A Cross Country Comparison of the Development of the Organic Sector in Denmark, Germany, United Kingdom and the Netherlands

The aim of this article is to test the thesis "commitment of retail chains as well as favourable policy conditions are the main drivers of the steady market growth of organic agriculture in Europe." (Yussefi and Willer, 2003). Therefore, the role of government policy and of retail chains in four European countries - Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands - are analysed. It seems that the collaboration between government, chain participants and NGOs is of considerable importance, in which active stimulation and the provision of guidance to the channel from the retail chains, in combination with an active and stimulating government policy, can cause an impulse in growth. It should be noted that other factors must also be present in order for market players to convert; likewise, consumer demand should be well developed.Farm Management,

Space-based retrievals of air-sea gas transfer velocities using altimeters: Calibration for dimethyl sulfide

This study is the first to directly correlate gas transfer velocity, measured at sea using the eddy-correlation (EC) technique, and satellite altimeter backscattering. During eight research cruises in different parts of the world, gas transfer velocity of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) was measured. The sample times and locations were compared with overpass times and locations of remote sensing satellites carrying Ku-band altimeters: ERS-1, ERS-2, TOPEX, POSEIDON, GEOSAT Follow-On, JASON-1, JASON-2 and ENVISAT. The result was 179 pairs of gas transfer velocity measurements and backscattering coefficients. An inter-calibration of the different altimeters significantly reduced data scatter. The inter-calibrated data was best fitted to a quadratic relation between the inverse of the backscattering coefficients and the gas transfer velocity measurements. A gas transfer parameterization based on backscattering, corresponding with sea surface roughness, might be expected to perform better than wind speed-based parameterizations. Our results, however, did not show improvement compared to direct correlation of shipboard wind speeds. The relationship of gas transfer velocity to satellite-derived backscatter, or wind speed, is useful to provide retrieval algorithms. Gas transfer velocity (cm/hr), corrected to a Schmidt number of 660, is proportional to wind speed (m/s). The measured gas transfer velocity is controlled by both the individual water-side and air-side gas transfer velocities. We calculated the latter using a numerical scheme, to derive water-side gas transfer velocity. DMS is sufficiently soluble to neglect bubble-mediated gas transfer, thus, the DMS transfer velocities could be applied to estimate water-side gas transfer velocities through the unbroken surface of any other gas Key Points: - Show relations between altimeter data and field values of air-sea gas transfer - DMS gas transfer velocity can be used to estimate direct gas transfer of any gas - Direct gas transfer velocity (for Sc = 660) is roughly double 10 m wind spee

Concurrentiekracht biologisch varkensvlees : een internationale vergelijking

Nederland is een sterke speler in de productie van biologisch varkensvlees in Noordwest-Europa. Het niveau van de productiekosten in de biologische varkenshouderij in Duitsland en Denemarken ligt lager dan in Nederland. Denemarken is een geduchte concurrent. Maar door een efficiënte organisatie van de productieketen is Nederland in staat rendabel te concurreren. Afzet naar Duitsland en het VK vergt een specifieke aanpak

First Trimester Listeria monocytogenes Septicemia

Background: Little is known about fetal outcome after Listeria monocytogenes septicemia in the first trimester of pregnancy

The emergence of meaningful geometry

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