Perception of Land Scarcity by Peri-Urban Farmers

Farmers in peri-urban regions face many problems, among which land scarcity is a major one according to literature. However, as indicated by a survey among farmers in the peri-urban region around Brussels, land scarcity is not perceived as a problem by all farmers to the same extent. Based on econometric analysis, the survey results show that perception of land scarcity is mainly influenced by differences in landownership and perceived ratio between farm land prices and real land prices. Changes in each of these variables will lead to a shift in the problems a farmer faces and will therefore stimulate different farming or land use strategies.peri-urban, land availability, land prices, landownership, Land Economics/Use, O18, R14, Q11, Q15,

Assessing the impact of the EU Common Agricultural Policy pillar II support using micro-economic data

The paper uses the case of Flemish investment support to make a quantitative analysis of pillar II support based on micro-economic data from the FADN and the administrative dataset of the investment support fund. A dynamic panel estimation quantifies the effect of support for settingup young farmers, structural investment support and support for investments on farm diversification, animal welfare or environmental investments.. The results show that investment support for farm diversification and structural support increase the total output and the income. Environmental investment support increase costs and decrease the farm income without a significant impact on output. The conclusion for the national debate is that the structural and the diversification investment support is effective while the environmental investment support is too low to cover all additional costs in the short run. The conclusion for the international debate is that, except for the structural investment support, the Flemish investment support is not distortive for international agricultural markets.Pillar II, Investment support, decoupled subsidies, dynamic panel estimation, Flanders, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q12, Q18, Q51, Q52.,

Job expectations of students graduating from agricultural and horticultural school

In Flanders a survey was organized in the agricultural and horticultural schools. In this survey the graduate students were questioned on what their expectations are for their professional life. Asked for their intention in the immediate future it was remarkable that 36 % of the graduate students had the intention to continue school. Of the students that will not continue their studies 17 % will work on the parental holding; this is 29 % of the students whose parents are entrepreneurs. Only 10 % of the graduates will start a new holding immediately after they finish school. In the long term 21 % of the graduate students want to take over the holding of their parents, 24 % want to start a brand new enterprise. This means that almost 50 % of the graduate students want to become an entrepreneur one day. Of these future entrepreneurs 45 % will manage an agricultural holding, 15 % will manage a horticultural holding, 23 % a landscape gardening holding and the other 17 % will manage another kind of holding. To maintain the number of holdings in Flanders 475 agricultural and 138 horticultural new holdings are needed every year. According to the study only 207 and 69 new entrepreneurs are available; this is not enough to replace all the holdings that disappear. On the other hand new holdings are larger than the average holding; to keep the total production potential of the sector less new holdings are required. For the graduate students the most important criterion for a job is a good income. On the second place, but very close to the first one is the expectation that the job would offer a varied work. To attract more future entrepreneurs it is necessary to improve the image of the sector

Economic impact of decreasing stocking densities in broiler rabbit production based on Belgian farm data

[EN] Stocking density is a prominent issue in public debates on farm animal welfare. Public perceptions and economic impact of reduced stocking density should be considered, along with effects on animal performances and welfare. In this paper, experimental data and accountancy data based on 15 Belgian farms were combined to calculate the financial impact of different stocking densities on broiler rabbit farm profitability. Using the partial budget technique, only those elements that change with stocking density were taken into account. From the experiment, feed conversion and feed intake were found to increase slightly though significantly with decreasing stocking density, although only 5% and 6% of the variation, respectively, were explained by stocking density. However, reducing stocking density implies a recalculation of all costs in a reduced number of broiler rabbits, which has a negative impact on farm profitability. Reducing stocking density from the standard situation of 15 rabbits per m² to 10 rabbits per m² reduced added value by 22 euros per doe. In general, farm income was low and amounted to only 28.10 euros per doe during 2006-2008 for the reference situation of 15 rabbits per m². Below a density of 9 rabbits/m², a negative farm income was calculated. Sensitivity analysis showed that rabbit meat price has a stronger influence on the added value at a given density than rabbit feed price.This research is funded by the Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology in Flanders (IWT Vlaanderen), Brussels, Belgium. We gratefully acknowledge the Flemish Association of Poultry and Rabbit Breeders, and especially Ilka Hertogs for their willingness to provide the used accountancy data.132Verspecht, A.; Maertens, L.; Vanhonacker, F.; Tuyttens, F.; Van Huylenbroeck, G.; Verbeke, W. (2011). Economic impact of decreasing stocking densities in broiler rabbit production based on Belgian farm data. World Rabbit Science. 19(3). doi:10.4995/wrs.2011.849SWORD12319

Case Study - Belgium, Sustainable Agriculture and Soil Conservation (SoCo Project)

This Technical Note 'Case Study ¿ Belgium' is part of a series of case studies within the ¿Sustainable Agriculture and Soil Conservation¿ (SoCo) project. Ten case studies were carried out in Belgium, Bul-garia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom between spring and summer 2008. The selection of case study areas was designed to capture differ-ences in soil degradation processes, soil types, climatic conditions, farm structures and farming prac-tices, institutional settings and policy priorities. A harmonised methodological approach was pursued in order to gather insights from a range of contrasting conditions over a geographically diverse area. The case studies were carried out by local experts to reflect the specificities of the selected case studies.JRC.DDG.J.5-Agriculture and Life Sciences in the Econom

Perception of Land Scarcity by Peri-Urban Farmers

Farmers in peri-urban regions face many problems, among which land scarcity is a major one according to literature. However, as indicated by a survey among farmers in the peri-urban region around Brussels, land scarcity is not perceived as a problem by all farmers to the same extent. Based on econometric analysis, the survey results show that perception of land scarcity is mainly influenced by differences in landownership and perceived ratio between farm land prices and real land prices. Changes in each of these variables will lead to a shift in the problems a farmer faces and will therefore stimulate different farming or land use strategies

Assessing the impact of the EU Common Agricultural Policy pillar II support using micro-economic data

The paper uses the case of Flemish investment support to make a quantitative analysis of pillar II support based on micro-economic data from the FADN and the administrative dataset of the investment support fund. A dynamic panel estimation quantifies the effect of support for settingup young farmers, structural investment support and support for investments on farm diversification, animal welfare or environmental investments.. The results show that investment support for farm diversification and structural support increase the total output and the income. Environmental investment support increase costs and decrease the farm income without a significant impact on output. The conclusion for the national debate is that the structural and the diversification investment support is effective while the environmental investment support is too low to cover all additional costs in the short run. The conclusion for the international debate is that, except for the structural investment support, the Flemish investment support is not distortive for international agricultural markets