The role of agricultural employment in local rural development strategies

The long-term strategic objectives of EU Rural Development Policy in the next (2014-2020) programming period are as follows: the competitiveness of agriculture, the sustainable management of natural resources and the balanced territorial development. In this strategy agriculture seems to remain the key element as solution for lagging rural areas. In cooperation with four villages of Nograd county a survey was carried out in summer of 2012 questioning the local population about their economic and social conditions, the situation of the local communities and their development ideas, with special focus on the investigation of the role and potentials of agriculture. Summing up our research the social functions of traditional agriculture based on local resources, the strengthening of viable farms, the increasing importance of diversification and the laborintensive products with high added-value have to be emphasized in the new rural policy. Besides agriculture the improvement of urban-rural connections are essential for lagging rural areas as well, especially in terms of employment, availability of services and allocation of local rural products to urban markets

Agrobacterium vitis strains lack tumorigenic ability on in vitro grown grapevine stem segments

Grapevine stem segments were cocultivated with three different Agrobacterium tumefaciens and three different A. vitis strains. A. tumefaciens strains induced tumors at variable frequencies, while A. vitis-infected stem segments never formed crown galls. The tumorous nature of tissues grown on hormone free medium was confirmed by opine assays. Bioinformatic and PCR analysis of the virulence regions of various A. tumefaciens and A. vitis Ti plasmids showed that virH2 and virK genes are common in A. tumefaciens but they are lacking from A. vitis. Thus virH2 and virK genes may be essential for grapevine stem segment transformation, but expression of certain T-DNA genes of A. vitis may also prevent the growth of transformed cells. Our data indicate that the tumorigenic ability of A. vitis is different on intact plant and on their explants, and that the specific host association of A. vitis on grapevine is probably determined by physiological and biochemical factors (e. g., better colonizing ability) rather than by its increased tumorigenic ability. Therefore it is not reasonable to develop „helper” plasmids for grapevine transformation from A. vitis pTis, unless their avirulence on in vitro explants is determined by T-DNA gene(s). Due to the inability of A. vitis to induce tumors on grapevine stem segments, the use of in vitro explant assays cannot be reliably used to select A. vitis resistant grapevine genotypes or transgenic lines

The role of agricultural employment in local rural development strategies

The long-term strategic objectives of EU Rural Development Policy in the next (2014-2020) programming period are as follows: the competitiveness of agriculture, the sustainable management of natural resources and the balanced territorial development. In this strategy agriculture seems to remain the key element as solution for lagging rural areas. In cooperation with four villages of Nograd county a survey was carried out in summer of 2012 questioning the local population about their economic and social conditions, the situation of the local communities and their development ideas, with special focus on the investigation of the role and potentials of agriculture. Summing up our research the social functions of traditional agriculture based on local resources, the strengthening of viable farms, the increasing importance of diversification and the laborintensive products with high added-value have to be emphasized in the new rural policy. Besides agriculture the improvement of urban-rural connections are essential for lagging rural areas as well, especially in terms of employment, availability of services and allocation of local rural products to urban markets