The impact of intensive sheep grazing in the spring on the vegetation of xerothermic grasslands in Stawska Góra nature reserve

The aim of study was to assess the impact of intensive sheep grazing in the spring on the vegetation of xerothermic grasslands in Stawska Góra nature reserve, particularly the Carlina onopordifolia seedling development and preferences concerning the ingestion of specific plant species, including shrubs and tree-understory. In May 2015, 40 specimens of the Świniarka Sheep and Polish Lowland Sheep were grazed in an area of 1.85 ha. Phytosociological relevés were taken using the Braun-Blanquet method. Changes in the plant cover were assessed in July 2015 under grazing and non-grazing conditions. The flowery grassland plants were assigned to the Cirsio-Brachypodion pinnati alliance and thicket communities - to the Rhamno-Prunetea class. There was confirmed that community under study is distinguished by a large share of Carlina onopordifolia. The number of Carlina onopordifolia seedlings in the grazed areas was significantly greater than in the non-grazed areas. The sheep ingested all herbaceous plants appearing in the grasslands in May, except for the poisonous Adonis vernalis and most of shrubs. Preliminary research results indicate that grazing in the spring led to a decreased cover-abundance of Brachypodium pinnatum and some shrubs, and also - to smaller share of dead organic matter in the plant cover. It can create favourable conditions for the generative reproduction of xerothermic plants such as Carlina onopordifolia.

Quantification of Biodiversity Related to the Active Protection of Grassland Habitats in the Eastern Lublin Region of Poland Based on the Activity of Soil Enzymes

This study focused on the impact of extensive sheep grazing on soil enzymatic activity in the grassland habitats of the Eastern Lublin region of Poland, situated within the ecological Natura 2000 network of: Kąty (PLH060010), Stawska Góra (PLH060018), and Zachodniowołyńska Dolina Bugu (PLH060035). This study involved soils under sheep grazing and soils in uncultivated areas (wasteland). Two-year study was conducted in 2 periods of each year: spring (before the start of sheep grazing) and autumn (after grazing). Beneficial effects were found for extensive grazing by sheep on soil enzymatic activity within each tested habitat. It is worth underlining that a clear stimulation of enzyme activity was detected already in the first year of observation. In the second year, the enzyme activity in the soils of habitats under sheep grazing was approximately 1.5 times higher than in the soils without grazing. The observed higher activity of the tested enzymes in soils under sheep grazing indicated the usefulness of studies on the enzymatic activity of soils as a sensitive indicator of soil response, such as observed here with the applied active system of biodiversity protection in the valuable natural grassland habitats of Natura 2000

Sheep and Horse Grazing in a Large-Scale Protection Area and its Positive Impact on Chemical and Biological Soil Properties

This paper looks into the impact of free grazing by sheep and horses on the chemical and biological properties of soils in the partial protection zone of the Roztocze National Park. The study sampled three different types of pastureland in the area: pastures for sheep, horses and for combined grazing by sheep and horses. Compared to an ungrazed reference pasture, free grazing significantly stimulated the activity of enzymes which catalyze the transformation of organic matter (dehydrogenases, phosphatases and ureases) and it also positively influenced other chemical properties of the soils. Among the soils under free-grazing management, the pasture grazed to horses underwent the most advantageous changes in terms of the eco-chemical status of the soil

The Burning Problem of Unemployment

The paper is devoted to the phenomenon of unemployment in Poland and in the world as the basic problem of economic policy. The issue of unemployment itself results from the equilibrium between demand and supply on the labour market in a given economy and it has an objective character: “unemployment may be eliminated only by way of perfect competition.” This kind of competition cannot be accomplished, therefore in each economy there is a margin of unemployment. It may be regarded as normal (this means it does not call for the state’s intervention), if it results from the economic and concerns 5-6% of the unemployed. There are economies, however, and Poland is now one of them, where unemployment has a structural character and has remained at a very high level (at the moment 17-18%). Unemployment is also structural in the majority of UE countries, but at a lower level. The paper depicts numerous comparative tables of the state and dynamism of unemployment in Poland and UE countries, including a discussion of the main factors that are conducive to unemployment, focusing especially on the situation in Poland. The author analyses the prospects of unemployment in Poland and puts forward a hypothesis that owing to its profoundly structural unemployment this state of affairs will remain for several years. The rate of unemployment, which is likely to fall, will not be higher than 1-1.5 per cent annually. It follows from this fact that the battle against unemployment must be indirect and directed above all at the factors which make this state of affairs linger on, whereas demand for jobs is small

