienced failing of policy in nearly
all of its phases. The analyses of the state were in majority based on intuition
of proponents of relevant measures. There was not, and still is not, established
a long-term research which would deal with causes of success or failure of the
proposed measures. Some areas were not covered. Proposals of the measures
did not include well estimated amount of total financial sources needed. Some
conditions and rules proved to be over-complicated. This was also proved by
initial chaos in implementation of the measures. It became evident that there
was not properly defined competence of individual funds in rural areas. The
implementation phase was missing adequate counselling. Therefore the grants
were successfully obtained by areas with sufficiently strong social capital at
the expense of areas lagging in this sphere. ��
��
The monitoring primarily con-
sists of collection of administrative data on number of applications for indi-
vidual types of projects, the sum required and progress of their administration.
Certain surveys were carried out only once with the aim of answering the
evaluation questions inquired by the Commission. However, these evaluation
questions do not seem to be well set-up. The Ministry of Agriculture does not
require any detailed research of effectiveness of individual measures. All of
these findings are currently being incorporated into the RDP proposals for the
period 2014-20.
122
Marie Trantinova, Marie Štolbová Literature
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ber 2012)
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za jednotlivých opatření rozdělených na záměry.
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DP_Martin_Vaculik.pdf, Centrum pro komunitni praci: Přerov,
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mikro07.pdf (accessed September 2012)
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125
Arkadiusz Sadowski1, Agnieszka Baer-Nawrocka2,
Wawrzyniec Czubak3
Department of Economics and Economic Policy in Agribusiness, Faculty of Economics
and Social Sciences, Poznań University of Life Sciences, ul. Wojska Polskiego 28,
60-637 Poznań
1
sadowski@up.poznan.pl
2
nawrocka@up.poznan.pl
3
czubak@up.poznan.pl
Chapter 7
The role of science in sustainable
development of agriculture according
to the Polish scientific community
Abstract: Sustainable development of agriculture and rural areas is a complex

issue. Therefore, identifying the needs for sustainability, study the stage of its
conceptualization, developing methods and implementation instruments, require
the involvement of different scientific fields. Their role varies both in concept and
implementation. The aim of the research was to determine the scientific commu-
nity representatives’ opinion on the role of science and its particular fields in
the implementation of sustainable development of agriculture and rural areas.
This analysis was preceded by determining the importance of science against the
background of other factors. Surveys were conducted using a structured interview
with 128 representatives of socio-economic and the life sciences. Basic descrip-
tive statistics were used to characterize the obtained results.
The vast majority of respondents stated that implementing the ideas of sustaina-
ble development of agriculture and rural areas is possible and justified. Analyses
have shown that at the current stage of sustainable development implementation,
the most important factors include scientific research��
and ��
transfer of new tech-
nologies (in addition to political decisions). Such an opinion is expressed by the
experts regardless of scientific field they represent (socio-economic and the life
sciences). Moreover, ecology has been indicated as a science that mostly contri-
butes to implementing principles for sustainable development of agriculture. Less
importance has been, in turn, attached to the political sciences. The role of life
and agricultural sciences (agronomy, zootechnics, veterinary medicine, agricu-
126 ltural chemistry) was rated more highly by representatives of the life sciences.
The idea of sustainable development is still evolving concept, which is indirectly
Arkadiusz Sadowski, Agnieszka Baer-Nawrocka, Wawrzyniec Czubak
indicated by the opinions about increasing need for further engaging all scientific
fields that were analyzed. Experts claim that in the future the role of sociology and
rural sociology in implementing concepts will increase most significantly, which
may indicate that a better understanding of social order will be required.
Keywords: Rural development programme, Slovenia, sustainable agriculture
Introduction
In recent centuries the development of science and technology has contributed
to improvement in the living conditions and life expectancy of a large part
of the human society, but simultaneously, in many places it has led to dete-
rioration in the quality of the natural environment. Therefore, the concept of
sustainable development, which was developed in the second half of the 20th
century, and which is a reaction to more and more noticeable ecological dan-
gers, stresses the need for further economic and civilisation development but
with respect to the rights of nature. Numerous definitions of the phenomenon
(Paszkowski, 2001; Piontek, 2002; Zbierska, 2007; Majewski, 2008; Fiedor
and Jończy, 2009) stress the need to balance three substantial orders (eco-
nomic, environmental and social) and point to the need to ensure long-term
(intertemporal) durability of the development. In this context the reference of
the general rules of sustainable development to agriculture is important, be-
cause the issues of sustainability (correlations between the individual orders)
and durability are particularly significant. Agricultural production takes place
in the natural environment. Therefore, its quality (above all the fertility of
soil and weather conditions) has stronger influence on the production capa-
city and economic results achieved by individual entities than in many other
sectors of economy. Apart from that, the specific symbiosis between the farm
and household, which is characteristic of the European model of agriculture
with the dominant individual (family) form of proprietorship, encourages the
search for balance between the economic order (the possibility to achieve in-
come from the agricultural activity) and the social order (pursuit of life aspi-
rations by members of a family of farmers). Besides, agriculture is a branch
of production which caters to the essential – nutritional needs of every person.
This fact is an argument speaking in favour of ensuring the appropriate eco-
nomic conditions of production in terms of quality and quantity and to reta-
in the production capacity in the future. Simultaneously, this means that the
assumptions of sustainable development of agriculture should be considered
in the context of its nutritional function, assuming a long, multi-generation
perspective. The systems of conventional agriculture which are currently
used in developed countries were formed as a result of the implementation of
numerous scientific and technological achievements. They consist in a wide
application of external means of production (which do not come from the
farm) and mechanisation based on the application of non-renewable fossil 127
fuels (Zegar, 2012). The chief merit of those systems was the fact that they
The role of science in sustainable development of agriculture according to the Polish scientific community
enabled increase in the scale of agricultural production and in consequence,
they eliminated or considerably limited famine and malnutrition. Inappropri-
ately applied technologies, including above all simplifications in the sowing
structure, which ignored the rules of crop rotation or excessively applied che-
mical growth substances, contributed to the degradation of the agricultural
environment in many places. Not only did they have negative influence on the
health quality of products, but also and above all on the fertility of soil, which
had consequences in the possibility of satisfying the demand for food in the
long run. Therefore, it was necessary to work out the rules of sustainable de-
velopment of agriculture, which would simultaneously ensure the appropriate
supply of food and respect the environment, retain the qualitative parameters
of agricultural products and give producers a possibility to gain appropriate
agricultural income.
The main problem related with the practical implementation of these rules is
that as entrepreneurs the farmers who make current and strategic decisions are
mainly interested in the current microeconomic calculations (Poczta and Sa-
dowski, 2007; Sadowski, 2009), which in many cases diverge from the need
to protect the environment and are in disagreement with the long-term interest
of the farm, which is chiefly related with retaining fertility of the soil. The-
refore, in order to realise this concept it is necessary to apply the instruments
of agricultural policy, both in the form of support schemes and the current
regulations and required agricultural practices. Science plays an equally im-
portant role in creating the rules of sustainable development of agriculture,
mainly because of its multidimensional character, multitude of purposes and
long perspective. It is necessary to mention the fact that the complexity of the
issue requires engagement of representatives of many fields of science and an
interdisciplinary and holistic approach, which will encompass the problem of
agricultural development in all its aspects, above all including environmental,
technological, organisational, economic and social issues as well as those re-
lated with the agricultural policy.
Therefore, the aim of the research was to identify the opinion of the scientific
environment about the essence of the issue of sustainable development of ag-
riculture and the factors responsible for this development, above all including
the scientific disciplines which play a role in the development of the concept.
Due to the wide area of interest and the assumption of a holistic approach to
reality the issues related with sustainable development of agriculture may be
considered from different points of view. Therefore, the research attempted
to determine the diversification of opinions between the representatives of
socioeconomic sciences (understood as the people who chiefly investigate this
fragment of reality which was created by man or which is only characteristic
of the Homo sapiens species) and life sciences (the people who chiefly inve-
stigate the aspects of the world which are independent of the human activity or
which are dependent on the human only to a certain, limited extent).
128
Arkadiusz Sadowski, Agnieszka Baer-Nawrocka, Wawrzyniec Czubak Methodology
The research included a standardised interview with representatives of se-

lected fields of science, which concerned their opinions about the sustainable
development of agriculture. The survey encompassed 128 people with doc-
toral, post-doctoral or professor degrees. They represented the following sci-
ences: agronomy, zootechnics, veterinary science, agroecology, ecology and
environmental protection, agricultural and food economics, economics and
rural and agricultural sociology. During the research the respondents were
grouped into the following two categories:
• representatives of socioeconomic sciences such as: agricultural and food
economics, and rural and agricultural sociology,
• representatives of life sciences such as: agronomy, zootechnics, veterinary
science, agroecology, ecology and environmental protection.
The ranking questions, which prevailed in the questionnaire, applied the most
popular Likert scale, where 1 is the least significant (insignificant) factor and
5 is the most significant (very important) factor.
During the research the results were statistically analysed in order to deter-
mine the significance of differences in the answers given. The λ2 test was
applied, which is the most common in the analysis of qualitative variables.
It is described by the following formula (Stanisz, 2006):
(!!!)!
λ2 = !
where:
E – expected (theoretical) cell frequency
O - observed cell frequency
Its essence boils down to the comparison of expected and observed frequen-
cies, with the zero hypothesis, which assumes no correlations between the
variables (Stanisz, 2006). The level of significance α = 0.005 and the number
of degrees of freedom df = r-1 were assumed (where r is the number of classes
into which the values in the sample were divided; in this case these are repre-
sentatives of socioeconomic and life sciences). The zero hypothesis is rejected
if the value of test probability is p<0.05 (Kot et al., 2011). The obtained results
were also processed into descriptive statistics with the coefficients of variation
and skewness.
Results
The issue of sustainable development is a general concept (idea), which as-

sumes the need for a holistic (complex) approach and analysis of the processes
occurring in the economy and society, with all their complexity and allowance 129
for the existing correlations. In spite of this fact the specific character of cer-
tain sectors justifies disaggregation, which takes place in the case of agricu-
lture due to its specific position in the natural environment and the strategic
and irreplaceable role in the functioning of society. A vast majority of the
surveyed representatives of sciences share this point of view. Regardless of
the discipline they represent, more than 80% of them think it is justified to
make analytical reference between the rules of sustainable development and
particular sectors (table 1).
Table 1. The distribution of responses to the question: ‘Is it justified to make

references between the rules of sustainable development and particular sectors?’ –
the respondents grouped according to the branches of science
Percentage of responses Coefficient
Respondents
Number Chi2 Mean of Skewness
representing:
no (0) yes (1) variation
Socioeconomic
15.9 84.1 69 0.84 43.9 -1.9
sciencesa 0.1157879
Life sciencesb 13.8 86.2 65 p=0.73365 0.86 40.4 -2.1
Total 14.9 85.1 134 df=1 0.85 42.0 -2.0
a Economics, agricultural and food economics, environmental economics, sociology, rural
sociology, economic policy
b
Agronomy, zootechnics and veterinary science, ecology and environmental development
Source: Authors’ own calculations based on questionnaire survey, n=128
The representatives of science who were surveyed also mostly agreed that it
is possible to put the rules of sustainable development of agriculture and rural
areas into practice now or in the foreseeable future (table 2). This approach
simultaneously points to the legitimacy of scientific research aimed at show-
ing the directions and mechanisms of sustainable development.
Table 2. The distribution of responses to the question: Is it possible to imple-

ment the rules of sustainable development of agriculture and rural areas in the
foreseeable future? - the respondents were grouped according to the branches
of science
Percentage of responses
Respondents
The concept of sustainable development of Number Chi2
representing: no yes
agriculture and rural areas is wrong
Socioeconomic
sciencesa 13.8 81.5 4.6 65 1.567045
Life sciencesb 9.7 88.7 1.6 62 p=0.45680
Total 11.8 85.0 3.1 127 df=2
a As in Table 1
b
As in Table 1
Among the factors contributing to the implementation of the rule of sustai-

nable development the respondents indicated scientific research and political
decisions in the first place (table 3). It results from the very nature of the
phenomenon, because the complexity of problems requires us to work out
130 the methods of implementation based on scientific research and technological
solutions, but the aforementioned discrepancy between microeconomic and
social problems causes the need to make regulations which will eliminate or at
least limit them. Therefore, due to the specific view of business entities the re-
presentatives of the scientific community ranked farmers’ decisions at a lower
level. In spite of the fact that it is the farm where actions with direct influence
on both the economic results and condition of the environment are taken (abo-
ve all this concerns agro- and zootechnical procedures as well as investments
made), most of the respondents thought that producers’ autonomous decisions
are mostly (or exclusively) motivated by current economic needs. Therefo-
re, as such they are a less important factor than regulations or scientific and
technological achievements. In spite of the fact that sustainable development
refers to general social purposes and in agriculture it concerns such impor-
tant issues as the health quality of food products and the social acceptance of
applied procedures and their effect on the condition of the environment, the
average rank of such factors as the pressure of the non-farming part of society
and the pressure of recipients of agricultural products was the lowest of all
suggestions. This may mean that similarly to farmers, their market partners
and consumers in their individual decisions are mainly guided by the econo-
mic premises, where health and environmental aspects are less significant.
These views may result from the fact that in Poland there is not a strong lobby
group promoting cost-consuming practices ensuring environmental protec-
tion or the production of higher quality but more expensive food products.
Table 3. An assessment of the factors contributing to the implementation of the

rule of sustainable development in agriculture - the respondents grouped accor-
ding to the branches of science
Respondents Percentage of responses Coefficient of
Factors Number Chi2 Mean Skewness
representing: 1 2 3 4 5 variation
Scientific Socioeconomic
1.6 4.8 19.0 34.9 39.7 63 4.06 23.8 -0.9
research and sciencesa 1.824092
implementation 1.6 1.6 16.4 31.1 49.2 61 4.25 21.4 -1.2
of new Life sciencesb p=0.76807
technologies Total 1.6 3.2 17.7 33.1 44.4 124 df=4 4.15 22.6 -1.0
Socioeconomic
0.0 3.2 20.6 36.5 39.7 63 4.13 20.6 -0.6
sciencesa 4.581728
Political
decisions Life sciencesb 4.9 6.6 23.0 34.4 31.1 61 p=0.33297 3.80 29.1 -0.8
Total 2.4 4.8 21.8 35.5 35.5 124 df=4 3.97 25.1 -0.8
Socioeconomic 6.7 16.7 23.3 23.3 30.0 60 3.53
Farmers’ 35.9 -0.4
sciencesa 1.640018
individual 3.4 11.9 27.1 28.8 28.8 59 p=0.80158 3.68
decisions Life sciencesb 30.5 -0.5
Total 5.0 14.3 25.2 26.1 29.4 119 df=4 3.61 33.1 -0.4
Socioeconomic
4.8 11.3 32.3 32.3 19.4 62 3.50 30.9 -0.4
Pressure of non- sciencesa 3.139318
farming part of 5.0 20.0 36.7 26.7 11.7 60 p=0.53479 3.20
Life sciencesb 33.0 -0.1
society
Total 4.9 15.6 34.4 29.5 15.6 122 df=4 3.35 32.1 -0.2
Socioeconomic
Pressure of 8.1 16.1 24.2 25.8 25.8 62 3.45 36.6 -0.4
sciencesa 4.111555
recipients of
agricultural 3.2 11.3 27.4 38.7 19.4 62 3.60 28.7 -0.5
products (mainly Life sciencesb p=0.39112
processing)
Total 5.6 13.7 25.8 32.3 22.6 124 df=4 3.52 32.7 -0.5

a
As in Table 1
b
As in Table 1
Besides, the low level of social self-organisation is related with limited possi- 131
bilities to exert a pressure in this aspect. It is necessary to mention the fact that
there are no statistically significant differences in views between the representa-
tives of life and socioeconomic sciences at the level of defining the factors deci-
sive to the possibility of implementation of the rule of sustainable development.
Table 4. The sciences contributing to the implementation of the rules of sustai-

nable development in agriculture - the respondents grouped according to the
branches of science
Respondents Percentage of responsesc Coefficient of
Sciences Number Chi2 Mean Skewness
representing: 1 2 3 4 5 variation
Socioeconomic
1.7 10.3 34.5 32.8 20.7 58 3.60 27.5 -0.2
sciencesa 10.07031
Agronomy 1.8 5.5 14.5 34.5 43.6 55 p=0.03927 4.13
Total 1.8 8.0 24.8 33.6 31.9 113 df=4 3.86 26.3 -0.6
Socioeconomic
1.8 16.4 32.7 32.7 16.4 55 3.45 29.4 -0.1
Zootechnics sciencesa 7.280086
and veterinary 1.8 7.3 18.2 41.8 30.9 55 p=0.12182 3.93
science
Total 1.8 11.8 25.5 37.3 23.6 110 df=4 3.69 27.6 -0.5
Socioeconomic
1.9 11.1 33.3 38.9 14.8 54 3.54 26.7 -0.3
sciencesa 2.448272
Agricultural
technology Life sciencesb 1.9 5.6 35.2 33.3 24.1 54 p=0.65392 3.72 25.8 -0.3
Total 1.9 8.3 34.3 36.1 19.4 108 df=4 3.63 26.3 -0.3
Socioeconomic
5.5 10.9 27.3 29.1 27.3 55 3.62 32.1 -0.5
sciencesa 5.372727
Agricultural
chemistry Life sciencesb 1.8 5.5 16.4 43.6 32.7 55 p=0.25115 4.00 23.6 -1.0
Total 3.6 8.2 21.8 36.4 30.0 110 df=4 3.81 28.1 -0.8
Socioeconomic
0.0 6.9 31.0 37.9 24.1 58 3.79 23.6 -0.2
sciencesa 1.757205
Agricultural
economics Life sciencesb 1.8 12.7 21.8 45.5 18.2 55 p=0.78030 3.65 27.0 -0.6
Total 0.9 9.7 26.5 41.6 21.2 113 df=4 3.73 25.2 -0.4
Socioeconomic
3.6 10.7 42.9 28.6 14.3 56 3.39 29.0 -0.2
Rural and sciencesa 5.059632
agricultural 9.8 21.6 31.4 21.6 15.7 51 p=0.28124 3.12
Life sciencesb 38.8 0.0
sociology
Total 6.5 15.9 37.4 25.2 15.0 107 df=4 3.26 33.8 -0.2
Socioeconomic
0.0 1.8 19.6 30.4 48.2 56 4.25 19.7 -0.7
sciencesa 3.140532
Ecology 0.0 9.3 16.7 25.9 48.1 54 p=0.37047 4.13
Total 0.0 5.5 18.2 28.2 48.2 110 df=3 4.19 22.0 -0.8
Socioeconomic
1.9 18.5 25.9 27.8 25.9 54 3.57 31.5 -0.2
sciencesa 4.295065
Genetics 3.7 7.4 35.2 33.3 20.4 54 p=0.36755 3.59
Total 2.8 13.0 30.6 30.6 23.1 108 df=4 3.58 29.8 -0.3
Socioeconomic
3.7 7.4 37.0 35.2 16.7 54 3.54 27.8 -0.4
sciencesa 0.3736016
Technical
sciences Life sciencesb 3.8 7.7 42.3 30.8 15.4 52 p=0.98458 3.46 28.3 -0.3
Total 3.8 7.5 39.6 33.0 16.0 106 df=4 3.50 28.0 -0.3
Socioeconomic
1.8 3.6 33.9 39.3 21.4 56 3.75 24.0 -0.4
sciencesa 2.427999
Economics 0.0 9.3 31.5 38.9 20.4 54 p=0.65757 3.70
Total 0.9 6.4 32.7 39.1 20.9 110 df=4 3.73 24.1 -0.3
Socioeconomic
1.8 5.5 45.5 40.0 7.3 55 3.45 22.8 -0.3
sciencesa 16.60037
Sociology 5.8 34.6 28.8 25.0 5.8 52 p=0.00231 2.90
Life sciencesb 35.6 0.2
Total 3.7 19.6 37.4 32.7 6.5 107 df=4 3.19 29.9 -0.2
Socioeconomic
5.6 25.9 51.9 9.3 7.4 54 2.87 32.5 0.4
sciencesa 18.41926
Political
sciences Life sciencesb 26.9 32.7 17.3 17.3 5.8 52 p=0.00102 2.42 50.6 0.5
Total 16.0 29.2 34.9 13.2 6.6 106 df=4 2.65 41.7 0.3

