Drawing up Farm Management Plans for Agri-Environmental Schemes

The role of and the approach to the countryside and the environment has undergone dramatic changes in recent decades as relations between sustainable, multi-functional agriculture and the need for preserving natural resources were realised. On the other hand, to be successful in a commercial environment farmers need financial planning and control. However, at this stage of privatisation process and development of rationalised farm businesses within Hungary, there exists a large number of small family-managed holdings where business and production skills are at an elementary level. Moreover, application for agricultural state support and planned subsidy priorities of agro-environmental programs will be linked to the condition of having clear business and management plan. These facts represent a growing demand for establishing of rural extension services and an increased need for sound farm business planning. The objective of the research is to elaborate a computerised planning methodology that help farmers not only to exercise effective management controls over the financial aspects of their business through proper planning and record keeping based on calculations of up-to-date information but to encourage the introduction and use of farming practices compatible with the increasing demands of protection of the environment and natural resources (multifunctional agriculture) as well. The methodology is suitable for producing sustainability indices in order to characterise the environment. Well-known and widely applied methods, such as calculation of gross margin, internal rate of return and net present value liked to issues which were previously little focused on, such as manure production and use, or studying the N cycle within the farm. The methodology is tested in selected case study areas and it is investigated what sort of changes are required on farm level to achieve environmental and economic sustainability and how should farm-level based systems be designed to prevent increased negative externalities of agricultural production with respect to Hungarian circumstances.Farm Management, Agri-environmental Programme, Planning., Financial Economics,

Free energy of the bcc-liquid interface and the Wulff shape as predicted by the Phase-Field Crystal model

The Euler-Lagrange equation of the phase-field crystal (PFC) model has been solved under appropriate boundary conditions to obtain the equilibrium free energy of the body centered cubic crystal-liquid interface for 18 orientations at various reduced temperatures in the range $\epsilon\in\left[0,0.5\right]$. While the maximum free energy corresponds to the $\left\{ 100\right\}$ orientation for all $\epsilon$ values, the minimum is realized by the $\left\{ 111\right\}$ direction for small $\epsilon\,(<0.13)$, and by the $\left\{ 211\right\}$ orientation for higher $\epsilon$. The predicted dependence on the reduced temperature is consistent with the respective mean field critical exponent. The results are fitted with an eight-term Kubic harmonic series, and are used to create stereographic plots displaying the anisotropy of the interface free energy. We have also derived the corresponding Wulff shapes that vary with increasing $\epsilon$ from sphere to a polyhedral form that differs from the rhombo-dodecahedron obtained previously by growing a bcc seed until reaching equilibrium with the remaining liquid

Hydrodynamic theory of freezing: Nucleation and polycrystalline growth

Structural aspects of crystal nucleation in undercooled liquids are explored using a nonlinear hydrodynamic theory of crystallization proposed recently [G. I. Toth et al., J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 26, 055001 (2014)], which is based on combining fluctuating hydrodynamics with the phase-field crystal theory. We show that in this hydrodynamic approach not only homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation processes are accessible, but also growth front nucleation, which leads to the formation of new (differently oriented) grains at the solid-liquid front in highly undercooled systems. Formation of dislocations at the solid-liquid interface and interference of density waves ahead of the crystallization front are responsible for the appearance of the new orientations at the growth front that lead to spherulite-like nanostructures

ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF DIFFERENT LAND USE TYPES IN THE MODEL AREA OF BODROGKÖZ

This study deals with five settlements (Karos, Karcsa, Pácin, Nagyrozvágy, Cigánd) of Bodrogköz. The main goal of the case-study is to provide a method for the assessment of the economic impacts of land-use planning. The paper shows the connection between economic and land-use models of specific areas. Although the input conditions of the evaluations (e.g. agri-environmental payments) have changed, the framework of the methodology is independent from the input variables, so it can be a useful example for similar assessments. The first part of the study focuses on potential alternative land use options for the region. We suggested changes in land use on the basis of the so-called ’ecotype’ model. In the second part we present the economic evaluation method of the land use changes. We analyzed the consequences of the suggested conversions based on an economic model. Data collection was done by using questionnaires. The results indicated that in the studied area a range of significant modifications should be carried out, including especially the reduction of arable land area in favour of forests and grasslands. The economic assessments indicated that adjusting land use to suit the potential of the land offers economic advantages; that is, when the suggested changes are implemented with the help of agro-environmental subsidies. Our study however, disregarded all other types of costs (investing into new machinery and special equipment), as well as the social (psychological) aspects of conversion. This latter issue should be taken seriously because significant changes often require farmers to engage in entirely new activities. As transition to a new, drainage-based management system influences a larger area, it also demands cooperation from the farmers and the inhabitants. Researchers and experts consider our evaluation a suitable background for further studies. Our study provides farmers with local information so they can efficiently co-operate in regional land use activities. Similar studies and the continuation of this particular study are suggested in smaller regions within the floodland of River Tisza, where many attempts have already been made to introduce measures of flood¬land landscape management. As the case-study area is an important site of floodplain landscape management, our findings may contribute significantly to the wealth of information on the new perspectives of this special farming method. Therefore another aim of the research was to develop a framework for complex assessments of the floodland landscape management methods. ----------------------------------------------------- A bemutatásra kerülÅ‘ öt bodrogközi településre (Karos, Karcsa, Pácin, Nagyrozvágy, Cigánd) kiterjedÅ‘ kutatásunk két részbÅ‘l állt. Az elemzések elsÅ‘ része a termÅ‘föld hasznosítására vonatkozó javaslatokat alapozta meg, a második rész pedig a javasolt változások gazdasági következményeit kísérelte meg modellezni. A termÅ‘föld hasznosítására vonatkozó javaslatok megalapozásához az úgynevezett „ökotípusos†modellt használtuk, míg az elemzés második részében a gazdasági hatásokat kérdőíves felmérésen alapuló ökonómiai modell segítségével értékeltük. Az elemzések eredményei egyértelműen igazolták, hogy a termÅ‘helyi adottságok (beleértve a rendszeres vízkivezetés, így az ártéri gazdálkodás lehetÅ‘ségét is) alapján a térségben jelentÅ‘s változásokra lenne szükség. Ez elsÅ‘sorban a jelenleg szántóként használt területek csökkenését, az erdÅ‘- és gyepterületek növekedését jelentené. A termÅ‘föld hasznosítására vonatkozó javaslatok gazdasági értékelése azt mutatta, hogy a termÅ‘helyi adottságokhoz történÅ‘ igazodás – az agrár-környezetgazdálkodási támogatásokat is figyelembe véve – gazdasági szempontból is kedvezÅ‘ lehet. A vizsgálat ugyanakkor nem terjedt ki arra, hogy egy ilyen új típusú környezethasználat megvalósítása milyen egyéb költségekkel jár (új gépek, berendezések), és nem foglalkozik a szociológiai (pszichológiai) kapcsolódásokkal sem. Ez utóbbi azért lehet fontos, mert a gazdáknak a korábbi tevékenységükhöz képest gyakran egy teljesen más típusú tevékenységre kell átállniuk. Továbbá a javasolt termÅ‘föld-használatok csak gazdálkodói összefogással valósíthatók meg, hiszen a rendszeres vízkivezetésen alapuló gazdálkodás nagyobb összefüggÅ‘ térséget érint. A kutatók és a tervezÅ‘k véleménye alapján az elvégzett elemzések jó kiindulópontot adhatnak a további kutatások elvégzésére, köztük a felsorolt hiányosságok pótlására. A vizsgálat elÅ‘segítheti a gazdálkodók hatékonyabb tájékoztatását és ezáltal azok térségi együttműködésének magvalósulását. Hasonló típusú kutatások elvégzését, illetve a jelenlegi munka kiterjesztését elsÅ‘sorban a Tisza menti ártéri területek esetében javasoljuk, ahol már több helyi próbálkozás is történt az ártéri tájgazdálkodás megvalósítására.land use evaluation, floodlands, change of land use, economic model, földhasználat-elemzés, ártéri szintek, tájhasználat-váltás, gazdasági modell., Agricultural and Food Policy, Land Economics/Use,

Diffusion-controlled anisotropic growth of stable and metastable crystal polymorphs in the phase-field crystal model

The official published version of the article can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2009 APSWe use a simple density functional approach on a diffusional time scale, to address freezing to the body-centered cubic (bcc), hexagonal close-packed (hcp), and face-centered cubic (fcc) structures. We observe faceted equilibrium shapes and diffusion-controlled layerwise crystal growth consistent with two-dimensional nucleation. The predicted growth anisotropies are discussed in relation with results from experiment and atomistic simulations. We also demonstrate that varying the lattice constant of a simple cubic substrate, one can tune the epitaxially growing body-centered tetragonal structure between bcc and fcc, and observe a Mullins-Sekerka-Asaro-Tiller-Grinfeld-type instability.This work has been supported by the EU FP7 Collaborative Project ENSEMBLE under Grant Agreement NMP4-SL-2008-213669, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences under contract OTKA-K-62588, the Academy of Finland via its COMP CoE grant, and by Tekes via its MASIT33 project. A. J. acknowledges financial support from the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters. T. P. acknowledges support from the Bolyai Ja´nos Grant