The Enterprise as a Capital

The article is devoted to a discussion and analysis of the two basic meanings of the concept of `capital': the material meaning, understood as a set of economic factors; and the financial meaning understood as a financial fund which may be invested in any combination of economic factors. We owe this differentiation to J. R. Hicks (Nobel Prize for economics in 1972). He points to the fact that economists often talk about the capital in two different meanings, which may lead to misunderstandings. In the history of the economic thought also two schools of thinking about the capital may be distinguished: those of `materialists' and of `financiers'. This differentiation is crosswise to the classical divisions. Hicks includes economists belonging to the neo-classical school of economics (A. Marshall) in the category of materialists; and both Smith and Marx (with his classical definition of the capital as „value which profits additional value”) to financiers. In finance the one-sided approach of the fund capital is the dominant one. The conclusion of the article is that both approaches are useful

The Problems of Contemporary Money

Trudno o bardziej podstawową kategorię w ekonomii niż pieniądz. Jak to często bywa z pojęciami kluczowymi trudno o ich precyzyjną definicję; przyjmuje się je jako oczywiste, np. sformułowanie w podręczniku Samuelsona i Nordhausa (1995): „pieniądz to w końcu wszystko, czym możemy płacić…”. Definicja pieniądza, jeszcze 40 lat temu oczywista, stała się niewygodna dla sektora finansowego po ostatecznej dominacji pieniądza papierowego bez pokrycia (Fiat Money). Kryzys finansowy i arbitralna polityka władz monetarnych spowodowały powrót do dyskusji na temat: czym jest współczesny pieniądz? Dyskusja taka toczy się w krajach anglosaskich, pokazując zasadnicze różnice poglądów. Środowiska w Europie wydają się pochłonięte dyskusją nad obroną i przetrwaniem euro. W Polsce fakt, że w toczącej się dyskusji zostało zakwestionowane dotychczasowe rozumienie pieniądza, nie został dotąd odnotowany; jak zwykle doganiamy świat, uważając że przyszłość pieniądza koncentruje się na euro. Poniższy artykuł sygnalizuje, na przykładowo dobranej literaturze, zasadnicze spory odnośnie istoty pieniądza.The aim of the article is to review the existent theories of money and money definitions that result from them. What is still provided in the textbooks is, first of all, a classical definition of money which emphasasizes three basic functions that is serves which are: its transactional function, money as the measure of value and the thesaurus function of money. Secondly, money originates in the barter system. The classical definition was fully-justified until money could covered in precious metals, at least partly. Or this reason money cannot be currently expected to pay all three functions mentioned above. Hence the following hypothesis: First of all, the classical 3-functional money definition has been invalid for a longer while now. It is still existent in textbooks, It has become inert. Secondly, modern Anglo-Saxon literature makes a comeback to the perception of money as the product introduced by the State which is the main factor in the creation of the monetary system and regulation of monetary markets. It is included in the Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). Hence the second hypothesis. If we decide to support the idea of paper money dominance the definition of money has to include only two functions: money as a mean of transaction and as the measure of value. The thesaurus function is skipped as it is still desired, however not guaranteed (to a different degree and at different times). Simultaneously, a number of current historical analyses support the thesis that the traditional theory on the origin of money which is believed to come from the barter system cannot be supported any more. The concept of the barter is strongly criticized both in the Modern Monetary Theory and recently shaped theory stating that money is a contract (D. Graeber). The review of MMT points to discrepancies between a traditional classical 3-functional perception of money and the definition of money as a debt and it originating in the State. The last two approaches sometimes coincide and the form of paper money-Fiat Money can be explained only on their basis. The classical definition of money which is still present in textbooks would make sense if there was a comeback to money being covered in gold and if it was concluded that the fact it lacks cover is historically temporary. However it would be in total disagreement with the mainstream economic thoughts since Keynes times. At the same time serious accusations were formed against barter as the first stage of the origin of money