a
As in Table 1
b
As in Table 1
c
As in Table 3
132 The opinions of the surveyed respondents about the role of individual sciences
in the implementation of the rule of sustainable development in agriculture
and rural areas are important for several reasons. First of all, the vast majority
of them thought that such development is possible. Second of all, among the
factors contributing to the development the role of science was particularly
stressed. Third and probably most important of all, the sustainable develop-
ment requires a holistic approach both at the stage when it is investigated
and defined and at the stage of implementation. Therefore, the recognition of
the roles of different disciplines, not only those represented by a particular
person, is a significant contribution showing the directions of exploration of
the problem under investigation. In this context it is particularly important
to analyse the differences in views between the representatives of life sci-
ences and socioeconomic sciences. Above all, it is necessary to notice rather
considerable diversification in the views concerning the disciplines with di-
rect connection with agriculture (table 4). The researchers of nature attribute
a more important role to the sciences related with the productive and techno-
logical aspects of agriculture (chiefly to agronomy, zootechnics, veterinary
science and agricultural chemistry), which may be connected both with the
recognition of their own research areas and with the belief that the ecological
order plays a principal role. This fact is also confirmed by the relatively low
rank given by the representatives of life sciences to the other two orders (rural
and agricultural sociology, agricultural economics, economics and sociology).
In view of the fact that the concept of sustainable development was developed
as a reaction to the deteriorating condition of the environment, such views
may be considered to be justified. As far as the representatives of socioecono-
mic sciences are concerned, it is possible to observe greater balance in the opi-
nions about the role of individual sciences (the mean value of responses does
not exceed 4 in any case). This may result from the very character of research
areas of interest, because understanding the problems concerning the functio-
ning of economy and society (this fact is particularly noticeable as far as ag-
riculture and rural areas are concerned) requires at least general knowledge of
the issues related both with technology and organisation of production as well
as the rights of nature, whereas detailed exploration of biological and agricu-
ltural problems does not always have to be connected with economic and so-
cial consequences. Both of the researched groups ranked ecology as the most
important, which points to the fact that the representatives of socioeconomic
sciences also recognise the significance of the environmental order in sustai-
nable development. At the same time this means that a considerable number
of the respondents think that researching the problems of agriculture and rural
areas should go beyond the disciplines strictly related with the subject (i.e.
agronomy, zootechnics, veterinary science and agricultural chemistry, agri-
cultural technology, agricultural economics, rural and agricultural sociology)
and make use of the achievements of other, more general sciences. However,
the relatively low significance of sociology as well as rural and agricultural
sociology may be intriguing, especially if we take into consideration the fact
that these disciplines are directly related with one of the three orders of su-
stainable development. On the other hand, the representatives of both groups
under investigation ranked political sciences lowest, which seemingly stands 133
in opposition to the declared high significance of political factors. Such opini-
ons of the scientific community may result from the fact that politics is chiefly
treated as a domain of practical activity. Therefore, the scientific exploration
of this issue does not have significant influence on the concept of sustainable
development of agriculture and rural areas.
Table 5. The distribution of responses to the question: ‘At which level should the
condition of sustainability of agriculture chiefly be considered?’ - the respon-
dents grouped according to the branches of science
Respondents Percentage of responsesc Coefficient
Level Number Chi2 Mean Skewness
representing: 1 2 3 4 5 of variation
Socioeconomic
7.8 10.9 31.3 18.8 31.3 64 3.55 35.5 -0.4
sciencesa 2.457924
World 6.8 18.6 23.7 23.7 27.1 59 p=0.65219 3.46
b
Life sciences 36.6 -0.3
Total 7.3 14.6 27.6 21.1 29.3 123 df=4 3.50 35.9 -0.3
Socioeconomic
3.1 12.3 27.7 24.6 32.3 65 3.71 30.8 -0.4
sciencesa 1.932771
Continental 3.3 19.7 21.3 27.9 27.9 61 p=0.74812 3.57
Total 3.2 15.9 24.6 26.2 30.2 126 df=4 3.64 31.9 -0.4
Socioeconomic
3.0 1.5 16.4 37.3 41.8 67 4.13 23.0 -1.3
sciencesa 4.697068
National 0.0 4.8 22.6 27.4 45.2 62 p=0.31982 4.13
Total 1.6 3.1 19.4 32.6 43.4 129 df=4 4.13 22.7 -1.0
Socioeconomic
1.5 1.5 13.6 33.3 50.0 66 4.29 20.4 -1.3
sciencesa 2.549712
Regional (e.g.
province) Life sciencesb 1.6 6.5 11.3 37.1 43.5 62 p=0.63576 4.15 23.5 -1.2
Total 1.6 3.9 12.5 35.2 46.9 128 df=4 4.22 21.8 -1.2
Socioeconomic
0.0 3.1 9.2 32.3 55.4 65 4.40 17.9 -1.2
Local (e.g. sciencesa 2.390386
commune, 3.2 3.2 9.5 27.0 57.1 63 p=0.66437 4.32
village)
Total 1.6 3.1 9.4 29.7 56.3 128 df=4 4.36 20.5 -1.6
Socioeconomic
1.5 3.1 7.7 24.6 63.1 65 4.45 19.9 -1.9
sciencesa 2.242346
Farm 4.8 6.3 9.5 20.6 58.7 63 p=0.69128 4.22
Total 3.1 4.7 8.6 22.7 60.9 128 df=4 4.34 23.7 -1.7
Socioeconomic
3.2 9.7 21.0 22.6 43.5 62 3.94 29.4 -0.8
sciencesa 4.637022
Field/animal 11.1 9.5 12.7 28.6 38.1 63 p=0.32661 3.73
Total 7.2 9.6 16.8 25.6 40.8 125 df=4 3.83 32.9 -0.9
a As in Table 1
b
As in Table 1
c
As in Table 3
In spite of the fact that the concept of sustainable development concerns glo-
bal issues, the experts thought it should mainly be considered at the natio-
nal, regional, local and farm level (table 5). On the one hand, this approach
exemplifies the slogan ‘think globally, act locally’, but on the other hand, it
mainly confirms the significant role of politics in creation of the character of
the concept of sustainable development. The levels where binding decisions
concerning the creation of economic policy or local and regional development
strategies are made were considered to be important. However, the significant
rank given to the farm level may be intriguing, especially in view of the opi-
nions about the small significance of farmers’ individual decisions. A closer
134 look at the issue shows that this contradiction is not only apparent, but it also
indicates the importance of political instruments in a certain way. It is a true
fact that producers’ autonomous decisions chiefly take into consideration their
current economic interests, but they are made in a specific political and legal
environment. Thus, they also concern such issues as the microeconomic con-
sequences of the functioning of both support schemes and regulations limiting
the freedom to make economic decisions or imposing certain standards in pro-
duction procedures. In this case aid actions are particularly important, because
due to their voluntary character, farmers will make decisions whether to use
them. Although ‘restrictive’ instruments such as quality standards or a set of
procedures which need to be followed are obligatory, it is also in this case that
producers need to make a decision whether to abide by the regulations in force.
Conclusions
As results from the research, the opinions of most respondents representing
selected branches of science are in general assumptions compatible with the
commonly recognised interpretation of the concept of sustainable develop-
ment. This proves the fact that as an idea the issue well describes both the
current state of affairs and the desirable trends of actions. Both the represen-
tatives of life sciences and socioeconomic sciences mostly agreed that in spite
of the holistic character of sustainable development, it is justified to make
disaggregation and to refer the assumptions of sustainable development to
particular sectors of the economy, including agriculture. Among the factors
contributing to its development the respondents above all listed political de-
cisions and scientific progress, which is also compatible with the common
interpretation of the concept of sustainable development. Due to its long (mul-
tigenerational) perspective and possible conflicts between the current micro-
economic needs and social purposes the practical implementation of the rules
of sustainable development requires regulations. The multi-aspect character
of the issue causes the need to provide theoretical background and new tech-
nological solutions, e.g. related with precision agriculture, the application of
which with a proportionally large scale of production may not only reduce the
costs of production but also reduce the impact on the environment by limited
application of the means of production. The significant role of political factors
was confirmed by the fact that the issue of sustainable development of agri-
culture needs to be considered above all at the national, regional, local and
farm level, i.e. in those places where either autonomous decisions are made or
where the effect of the instruments of agricultural policy can be observed (this
applies to the farm).
There were bigger discrepancies between the representatives of socioeconomic

sciences and life sciences in terms of the definition of the significance of indi-
vidual disciplines in the process of implementation of the rule of sustainable
development. In both cases the respondents indicated an important role of eco-
logy, which on the one hand proves the high recognition of the environmental
order and the need to consider the issue from a wider perspective than the point
of view of agricultural sciences only, on the other hand. However, the respon- 135
dents representing socioeconomic sciences showed a more complex (holistic)
approach, because among the significant disciplines they indicated those which
investigate the environmental, productive, social and economic aspects of agri-
culture. On the other hand, the representatives of life sciences thought ecology
and the disciplines related with applied biology (mostly agronomy and agricu-
ltural chemistry) to be the most important, which may point to the particular
recognition of the need to scientifically explore the issues concerning the envi-
ronmental order. At the same time, it is necessary to mention the fact that the
views of the representatives of socioeconomic sciences are closer to the idea of
sustainable development, which consists in the holistic approach to civilisation,
especially to its economic, social and environmental aspects.
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137
Marcin Żekało
zekalo@ierigz.waw.pl
Chapter 8
Requirements of organic farming
and impact on direct costs
of organic production
Abstract: Information and knowledge are now considered the most important fac-
tors for the development of the farm, and in the economic aspect they often allow
to build competitive advantages. Naturally, the requirements of today's food pro-
duction sector go beyond the economic effects of the production and also apply
to meeting the environmental requirements. Organic farming as a holistic system
can be such a proposal for management, but it places high demands on farmers.
Restricted legislation in organic farming regulates in detail the manner of pro-
duction, impacting directly on production character and also economic results
achieved in organic farms. Farmers using theoretical and practical knowledge
are needed to meet all formal requirements and they want to achieve the best eco-
nomic results of production. We can point out the strengths of organic production,
which by using natural resources, best agricultural techniques and sustainable
plant and animal production can lead to a reduction of direct costs of production.
The results of studies on the AGROKOSZTY system, relating to the economics
of organic production, indicate lower than in conventional farms direct costs of
production, as well as good income performance from particular production ac-
tivities.
Keywords: requirements of organic farming, direct costs of production

138
Marcin Żekało Introduction
As with any sector of the economy, in order to meet increasing demands of the
agri-food sector, the producers have to seek information and acquire knowledge.
Organic farming is a specific area of operation of agricultural producers, who
on the one hand have to demonstrate a wide knowledge of nature, farming and
breeding, and on the other hand meet all the legislation requirements. In the
case of the agricultural sector we are dealing with very specific legal provisions
that govern the management at each stage. There are many formal limitations
for this type of farming, which may directly affect the economic results of the
production. Therefore, obtaining the relevant information and using it is a very
important part of the proper functioning of the farm, also in terms of the eco-
nomics of agricultural production. Information resource of the economy can be
considered in the category of economic resource (Oleński, 2000). It is a collec-
tion of various pieces of information potentially useful for the economic activi-
ties in the broad sense of the word. As part of this potential we can distinguish:
general knowledge, professional skills, information resources of the social and
economic entities, information resources of those involved in the information
sector of the national economy, infrastructural collections/systems of informa-
tion, infrastructural information systems of the state and supranational organi-
sations. At the level of an organic farm, the farmer obtains general knowledge
needed to operate the farm and professional qualifications allowing him to ap-
ply the knowledge in practice. Knowledge needed for agricultural activities is
very extensive, especially in organic farming. Economic and production result
in organic farming depends, among others, on the use of proper crop rotation,
prudent fertiliser management, selection of plant varieties, proper organisation of
farm and other factors (Tyburski, 2007). Of course, the value of such information
and knowledge comes not from the fact of having it but from using it (Materska,
2005). However, to some extent, the measure of the possible use of the data and
building of needed information is the level of education of farmers. Education of
farmers is undeniable potential, necessary for the efficient running of the farm.
Therefore, the education and expertise is of great importance. Based on a survey
of organic farmers participating in the studies of the AGROKOSZTY system in
2006-2008, we can note their high commitment for learning – figure 1.
60
50
40 primary
30 vocational technical
in %
secondary
20
university
10
0
2006 2007 2008
Figure 1. Education of farmers in surveyed organic farms in AGROKOSZTY
system in 2006-2008
Source: Nachtman, Żekało 2009
We need to emphasise that in each year the percentage of farmers with pri- 139
mary education was small. In the last year of the study - 2008 – as much as
Requirements of organic farming and impact on direct costs of organic production

63.4% in the group of farmers surveyed had a secondary school or higher
(university) education. This reflects to some extent the situation in the
whole agriculture where many middle-aged farmers finished agricultural
vocational technical schools or ended their education at primary school,
while young farmers often graduate from agricultural colleges/universi-
ties (Krzyworzeka, 2011). However, the dynamic situation in agriculture
makes both, the knowledge that farmers have obtained several dozen years
ago at vocational schools, as well as that obtained recently in universities,
largely inadequate for current needs after a few years. Therefore, farmers
who want to support themselves with their farms must seek knowledge
on their own and complete their education. The surveyed farmers often
pointed to the participation in various forms of professional training in
the field of organic farming such as courses, training courses, seminars.
Without the support of the scientific circles and agricultural organisations
it is difficult put the acquired knowledge into practice. In this case, in ad-
dition to consulting with other organic farmers, the research and education
conducted by research centres and institutes and agricultural advisory play
an important role (figure 2).
Figure 2. The key parts of transferring the agricultural information and knowledge
Source: Roling, Engel, 1991.
A part of the services and assistance, the farmer can obtain information about
organic production technology and also on formal participation in organic
farming system, inter alia, associated with submitting the application and
making agri-environmental commitments in the field of organic agriculture.
Access to such information is also an important element in obtaining the fi-
nancial support, for which farmers pursuing organic production can apply (ha-
ving an organic farm covered by the control system). Producers can apply for
a subsidy per hectare of organic production, joining the agri-environmental
programme and selecting a package of Organic Agriculture. Applying for
grants is voluntary, however, raising additional funds is economically justi-
fied, and the majority of organic farmers tries to take advantage of such op-
portunity – see figure 3.
140
20956
2010 20566
Marcin Żekało
2009
17423
16908
2008
15206 number of organic farms
14947
2007
12121 number of applications
12073
9194
2006 8789
2005
7182
6706
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000
Figure 3. Number of organic farms and applications for support in Poland

in 2005 – 2010
Source: www.gijhars.gov.pl
Of course, the professional qualifications alone are not sufficient to operate

the farm in the organic farming system. Information resources at the instituti-
onal level in the organic farming mainly include requirements and regulations
in this regard. The primary function of organic farming is exercised by the
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Agricultural and Food
Quality Inspection, with which cooperate the Trade Inspectorate, the Veterina-
ry Inspection and the Main Inspectorate of Plant Health and Seed Inspection
(figure 4).
Figure 4. The structure of the control and certification system for organic
farming in Poland
Source: www.minrol.gov.pl
These state authorities comprise the control and certification system for or-
ganic farming in Poland. The system of control and certification of organic
farming is the primary guarantor for the consumer that the products on the
market are manufactured in accordance with the applicable rules on organic
farming and are free of contaminants, such as: residues of pesticides and hor- 141
mones, and that fertilisers and genetically modified organisms were not used

during production. The legislation clearly determines the manner of organic
farming management, which is reflected in the economic results of organic
production.
The purpose of this article is to attempt to determine the effect of restric-

tive regulations in organic farming related to agricultural production on the
economic aspects, mainly the direct costs of organic production. The first
part of the paper presents the basic legal requirements for organic produc-
tion, both plant and animal, in organic farms in the light of the applicable
law. The second part attempts to determine strengths and weaknesses and
the opportunities and threats of organic production, which may affect the
direct costs of production. Economic aspects (direct costs) of production in
organic farms are presented on the basis of accounting data collected in the
AGROKOSZTY system, using the methodology of gross margin. The study
also applies methods of descriptive statistics with elements of SWOT analy-
sis, including tabular descriptions and graphical presentation of results from
AGROKOSZTY system.
Conducting agricultural production in organic farm

in the light of current legislation
Management of organic farming is strictly defined by the Law on organic agri-
culture. In order to identify the strengths and weaknesses of organic farming it
is worth to know these basic principles. All the more so as the organic method
of farming has a direct impact not only on aspects related to the protection
of the environment but also on economic and production performance on the
farm. In addition, farmers are required to adhere to the principles of good
agricultural practice. Therefore, the amount of information and knowledge
resources needed to run an organic farm can be challenging, especially for far-
mers who begin to apply organic methods. EU legislation designated the fra-
mework of organic production on the farm, and all the detailed requirements
of organic production are included in the Council Regulations (EC). It should
be further noted that the detailed rules for the implementation of Council Re-
gulation (EC) No 834/2007 with regard to organic production, labelling and
control are set in Commission Regulation (EC) No 889/2008 of 5 September
2008. The national document establishing the status of organic farming in Po-
land is the Act of 25 June 2009 on organic farming (Dz. U. 09 No. 116, item
975). List of amending regulations and corrections is quite large, which indi-
cates continuous adjustment of legislation in the field of organic agriculture.
Often it can be a problem for farmers running organic farms who need to fulfil
the agri-environmental commitments.
Under current Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 of 28 June 2007 on

organic production and labelling of organic products and repealing Re-
142 gulation (EEC) No 2092/91 (OJ L 189, 20.7.2007, as amended.) organic
production is defined as "overall system of farm management and food
Marcin Żekało
production that combines best environmental practices, a high level of

biodiversity, the preservation of natural resources, the application of high
animal welfare standards and a production method in line with the pre-
ference of certain consumers for products produced using natural sub-
stances and processes".
The elements of the management of organic plant production highlighted in

Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 are: soil fertility management, choice
of plant species and varieties, long-term crop rotation, recycling of organic
materials and proper cultivation techniques. According to these guidelines
(and in accordance with the Code of Good Agricultural Practice) farming
should be done in accordance with proper agricultural technology principles
and crop rotation must be as varied as possible and should include (in addition
to commercial and feed plants) legumes or alternating pasture with small-
seeded legume crops undersown, plants for green manure and deep rooted
plants. The guidelines also point to the limited share of cereals that should
not exceed 60% of the agricultural crops on the farm. Additional fertilisers,
products improving soil fertility and plant protection products should be used
only when their use is consistent with the objectives and principles of organic
production. An important restriction is the prohibition of the use of mineral
nitrogen fertilisers, which are widely used in conventional agriculture. Given
the restrictions associated with little opportunity for the use of other mineral
fertilisers (mainly natural minerals are available), the manure derived from
animals - besides compost and green manure - is the most desirable mean
of plant production. The main principle used in plant protection is preven-
tive action implemented by appropriate choice of species and varieties, crop
rotation, protection of natural enemies of pests. Only in the case of threat to
a crop it is allowed to use plant protection products approved for use in orga-
nic production.
A very important element of plant production is the origin of seed and seed-
lings. It is possible to obtain such material from one’s own organic farm or to
purchase certified seed. Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 specifies the
manner of obtaining seed and vegetative propagation material. To this end,
the mother plant, in the case of seeds, and the parent plant, in the case of ve-
getative propagating material, is grown in accordance with organic farming
principles for at least one generation, and in the case of perennial crops, for at
least two growing seasons. The manufacture of organic products (other than
seed and vegetative propagation material) should use eco-friendly material,
though in derogation conventional seeds are also approved (in the absence of
appropriate seed produced organically).
Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 indicates the role of livestock produc-

tion in organic farming: “Livestock production is fundamental to the organisa-
tion of agricultural production on organic holdings in so far as it provides the
necessary organic matter and nutrients for cultivated land and accordingly 143
contributes towards soil improvement and the development of sustainable ag-

riculture”. Farmed animals play an important role in the circulation of orga-
nic matter. The manure enriches the soil especially in nitrogen compounds,
and has a positive effect on its structure. On the other hand, environmental
requirements limit the maximum number of animals per 1 ha of agricultural
land in order to minimise over-grazing, soil degradation and excessive accu-
mulation of manure applied to the land. Pollution of the environment, parti-
cularly the soil and water, is thus limited, which is associated with the limit
of the amount of nitrogen introduced with organic fertilisers; applies only to
the use of farmyard manure, dried manure and dehydrated poultry manure,
composted manure, including poultry manure, composted farmyard manure
and liquid manure. The stocking density should therefore take the maximum
allowed number of animals per hectare of arable land. Permitted livestock
units (species or group) corresponding to this limit have been established and
described in Annex IV to the Ordinance of the Minister of Agriculture and Ru-
ral Development of 14 May 2002 on the detailed conditions for the production
of organic products.
Eco-friendly way to keep the animals on the farm puts high demands
for farmers. The most important from the point of view of livestock
production restrictions in organic farming is to provide animals with
organic feed. Securing a sufficient own forage area in the farm is thus
very important for economic reasons. Therefore, farmers in organic
farms ensure diverse crop rotation. With regard to the type of bree-
ding of herbivorous animals (ruminants) one should use pastures, and
at least 60% of the dry matter in daily rations is to consist of rougha-
ge (green fodder, silage or hay). Purchased organic feeds are relatively
expensive and their availability in the market is still very limited.
It has been increasingly noted that breeding animals based on permanent
pasture is good for the environment as well as for economics of production
[Radkowska 2009]. Pasture forage is one of the best and most valuable
roughage, and at the same time is cheap. The sources of protein in animal
nutrition in organic farms include legumes: beans, peas, lupins. The prima-
ry concentrate feeds should be cereal grain and legume seed (crushed or as
meal). Also by-products of the food industry are used, such as bran, dried
beet pulp and oil-cake from oilseeds (e.g. rapeseed, sunflower). An impor-
tant component of animal feed is the prohibition of industrial concentrates
and complete mixes and feed manufactured with GMO crops. Since it is
forbidden to use growth promoters, synthetic amino acids and antibiotics,
animals grow slowly, retaining the natural resistance and durability. In ad-
dition, all young mammals must be fed with natural, preferably maternal
milk, for a reasonable period of time specified in the Council Regulation
(EC) No 834/2007. Maximising the use of animals (longer production life-
time), such as dairy cows, is an advantage of organic breeding. This is as-
sociated with low culling rate, which reduces the cost of herd replacement
(Żukowski, 2009). An important determinant of animal welfare is to ensu-
144 re appropriate livestock buildings, including appropriate stocking density
and providing access to outdoor runs. Living conditions of animals should
Marcin Żekało
take into account their needs and natural behaviour. Organic livestock pro-
duction should pay attention to proper selection of animal breeds their
adaptability, vitality and resistance to disease. First, preference is given
to native breeds. In accordance with the provisions of Council Regulation
(EC) No 834/2007: The organic livestock production system should aim
at completing the production cycles of the different livestock species with
organically reared animals. It should therefore encourage the increase of
the gene pool of organic animals, improve self reliance and thus ensure the
development of the sector.
Requirements of organic agricultural production and direct

costs of production - SWOT analysis
SWOT analysis is a widely used and recognised method of analysis which
allows us to easily identify the inside of the enterprise (farm) and its sur-
roundings. This method is also used to identify key problems and their
solutions in the agricultural sector. Through the SWOT analysis, the far-
mer can make a description of the actual state of agricultural production
sectors in which he specialises, as well as determine its position against
the background environment. This facilitates accurate assessment of the
situation, as well as allows taking appropriate steps towards effective ac-
tion (Starzyk, 2007).
Strengths and weaknesses of the management in a single organic farm are

associated to some extent with the possibilities and limitations posed by legal
requirements. However, it should be noted that the functioning of an orga-
nic farm on the market is subject to environmental opportunities and threats,
which mainly depend on the development of the market for organic products
and the development of entrepreneurship and cooperation between farmers.
In this section, an attempt is made to analyse the organic production condi-
tions in the aspect of direct costs in terms of strengths and weaknesses (inter-
nal factors – at the farm level) as well as opportunities and threats (external
factors – concerns the surrounding) – see table 1.
Taking into account the factors (strengths and weaknesses) of organic farm
production as well as the current state (opportunities and threats) of orga-
nic farming in Poland, we can point out the relation with the economics of
production, especially the direct costs incurred in organic farming. The big
advantage of organic farms is the ability to reduce production costs through
the pursuit of self-sufficiency on one’s own farm. However, the development
of the organic production sector is dependent on the development of market
and interests of consumers.
Table 1. Agricultural production in organic farming in terms of direct costs incur- 145
red - SWOT analysis

Strengths Weaknesses
+ possibility of reproduction of seeds on own

farm - lower cost of own seed in comparison - often insufficient amount of seed and
to certified seed lower quality of own seed
+ possible use of available farm manure and - in case of need to use approved fertilisers
appropriate cultivation technology - lower e.g. lime fertilisers - high cost of
costs compared to expensive means of transportation and purchase
production - in case of need to use approved
+ limited use of plant protection products - protection products - high cost of purchase
prevention methods based on natural resources - limited capacity and difficulty in
proper agriculture technique and selection of obtaining organic breeding animals
varieties - low cost
- insufficient forage area on the farm in
+ longer production lifetime of farm animals - case of increasing production
lower cost
- exclusion (waiting period) from
+ production of feed mainly on own farm - production in case of the need for
lower costs treatment of animals
+ properly chosen and properly maintained
animals do not require treatment
Opportunities Threats
+ reduction in prices of means of production - small interest of seed companies in

in response to development of organic market organic sector causes low availability of
and increased consumer demand organic seed on market
+ development of organic seed market for - dispersion of organic farms makes it
producers difficult to take up broader cooperation
+ development of producer groups will lower - difficulties in obtaining organic animals -
the cost of purchase of inputs higher cost of purchasing and transporting
+ development of organic market will affect - low availability of organic feed in the
development of organic livestock breeding market resulting in high costs of purchase
+ development of market in organic feed and
feed additives

Materials, method and survey results

To show the economic situation and direct costs of organic production the
accounting data on agricultural activities were taken according to the rules
of the Agricultural Products Data Collection System (AGROKOSZTY).
The surveyed farms were located across Poland and were selected from
a representative sample of Polish FADN (Farm Accountancy Data Network).
They rank among the economically strongest agricultural individual holdings
with output for family farms above the national average. For this reason, the
146 results obtained should not be directly translated into national average re-
sults. However, multiannual surveys indicated that the calculations correctly
Marcin Żekało
reflected direct cost trends of production. As an attempt to reference the re-

sults of conventional farms surveyed in AGROKOSZTY system in the same
year were taken into consideration.
Under the AGROKOSZTY system, the methodology used for calculating the
gross margin was consistent with the EU rules (Augustynska, Goraj, Tarka, Pokr-
zywa, Skarzynska, 2000). It is the first income category, calculated by deducting
from the value of production the corresponding direct costs. In crop and animal
production, the production value depends on the yield and the selling price
for products (annual average transaction prices or ‘at the farm gate’ prices).
Among direct costs of crop production we can distinguish: costs of seeds,
mineral fertilizers, organic fertilizers, crop protection products, growth regu-
lators and other direct costs (insurance, special expenditure, special services).
For livestock production, direct costs are as the following: livestock replace-
ment, feeding stuffs (purchased and produced on the farm), other direct costs
(livestock insurance, rent for the use of forage area, medicines and veterinary
services, special expenditure and services). Additionally, corresponding sub-
sidies were taken into account. The item of subsidies only comprised those
which directly concerned particular activities, mostly supplementary pay-
ments. In case of organic production also agri-environmental payments were
taken into account.
For this study two agricultural activities were selected – winter wheat and
dairy cows, which are very common in both conventional and organic farms.
The basic data of selected activities were presented in table 2.
Table 2. The basic production data of agricultural activities in conventional

and organic farms surveyed in Agrokoszty system
Average results by group of surveyed farms
Specification Winter wheat Dairy cows
conventional organic conventional organic
Number of surveyed farms 152 19 167 20
Area under cultivation 20,7 2,9 - -
Annual average number of dairy cows - - 23 9
Yield [dt/ha] [liter/cow] 61,2 28,4 5506 3346
Selling price [EUR/dt] [EUR/liter] 15 22 0,22 0,19

Source: AGROKOSZTY database.
The scale of production (in the meaning of area under cultivation or number of
dairy cows) in organic farms was significantly smaller, the same as the yield
(see table 2). The selling price for winter wheat was about 46,6% higher than
conventional, but the price for milk was 13,6% lower in surveyed group of
farms. The level of direct costs of production in surveyed farms and economic
results of particular activities on gross margin level were shown on graphs
(see figure 5 and figure 6).
Winter wheat 147
200 178

150
in EUR
100 79 conventional farms
54 64
organic farms
50 20 9 13
0
0
SEEDS MINERAL FERTILISERS CROP PROTECTION OTHER DIRECT COSTS
Dairy cows
250 204
200 178
EUR
ininEUR
150 117 119

100 67 82 70 conventional farms
43
50 organic farms
0
LIVESTOCK FEEDINGSTUFF FEEDINGSTUFF OTHER DIRECT COSTS
REPLACEMENT PURCHASED PRODUCED ON FARM
Figure 5. The level of direct costs of winter wheat cultivation (per ha)
and milk production (per dairy cow) on organic and conventional farms surveyed
in AGROKOSZTY system
907 Winter wheat
1000 795
800 635 660
583 542
in EUR
600
400 324 253 conventional farms
200 93 77
organic farms
0
TOTAL TOTAL DIRECT GROSS MARGIN SUBSIDIES GROSS MARGIN
PRODUCTION COSTS WITHOUT
VALUE SUBSIDIES
1500 1384 Dairy cows
1000 856 803 866 767

in EUR
581 557
500 299 210 conventional farms
63
organic farms
0
TOTAL TOTAL DIRECT GROSS MARGIN SUBSIDIES GROSS MARGIN
PRODUCTION COSTS WITHOUT
VALUE SUBSIDIES
Figure 6. The level of direct costs of winter wheat cultivation on organic

and conventional farms surveyed in AGROKOSZTY system
As showed by the result of research in the AGROKOSZTY system, organic

farms are associated with low level (compared to conventional farms) of di-
rect costs of given agricultural activities. Largely because this organic farms
are able to get well results at the level of gross margin despite significantly
weaker production results. In that situation the support of the payments is very
important and it has bigger impact on gross margin account in organic produc-
tion than in conventional.
148
Marcin Żekało Conclusions
On the basis of considerations and the results of research presented, a few
conclusions about the requirements in organic farming and its impact on agri-
cultural production in organic farm can be formulated.
1. Knowledge and information for farmers are becoming increasingly impor-

tant among the many factors affecting the operation of the organic farm.
With regard to the organic method of farm management directly involves
a knowledge of the restrictive legal requirements and how to use them in
practice. This is not only related to the necessity of fulfilling environmental
commitments, but it also determines the nature of agricultural production
and the production and economic results achieved in organic production.
2. The use of farmer’s knowledge and the own farm potential become
a strong side of organic farm. This allows to lead an extensive production
as largely independent of external means of production (from purchase).
In this case, lower direct costs of production may be a strong side of or-
ganic farm management. However, the yielding remains at a relatively low
level compared to conventional production. While increasing the produc-
tivity of the unit (crops or animals) or increasing the scale of production
(number of hectares or animals) may require the purchase and high costs
that organic farmers cannot afford. This may be the weaker part of organic
production, which at the present stage of development of the organic mar-
ket is a major barrier for producers of organic products.
3. The study of direct costs in agricultural production on organic farms in the

Agrokoszty system showed much lower level of these costs than in con-
ventional farms. Incurred direct costs are often a reflection of the restricted
legislation requirements in organic agriculture. From other hand, the re-
duction or low level of direct costs may be the only one chance to achieve
a quite good economic results from organic production. In this case, tar-
geted subsidies to compensate losses (low yielding) associated with exten-
sification of production are justified .
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(2000). Metodyka liczenia nadwyżki bezpośredniej i zasady typologii gos-
podarstw rolniczych, FAPA, Warszawa.
Krzyworzeka A. (2011). Funkcjonowanie wiedzy rolniczej, "E-mentor" nr 3
(40).
GIJHARS. (2011). Raport o stanie rolnictwa ekologicznego w Polsce w latach
2009-2010. Warszawa.
IAFE-NRI. (2004). Wyniki uzyskane przez indywidualne gospodarstwa rolne
prowadzące rachunkowość w 2002 roku, Warszawa.
Materska K. (2005). Rozwój koncepcji informacji i wiedzy jako zasobu orga- 149
nizacji, Nauka-Dydaktyka-Praktyka, Warszawa.

Nachtman G., Żekało M. (2009). Wyniki ekonomiczne wybranych ekologicz-
nych produktów rolniczych w latach 2005-2008, Warszawa.
Nachtman G., Żekało M. (2011). Wyniki ekonomiczne wybranych ekologicz-
nych produktów rolniczych w latach 2005-2009, Warszawa.
Oleński, J. (2000). Elementy ekonomiki informacji. Podstawy ekonomiczne
informatyki gospodarczej, Katedra Informatyki Gospodarczej i Analiz Eko-
nomicznych UW, Warszawa.
Radkowska I. (2009). Wpływ pastwiskowego systemu utrzymania na dobro-
stan krów mlecznych.
Röling N. G., Engel P. G. H. (1991). IT from a Knowledge System Perspective:
Concepts and Issues, Wageningen.
Starzyk E., Juszczyk M., Kozik R. (2007). Analiza strategiczna
przedsiębiorstwa budowlanego, Kraków.
Tyburski J. (2007). Wprowadzenie do rolnictwa ekologicznego, Wydawnict-
wo SGGW, Warszawa.
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Żukowski K. (2009). Przyczyny wysokiego stopnia brakowania krów mlecz-
nych, Wiadomości Zootechniczne.
151
Klaus Wagner
Federal Institute of Agricultural Economics, Marxergasse 2, A-1030 Vienna, Austria
klaus.wagner@awi.bmlfuw.gv.at
Chapter 9
Knowledge transfer and innovation
network on the example
of the EU-project TECH.FOOD
Abstract: The project “Tech.Food - Solutions and interventions for the techno-
logical transfer and the innovation of the agro-food sector in South East regi-
ons” was running in the framework of the EU-South East Europe Transnatio-
nal Cooperation Programme, financed by the European Regional Development
Fund (ERDF). It aimed at setting up a transnational network for building links
among enterprises and research bodies of a wide area. It represented an oppor-
tunity to improve the partner’s institutional capacity to be effective in promoting
innovation. The direct involvement of enterprises represented transnationality,
concurring to create innovation and internationalization opportunities to local
productive systems. Partners of eight countries under coordination of an Italian
lead partner implemented the project ideas of elaborating regional profiles of
needs and weaknesses concerning research, development and innovation of the
agro-food sector. Transnational networks, technological transfer nodes, technical
focus groups as well as best-experience data base and tool development for rai-
sing the innovation potential should contribute to the project aims.
Keywords: knowledge transfer, innovation, food technology

152
Klaus Wagner Introduction
The agro-food industry is one of the main sectors of the South East Europe
(SEE) economy in terms of turnover, number of SMEs and employees. The
ERDF South East Europe project “Tech.Food - Solutions and interventions for
the technological transfer and the innovation of the agro-food sector in South
East regions” arose from the needs of the sector, aimed to define common
strategies, tools and opportunities to support research, technological develop-
ment and innovation of food enterprises, It was coordinated from the Province
of Modena, Italy. 13 partners from Italy, Austria, Greece, Romania, Hungary,
Croatia and Serbia with an economic, agricultural, food technology and inno-
vation consulting background created networks of information exchange on
national and international level, among enterprises, experts, researchers and
administration. The project ran from 2009 to 2012; detailed information is
available on www.techfoodproject.eu.
The main objective was to support and improve the competitiveness of agro-
food enterprises of the partner countries, in line with the strategic objectives
of the Lisbon process. The concrete aim was to improve products quality and
to implement processes and services more efficient and sustainable. The pro-
ject realisation should contribute to renew consumers’ confidence by allowing
a more mature perception of products quality and an increased awareness of
a high technological food production and should provide sector operators with
new methodological and technical-scientific tools to improve competitiveness
and security of food production and should ensure better monitoring of the
technological research and support to innovation activities.
Methods
In order to develop an exchange of knowledge among the partnership a funda-
mental analysis of the innovation needs and potentials of each of the involved
regions has been elaborated. It was implemented through a study of the agro-
food sector for each participating region (regional profiles and case studies)
and was carried out by a mutual interaction among the stakeholders. It descri-
bed the agro-food vocations, the technological characterization of food pro-
ductive systems, and paid particular attention to traditional food chains. The
studies lead to address further project activities and strategic choices of public
and private actors promoting innovation in the food sector.
The creation of a “Transnational Horizontal Network” (THN) provided

a support system on technical, scientific, institutional and economic aspects
linked to innovation in the South East Europe agro-food sector. THN included
seven Technical Working Groups on different fields of agro-food innovation.
Poly-functional Technological Transfer Nodes (TTNs) in each region

strengthened existing facilities and services to innovation (research bodies,
SMEs desks, etc.), and supported local initiatives, involving enterprises with 153
seminars and focus group discussions.
Knowledge transfer and innovation network on the example of the EU-project TECH.FOOD
An Innovation Toolbox aimed at identifying tools able to foster innovation.
Analytical tools were developed and implemented via training seminars to im-
prove awareness on innovation needs, while intervention tools were addressed
in order to promote the application of best methodologies for innovation and
knowledge management.
Functional links among enterprises and research bodies in different regions

in order to generate common projects and to develop common business con-
nections have been realised with thematic Focus Groups. An Example of
Excellence Database shows recent developments of innovative projects in
partner regions and Innovation Roadmaps contain specific indications for
the implementation of innovation processes in the food sector.
Technical Innovation tools Example of

working groups development excellence
Regional profiles
(national, (international, researchers, database
researchers) management consulting) (international)
Technical Innovation training Improvement of

seminars seminars innovation potential,
(national, researchsers, (national, management transnational
enterprises) consulting, enterprises) innovation projects
Local focus Technical focus

groups Innovation
groups roadmaps
(national, researchers, (international,
researchers, enterprises) (international)
enterprises)
Figure 1. TECH.FOOD project approach, implementing a knowledge flow

