56 research outputs found
Risks and Risk Management in Agriculture
Agriculture has always been exposed to a wide spectrum of risks. But it is largely
undisputed that farmers have faced growing risks in recent years. More volatile agricultural and input
prices, climate change, ongoing discussions about the future of the Common Agricultural Policy,
increasing difficulty in finding qualified farm workers, and growing criticism of modern intensive
agriculture from the wider public and the mass media are just a few of the risks farmers have to cope
with. Therefore, risk management has become highly relevant in agriculture. In this paper, we
highlight the need for systematic risk management and outline a systematic agricultural risk
management approach. Empirical results illustrate farmers’ risk perceptions and their preferred risk
management strategies
Irrigation of farm land under the EU Water Framework Directive
With the Water Framework Directive (WFD), the European Union has established a legal
framework for the protection of all aquatic ecological systems, including groundwater. This directive
may have advantages for the water regime in ecologically sensitive areas but may also bring some
economic disadvantages for farmers. The economic implications of the WFD for irrigated agriculture
with regard to various scenarios and the implementation of alternative water policy measures are
analysed. The results show that demand for irrigation water, farmers’ reactions with regard to
operational and strategic decisions and income effects strongly depend on the water policy measures
implemented
Corporate social responsibility in the agri-food sector: the case of GMOs
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are handled differently in different countries.
Whereas global acreage of GMOs jumped to 134 million hectares in 2009 [Cultivation... 2010], in
many European countries opposition to GMOs is still strong, and their acreage is very small. This
situation poses a difficult situation for many companies and their corporate social responsibility [CSR]
strategies. Against this background, we conducted an online survey of 170 agribusiness firms in order
to shed some light on how companies handle the conflict between, on the one hand, the growing use
of GMOs worldwide and, on the other, the rejection of GMOs by European consumers. The empirical
results show that many agribusiness firms perceive the use of GMOs as a highly relevant management
issue that shapes their CSR strategies. All in all, agribusiness firms apply a wide spectrum of CSR
activities; furthermore, CSR is considered a top management responsibility. GMOs are of aboveaverage
relevance in firms that have been criticized for their attitudes towards and use of GMOs. The
empirical results have interesting implications for the management of CSR and legitimacy in the
agribusiness sector
Internationalisation of German agribusiness firms after the EU enlargement: strategies, challenges and success
In recent years, the internationalisation of firm activities has been a significant trend in the
agribusiness sector. To a great degree, this development has been fuelled by trade liberalisations and
the EU enlargement, but also by the strong economic growth in many transforming and developing
economies. Against this background, this paper identifies the strategies and instruments that
agribusiness companies currently use when internationalising their business. The paper presents the
empirical results of a survey that was undertaken between April and August 2010 with the
participation of 113 German agribusiness firms. The majority of respondents expect that the
globalisation of agricultural markets will increase remarkably in the future. For developing
international business activities, comparatively simple strategies, such as direct and indirect exports,
are most widely used. Agribusiness firms face various challenges in international markets, including
problems with quality control, corruption, tariff and non-tariff trade barriers, as well as low
availability of qualified workers and managers and a lack of legal security. Despite these difficulties
and challenges, three-fourths of those interviewed indicated that they had either reached or exceeded
the goals set for their international expansion
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