Workers’ Participation in Management - Its Model in the European Union and the Polish Model

The article is devoted to the origin of the concept of the workers’ participation in the management, and then to its implementation in the EU and in Poland. The history of implementing common principles of workers’ self-management in the EU is quite complex; the participation model, the so-called Mitbestimung introduced after World War II in Germany (the act was passed in 1976) was then slowly and in a limited range (informing and consulting) introduced on the basis of the EU Directive of 1977 into the legislation of particular member states. Implementation became quicker when the EU decided to establish, as one of variants, the so-called European Company. In this model the European company committee was provided for. The directive was implemented in Polish legislation by the act of 2002; in companies acting in more than one country there is an obligatory company committee. Similarly, there should be a company committee in the so-called European Company and European Economic Interest Grouping. The European Company is an alternative legal form of company, the same on the territory of the whole EU. The history of workers’ participation in management in Poland, broadly discussed in the article, is much more complex. It started in 1981, under the pressure of the “Solidarity” trade union, with introducing the acts on the state company and the workers’ self-management in the state company. These acts, although they are included in the participation current, broadly outlined the rights of the workers’ committee and of the workers’ (delegates’) general meeting, actually granting them part of the rights to make decisions, that in fact belong to the owner (e.g. dividing the profit, sometimes electing the manager). The intention of these solutions was to introduce a reformed model of an independent company in a still planned economy, and they started a broad current of discussion on efficiency of these solutions and limitations of workers’ participation not only in managing, but also in ownership after 1989. The model of the state company of 1981 (actually, in the practice of the 1980’s significantly reduced by the martial law authorities) turned out to be a temporary one and under the conditions of market economy was substituted by a form that made it possible to introduce direct or indirect privatization. However, it is characteristic that Poland has, independent of the EU, its own ample experience and traditions in solving the problem of workers’ participation in management. The author, who in the 1980’s was a workers’ self-management advisor, synthetically compares arguments for and against introducing solutions that include workers’ participation in company management, and decidedly defends the limited participation model in the EU’s version introduced in Poland by the act of 2006

ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE OF SHEEP FARMS BY EXAMPLE OF LUBLIN PROVINCE

The paper studies the economic performance of sheep enterprises, the data pertain to 11 farms of the Lublin Province in 2012. There are 3 farms presented: one with the best farm income, one with the worst and the other with a “standard” medium farm income. The aim of this study was to compare the productivity (per 1 ha AL), where AL denotes arable land, and (per PLN 1) of direct costs on farms. The area of the farm did not affect the generated incomes. The standard farm had 19.07 ha AL and the best farm only 15.66 ha AL. A detailed analysis of the data allowed us to confirm the belief that direct payments did not affect economic results. The greatest support in the form of direct payments was in the “standard” farm

SHEEP PRODUCTION AS AN ELEMENT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL AREAS

The aim of this study was to evaluate individual farms which predominantly dealt with crop production, but also kept sheep. Information about the farms’ cash flow was collected by way of direct interviews with the owners of the farms. The cash flow analysis revealed problems with liquidity. Therefore, it was necessary for some farms to have financial resources available for periods of negative financial flows or to be able to sell farm products. The national sheep industry which focuses on the production of lambs for slaughter, gives the opportunity to improve revenue. This was especially necessary in the second quarter, in which a lack of liquidity was observed. The share of income from sheep production in total revenues ranged from 19 to 50%, and proved that keeping sheep as a supplementary activity was beneficial

Wybrane postaw y i zachowa nia polskich nabywców wobec żywności niszowej

In the article the problems of chosen attitudes and behaviours of final buyers were presented. These aspects were analysed in the lamb meat market as the example of the niche market in Poland. On the base of the results of the field researches one can state that the key determinants of respondents’ attitudes and behaviours were the level of their knowledge about nutritional values of lamb products and the level of availability of these products. The negative opinions of others buyers were the main determinant of non buying of lamb products. It means that there are two big gaps (knowledge gap and availability gap) which should be filled by offerers to shape buyers’ attitudes and behaviours in the effective way