Source: TECH.FOOD (2012), adapted.
Regional Profiles, needs and potentials

Regional profiles were elaborated for Italy (Emilia Romagna), Croatia (Istria),
Serbia, Greece (Attica), Romania (South Muntenia), Hungary (Central Hunga-
ry), and Austria (Upper Austria). They contained an analysis of the agro-food
sector including education and research structures, policies and programmes,
innovation support structures, a SWOT analysis, innovation needs and per-
spectives, trends and case studies. The results showed the discrepancies bet-
ween the level of research results produced and the innovation index, espe-
cially between old and new EU Member States. The cause of such differences
lies in the inputs which make a country more innovative, though sometimes
the increase of mere inputs does not mean that a country will become more in-
154 novative. For example, Hungary, Istria County in Croatia and Serbia show an
insufficient development of research and innovation activities, as confirmed
Klaus Wagner
also by the enterprises needs expressed through the questionnaires.
The profiles stated that the industrial Research & Development sector is weak
and that companies have low technology capabilities. Developed countries
employ the vast majority of their researchers while this is not true for other
countries and at the same time only a low percentage of researchers work in
the business sector, compared to the EU average. In addition, it is possible
to introduce some considerations valid also for all the other TECH.FOOD
partners, for example the fact that research and innovation activities for many
companies are justified as a way to increase or retain market share and the
product range expansion.
The most important goals of innovation activities are:

• lowering the production costs;
• new technology/equipment implementation;
• labour costs cuts;
• product quality, working conditions improvements and a better work orga-
nization.
The limiting factors of innovative activities are primarily:

• low innovative potential of the enterprise;
• insufficient qualifications (i.e. lack of employees' training);
• insufficient companies buyer attitude for accepting new products;
• uncertainty of the timetable for the realisation of innovation.
It is to consider that an enterprise board’s vision is necessary to stimulate the

enterprises propensity towards innovation activity, as well as the growth of
the research and development competences, but also to improve structures for
internal research.
In some countries, there are great efforts directed toward creation of business
networks, such as clusters, which should contribute to increase of competi-
tiveness especially of small and middle companies. These types of networ-
king companies’ organisations are of a great importance because all operators
along food supply chains, regardless if they have regional, national or global
scope, can benefit from common actions, such for example a common ap-
proach towards food safety and quality. Improved networking is essential for
positioning a supply chain’s product in highly competitive markets and ensu-
ring consumer protection in already globalised food markets.
One of the main goals of the food sector should be the creation of a productive
structure system, such as industrial districts, that involve many of specialised
and independent small and medium-sized businesses, concentrated in specific 155
areas and operating in the same sector, either collaborating or competing. The
districts are characterised by a strong vertical integration along the value chain
and they grew in the past around some localized industrial segments. Such
industrial districts have contributed to the socio-economic development of
many regions in terms of widespread wealth and employment and the ability
to compete at the international level, generating a considerable international
openness of the economy. These regions now boast strong industrial speciali-
sation throughout the production chain, in many cases located in specific areas
where companies found their excellence on a system of knowledge based on
local expertise. The main features of the district system are its flexibility and
adaptability of the changes of the market.
Nodes and networks

In order to promote networking, innovation and technology transfer in eve-
ry partner country a so called “regional technological transfer manager” was
nominated as local node who cared for the establishment and coordination of
Technical Working Groups (TWG), related in particular 7 issues to innovation
in the agro-food sector:
• Tracking, tracing and monitoring of the goods handling;
• Traditional and organic productions;
• Packaging technologies;
• Functional foods;
• Goods logistics;
• ICT and innovative marketing solutions;
• By products managements and energy production.
In the end a network of 34 researchers in 7 different countries was involved,

with the aim of fostering applied research to business needs. The researchers
presented and discussed in technical seminars and elaborated working papers
for example: “New technologies for decontamination of food”, “Systems of
traceability”, “The Common Agricultural Policy in the function of organic
production”, “Increasing marketing possibilities of traditional and regional
meat products”, “Herbs as modern food”, “Packaging for the generation 60+”,
“Nano-biotechnology as a tool for functional food formulations”, “Energy
self-sufficient food processing factories” and others.
These various research aspects were the background for discussions with
more enterprises oriented presentations and discussions in national “local fo-
cus groups” and on international level in “technical focus groups”, organised
by “transnational technological transfer managers”. Enterprises were invited
and had the chance for information and national and international networking
too. In this way a lot of information material and possibilities were created
156 with the aim to mitigate the lack of a common language that usually exists
between institutions, research organizations and enterprises.
Klaus Wagner
Innovation tools and its implementation

Another aspect of the innovation process was the creation and application of
various analytical and interventional innovation tools to improve innovation
performances of food enterprises, institutions and research bodies. The tools
are available for free from the web page www.techfoodproject.eu. Analyti-
cal tools consist in new generation methodological instruments aiming at im-
proving awareness on innovation needs, also in order to optimize the further
methodologies of intervention. For this purpose, enterprises may detect their
innovation needs and potentials, while institutions and research bodies could
enable these subjects to evaluate the effectiveness of past regional innovation
policies. Intervention tools are mostly addressed to the application of best
methodologies for innovation and knowledge management and have the goal
to improve the public and private actors in the agro-food sector.
“Innovada“ is a start-up program that provides a path in 4 stages (full immer-

sion training day) to meet the needs of start-up with national and international
consulting, high profile workshops and thematic business meetings.
“Modena Innova“ is a local initiative that provides free advice of experts aimed
at companies in the manufacturing, production services, energy, construction,
commerce, tourism, food and public services.
A “Catalogue of Research” was developed to facilitate small and medium

enterprises to have adequate support in the search for products and services in
six thematic platforms.
“Knowledge Economy” shows the economic knowledge as a key element for

the competitiveness of enterprises and the actual transformation of public ad-
ministration.
The “relational Swot analysis – questionnaire” provides exhaustive informati-

on on how to use SWOT analysis through a clear description of objectives and
a standard questionnaire to support stakeholders.
“Innovation Budgeting” aims at identifying specific budget maximizing stra-

tegies.
“Innovation Process Management” provides suggestions and explanations on

how to innovate, given some of the cornerstones of quality as described alrea-
dy in the Deming Cycle (Arveson, 1998).
The “Strategic Planning” describes the first scanning of the internal and ex- 157
ternal environment with SWOT analysis as an analytical tool, then an internal
and external analysis, the way to define strategies and innovation budgeting
as an intervention tool.
The “Fit For Innovation - Self Assessment Test” is an analytical and interven-
tion tool developed by CATT & Johannes Kepler University that has the focus
on 5 topics for self assessment of enterprises.
A “Quick Competence Test” enables SME and R&D-organizations to evaluate

their innovation ideas under the “big picture view”. Every participating orga-
nization will get an individual competence-check about strength, weaknesses
and interfaces for topics like targets, conditions, processes and outputs of their
enterprise.
Training activities with these tools have been conducted in all partner regions
in the course of the TECH.FOOD project.
Examples of excellence
The database of excellence examples provides activities and projects showing
innovative solutions in organisation, management, co-operation, production,
product development and marketing with the aim to disseminate technolo-
gical knowledge and to facilitate competences flows and business relations.
The free access database on the TECH.FOOD web page contains more than
120 most interesting and innovative recent examples of TECH.FOOD partner
countries with type, sector, innovation topic characteristics, a short descripti-
on and contact details. For example an Austrian Mountainherb-association is
described as well as the food cluster Upper Austria which is a platform of re-
search, science and enterprises to exchange their knowledge and needs. Other
examples are the Italian research centre on animal production, the Italian mar-
keting organisation Research to Business, the consortium Parmiagiano-Reg-
giano, the Serbian traditional meat production Zlatiborac and the Istrian Agro
Cooperative Centre which concentrates on marketing and logistics for organic
vegetables and fruits of Istria. The Hungarian Kalle enterprise concentrates on
research of packaging materials and systems. The Greek lipid forum conducts
research on lipids and oils and brings together all Greek scientists and enter-
prises on this topic. Some Romanian activities concentrate on research and
marketing concerning pig and pork production as fully integrated processes.
Raising of the innovation potential and project experience

The TECH.FOOD project had the main objective to create a network of scien-
tists, researchers, institutions and enterprises. The flow of data is now availa-
ble for all the enterprises. Obviously it is of great interest for the small and
medium ones that usually are not able to support large projects of research.
158 The project has been in fact developed with a large contribution of SMEs in-
volved in the field of research and agro-food production.
Klaus Wagner
More than 100 events and initiatives – at local and international level - have
been organized; expert working groups produced and disseminated a flow
of information on traditional food productions, regional and typical behaviour
of food industries but also on the state of application of the food laws and
principles and requirements in different EU-regions.
The network of competences is now accessible to all stakeholders involved

in the food production and consumption facilitating the exploitation of results
in the field of food safety and quality. It can be an overall basis of an interna-
tional platform on food research developing the different themes.
The innovation process must be intended like a mutual interaction between

stakeholders (enterprises, institutions, research), the so called triple helix sy-
stem (Etzkowitz, Ranga, 2011). To be effective it is fundamental to tackle the
disabling weakness of the process: creativity in developing innovation and
capability to share the knowledge.
The experience of the TECH.FOOD process showed that large enterprises

often use own innovation structures and networks for national and internati-
onal interactions. SMEs often struggle with a lack of time and human resour-
ces to concentrate on innovation processes. In small enterprises the everyday
work-life ties up most of the resources. They need well adapted support which
provides them with long term perspectives. But very essential is a short term
success to give the financial base for economic survival and to motivate them
for investing in innovation.
Literature
Arveson P. (1998). The Deming Cycle, http://www.balancedscorecard.org/
thedemingcycle/tabid/112/default.aspx [3.7.2012]
Etzkowitz H. and Ranga M. (2011). “Spaces”: A Triple Helix Governance
Strategy for Regional Innovation’, In: Rickne A., Laestadius and H. Etzko-
witz (eds), Regional innovation systems: The Swedish experience of policy,
governance and knowledge dynamics, Routledge.
TECH.FOOD. (2012). Final publication (project report), www.techfoodpro-
ject.eu
159
Krzysztof Hryszko
hryszko@ierigz.waw.pl
Chapter 10
Evolution of state policy on GMOs
and its impact on the potential
of rural areas in Poland
Abstract: In the last dozen years or so the world experienced a dynamic growth
in cultivations of genetically modified plants. Agricultural producers, achieving
measurable economic benefits, have developed the production of genetically modi-
fied plants to an increasingly great scale. The number of supporters of the GMOs
use has been increasing systematically, not only among farmers noting the potential
to improve income owing to this technology, but also among politicians noting the
chances for agriculture to contribute to providing solutions to basic problems of the
world today, e.g.: ensuring food and energy safety. Genetically modified food and
food produced with the use of raw materials obtained from GMO plants has become
a permanent element of our diet and forms an increasing part of food consumed to-
day. Currently, it is difficult to produce poultry and pig meat, in particular in Europe
and other highly-developed countries, without feed containing genetically modified
soy. The list of highly processed food products has been expanding quickly and the
number of opponents of releasing genetically modified organisms into the envi-
ronment has been on the raise. Social concern about unknown, long-term effects
of unnatural genetic manipulations on natural environment and consumer health
has been growing, though so far, despite numerous tests, no significant evidence
of their negative impact on human and animal health was found. For several years,
Poland has been one of the opponents of using modified plants and has been trying,
by means of national legal provisions, to prevent from using this technology both
in agriculture and food processing, which makes the respective provisions of acts
on feedstuff and the act on seed contradictory to the EU legislation.
This article provides a revision of evolution of views on GMO, current legal state
in the European Union and Poland as well as proposed changes in this regard.
160 Development of genetically modified plants production in the world was also ana-
lysed, both in terms of species cultivated and countries using them in agricultu-
Krzysztof Hryszko
ral production. Selected economic and social effects, a given state policy may
have on the current and future potential of rural areas in Poland, were presented
against this background.
In 2011, genetically modified plants were cultivated within the area of 160 mil-
lion ha, and the number of countries in which their use was permitted increased
to 29. Average annual pace of increase as regards these cultivations since 1996,
i.e. when commodity production with the use of modified plants was first launched,
reached over 35%, i.e. ca. 10 million ha. In this period a total of 1.25 billion ha
was subject to cultivation with the number of farmers involved in non-conventi-
onal production exceeding 110 million. According to estimations, global bene-
fits of using GM plants in cultivation reached nearly USD 10.8 billion in 2009,
and since 1996 they exceeded USD 64 billion in total. Under Polish conditions,
from the point of view of economic aspects the problem of whether to use GMOs
in field crops or not, is considerably insignificant, yet political decisions on possi-
ble prohibition of marketing of GMO products, especially including protein feed
components, may have negative impact on farmers involved in commodity animal
production (poultry and pig livestock, to a lesser extent bovine animals).
Keywords: Biotechnology, GMO, biodiversity, agricultural policy
Introduction
Development of research and use of genetically modified plants – GMOs,
in agricultural production made biotechnology become an important part of
the world agri-food economy in recent years, affecting not only the purely
agricultural or processing area, but also more and more often fulfilling the role
of political and social game. Conflict between the supporters and opponents of
using GMOs has been increasing, resulting in even more evident global gap
between countries using new technologies in cultivations (North and South
America, Asia) and countries where the concern and social opposition in this
regard (Europe) has been growing. The main benefits of cultivating GMOs
include: improvement of profitability and effectiveness as regards carrying
out agricultural activity, limitation of negative impact of natural fertilisers and
plant protection products on the natural environment, improvement of energy
supply self-sufficiency and security, limitation of CO2 emissions and conse-
quently counteracting the effects of global warming. On the other hand, there
is still no long-term research guaranteeing environmental and health safety
of using plants and products containing GMOs, the impact of these cultiva-
tions on biological biodiversity, issues of co-existence of crops using modified
seed with conventional farming, in particular organic. Role of global seed
companies and producers of plant protection products as well as their patent
ownership remains a serious problem, which makes it necessary for farmers to
purchase these means from specific producers. As a result of these issues Eu-
ropean Union policy has recently become less strict. The EU considers legal
changes allowing Members States to introduce potential prohibitions on GMO 161
crops within certain areas of states.
Evolution of state policy on GMOs and its impact on the potential of rural areas in Poland
Global development of GMO crops
Commodity plant cultivation with the use of genetically modified seed was
initiated in 1996. The first countries to apply the new production technology
included the USA, Argentina, Canada, China, Australia and Mexico, and the
initial sown area reached ca. 2 million ha (James, 2011). Confirmation of so-
cio-economic and environmental benefits of GM plants cultivation (Brookes,
Barfoot 2011) resulted in dynamic growth of farmers’ interest in such cultiva-
tions throughout the subsequent 15 years. In 2001, genetically modified plants
were cultivated within the area of 160 million ha, and the number of countries
allowing their use increased to 29. Average annual pace of increase (Luderer,
Nollau, Vetters, 2009) of these cultivations between 1996 and 2011 was over
35%, i.e. ca. 10 million ha. In total, 1.25 billon ha was allocated for cultiva-
tion in that period, with the number of farmers involved in non-conventional
production exceeding 110 million. Inasmuch as in the first period of GM plant
production growth the technology was reserved mainly for highly developed
countries (ca. 80% of crops), in the subsequent years the sown area increa-
sed faster in developing countries, and in 2011 the share of these two coun-
try groups became equal. In developing countries, these are the small farms
that benefit from technological progress in the majority of cases. There farms,
for the reason of relatively lower labour costs, are not only able to satisfy to
a greater extent the basic food needs, but often to sell a part of harvest, which
contributes to the improvement of economic situation. The share of arable
land intended for GM plants cultivation currently exceeds over 10% of world
land resources.
In 2011, 172 genetic modifications, covering 22 plant species, were approved

for cultivation worldwide. Despite the decreased significance of soy in GM
cultivations in recent years, it has remained the dominating species in crop
structure with a 47% share. The role of maize (32%), cotton (15%) and rape
(5%) has been increasing systematically. Gene modification is meant to give
plants characteristics desired by man, i.e. increased tolerance for herbicides,
insects and diseases, resistance to adverse environmental conditions or impro-
vement of qualitative characteristics (taste, smell, shape). Ornamental plants
are also subject to modifications. They become more durable and have more
intensive colour. In majority, cultivations use varieties with transformation
making plants resistant to herbicides (59% of crops), followed by resistance
to insects (15%) and two- or three-level modifications (26%).
The main agricultural producers using GM seed in cultivations include the

USA, Brazil and Argentina. In 2001, their share in world GMO crops rea-
ched 77%; these crops are dominated by soy, maize and cotton. GMO has
the greatest importance for agriculture in Argentina, where its share in total
162 crop structure stands at 70%. In the other two countries the percentage fluc-
tuates around 50%. Adoption percentage in the case of the most important
Krzysztof Hryszko
plants in the respective countries varies. Over 90% of soy crops in the USA
and Argentina and 70% in Brazil cover GM varieties. In Argentina the GM
varieties also dominate maize crops, and in the USA this share exceeds 85%.
Legal conditions and social reluctance (in majority outside agriculture) has
prevented the development of plant production with the use of modified seed
on a considerable scale in the EU MSs. In recent years it has ranged from 80
to 110 thousand ha, unexpectedly exceeding the level of 114.5 thousand ha in
2011, i.e. by 25% than in the previous year. In the European Union only two
GM varieties are approved – maize and potato, yet nearly all crops cover mai-
ze (in 2011, modified potatoes were used only within 17 ha). Among all the
MSs, GMO crops were noted in 6 (Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic, Poland,
Slovakia and Romania), and Spain has for years been the leader with an 85%
share in sown area.
200
State 2000 2009 2010 2011
y = 10,198x - 8,0625 USA 30.3 64.0 66.8 69.0
148 160
160
2
R = 0,9944 134 Brazil - 21.4 25.4 30.3
125
114 Argentina 10.0 21.3 22.9 23.7
120 102 India - 8.4 9.4 10.6
90
81
Canada 3.0 8.2 8.8 10.4
80 59 68
40 44 53 China 0.5 3.7 3.5 3.9
28 Paraguay - 2.2 2.6 2.8
40 11
2 Pakistan - - 2.4 2.6
0
South 0.2 2.1 2.2 2.3
Africa
'96 '97 '98 '99 '00 '01 '02 '03 '04 '05 '06 '07 '08 '09 '10 '11
Uruguay <0.1 0.8 1.1 1.3
Total 44.2 134.0 148.0 160.0
Figure 1. World area of crops and main producers of GM plants (million ha)
Source: James C. 2001-2010: Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops; no. 21,
39 and 43, ISAAA.
Polish experience with cultivation of GM plants is relatively small. Commer-

cial crops of maize resistant to Ostrinia nubilalis were launched in 2007 with
the crop area of 327 ha. The area increased in subsequent years to 3 thousand
ha1, yet due to the lack of appropriate legal regulations this volume is not re-
gistered in any way and bases on estimations of trade organisations and seed
companies. Due to the prohibition on entering GMO varieties in the national
register of cultivated plant varieties there is also no control of the manner and
volume of seed material obtained by farmers.
Legal aspects of GMO in the European Union and Poland

