Sugar quotas: yes or no? : economic consequences for sector, chain, international market situation and third world

Het ministerie van EL&I heeft het LEI gevraagd inzicht te verschaffen in de argumenten voor en tegen voortzetting van het centrale element van de huidige suikermarktordening, de quotering, na september 2015. De centrale vraag daarbij is: Wat zijn de gevolgen voor telers, verwerkende industrie, de andere schakels in de suikerketen en andere belanghebbenden in met name Nederland van voortzetting respectievelijk een fundamentele verandering van het Europese suikerbeleid? De resultaten in dit rapport zijn gebaseerd op literatuuronderzoek, waarmee de factoren die een rol spelen in de suikermarkt zijn geïnventariseerd, en op de toepassing van een aantal modellen. Met de modellen zijn aan de hand van een aantal uitgangspunten de effecten van beleidsveranderingen voor onder meer de productie van suiker, de oppervlakte suikerbieten en de inkomens van suikerbietentelers en de toegevoegde waarde en de werkgelegenheid in het akkerbouwcomplex in Nederland ingeschat

Nieuwe vormen van samenwerking tussen ondernemers

Horizontale samenwerking -de samenwerking tussen ondernemers- is naast verticale samenwerking -de samenwerking in de keten- een manier om bedrijfs- en privédoelen beter te bereiken. Ondernemers die al samenwerken geven aan dat ze veel voordelen ondervinden in hun samenwerking. Die voordelen kunnen zo groot zijn, dat iedere agrarische of MKB-ondernemer toch een keer grondig zou moet overwegen om een samenwerkingsverband aan te gaa

Gewasbescherming in de akkerbouw: gangbaar of geintegreerd

De overheid wil dat alle plantaardige sectoren zich gaan richten op 'geintegreerde teelt op gecertificeerde bedrijven'. De mate waarin akkerbouwers nu al geintegreerd bezig zijn, in het bijzonder in de gewasbescherming, verschilt tussen de ondernemers

The Yin and Yang of Nicotine: Harmful during Development, Beneficial in Adult Patient Populations

Nicotine has remarkably diverse effects on the brain. Being the main active compound in tobacco, nicotine can aversively affect brain development. However, it has the ability to act positively by restoring attentional capabilities in smokers. Here, we focus on nicotine exposure during the prenatal and adolescent developmental periods and specifically, we will review the long-lasting effects of nicotine on attention, both in humans and animal models.We discuss the reciprocal relation of the beneficial effects of nicotine, improving attention in smokers and in patients with neuropsychiatric diseases, such as schizophrenia and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, vs. nicotine-related attention deficits already caused during adolescence. Given the need for research on the mechanisms of nicotine's cognitive actions, we discuss some of the recent work performed in animals. © 2012 Counotte, Smit and Spijker

PIEteR : a field specific bio-economic production model for decision support in sugar beet growing

To support decisions in sugar beet growing, a model, PIEteR, was developed. It simulates growth and production of the crop in a field specific way, making a tailor-made approach in decision taking possible.PIEteR is based on causal regression analysis of Dutch data of mostly experimental sugar beet fields. Its prototype, which only simulated root and sugar yields, was selected through a test on the performance of four models and extended with a number of parameters: sugar content, (K + Na) and α-amino-N contents, extractability index, tare content, operating receipts (a measure for gross returns), and amounts of leaves and nitrogen in leaves and crowns after harvest. Growth and production rates are corrected by a water balance module.The effects of plant density, nitrogen availability and harvest date were modelled and included in PIEteR, thus improving its applicability and the accuracy of the predictions. The profitability of resowing after a poor crop establishment was studied and critical plant densities were given for several combinations of sowing and resowing dates. The profitability of a delay in harvest depends to a large extent on the question whether the sugar yield has exceeded the sugar quota level or not. A method to allocate equipment costs to crops, making tactical decisions on sugar beet area possible, was described and included in PlEteR.Validation of PIEteR on a set of commercial and experimental sugar beet fields showed average prediction errors for root and sugar yields and financial returns per ha of 12 %, 13 % and 13%, respectively, and the variances accounted for were 52%, 51% and 50%, respectively. A major part of the prediction errors was caused by the prediction error of the sugar content and by the use of average regional instead of local yield and quality levels.Improvements on PIEteR can contribute to successful use in practical applications, such as: 1) decision support at farm and field level; 2) industrial campaign planning; 3) yield gap analysis; 4) analysis of new cropping techniques, new cultivars, etc. Further research on the prediction of local levels of output parameters seems to be the most important option for improvement of PIEteR, followed by addition of modules for weeds, diseases and pests, cultivars and preceding crops

Changing external conditions require high levels of entrepreneurship in agriculture

Society including markets and policies rapidly changes. Farmers or agricultural entrepreneurs need to become more flexible and develop strategies to pro-actively adapt their farm, product portfolio, networks, partnerships, knowledge systems, personal skills and competences to the changing external conditions. Entrepreneurship is an important research theme of the Agricultural Economics Research Institute (LEI) in the Netherlands. Some of the aspects studied are: analysis and evaluation of the conditions in which agricultural entrepreneurs have to do their work; monitoring and evaluation of the results of entrepreneurship; analysis of the behaviour of groups of entrepreneurs itself to find explanations for past reactions or to predict future reactions of farmers on market or policy developments; improvement of the level of entrepreneurship through training in different aspects of this topic; ISP (Interactive Strategic Planning) can play a role in such learning processes. In agriculture, passive, moderately active and very active entrepreneurs can be discerned. In general, more active entrepreneurs have a stronger vision and strategy toward integrated crop protection and lower levels of pesticide use and environmental burden than passive colleagues. In general, there is a strong need to improve the level of entrepreneurship in agriculture, and the ISP-process and toolbox are helpful instruments to facilitate such improvements. The entrepreneur is in the centre of this process. He is facilitated to define his own goals, strategy and plans, and to adapt them when external conditions (are foreseen to) change. Therefore, the major decision maker and performer in agriculture, the entrepreneur himself, is equipped not only to survive but to develop a strategic approach that makes him an interesting partner to work with in the eyes of many stakeholders in his network

Toekomst voor de Nederlandse akkerbouw

Het afgelopen najaar hebben veel akkerbouwers zich afgevraagd of hun bedrijf nog wel toekomst heeft. Aardappelprijzen van 1,5 à 2 eurocent per kg en uien die ‘gratis’ van het land gehaald mochten worden, zijn niet bepaald ingrediënten voor een optimistische hutspot. De Brusselse plannen rond het suikerbeleid smaken verre van zoet en de berekende bedrijfstoeslagen ter vervanging van gewas- en dierpremies voor sommige boeren uitgesproken bitter. De afname van die toeslagen in de komende jaren schept het beeld dat de Nederlandse akkerbouwer steeds meer overgeleverd zal zijn aan de grillen van de wereldmarkt

Biodiversiteit op akkers roept verschillende reacties op

Mengteelten, zoals gerst-erwt of rogge-erwt, vergroten de biodiversiteit van akkers. In dit artikel is de belevingswaarde van dergelijke akkers beschreven. Een vraag die hierbij aan de orde komt is of dergelijke biodiverse akkers ook de waarde van het Nederlandse landschap vergroten