Quantification of Changes in the State of the CR Agricultural Land Fund from 2001-2013

The price of agricultural land in the Czech Republic is significantly lower than in other EU states; however, its fertility and method of cultivation does not differ from surrounding countries. Agricultural land area in the CR is decreasing about 12 ha/day (MoA, 2012). Arable land in the CR is losing its production value, from a food security standpoint, through the conversion of arable land into perennial cultures or permanent grassland, outplanting of fast-growing woody plants, afforestation, etc. The main aim of the research was to analyse developments in the state of agricultural land in the CR in the period 2001-2013. Result: One negative phenomenon is the fact that a larger decrease in agricultural land is happening even on higher-quality lands (an evaluation according to the average official price based on CSEU – Classified Soil-Ecological Units). The decrease in qualitatively better agricultural land in selected regions (50.1 % of the ALF CR – Agricultural Land Fund of the Czech Republic) is lower in comparison with the nationwide decrease. The development of the decrease in arable land in the three qualitatively worst regions of the CR, within the monitored period, is significantly higher than the CR average; however, farming on lower-quality lands is not economically advantageous. A deeper evaluation of twenty-one districts in the CR (30.15 % of the ALF CR) shows that only three districts are experiencing a positive development in the relative changes in the state of agricultural land in relation to the area of the district. 13 districts have relative decreases lower than the relative decrease in the CR. A partial aim was to find out whether there is any dependency between the size of a municipality (according to the number of inhabitants) and a change in the acreage of agricultural land, especially from the viewpoint of decreases in agricultural land. From a sample of 56 municipalities, no strong dependence between the monitored quantities was proven

Sugar beet production in the European Union and their future trends

The main aim of this paper is to analyze the yield (t/ha) and the production costs of white (polarized) sugar and sugar beet in the main European producer countries in order to identify main development trends. The partial objectives of this study are: to analyse the production costs (variable costs) of sugar and sugar beet of the main European producers (France, Germany, Poland, United Kingdom, Czech Republic), to compare sugar beet yield of Tereos France and Tereos TTD a.s., to analyse sugar beet yield potential and their trends. The used methods are chain and basic indexes and regression analysis of time series/trend data - for predicting on next tree years. The main producers of sugar beet in the European Union (i.e. France, Germany, Poland, United Kingdom, and Czech Republic) can not achieve goal of sugar yield 15t/ha while maintaining the amount of variable (direct) costs at 15 EUR/tone of sugar beet in the business year 2015/2016. Pieces of knowledge introduced in this paper resulted from solution of an institutional research intention MSM 6046070906 „Economics of resources of Czech agriculture and their efficient use in frame of multifunctional agri-food systems“