The way GMO issues are put in the legal framework varies from one country
or country group to another. In general, three basic approaches may be identi-
fied: sectoral (vertical), horizontal and mixed (Erechemla, 2006). The sectoral
1
Annual monitoring report on the cultivation of MON 810 in 2010 Czech Republic, Poland, Portugal,
Romania, Slovakia, and Spain, Monsanto Europe S.A., July 2011.
approach is based on the assumption that GMOs are perceived as any other 163
element of a given product and as such are subject to existing regulations
on the whole product as part of legal schemes on food, plant protection, etc.
In practice it means that the use of the same modified organism may be in-
terpreted differently, thus a certain comprehensiveness of control is lacking.
Such an approach is preferred e.g. in the USA. On the other hand, horizontal
approach recognises GMO as a whole, irrespective of their use, and regulati-
ons of this kind are used in the EU legislation and that of respective Member
States. However, they do not exclude effective sectoral regulations, which
often have fundamental meaning for GMO functioning in a given state.
GMO-related issues are, in a way, also regulated by international acts. This

includes the Convention on Diversity of 1992 (ratified by Poland in 19952)
and the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (ratified by Poland in 20033). The
purpose of the convention is “conservation of biological diversity, the sustai-
nable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits
arising out of the utilization of genetic resources, including by appropriate
access to genetic resources and by appropriate transfer of relevant technolo-
gies, taking into account all rights over those resources and to technologies,
and by appropriate funding”. Meanwhile, the protocol specifies the rules and
procedures regarding safe transfer (in particular cross-border movement of
organisms), provision and use of living modified organisms which may have
negative impact on maintenance and sustainable use of biological diversity,
taking into account the threat to human health.
Controversies related to cultivation and use of GM plants made the legal regu-
lations focus mainly on assurance of tight control of the whole process of cre-
ating new plants and their products, beginning from laboratory works through
the possibility of their transition to finished products on shelves with relevant
labelling.
The field of GMOs has been regulated quite thoroughly in the EU legislation4
(Dzwonkowski, Hryszko, 2011). The rules of conduct as part of closed use of
genetically modified organisms and deliberate GMO release into the environ-
ment were first established in 1990. In the years to come, the provisions were
2
Drawn up in Rio de Janeiro on 5 June 1992 (OJ No 184, item 1532 of 6 November 2002).
3
Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Diversity, drawn up in Montreal on 29 January
2000 (OJ No 216, item 2201 of 4 October 2004).
4
GMO-related issues are, in a way, also regulated by international acts. This includes the Convention on
Diversity of 1992 (ratified by Poland in 1995, OJ No 182, item 1532 of 6 November 2002) and Cartagena
Protocol on Biosafety signed as part thereof (ratified by Poland in 2003, OJ No 216, item 2201 of 4 October
2004). The purpose of the convention is “conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its com-
ponents and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources,
including by appropriate access to genetic resources and by appropriate transfer of relevant technologies, tak-
ing into account all rights over those resources and to technologies, and by appropriate funding”. Meanwhile,
the protocol specifies the rules and procedures regarding safe transfer (in particular cross-border transfer of
organisms), provision and use of living modified organisms which may have negative impact on maintenance
and sustainable use of biological diversity, taking into account threat to human health.
164 supplemented and amended, and the currently applicable ones are those of
2001 and 2009. Conditions for carrying out laboratory tests were strictly de-
Krzysztof Hryszko
fined in the Directive of European Parliament and of the Council 2009/41/EC

of 6 May 2009 on the contained use of genetically modified micro-organisms5,
while issues of marketing GM products and the release of GMO into the envi-
ronment were regulated in the Directive of the European Parliament and of the
Council 2001/18/EC of 12 March 2001 on the deliberate release into the envi-
ronment of genetically modified organisms6. The latter Directive was amended
in 2003 by two Regulations of the European parliament and of the Council:
No 1829/2003 of 15 July 2003 on genetically modified food and feed7 and No
1830/2003 of 22 September 2003 concerning the traceability and labelling of
genetically modified organisms and the traceability of food and feed products
produced from genetically modified organisms8. The Regulations refer mainly
to the provisions on marketing of GM products. They extend and complement
the procedures related to control and granting consents to market foodstuffs
and feed as GMO or containing GMO. They also introduce a new labelling
system. The EU legal scheme regulating the GMO issues is also composed
of the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council No 1945 of
15 July 2003 on transboundary movements of genetically modified organis-
ms9. Common position on the co-existence of GMO crops with other crops is
still lacking. The Commission only issued recommendations for the develop-
ment of national strategies in this regard10. Putting GMO in legal framework
in the European Union is therefore largely horizontal and perceives GMO
as a whole, irrespective of the manner of using the plants, seed or products.
However, it does not exclude the application of sectoral regulations, which
are still exceptional. The provisions on GMO referring to specific branches of
the economy can be found e.g. in the Regulation of the European Parliament
and of the Council No 258/97/EC of 27 January 1997 concerning novel foods
and novel food ingredients11, or in the seed and forest law.
One of the effects of Poland’s accession to the European Union was the ne-
cessity to adjust national legal provisions to Community regulations and to
assume the rule of primacy of the European Union law over the relevant provi-
sions of national legislation. This basic rule is, however, often broken, and in
many cases the provisions of national legal acts are in conflict with the direc-
tives and regulations of the relevant EU authorities, which in turn leads to the
necessity to decide cases before the Court of Justice of the European Union
5
OJ L 125/75, 21/05/2009.
6
OJ L 106, 17/04/2001, pp. 0001 – 0039.
7
OJ L 268, 18/10/2003, pp. 0001 – 0023.
8
OJ L 268, 18/10/2003, pp. 0024 – 0028.
9
OJ L 287, 05/11/2003, pp. 0001 – 0010.
10
Commission Recommendation on guidelines for the development of national strategies and best practices
to ensure the coexistence of genetically modified crops with conventional and organic forming. Brussels,
23 July 2003.
11
OJ L 043, 14/02/1997, pp. 0001 – 0006.
and expose Poland to possible financial penalties. Legal acts relating directly 165
or indirectly to issues pertaining to the use of GM plants provide example of
such divergences of recent years.
Polish legal provisions regulating the rules of conduct as regards GMOs date
back to the 1980's, when partial provisions on their controlled use were intro-
duced, but only in 1997 it was necessary to obtain consents for field tests. The
issues of GMOs were regulated comprehensively in 2001 with the subsequent
stages of national law harmonisation with Community law. The act on geneti-
cally modified organisms12 systematised the closed use, deliberate release, mar-
keting, exporting and transit of GMOs as well as tasks of governmental admini-
stration bodies. The act was accompanied by five implementing acts, elaborating
on the tasks resulting from the act (Dzwonkowski, Hryszko, 2011). Pursuant to
the act, the body responsible for GMOs in Poland, in the scope of closed use and
deliberate release, shall be the Ministry of the Environment, while the procedure
of marketing GMO products is uniform in all Member States and adopted by
voting at the Commission (by qualified majority of votes). Product allowed to
be marketed pursuant to application of a given state is simultaneously allowed
to be marketed within the whole EU. Decisions are issued for the period not
exceeding 10 years. Contrary to legal framework applicable in the EU, sectoral
acts in Poland have fundamental meaning for the functioning of GMO. Pursu-
ant to the position of the government of 200813, Poland strives after obtaining
a status of non-GMO state, i.e. one that prohibits cultivation, marketing and
releasing into the environment for experimental reasons. Only laboratory works
are supported. In order to implement these premises, the sectoral laws (feed-
stuffs14 and seed laws15) introduce provisions allowing the production, marke-
ting and use in animal feeding feedstuffs containing GM seed and possibili-
ty to enter GM plants in the national register of cultivated plant varieties and
marketing of seed material were prohibited. Even though by the end of 2012
moratorium on the application of provisions of the act on feedstuffs will be in
force and import of GMO feed is allowed, both acts, in their disputable parts,
are noncompliant with Community case-law. Currently, three proceedings are
pending before the Court of Justice. Next to the seed16 and feed acts, the Com-
mission expressed reservations as to the incomplete implementation of direc-
tives on the contained use of genetically modified micro-organisms - Directive
2009/41/EC (Kraińska, 2012). The Polish government, in its attempt to align
Polish vision of non-GMO country to the EU provisions, carries out legislation
works on amendment of problematic provisions of the acts. In 2011, the act
on seed was amended by allowing the possibility to enter GM varieties in the
12
Dz.U. of 2007, no. 36, item. 233.
Document adopted by the Council of Ministers on 18 November 2008 (http://gmo.mos.gov.pl/pobierz/
13
GMO_RAMOWE_STANOWISKO_POLSKI.pdf).
14
Act of 22 July 2006 on feedstuffs (Dz.U. 2006, no. 144, item 1045), as amended.
15
Act on seed of 26 June 2003 (Dz.U. 2007, no. 41, item 271), as amended.
16
The judgement was made on 17 July 2009 (Case c-165/08). The Commission awaits the implementation
of the new law.
166 catalogue of cultivated plants, yet also the prohibition on purchase and sale of
GM seed was introduced. The act therefore remains non-compliant with the EU
Krzysztof Hryszko
legislation, which provided basis for a veto by the President of the Republic of
Poland. Works on a draft new basic law regulating the entirety of GMO-related
issues have been carried out for several years. Without it and in the current state,
national legislation is mainly leaky and the number of institutions supervising
and controlling the observance of law results in the fact that in practice GMO is
used on uncontrolled basis. Proposals made for the new law, in compliance with
the position of the government, strive to eliminate GMO plants and product use
in Poland by way of introducing a ban on crops and marketing of genetically
modified organisms. If such provisions were adopted, it would result in further
conflict with the EU legislation.
However, the EU legislation contains a number of provisions allowing for

certain limitation of allowing for GMO use or marketing without the necessity
to introduce conflicting solutions. Directive 2001/18/EC allows for two cases
(Article 23 and 26a), where limitations in this regard may be introduced. The
first results from the safeguard clause, allowing a given state to provisionally
restrict or prohibit the use and sale of GMO, as a result of presenting the most
complete risk assessment possible to obtain in a given case, pointing to the
negative impact of a given GMO on human health or the natural environment.
Another article of this Directive allows Member States to introduce measures
to prevent unintended GMO occurrence in other products. It is also possible
for Poland, pursuant to the judgment of the General Court17, to introduce a ban
on GMO plants cultivation outside areas designated by the minister of agricul-
ture. The law also allows for provisional suspension of use of food or its GMO
ingredient pursuant to the Novel Food Regulation (Article 12). Though there
exist real chances for limitation of GMO occurrence in accordance with the
legislation, they have not been taken advantage of yet in Poland.
Discussion is also currently held on the European forum on the future of

GMO. It focuses on amending the Directive 2001/18/EC and allowing Mem-
ber States’ legal independence when deciding on GMO crops on other grounds
that those based on risk assessment for health and environmental risk. Ag-
reement is currently hindered by several states (including France, Germany,
Great Britain, Spain and Belgium), which justify their opposition by “frag-
mentation” of internal European Union market. It is worth underlining that the
new provisions may again form an argument between the EU and world GMO
potentates on the WTO forum.
GMO versus the development of rural areas

Attempt to make Poland a non-GMO state often results from the impact
of political and economic interest groups, while the most important opinion
is passed over, i.e. that of farmers, food producers and consumers. Outcomes
17
Judgement of the Court of 9 December 2010 – Poland vs. Commission (Case T-69/08).
of ban or approval of the new technology use should also be examined in a wi- 167
der perspective, in economic, social and cultural aspects as well as impact on
the natural environment. Biotechnology has significant impact on these areas
by modifying the current model of agriculture and the area of social relations
in rural areas.
In the era of globalisation and permanent competition, GMO has primarily

economic significance. According to estimations, in 2009 the global benefits
following from GM plants use in cultivation reached nearly USD 10.8 billi-
on, and since 1996 they exceeded USD 64 billion in total (Brookes, Barfoot,
2011). The greatest benefits in the whole period were produced by cultivations
of modified soy, where income increased by 39%, followed by cotton (30%)
and maize with a 26% share. However in recent years, the significance of soy
has been decreasing to the benefit of other plants, which are often already mo-
dified on two levels and which generate greater income growth. In 2009, on
average, the new technology contributed to the increase of farmers’ income by
5.8%, with considerable variation of the respective species. The greatest bene-
fits were produced by pest resistant cotton crops (income growth by 13.3%),
rape with herbicide tolerance (by 7.1%) and pest resistant maize (by 5.7%).
Slight economic benefits were produced by cultivation of GM plants of other
species.
Benefits of using GM plants for Polish farmers would now only concern mai-
ze under reference no. MON810, which demonstrates features of resistance
to Lepidoptera insects (e.g. Ostrinia nubilalis). This pest poses serious thre-
at to size and quality of maize harvest in Poland, in particular grain maize
(Bereś, 2011), and the area of its cultivation covers 14 voivodeships (except
for Pomorskie and Kujawsko-Pomorskie). It is most often found in the South
of Poland, where plant damages may reach 40-60% of crops, and in extreme
cases even up to 80-100%. Conventional methods of eliminating this pest are
comprehensive and combine chemical and biological measures with preventi-
on measures, but often fail to bring the desired results. Consequently, farmers
have become increasingly interested in cultivation of genetically modified
plants. According to research carried out by a seed company between 2005
and 2006 within three voivodeships - Małopolskie, Podkarpackie and Lu-
belskie (Bereś, Gabarkiewicz, 2008), GM maize varieties demonstrated high
resistance to pests, and its effectiveness ranged from 97.9 to 100%. Field re-
search results provided basis for simulation of calculation of direct surplus in
field cultivation of GM maize in Poland (Brookes, 2007). From the economic
point of view, the greatest benefits of these crops would be produced within
the areas of Poland with high pest presence, where the increase of harvest by
nearly 1/4 would cover, with large surplus (up to 78%) the increase of produc-
tion costs of necessary purchase of more expensive seed. In voivodeships of
the North, farmers would, however, obtain lower direct surplus (up to 18%)
as compared to conventional crops. Research of other EU Member States de-
monstrates that average growth of the level of direct surplus between 1998
and 2006 was from 12% (Spain) to 22% (Portugal). In 2005, a simulation was
168 produced for Polish conditions as regards the use of also other GM plants resi-
stant to herbicides: rape, sugar beet and maize (Anioł, Brookes, 2005). In the
Krzysztof Hryszko
case of rape and sugar beet the possible harvest growth would be by 15-30%
and direct surplus would increase by 30-90%. Meanwhile, as regards maize
crops, both grain and silage maize, harvest growth should not be expected,
which in a slight percentage of farms may lead to deterioration of production
profitability as compared to conventional plants. Theoretical growth of value
added on the use of GM plants in Polish agriculture (with 65% adoption in
rape and sugar beet crops, 35% for maize resistant to herbicides and 10%
share for maize resistant to pests) could reach from 0.5 to 1.0% of the value
of agricultural production. Under the current legal scheme and use of maize
resistant to pests only the surplus may reach ca. EUR 3-4 million per annum
(Józwiak, 2012). The fundamental issue concerns, however, the possible cost
of co-existence of GMO crops with conventional and organic farming, as well
as who would incur those costs. This refers e.g. to the level of a farm (e.g.
necessity to maintain spatial isolation18), control of transport and processing
in feed plants as well as food production. Research reveals that in order to
maintain 0.9% threshold of quantification of GM content in products, average
food processing holding in the European Union would have to incur costs
from EUR 50 to 880 thousand per annum (Then, Stolze, 2009).
The issue of whether to use or not GMO in field crops is considerably insi-
gnificant in Poland from the point of view of economic aspects, yet political
decisions to possibly prohibit marketing of GMO products, in particular prote-
in feed components, may have negative effects for farmers carrying out com-
modity animal production (poultry and pig livestock, and bovine animals to
a lesser extent). Every year Poland imports 1.8 – 2.0 million tonnes of soya
bean meal, i.e. ca. 50% of national demand for protein meal. Replacing such
great quantities of GM raw materials for feed production with non-transgenic
plant varieties or other species of protein plants and raw materials of animal
origin, under current market conditions, would result in the increase of feed
production costs from the level of 3 to 10% (non-GMO soy) to 15-30% in
the case of use of other plants or fishmeal (Dzwonkowski, Hryszko, 2011;
Seremak-Bulge 2008). In the years to come, further growth of prices of non-
GMO soy as compared to modified soy should be expected. Current price
differences stand at ca. 20%, yet assuming that availability of non-GMO raw
materials on the international market will decrease, the differences may incre-
ase to 30-40%. Consequently, the ban on import of GM meal will have consi-
derable impact on deterioration of profitability of animal production and feed
processing in Poland and limitation of competitiveness of our products on the
Community market. According to IAFE-NRI (Józwiak, 2012) calculations,
18
According to Recommendations of the European Coexistence Bureau (ECoB) it should be from 15 to 50
m, which would allow obtaining the level of 0.9% of GMO content in food and conventional feed (threshold
quantification value). Limitation of the level of mixing crops to even lower levels (e.g. to the value of 0.1%
- considered the threshold of quantification) is possible with the application of even greater distance (from
100 to 500 m). According to research carried out in Spain (2002-2004) the cost of maintenance of such
buffer zones in maize cultivation would be EUR 84 per ha (Gómez-Barbero, Rodríguez-Cerezo 2006).
assuming that there would be a ban on import of GM soy bean meal between 169
1999 and 2009, income in agriculture would decrease in total by ca. PLN 6.8
billion, i.e. by the average of 5% per annum in the pre-accession period and
ca. 3% in the years to come.
Economic effects of possible maintenance of noncompliance of national law

with the EU legislation also brings certain social costs. Failing to observe the
judgements of the Court of Justice may result in financial sanctions imposed
on Poland to the amount from EUR 1.4 to 28.9 thousand daily in the case of
first noncompliance with the guidelines of the Court of Justice. If the decision
is evaded from again, the amount would increase to EUR 4.5-270.0 thousand
daily and the lump sum penalty (for Poland – minimum EUR 4.163 million).
In 2007, such a penalty was imposed e.g. on France for failing to enforce the
Directive of releasing GMOs. The Court of Justice decided on the amount of
penalty for each day of delay, which brought the amount due of over EUR 42
million.
State policy on GMOs fails to ensure basic rules on co-existence of GMO-

using crops and conventional and organic farming. Due to the lack of consent
to enter GM seed in the national register of cultivated plant varieties, farmers
willing to apply such technology have to buy it abroad, thus bringing about
uncontrolled release of GMO into the environment. Despite recommendations
of the Commission, provisions on the rules of possible co-existence are la-
cking as well. This may expose conventional and organic farming to consi-
derable financial losses related to the detection of GMO in products offered.
The problem of lack of knowledge of possible crop contamination also relates
to feed processing plants and food producers, since the farmer is not obliged
to inform of the origin of seed used in cultivation19. This also relates to the
problem of patent ownership of seed companies, since if such seed is used
without licence payments, the farmers may suffer financial consequences,
despite the lack of knowledge of their ownership (intervarietal cross-breeds
or contamination of seed material with GMO). This may lead to future social
conflicts in rural areas.
Inasmuch as economic issues usually speak in favour of the possibility to in-

crease production potential in agriculture, possible negative impact of new
technology is noted in respect of GMO impact on the environment and natural
potential of rural areas (Lisowska, Chorąży, 2010). Mixing GM plant genome
with conventional plants may lead to the production of uniform varieties, which
would result in limitation of biological diversity of a given area. Use of herbici-
de resistant plants (glyphosate) in cultivation is in principle intended to decrease
the consumption of the quantity of plant protection products and simplify agri-
cultural engineering. However, there is a risk that excessive use of one type of
herbicide may lead to immunisation of weed to these products and development
19
In 2009, Swedish company Lantmannen detected 3.9% share of modified seed in maize declared as GMO
free imported from Poland.
170 of the so-called superweed, and this will consequently require the increase or
substitution of products with more toxic ones and consequently not to the de-
Krzysztof Hryszko
crease but increase of chemicals-based approach to plan protection. Possible

negative impact of GMOs containing Bt gene on other insects and soil fauna
is also noted. Research to date fails to confirm the possibility of negative im-
pact on livestock fed with GMO feed (Brzóska, Świątkiewicz, 2011). However,
it seems that detection of such risks would require multiannual observations.
Conclusions
Genetically modified plants have quickly become part of the global agri-food
economy by arousing much controversy and discussions. Seed companies, in
order to retain their economic existence, strive after presenting their products
in the best possible light, while numerous social groups oppose to technical in-
terference in the natural environment. Between these groups there is a country
which should provide for rational use of the new technology without discrimi-
nating any of the parties through legal provisions. Many years of conflicts bet-
ween the respective interest groups in Poland lead to the application of legal
regulations which unfortunately fail, above all, to guarantee whether a given
product was produced with or without GMO ingredients. Willingness to make
Poland a non-GMO state through certain legal provisions lead in practice to
uncontrolled release of GMO into the environment, without due control, regis-
tration and information. Farmers, making use of primacy of Community law
over national law, draw benefits from GM plants cultivation, risking possible
losses of other farmers involved in traditional and organic farming. Polish side
has, so far, failed to benefit from a number of possibilities offered by the EU
legislation as to the formal ban on crops or marketing of GMO products and
active participation in shaping the new policy on the European forum in this
regard. Law was chosen, which may soon result in measurable financial costs
in the case of unfavourable judgments of the Court of Justice, ordering the
Polish side to modify the faulty law. However, it should be borne in mind that
there are certain agricultural producers and processing plants (poultry, pork
producers, feed industry), for whom the lack of possibility to use GMOs may
signify the loss of good competitive position on the market. Large numbers of
unknown effects of long-term use of GMO should, however, speak in favour
of caution while establishing law.
Literature
Anioł A., Brooks G. (2005). The farm level impact of using GM agronomic
traits in Polish arable crops. PG Economics Ltd.
Annual monitoring report on the cultivation of MON 810 in 2010 Czech Re-
public, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain. Monsanto Europe
S.A., July 2011.
Assessment of the Economic Performance of GM Crops Worldwide. Ecologic
Institute, Berlin, 2011.
Bereś P. (2011). Omacnica prosowianka – zagrożenie dla plonów kukurydzy. 171
Raport Rolny, nr 7, p. 38-39.
Bereś P., Gabarkiewicz R. (2008). Preventing spread of Ostrinia Nubilalis
Hbn. by cultivating of Bt transgenic maize – first field experiments in sou-
theastern Poland. IOBC/WPRS Bull. 33.
Brookes G. (2007). The benefits of adopting genetically modified, insect resi-
stant (Bt) maize in the European Union (EU): First results from 1998-2006
plantings. PG Economics Ltd.
Brzóska F., Świątkiewicz S. (2011). Możliwości wykorzystania pasz GMO
w żywieniu zwierząt w oparciu o badania krajowe. Konferencja Naukowo-
Techniczna "Innowacyjność w produkcji zwierzęcej - oczekiwania czy
konieczność", Balice.
Brookes G., Barfoot P. (2011). GM crops: Global socio-economic and envi-
ronmental impacts 1996-2009. PG Economics Ltd, United Kingdom.
Dzwonkowski W., Hryszko K. (2011). Raport o sytuacji na światowym rynku
pasz wysokobiałkowych ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem produkcji roślin
GMO. Program Wieloletni 2011-2014, IERiGŻ-PIB, Warszawa.
Erechemla A. (2006). Regulacje wspólnotowe dotyczące organizmów genety-
cznie zmodyfikowanych. Kwartalnik Prawo i Środowisko nr 4, Warszawa.
Gómez-Barbero M., Rodríguez-Cerezo E. (2006). Economic impact of domi-
nant GM crops worldwide: a review. European Commission DG JRC-IPTS.
James C. (2001-2010). Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops;
nr 21, 39,43, ISAAA.
Józwiak W. (2012). Obecne i przyszłe skutki ekonomiczne możliwych scena-
riuszy rozwoju produkcji rolniczej wolnej od GMO i produkcji z udziałem
GMO. Organizmy zmodyfikowane genetycznie: Konieczność czy wybór?
Szansa czy zagrożenie? Forum Debaty Publicznej organizowanej przez
Kancelarię Prezydenta RP, Warszawa.
Kraińska A. (2012). Prawne aspekty uregulowania kwestii GMO w Polsce.
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czy zagrożenie? Forum Debaty Publicznej organizowanej przez Kancelarię
Prezydenta RP, Warszawa.
Lisowska K., Chorąży M. (2010). Genetycznie zmodyfikowane uprawy
i żywność – przegląd zagrożeń. Nauka, nr 4, p. 127-136.
Luderer B., Nollau V., Vetters K. (2009). Mathematical Formulas for Econo-
mists. Springer, Chemnitz, Dresden, p. 34.
Seremak-Bulge J. (2008). Koszty i efektywność upraw roślin GMO, bilans
ekonomiczny związany z uprawą roślin transgenicznych. IERiGŻ-PIB,
Warszawa.
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173
Marcin Wójcik
University of Lodz, Department of Regional and Human Geography,
ul. Kopcińskiego 31, 90-142 Łódź, Poland
wojcik.moskwa@gmail.com
Chapter 11
The Farmers’ Calendar as an example
of a cultural factor shaping
the knowledge about the countryside
and agriculture in Poland1
Abstract: The modern scientific discourse on economic development increasingly

emphasises the role of cultural factors. Social sciences reach for the cultural the-
ories when they cannot explain the lack of economic growth despite favourable
conditions, especially the financial and institutional ones. In Poland agriculture
is the sector where the changes are strongly conditioned by the cultural back-
ground. Increasingly, the transformation of agriculture is broadly referred to the
concept of "rurality". The study of modernisation of rural areas should take gre-
ater account of the cultural dimension (factors, determinants) and its influence
over the economic transformation. A cultural perspective allows understanding
the historicity of the countryside as a kind of the social survival which, whatever
the prevailing economic trends, is based on certain values.
Social scientists (sociologists, anthropologists, human geographers and other
specialists) often criticise the perception of the peripheries as being economically
backward and underdeveloped, especially in the context of the depreciation of the
rural lifestyle. What is emphasised is the role of rural communities in fostering
traditional values, including forms of cultural landscape, and their contribution
to the phenomena shaping the modern mass (global) society. In recent years, the
concept of "social representation", which uses qualitative methodology (mainly
the analysis of visual and written materials), has become very popular.
1
Publication prepared under the research project 2011/01/D/HS4/03295, Models of knowledge transfer
in agriculture and its influence on agricultural productivity - spatial analysis, financed by the National
Centre of Science
174 The paper presents The Farmers’ Calendar – a source of knowledge about agri-
culture addressed to farmers, which carries not only useful information but also
Marcin Wójcik
a specific cultural transfer. This information is in fact embedded in the traditional

cultural pattern, strongly associated with religious practices, the sphere of the fa-
mily values and all the elements which stress the specific (magical and religious)
dimension of the relation between a farmer and the nature. Although they cannot
be regarded as the main source of knowledge about agriculture, these materials
should be considered as an important expression of the cultural transmission and
the way of thinking of a large group of people engaged in farming in Poland, es-
pecially in the eastern and southern regions of the country. The information from
The Farmers’ Calendar was divided according to different criteria, including the
volatility of the information over time (since the 1990s), the promoted interpreta-
tion of the vision of farmers’ work and the changes that have been taking place in
the Polish agriculture.
Keywords: knowledge, cultural factors, agriculture, Poland
Introduction: Visual culture

For a long time the contemporary social sciences have been experiencing the
culture change. In the post-socialist states the new anti-positivistic research
proposals were adopted relatively late. This resulted primarily from the ide-
ological factors, the influence of which weakened along with the transforma-
tion and democratisation of the political and social structures. The growing
importance of the qualitative approach in the social sciences (e.g. sociology
and human geography) is associated primarily with the changes in the theore-
tical model (Burrell, Morgan, 1979). The general direction of the change can
be represented in two dimensions, i.e.:
- from objectivity to subjectivity, which can also be described as a tension
between realism and idealism;
- from regulation to a radical change, which is in turn an expression
of a dispute about the nature of the society.
The last 30 years in the social sciences have been a kind of a methodological
revolution, manifested primarily in the interest in culture in different contexts
and dimensions. The whole theoretical and methodological transformation
that occurred during this period often referred to as the "culture change". The
number of research problems undertaken by cultural researchers (anthropo-
logists, sociologists, geographers) is so huge that it is difficult to construct
a clear classification of such studies. The common denominator of most of the
work is appealing to everyday life as a specific social scene. Various fields of
knowledge "discover" and interpret everyday life in relation to a variety of its
manifestations. One of them is the search for meaning, which is denominated
by the people in the process of organising (structuring) the surrounding reality
(Rose, 2010).
The key element of this entire more or less conscious process of taming the 175
reality by humans is actually the visual sphere. The nature of the images that
The Farmers’ Calendar as an example of a cultural factor shaping the knowledge ...
surround us as well as their public perception is, according to many resear-
chers, an important element of the cultural process of the social life construc-
tion in the Western civilisation (Forster, 1988; Cosgrove, 2006; Rose, 2010).
G. Rose (2010, p. 20-21 after Foster 1988) suggests that visuality relates to dif-
ferent ways of constructing the image, what is seen, and this in turn is split into
a number of perspectives, depending on who sees, how one sees, what one sees,
what one wants to see, etc. The saturation of reality with the enormity of pictures
and the ways they are viewed is one of the most characteristic elements of the
era in which we live. Complex visuality, as one of the key aspects of social life,
creates a special kind of the postmodern culture in which the image is used, in its
various forms, in the development of modern societies, their tastes, habits, ideas.
As a result, visual culture, and especially the tools it possesses today (especially
the electronic media), is a powerful weapon in the hands of the "wizards" of the
social reality. On the other hand, the democratisation of the process of creation
and dissemination of images means that the right things, people, events, etc.,
have different, often opposite images. The forms of representation (transmit-
ting meanings) in the visualisation process are in constant collision (attrition)
of views, values and attitudes towards the world. The way of reporting is, thus,
a reflection of certain ideas, and the struggle between the competing views mo-
ved today largely into the realm of iconography (Cosgrove, 2006).
The purpose of this article is therefore to present some way of communicating and
preserving knowledge about the countryside and agriculture based on a selected
example from the iconographic realm. The paper presents The Farmers’ Calendar
– a source of knowledge about agriculture addressed to farmers, which carries not
only useful information but also a specific cultural transfer. This information is
in fact embedded in the traditional cultural pattern, strongly associated with reli-
gious practices, the sphere of the family values and all the elements which stress
the specific (magical and religious) dimension of the relation between a farmer
and the nature. Although they cannot be regarded as the main source of know-
ledge about agriculture, these materials should be considered as an important
expression of the cultural transmission and the way of thinking of a large group
of people engaged in farming in Poland, especially in the eastern and southern
regions of the country. The information from The Farmers’ Calendar was di-
vided according to different criteria, including the volatility of the information
over time (since the 1990s), the promoted interpretation of the vision of farmers’
work and the changes that have been taking place in the Polish agriculture.
Social Representations Theory and its application in rural

studies
Since the turn of the 1980s and 1990s the specialist literature has been deve-
loping the cultural approach to the studies of the rural areas, which put the
emphasis on their image expressed by the society. The proposed solutions
176 move away from defining the countryside by the functional aspect in favour
of the normative approach. These studies, particularly in the UK, evoke the
Marcin Wójcik
stereotype of the rural idyll, the positive evaluation of the countryside as en-
vironmentally friendly, healthy and close to man (Halfacree, 1993, 1995).
The vision of the rural idyll is an expression of human longing for harmony
resulting from the contact with the nature and social closeness. For example,
K. Halfacree (1993, 1995) gives two types of definitions that describe the
countryside from this point of view. The first one is derived from the critical
realism approach and identifies the countryside with the local social structure.
Localism means being in the place and undertaking local activities.
The second type of the definition is constructed on the basis of the concepts
developed by social psychologists in the poststructuralist methodology. In this
perspective, the concept of the countryside and rusticity refers to the social
idea which can be identified on the basis of what people think and say about
themselves as well as how they express their commitment to the space in
which they live (Halfacree, 1993). The countryside is therefore a represen-
tation of the surrounding environment. This identification refers to a certain
community of residence or history, i.e. the image of the social environment is
built on the relationship with a particular local whole (social and territorial).
As a result of the decreasing importance of agriculture in the economy of

rural areas and the modernisation of the agricultural sector, looking for signs
of rusticity should focus on the local dimension of the life and activity of the
rural population. What is stressed in such an approach is the rural characteri-
stics of different areas of economic activity (in contrast to urban areas), inclu-
ding those based on agriculture, as well as the cultural identity (social needs,
ideas, lifestyles). The rural idyll is a reaction and a response to the rapid, and
difficult to assess, ethnic, racial and class differentiation of large European
cities. Idealisation of the image of the countryside and the escape into locality
expresses the longing for simplicity and legibility of the landscape and the so-
cial environment of the countryside to the complexity of urban processes and
homogenisation, brought by globalisation the development of superstructures
such as the European Union.
The Farmers’ Calendar as a form of communication

of knowledge about the countryside and agriculture
and their changes over the past 20 years
The countryside in Poland, its economic and cultural nature, is unique on the
European scale. The unique character of the Polish countryside is due to the pre-
servation of the agrarian structure, and thus, to a large extent, the social structure
during the times of the socialist economy. Late modernisation of rural areas and
agriculture, which really only began to occur in connection with the European
funds, has a completely different dimension than in most post-socialist coun-
tries. The most important aspect of this difference is still a strong rural identity,
which has roots in the peasant system of values (cf. Bukraba-Rylska, 2008), and, 177
what is very important, in connection with Christian values. In particular, it is
characteristic for the regions of eastern, southern and central Poland.
In Poland, a significant position of agriculture, especially in employment, and

the difficult restructuring and the related problems in social development is
an important component of the political and scientific debate. This also has
a clear historical and cultural connotation in the context of the evaluation by
the farmers. The land, as a symbolic value, and associated with it a kind of
social and territorial identity, is still an important factor of the space indexa-
tion. Owning land is not only an economic value, but also a sentimental one,
especially in a society whose cultural urbanisation is not that strong, and much
of the urban population comes from the countryside or remembers rural life
directly from the family relations.
Strong identification of rural residents with traditional values (family, faith,

patriotism) has specific consequences for the production of media discourse,
especially since the establishments associated with this social environment
have their own, individual achievements in publishing. The example presen-
ted in this article – "Farmers’ Calendar" published annually for 20 years – is
part of an extensive publishing offer proposed by the Catholic Church (Pasto-
ral Farmers Publisher: Wydawnictwo Duszpasterstwa Rolników). These calen-
dars are a source of synthetic knowledge about the traditional view of rural
and agricultural issues, as well as the volatility of looking at the countryside
from the perspective of the Catholic circles in the two decades. To highlight
the variability in the range of issues and their visualisation, two calendars
were selected – from 1993 and 2012. This choice allowed emphasising the
differences between the way the countryside and its problems are presented at
the beginning of the transformation and at the stage after the entry into the Eu-
ropean Union, as well as the impact of the new factors of change in agriculture
and other spheres of social activity of the rural population.
Mission of the Farmers’ Calendar

For a few years the formula and the range of the content of the modern form
of The Farmers’ Calendar has been worked out. The reader first meets with
a specific type of mission of the publication, the nature of which is open, i.e.
it not only highlights the thoughts directed to farmers, or generally rural po-
pulation, but also those that have a universal dimension, and therefore refer
to a cultural pattern common to Christian heritage, and the national values. In
this transmission it is stressed that the work of a farmer is a particular type of
mission, a specific contribution to the development of the state and the nation,
where the key role is played by the relationship between man and land. Far-
ming is presented as a unique occupation, a noble profession and service to
the land, which is based on the cooperation between man and nature within the
Christian ministry to God and neighbour.
178 The formula of the introduction (foreword) has changed significantly in 20
years. Comparing the introductory information in the publications in 1993
Marcin Wójcik
and 2012 what is clearly seen is the increased diversity of interpretation of the
functions which calendar should play in shaping the outlook of farmers. In the
early 1990s the calendar’s editors wrote that the content contained within it is
primarily intended to assist in running the farm in a new challenging reality
of the beginning of the transformation. The main message and function of the
calendar was primarily to emphasise the immutability of rural life and work
towards the rapidly changing social and economic environment of agriculture.
This was justified in such a way that family farming and the land which is
in the family’s possession are one of the pillars of the state and the nation's
freedom.
In recent editions of the calendar the introduction is more varied. In addition

to the traditional foreword by the ecclesiastical hierarchy a separate place falls
to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. Such introduction in-
forms that an important place in the calendar content is taken by the informa-
tion related to the functioning of the institutions responsible for the disposal
of the European Union financial support, and of the other related support in-
stitutions (banks, insurance). The recent issues of the calendar are increasingly
characterised by a duality of the worldview. On the one hand, the traditional
values associated with agriculture and social life in the countryside are still
the guiding motive. On the other hand, more and more content is devoted to
the pragmatic issues, especially to explaining the intricacies of the financing
of rural development and the activities of the institutions responsible for the
modernisation of the rural areas.

Figure 1. The covers of The Farmers’ Calendar of 1993 and 2012
A specific evidence of the changing content of The Farmers’ Calendar is po- 179
sed by its covers. In the 1990s the dominant motives were patriotic paintings
and scenes from the Polish countryside of the 19th and early 20th c. In the
following years, up to now, most of the introductory iconography of the calen-
dar focuses on the contemporary landscape and the unnaturally embellished
crops and agricultural products (see figure 1). To a large extent this was due
to the opening of the publication to the urban population, who have been in-
creasingly interested in the space to implement their social needs (temporary
residence, producing their own organic food, recreation and tourism).
Vision of agriculture in the Farmers’ Calendar

The vision of agriculture presented in The Farmers’ Calendar is rooted in
the Christian interpretation of the cultural reality. A special role is assigned to
a professional farmer who is regarded as a specific missionary on earth. What is
primarily emphasised is that in everyday life of rural residents the economic and
social activities are closely related to the rhythm of nature. The land is therefore
a workshop of a farmer, and is personified as a mother who gives birth to and
nourishes. The materials included in The Farmers’ Calendar give the union of
the farmer and the nature a religious dimension, i.e. from this relationship a spe-
cific model of the world emerges, where the work on the land is the way to ho-
liness. This is particularly evident in the first editions of The Farmers’ Calendar
published in the early 1990s. The authors of the then published articles use spe-
cific symbols, such as bread as the effect of labour and thanks to God, work on a
farm as the bulwark of human and the national freedom, the parish as a keystone
of both religious activities and the local community. The content is enhanced by
the images presented, focusing on the existential dimension, i.e. the daily meal
(bread), crops and the fruits of labour, as well as the human physiognomy, which
reflects both pride in work, as well as physical fatigue (see figure 2.)

Figure 2. Examples of graphics accompanying the articles relating to the vision
of agriculture in Poland in The Farmers’ Calendar 1993
In later editions of The Farmers’ Calendar, especially those issued after 2000,
the editors were looking for a new vision of agriculture which would combine
the traditional religious way of looking at the work of the farmer with the
180 changes taking place in the Polish countryside. A special role was attributed to
organic farming, which is characterised by limited interference in nature, and,
Marcin Wójcik
on the other hand, is the recipient of a variety of technological innovations,

especially for maintaining human health and ecological balance (see figure 3).
In this way, for ten years The Farmers’ Calendar has been promoting the type
of agriculture which is opposed to excessive intensity and the genetic modifi-
cation of food.

Figure 3. Examples of contents promoting ecological farming in The Famers’ Ca-
lendar 2012
Preference for greater effort in agriculture favours at the same time the 181
maintaining of a multi-generational agriculture, woven into the local com-
munity, which also has an impact on the maintenance of the countryside as an
important social component in Poland, and the forms that are emanations of
community actions (the local community, neighbourhood, parish). This model
largely corresponds to the preferences towards the development of multifunc-
tional agriculture and rural areas, but the source of this concept is not so much
the idea of progress (modernisation), but far more historical and cultural per-
sistence of the values referring to the community of faith and work, and the
key role of the family. The new interpretation of agriculture speaks with visual
material included in the calendar. In contrast to the 1990s, the graphics moves
away from drafts in favour of photographs. The consequence of this change is
the reduced impact of symbolism, and thus the presentation of metaphorical
scenes in favour of those idealizing the countryside and rural life.
The Farmers’ Calendar as a source of knowledge about

agriculture
The content of The Farmers’ Calendar has significantly evolved in 20 years.
One of the major manifestations is the increase in the information that far-
mers can use in practice. In the first years of the issuance of The Farmers’
Calendar (the 1990s), its function was primarily to promote Christian values
and emphasise the role of faith in the work of farmers. The Farmers’ Calendar,
as well as other publications for farmers published by Catholic organisations,
also led the countryside dwellers through the hardships of the economic trans-
formation, which largely worsened the financial situation of farm families.
Therefore, a lot of space was devoted to highlighting the essence of the work
of the farmer, the role of local communities in sustaining the family model
and traditional agriculture in response to the external projection of the foreign
(Western) cultural patterns, and self-doubt in a particular role of the farmer
in the period of declining economic and social prestige of the profession.
In the 1990s the block of information related to the economic recommendations

was not large. Low innovativeness of most of the Polish agriculture was due to
limited information on the economic diversification of farms, specialisations of
production, technical innovations, etc. The source of knowledge was primarily
the immediate environment, the older generation, the neighbours, the local com-
munity. Apprenticeship was mainly inter-generational (passed down through ge-
nerations) rather than the multi-source contemporary model of the knowledge ac-
quisition for adaptation to a rapidly changing economic environment. Big changes
in the institutional environment of agriculture in the 1990s were mainly reflected
in the presentation of new public organisations purchasing agricultural products,
trading in land, offering financial assistance and forming legal basis for the new
production and financial cooperatives, as well as the first foundations co-operating
with the European Economic Community (cf. figure 4). The Farmers’ Calendar
then included application and agreement forms for financial support of farms.
182
Marcin Wójcik

Figure 4. Examples of practical information on organisations connected with the
development of agriculture in The Farmers’ Calendar 1993
1. Local Initiatives Agency - an example of the democratisation of social action
2. The reorganisation of the pension insurance – an example of the changes in public
impact
3. New financial services – an example of economic changes
In the last few years the publishers of The Farmers’ Calendar have put a very
strong emphasis on the information function and, consequently, enhanced the
knowledge of farmers. Practical information can be divided into several types.
The first part of The Farmers’ Calendar includes not only the information on
the influence of the moon phases on farmers' practices (sowing, harvesting,
etc.) and traditional folk sayings and proverbs, but the primarily focus is put
on the monthly economic recommendations to farmers. The Farmers’ Calen-
dar highlights constantly the influence of the objective order (the rhythm of
the cosmos and thus the will of God) on human action. In 2012, for exam-
ple, a lot of space is devoted to explaining the functions and organisational
basis of ecological agriculture, with its traditional (old) as well as the con-
temporary circumstances in accordance with the principles of the European
Union's agricultural policy. Promotion of healthy food production is not just
supported by the Christian philosophy, but what is emphasised is its relation
to the multifunctional development of agriculture. Multifunctionality is thus
presented not as something new, the discovery of the European policy, but as
a continuation of a multi-dimensional rural life, based as much on agricultural
production, as on social persistence in harmony with nature.
One large part of the calendar is devoted to practical information about the
operation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. It especially
presents those activities that contribute to the promotion of Polish rural values
such as organic food production and the creation of action groups on the basis
of informal associations (social capital). The Farmers’ Calendar shows its rea-
ders the leading research and consulting institutions, and the forms of potential
cooperation (cf. figure 5). The publishers of The Farmers’ Calendar show the
directions in which the Polish agriculture can go, using what used to be critici-
sed as an advantage, such as traditional crafts, tradition, community bonds, etc.
183
1 2

Figure 5. Examples of practical information on organisations connected with the
development of agriculture in The Farmers’ Calendar 2012
1. Program “Healthy Food” – example of the promotion of Polish food
2. Experimental Centre – example of the innovation centre in agriculture
Conclusions
The paper presents one of the sources of knowledge about agriculture,
addressed to farmers, which brings with it not only useful information but also
specific cultural content. This information is in fact embedded in the traditi-
onal cultural pattern, strongly associated with religious practices, the sphere
of family values and all the elements which emphasise the specific (magic
and religious) dimension of the relation between a farmer and the nature.
These materials, though cannot be considered as the main source of know-
ledge about agriculture, should be treated as an important expression of cultu-
ral transmission, that is the way of thinking of a large group of people engaged
in agricultural occupations in Poland.
The Farmers’ Calendar, the variability of its content, is a specific study of

the transformation of agriculture. Changes in the content, the layout, the de-
velopment of graphics also show a change of mentality of farmers under the
influence of the institutional as well as social and economic environment. The
traditional vision of agriculture as a special profession, enclosed in the
religious justification and interpretation, has been significantly disinte-
grating. What is clearly visible is the duality of The Farmers’ Calendar.
The ideological sphere and social family values as well as multifunctional
agriculture are shown in parallel with the knowledge strongly associated
with the institutional environment, in particular those which transfer in-
novation and financial resources from the European Union.
184
Marcin Wójcik Literature
Bukraba-Rylska I. (2008). Socjologia polskiej wsi, Wydawnictwo Naukowe
PWN, Warszawa.
Burrel G., Morgan G. (1979). Sociological Paradigms and Organizational
Analysis, Heinemann, London.
Cosgrove D. (2006). Geographical imagination and the authority of images,
Franz Steiner Verlag, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg.
Forster H. (1988). Vision and Visuality, Bay Press, Seattle.
Halfacree K. (1993). Locality and social representation: Space, discourse, and
alternative definitions of the rural, Journal of Rural Studies, 9, s. 23-37.
Halfacree K. (1995). Talking about rurality: Social expressed by residents of
six English parishes, Journal of Rural Studies, 11, s. 1-20.
Kalendarz Rolników. (1993).
Kalendarz Rolników. (2012).
Rose G. (2010). Interpretacja materiałów wizualnych. Krytyczna me-
todologia badań nad wizualnością, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN,
Warszawa.
185
Cornelia Alboiu1, Filon Toderoiu
Institute of Agricultural Economics – Romanian Academy, Calea 13 Septembrie 13,
sector 5, 050711, Bucharest, Romania
1
coraalboiu@yahoo.com
Chapter 12
The dynamic of agrifood systems
and institutional impacts
on Romanian vegetable producers
Abstract: The integration into the world trade and particularly along the chain
of products with high value added, such as the vegetables chain, is considered
as a promoter of growth and poverty alleviation (Aksoy and Beghin, 2005), even
though this topic is subject to controversy. The paper’s purpose is to assess the
role of collective organization forms in farmers’ participation in the Romanian
supply chains, more exactly the possibility of farmers to adapt to the dynamic
retail chains using new institutional economic theories. Having given the require-
ments imposed by retail chains to vegetable suppliers in terms of quantity, quality,
frequency, food safety, it is expected that a small farmer cannot afford to partici-
pate individually in the retail chains due to high transaction costs, lack of scale
and institutional changes required. In order to see the determinants of joining
collective actions by vegetable producers, binary logit/probit models were used.
The results signal out a small degree of farmers’ participation in collective forms
of organizations. Also, they reveal a certain degree of uncertainty among sta-
keholders in terms of institutional arrangements and participation in collective
action.
Keywords: institutions, vegetable sector, retail chains

186
Cornelia Alboiu, Filon Toderoiu Introduction
In principle, a performing agro-food economy presupposes the existence of
certain functional agro-food chains, in which each link (segment) should re-
tain, out of the total productivity gain (measured by the differential value bet-
ween the producer of agricultural raw materials and the final consumer), what
it deserves on the basis of the effort made to generate value added.
In order to reveal the extent to which the organization of the agro-food eco-
nomy features potential to generate internal or external competitiveness, we
consider it useful to present a brief comparative diagnosis between Romania
and EU-27 average, from the perspective of multi-criterion structure of the
agro-food chain, in two reference years (2005 and 2008) for which the most
recent relevant statistical data are available (figure 1).
From the perspective of the criterion “number of enterprises” (economic opera-

tors), at EU-27 level, structural changes of the agro-food chain can be noticed in
2008 compared to 2005, in the sense of the absolute decrease (from 14.4 mil. to
13.7 mil.) and relative decrease (from 83.2 % to 81.8%) of the economic opera-
tors in agriculture, while the shares of the other three links in the chain (whole-
sale trade, retail trade and public food consumption) increased, on a cumulative
bases, by 1.6 percent. The first post-harvest segment (agro-food processing) also
lost 0.2 percent; thus, we can say that practically the relative decline of the
cumulative share (by 1.6 percent) of the economic operators in agriculture and
processing was transferred to the other three segments.
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
2005 2008 2005 2008 2005 2008
Operators Persons employed Value added generated
Agriculture Food & beverage manuf.

Food, beverage & tobaco wholesaling Food, beverage & tobaco retailing
FIT_IEA_1111 Food & beverage services
Figure 1. Multi-criterion structure of the agri-food chain in the European Union,

2005-2008
Source: own calculations, on the data from "Food - from farm to fork statistics", Eurostat
Poketbooks, 2011 edition
From the perspective of the criterion “number of employees”, in three years’ 187
time (2006-2008), the share of the segment “agriculture” decreased by 5.7
The dynamic of agrifood systems and institutional impacts on Romanian vegetable producers
percent, and these percentage points are distributed to the other four segments
of the agri-food chain.
The diminution in number of the economic operators from the first segment
of the chain (agriculture), in the conditions of a likely relative release of labor
force, on the basis of productivity increase, induced a favorable effect in the
EU agro-food system, i.e. the primary production of agricultural raw materials
generates value added gain, which leads to the increase of this segment share
(by 2.8 percent in 2008 compared to 2005) in the third criterion of analysis
(“generated value added”).
Romania went through the transition and pre-accession period with a very
rudimentary “agrarian – structural endowment”, the excessive land fragmen-
tation and the still unclear land tenure or land ownership status representing
constraints to the plenary manifestation of the technical – organizational and
managerial progress factors; the unrestricted manifestation of these factors
would also make it possible for our country to experience the situations cha-
racteristic to countries with modern economies and agricultural sectors, in
which a decreasing number of holdings and labour input are able to incre-
asingly provide the necessary agri-food products for the population, under
increasingly restrictive competitiveness conditions.
Unfortunately the multi-structural structure picture of the agri-food chain in

Romania looks entirely different from the overall picture of EU-27 (figure 2).
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
2005 2008 2005 2008 2005 2008

Operators Persons employed Value added generated
Agriculture Food & beverage manuf.

Food, beverage & tobaco wholesaling Food, beverage & tobaco retailing
FIT_IEA_1111 Food & beverage services
Figure 2. Multi-criterion structure of the agri-food chain in Romania, 2005-2008

Source: own calculations, on the data from "Food - from farm to fork statistics", Eurostat
Poketbooks, 2011 edition
188 Brieflyy, between the two reference years (2005 and 2008), the structural
changes in the configuration of certain performing agro-food chains through
competitiveness were not produced yet; we rather experience the persistence

of certain trends that reduce the multiplying effects of value added generated
by the sector throughout the national economy. Otherwise, no full explanation
could be found for the diminution of the share of agriculture in total economic
operators of the agro-food chain from 97.5% to 97.2% in three years’ time, i.e.
a non-significant decrease.
Furthermore, the problem is that the diminution of the share (by 0.3 percent)
of the segment agriculture in total operators of the agro-food chain was “out-
flanked” by a simultaneous diminution by 6.2 percent of the share of this seg-
ment in total labour input that consequently led not to a plus of value-added
generation, but rather to a minus (of 5.0 percent).
The other four segments of the agri-food chain, whose cumulated shares with
regard to the economic operators, accounted for 2.5% (2005) and 2.8% (2008),
i.e. a very small number of non-agricultural economic operators put to work
19.1% of the employees from the entire chain, in the year 2005, and 25.3% in
the year 2008, these generating 30.3% (2005) and 35.3% respectively (2008)
of the value added from the Romanian agro-food chain.
Therefore, the brief diagnosis of the structural changes produced in the agri-
food chains confirm certain partial conclusions formulated in other previous
segments of our scientific approach.
In this context, the agricultural sector – in particular, the vegetable sector - finds
itself in a relatively weak negotiation position due to the low level of concen-
tration from which farmers approach the market. This is a weakness that can
only be overcome by resorting to collective actions. Further strengthening of
the coordination and collaboration action between various actors of the supply
chain can come from the collective actions (organizations and agreements),
thanks to which opportunistic behaviour may be countered and reduced, while
encouraging collective behaviour (Dell’Aquila et all, 2011). Collective ac-
tions may constitute a valid and useful counterweight by taking up a strategic
role in restoring balance to market relationships, acting as a contractual power
and for redistributing added value, and contributing towards models of coo-
perative behaviour.
Romania’s production of vegetables is fragmented, mostly coming from the

individual households (90%) and only 10% from the legal farms. The Ro-
manian vegetable chain is characterized by uncertainty in terms of what ve-
getable to produce and where to sell and, it negatively impacts the farmers’
revenues and investment decision. At present, in Romania 42% of grocery
sales are made through modern retail chains out of which 25% is represented
by hypermarkets, 9% supermarkets and 8% discounting stores. At the same
time, in the recent years an increase of consumers’ appetite for doing shop- 189
ping in modern retailers has been noticed, i.e. 70% of consumers in the urban
areas. In this context it is important to know whether collective actions are
important for farmers to face the new challenges of modern retailers to fulfill
their requirements in terms of quantity, quality and frequency of deliveries.
The paper employs a qualitative and quantitative analysis in order to assess
the probability of farmers to participate in institutional arrangements such as
collective actions. In this regard, the objective of the paper is to reveal the
main characteristics of participating in collective actions in order to better
cope with the high level of requirements imposed by retail chains to small
producers which has been most often seen as a barrier to commercialization.
At the same time, the participation in collective action such as producers and
organizations groups may play a role in improving the institutional arrange-
ments with the retail chains.
Review of literature
In addition to the historical problem of low prices and profits faced by far-
mers, agrifood systems are undergoing profound changes, requiring institu-
tional adaptation (Hobbs, 2004). One of the core ideas of New Institutional
Economics (NIE) is that institutions matter, and therefore, they are important
to lower transaction costs (North, 1995; Williamson, 2000). North (2000) em-
phasizes that informal institutions influence the development of formal ones
and highlights the role of innovation to support the development of informal
and formal institutions. An example of an informal institution may be the re-
sistance of farmers to work interdependently knowing their traditional beliefs
of independence (Boehije, 1996). North (1995) points out that while formal
institutions may be changed relatively rapidly, informal institutions may take
longer to evolve. Collective action can exist in different forms such as in-
formal networks, cooperatives, producers groups, organizations and strategic
alliances. In this research, special attention is given to collective arrangements
especially to the producers groups that might facilitate the participation of
small farmers in the retail chains. Regarding collective action, Bardhan (1989)
emphasizes the high propensity of opportunism and free-riding problems in
collective actions that may limit the development of institutions to bring com-
mon benefits. The author mentions the problems of unbalanced power among
agents that NIE seems to ignore in the development of institutions. It is ex-
pected that collective actions in the form of institutional and organizational
arrangements, help reduce transaction costs. Collective forms of organization
can contribute to increasing bargaining power of farmers to negotiate with
their clients through the pooling of produce. Similarly, by bringing together
resources vegetable producers can access key assets that cannot be acquired
on an individual basis.
While competition at the retail stage stimulate changes in formats of retailing

and outlets, the tendency to concentration and consolidation also in upstream
stages of supply chains creates a bias against small farms and supports forms
190 of association at farm level stage. (Dell’Aquila et all, 2011). In the recent
years, emerging causes of instability (market price volatility, overproduction,
increasing costs of production, stagnating consumptions, growing fruit and

vegetable imports as effect of bilateral/multilateral accords) add to structu-
ral weaknesses (sector fragmentation, and its weak bargaining power, versus
retail concentration and agro-food industry competition), exacerbating the
tense relationship in the fruit and vegetable supply chain (Dell’Aquila et all,
2011). Also, the requirements coming from retail chains have steadily incre-
ased. All these requirements may mean further investments that small farms
find difficult to realize on an individual basis. In many cases farmers simply
do not have the knowledge or the money to make investments in equipment
and logistics support to meet these requirements. Ongoing developments of
supply chains imply a significant bias towards large farms. This makes collec-
tive action among individual farmers a further step to improve their situation.
The problem is not only to concentrate supply and give producers a prerequi-
site necessary to start interacting within modern supply chains, but also to
undertake contractual arrangements in order to successfully coordinate with
packers, wholesalers and large retailers, with the purpose of optimizing opera-
tions, so that production will comply with demand, in particular with regard to
product quality attributes (Fischer et al., 2007; Camanzi et al., 2009).
It is important to note also the role of commodity branch association in orga-

nizing the supply chains, but in Romania a country where production is very
fragmented and the supply is atomized, and were price volatility is extre-
mely high due to weather variation, Romconserv, the only one commodity
inter-professional association in this sector it is far from providing all sup-
port required by farmers and other actors in the sector. Commodity associa-
tions will not be able to tackle all agrifood chain issues. Indeed, the weight
of farmers in the decisions of the association will be limited in a context
of increasing agricultural price volatility, commodity associations can be-
come a locus for voicing disagreements. Therefore, their effectiveness will
depend on stakeholders’ capacity to define a large area of convergence for
the actions of the association, which should benefit all industry members
(Cadilhon and Dedieu, 2011).
The sector shows a rate of organization that on average is at a relatively low

level and very far from the objective of 60% established by the Common
Market Organization: in 2006 it was 34% in the EU-25 and 35% in the EU-15
(Agrosynergie, 2008). After the EU enlargement of 2007 to Bulgaria and
Romania, there seems to be an overall decrease, due to an organization rate
below 1% in these two countries (Jacquin, 2010). The rate of organization
is very heterogeneous among the Member States: it has risen to over 80%
only in the Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland. In particular, in the case of the
Netherlands the rate of organization is over 100% because of transnational
producers’ organizations. At the same time, the rate of organization shows
a great difference between new and old Member States not only as percen-
tage level, but also in terms of variation: the former (EU-10) varies from 6%
in 2004 to 9% in 2007; the latter (EU-15) varies from 32% in 2004 to 39% 191
in 2007 (Jacquin, 2010). For instance, the low negotiation power of Romanian
producers and high transaction costs also contribute to the need to establish
producers’ groups to participate in collective actions. However, at present,
in Romania, there are only 22 producers’ groups and one organization, whose
members total 711 individual farmers and 10 legal farms. Initially, in 2008, 45
producers’ groups had been preliminarily recognized, yet in 2011 their licen-
ses were withdrawn, and at present only 22 groups remained. Many farmers
are unable to establish producers’ groups or to participate in other types of
collective actions due to the lack of confidence, bad memories related to com-
munist cooperatives, or lack of willingness to cooperate. At the same time,
the National Rural Development Program has a very low absorption of funds
for the measure targeting the establishment of producers’ groups (Measure
142: Setting up producers groups) and the number of applicants is low. Howe-
ver, the National Rural Development Network, started after signing a contract
in 2010, with a 3-year delay is intended to be a platform for encouraging far-
mers’ participation in different types of collective actions.
Nevertheless, collective actions also face the methodological issues of mea-

surement. Concerning the measurement of collective actions, given the scar-
city of adequate literature, Codron and Lemeilleur (2011) draw on the frame-
work set out by Hansmann (1996, 1998) which has the advantage of being
generic and transaction-cost explicit. Codron and Lemeilleur (2011) make
a review of literature regarding the different type of proxies used to measure
collective actions and costs. Thus, among costs of market contracting, there
are costs related to ex-ante market power, costs related to transaction-specific
investments and costs linked to asymmetric information. Among the costs of
ownership, which may be high when they are widely shared, there are iden-
tified three kinds of costs: monitoring costs to exercise effective control over
the company manager; collective decision-making costs strongly correlated
with the heterogeneity of members’ interests; and costs of bearing the risk as-
sociated with residual earnings. Ex-ante market power is usually measured by
the following proxies revealing the level of competition: number of sellers per
buyer, sales transacted by the seller and the buyer, number of potential buyers.
Relevant ex-post market power proxies would be: the existence of transac-
tion-specific investments such as specific input/equipment at the production
level, and the farmer’s dependence on the credit provided by the buyer. Cost
of monitoring in cooperatives can be measured by the number of members or
the distance between the member farms and the cooperative head office.
Data and methodology

The paper is based on data provided by 240 farmers located in the S-E re-
gion of Romania following a survey conducted in this region in 2011. In
total, 240 structured questionnaires were applied to farmers. Interviews were
also conducted with 4 supermarkets, including 2 discounters (modern retai-
lers which practice discounted prices) and farmers belonging to 4 producers
192 groups. Among the investigated farmers, 34% of farmers cultivated vegeta-
bles on less than 1 ha, 51% of farmers cultivated vegetable for commerciali-
zation on areas of 1-5 ha, and 5% of farmers cultivated vegetables on areas

between 10 and 50 ha. Due to space limitations, information on questionnaires
and more details on the method are available upon request from the author.
The sampling method was a random sample carried out in a traditional vegeta-
ble area where farmers have a commercial behaviour. Regarding the interviews
with the representatives of supermarkets chains, these were chosen randomly
based on their willingness to answer to my questionnaire. The 4 producers
groups were chosen from a list of 22 producers group who were located in the
investigated area. The analysis is both qualitative and quantitative and takes
into consideration stakeholder answers to the questions regarding the type of
attributes for joining the collective actions. In order to see the determinants
of joining farmers in collective actions binary probit and logit models were
used. Several proxy variables such as membership fee, number of organiza-
tion services provided by producers groups, membership heterogeneity (trust
in organization), importance of organization for selling (number of potential
buyers), performance of organization are used in this research to attempt to
measure collective action determinants. Codron and Lemeilleur (2010) pre-
sent an extended summary of proxies chosen to characterize the categories
of organization costs, which were presented in the literature review made for
this research. Considering the models best fitted for this kind of research, in
analysis of dependence when the dependent variable is discrete the most used
models are the choice or probability models. According to Jula (2011), the
probit and logit models are different with regard to the specification of their
error distribution in the regression equation. In this type of models we admit
the existence of a latent (unnoticeable) variable for which we can notice only
the dichotomic achievement.
Results and discussions

The results of qualitative analysis, following the interviews with producers
groups, show that the number of farmers participating in collective actions is
not very high. The producers groups are mainly composed of small farmers
and sometimes legal companies dealing in vegetables are also members of
the group. The results reveal that only 20% of their pooled production is sold
directly to modern retail chains; the rest is sold to traditional wholesalers and
en gross markets 40%, local open market 20% and 20% of the production is
sold at farms’ gate. Nevertheless, we have to bear in mind that these figures
are representative at the level of the interviewed producer groups, while at the
whole country level only 5% of vegetable production is sold through produ-
cers groups.
According to interviews with retailers the procurement of fruits and vege-

tables is often still organized at the level of the store which is responsible
for the purchases of fruits and vegetables trough contracts with local sup-
pliers (mainly large legal entities or producer groups). However, in some cases
also the purchases of vegetables are centralized through a distribution center. 193
Regarding the support given to farmers by retailers, limited evidence was
found of the existence of farm assistance programs offered by supermarkets.
Interestingly, all producer group representatives indicate that the most impor-
tant benefit of contracting with modern retailers or specialized wholesalers is
that these partners offer written contracts, while the traditional wholesalers
still work with oral contracts. Usually a written contract includes conditions
on price, frequency and quantity of delivery and food safety and quality stan-
dards that need to be respected and they are more elaborated than contracts
between farmers and traditional wholesalers.
For example, the representatives of the producer group point out that the “shelf
fee” can vary between 10%-15% of the price that the farmer will receive from
the modern retailer for his products. Already in 2008, the employer organi-
zations and trade unions indicated that it is very difficult for small farmers to
deliver to modern retailers because they cannot supply sufficient quantities.
They also indicate that the “shelf fees” that modern retailers charge are sub-
stantially higher for local producers that are only able to offer small quantities
to the modern retailer compared to those delivering large quantities which ma-
kes it virtually impossible for small producers to deliver to a modern retailer.
Finally, the producers and their representatives also mention that increasing
quality standards (requirement of several certificates on chemical use) and the
poor packaging and sorting infrastructure are important constraints for small
farmers to deliver to supermarkets (Swinnen and Van Herck, 2010). Signifi-
cant to observe with respect to quality requirements, is that there is no major
difference in the quality that supermarkets requested compared to the quali-
ty that discounters asked for (both demand extra or/and first class products).
Nevertheless they indicate that it is not impossible for small farmers to con-
tract with modern retailers, but they emphasize the importance of cooperation
between small farmers such that they are able to deliver sufficient quantities
to the modern retailers. There can be an important role in this cooperation
for the producer organizations as they already help farmers to connect to the
market by providing assistance programs, such extension services and storage
facilities, and establishing contacts between farmers and modern retailers.
Finally, when discussing the dynamic of agrifood sector and the impact of
retail investments on small and large farmers it is important to keep in mind
it is primarily in the area of fresh fruits and vegetables that there is a poten-
tial direct relationship between the “supermarket” and the “farm”. The weak
bargaining power of local producers contributes also to the efficiency of the
producers groups. There are farmers that sell to a specialized wholesaler who
in turn sell to a supermarket. This is the case of smaller farmers that can pro-
duce vegetables but have serious constraints to enter the retail chains by them-
selves. Other small farmers become members in producers group and there-
fore rely on collective action to overcome these constraints. These farmers
typically receive support from the Romanian Rural Development Program,
if they form producers groups. The support is represented by financial help
to acquire/build individual assets such as irrigation systems and/or collective
194 assets such as storage facilities with cold storage and transportation to deli-
ver produce to supermarkets. In some cases the participant farmer sell aside
the produce thus creating problems for the well functioning of the producers
groups and rising the issue of “free riding” problem within collective actions.
This is the most typical issues raised among small farmers.
Table 1. Organizational Characteristics of Farmers in Producers group

Variable N Mean Std. Dev.
Problem of paying for membership 178 3.10 0.68
Performance of producer group 178 2.67 0.64
Trust in producer group 178 2.52 0.56
Importance of producer group for 178 3.32 0.56
selling
Number of services provided by 178 3.16 0.54
producers groups
Source: farm survey 2011
From the total sample of the survey, 66% of farmers are organized. A signi-
ficant percentage of these farmers, compared with farmers who sell using
traditional channels, pays membership to their organization, and gets several
services from their producers group (table 1). By participating in collective
actions (formal producers groups) small farmers are reducing transaction co-
sts. When farmers are organized, their probability of participating in the retail
chains is significantly increased (table 2). One should bear in mind that the
figures presented are based on interviews with farmers belonging to producers
groups and this is why the results cannot be extended at the national level.
Also, the qualitative analysis gives hints that there is a strong propensity for
selling aside from the producers group when prices obtained by using alterna-
tive marketing channels are higher and the free riding problem appears very
often. Even though organization is highly important for participating in the
retail chains, there are certain organization measure supports that positively
affect farmer participation in the collective actions.
Table 2. Choice of marketing channel and organization by farmers (%)

Marketing Channel Producer group member Total
Yes No
Traditional channels 10.3 44.1 54.4
Retail chains 45.3 0.3 45.6
Total 55.6 44.4 100
Marketing channel Membership payment Total
Yes No
Traditional channels 0.8 9 9.8
Retail chains 52.2 38 90.2
Total 53 47 100
Source: farm survey 2011
In order to determine the effect of certain services on the probability of partici- 195
pating in the retail chains by the mean of producers group probit and logit re-
gressions are used. In this way the analysis will facilitate to find out the role of
collective action in participating in retail chains. The results presented so far
suggest the importance of organization for participating in the supply chains.
Producers groups provide different kinds of supports to their members; the-
refore, it is important to identify and assess those supports that really have an
effect on the main market channel used by farmers. In this regard, a logit and
probit regressions, including organized farmers, in the form of probability of
selling to the retail chains as a function of support measures were run. Orga-
nizational support regarding inputs and collection and distribution centers is
highly significant for participating in supply chains (table 3).
Table 3. Effects of support measures provided to farmers by producers group

Probit model Logit model
Coefficient Z statistic Coefficient Z statistic
Credit 0.02 0.05 3.37 0.16
Inputs 1.94 3.74 0.13 3.65
Training and technical 0.45 1.40 0.85 1.47
support
Transport 1.09 2.51 1.86 2.51
Collection and distribution 1.42 3.25 2.62 3.15
N = 240
LR = 237; LL=-18.48; McFadden R2=0.86
The variable credit included in the regression is not statistically significant at

the five percent level. The non-significant effect of the variable in the model
may be explained by the fact that organizations provide these services less fre-
quently. However, this variable is not always oriented to promote farmer parti-
cipation in the retail chains, as is the case of marketing services and collection
and distribution centre services which have a very clear target. Organizations
traditionally provide inputs, training, technical assistance and assets orien-
ted to the production process and support for commercialization. As pointed
out by Berdegué (2001), traditional agricultural development programs have
been focused on "teaching" independent farmers how to increase productivi-
ty. However, under the new agrifood systems institutional and organizational
innovation is needed (Reardon and Barrett, 2000; Pinstrup-Andersen, 2002).
The results obtained suggest that providing input support and collection and
distribution facilities are particularly important. Collection and distribution
support are mainly associated with negotiation with clients. Small farmers do
not negotiate directly with clients such as retail chains for two main reasons.
First, individual farmers do not have enough scale to negotiate, and therefore
it is too costly for them. Second, for supermarket chains it is difficult (too
high transaction costs) to negotiate with a large number of individual farmers.
Instead, for farmer and client convenience, farmer representatives such as pro-
ducers’ group administrators of farmer producers’ groups do the negotiations.
196 According to the survey, none of the small farmers is selling directly to retail
chains, therefore, confirming the importance of collective action to partici-
pate in supply chain. Nevertheless, as already stated due to price volatility

and some institutional arrangements regarding the position of the organiza-
tion it may happen that the small farmers sell aside from the contract with
the producers group, thus impeding a good functioning of producers groups.
Nevertheless, one should not neglect that according to the results for the time
being small farmers are benefiting more from input support than from colle-
ction and distribution support (table 4). Support for input is associated with
help for establishing the crop and obtaining at a fair price all the inputs nee-
ded for production. This is an important support because individual small far-
mers lack managerial skills and bargaining power to negotiate with suppliers
in the supply chain. Support for collection and distribution centers is also very
important because it allows farmers to bring together their products for selling
in the retail chains and improve their bargaining power with buyers. Never-
theless, producer groups may also not represent the best marketing channel
for the participation of small farmers in the collective actions when the target
of the collective effort is not market driven and when the prices they receive
are smaller than what they could get by selling using traditional channels.
As already said, there is a high tendency to sell outside producers groups when
prices obtained are higher on alternative marketing channels.
Conclusions
The main results may signal out that there is a certain degree of farmers’ par-
ticipation in collective actions. Nevertheless, at the country level the number
of participation in collective actions is extremely reduced. Marketing and
collection and distribution center support offered by organizations have the
specific objective to insert small farmers into the retail chain. From the model
results the importance of transportation for choosing the market channels is
significant. Many farmers are motivated to sell to middlemen at the farm gate,
because the buyer provides transportation. First, transportation is expensive,
and second is not always reliable. One of the main premises of NIE is that
"institutions matter," and therefore, they can help reduce transaction costs.
The results show the importance of collective action for participating in the
retail chains. Participating in collective action, and furthermore, being a mem-
ber of a producer group significantly increases the probability of selling in
retail chains, supporting the hypothesis of farmers ‘perception that the higher
the participation in collective action, the higher the probability of selling in
this kind of market. At the same time, the qualitative results suggest that or-
ganization itself is not enough to facilitate the participation in the retail chains
and many free riding problems occur. The qualitative results reveal that in
Romania’s case there is a high degree of uncertainty among stakeholders both
in terms of institutional arrangements and participation in collective actions.
The share of participation in collective actions is higher in case the institutio-
nal arrangement is initiated by a larger farm.
Following the EU integration, the vegetable supply chain seems the most ne- 197
gatively affected sector, due to the high share of imports and the farmers’
impossibility or incapacity to maintain stable contractual relationship within
the chain. In addition, many of them are not able to enter or form produ-
cers’ groups or participate in other type of collective actions either because of
lack of trust or willingness to cooperate. Also, the National Rural Develop-
ment Program reveals an extremely low absorption of funds for the measure
aimed at setting up producers group as well as an extremely small number
of applicants.
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Knowledge as a factor of rural development
Knowledge
as a factor
of rural
development
vol. 10
ISBN 978-83-7658-378-5
vol. 10 Editors:
Paweł Chmieliński
Agnieszka Baer-Nawrocka

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Knowledge as a factor of rural development

INSTITUTE OF AGRICULTURE AND FOOD ECONOMICS - NATIONAL

Rural areas and development – vol. 10

Prepared for print by

Introduction to the volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

The monograph begins with a chapter by Adam Wasilewski, Zbigniew

The following chapter by Konrad Czapiewski, Roman Kulikowski, Jerzy

The aim of the research of Arkadiusz Sadowski, Agnieszka Baer-Nawrocka

The chapter by Klaus Wagner characterises the experience of the TECH.

The following chapter by Krzysztof Hryszko, provides a revision of evolution

The eleventh chapter presents The Farmers’ Calendar as a source of knowledge

The Editors and Zbigniew Floriańczyk

Abstract: Modern Information and Communication Technologies are recognised

Keywords: governance, ICT, territorial competitiveness, rural areas

The recent research on economic development and improvement of regional

Creation of successful policies aiming at Internet technologies diffusion in

development and competitiveness improvement of regions.

Theoretical framework for the internet development in rural

According to prevailing theories, the ability to absorb new technologies is one

Absorption of new technologies is directly linked with diffusion of innovation

The concept of innovation diffusion recognises a number of models of innova-

In case of relocation diffusion spread of innovation is related to its movement

The macroeconomic perspective localisation theory is a component of spatial

The localisation theory explains the decentralisation of government power as

The common opinion of the government stresses weakness of the infrastruc-

Organisational and legal possibilities of support of the internet

To a significant extend the activity of local-governments in fulfilling the above

Mazowieckie region case study - main obstacles

The examined communes varied significantly in spreading the internet access.

Figure 1. Barriers to development of the internet in the surveyed communes

Mazowieckie region case study - linkages between internet

Figure 2. Internet accessibility and socio-economic development potential in dif-

Distribution of access according to commune types and their synthetic

ly lower socio-economic potential than in residential-commercial ones.

Mazowieckie region case study - the scope for the internet

The research conducted in communes of Mazowieckie region concerning

Future research directions

Development of modern ICTs (mainly the internet) is an important factor

Problem of information asymmetry that reflects an imbalance of power in

Conducted study underline the strong dependence between level of socio-

To counteract the negative process of growing development potential between

High economic potential provides the environment to stimulate Internet de-

der to increase the effectiveness of public money (including European Uni-

Abstract: Knowledge flow systems are an essential component of Agricultural

Keywords: knowledge flows, extension services, monitoring, evaluation

An Assessment of the Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System in Hungary

A key message of the first Standing Committee on Agricultural Research

The general AKIS in Hungary

Table 1. The major components of AKIS in Hungary

Ministry of Rural Development (VM)

An Assessment of the Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System in Hungary

Ministry of National Resources

Source: authors’ compilation

An Assessment of the Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System in Hungary

Figure 1. Educational level of Hungarian farmers according to size of farm, 2010

Farm advisory services (extension) in Hungary

questions, or ‘dilemmas’ facing the AKIS in Hungary, specifically regarding

Source: authors’ compilation