Organic milk production in the UK increased from 16 million litres in 1997/98 to 218 million litres in 2001/02 (MDC, 2002). Consumers often cite health benefits of organic food as a reason for purchase (Hill and Lynchehaun, 2002; MDC, 2002). To date, only minor differences in composition between organic and...

Over 60% of Africans depend on some form of farming for their sustenance and livelihoods. Agriculture remains vital for the continent’s development and economic growth. So the recent stagnation or decline in farm productivity in in many parts of Africa is a major concern. For many communities and countries, this...

The nutritive value of forages for ruminants highly depends on the ratio between cell content and cell walls and on the ability of the rumen microorganisms to degrade the plant cell walls (Waldo, 1986). The primary function of the NDF fraction in ruminant diets is to provide energy for microbial...

One of the characteristics of organic farming is the conservation of domestic, endogenous livestock breeds and strains. For a successful development of the organic pig sector in Southern Europe, the animals must be well adapted domestic breeds, as they are exposed to extreme weather conditions in the free range systems...

Maintaining high welfare status and allowing birds access to natural behaviour and outdoors are particular challenges in organic egg production. Feather pecking, foot problems, external parasites and poor utilisation of outdoor areas have been recognised as problems in organic layer systems (Lampkin 1997, Berg 2001, Kjilstra et al. 2003). Inexperience...

All stakeholders in the organic livestock food chain have different priorities with respect to food quality. Stakeholders include producers, wholesalers, retailers, advisory bodies, certification groups, regulatory and inspection groups (such as environmental health officers & food microbiologists) and the consumer. Due to the wide range in requirements by these different...

While the level of consumption of organic food is markedly lower in Hungary than in many other European countries, there is an increasing trend among consumers to look for functional and ethically and environmentally sustainable food. This potentially opens up new perspectives for the organic food producers who currently are...

Nearly 1,600 organic farming enterprises are inspected by the Hungarian organic inspection authority, Biokontroll Hungária Kht.. Only 160 of these farms keep livestock. Cattle are the most common species, but the percentage of sheep is also significant (Biokontroll Hungária Kht., 2004). The sheep are generally kept in extensive circumstances, on...

The increasing world population, in the mid-20th century, increased the demand of plant and animal products, leading to intensive and monoculture agriculture systems in conventional agriculture. The abundant and low-cost production from per unit and/or animal head were seen as primary objectives in these systems, and ecologic balance and health...

The Ethiopian national bean program traditionally followed conventional approaches in bean improvement for smallholder farmers. The relative effectiveness and efficiency of Participatory Plant Breeding (PPB) compared to conventional approaches is not fully understood. The study was initiated to evaluate participatory plant breeding in bean improvement to disseminate more acceptable and...

Economic reforms launched in the early 1990s have significantly affected Czech agriculture for more than a decade. First was the reform of property rights to land, which was considered an underlying condition for the effective functioning of a market economy. The reform was built upon three principals: restitution of land...

Over 1 million people became landowners during the mass privatization and reorganization of collective farms in Moldova. More than 200,000 peasant farms, second one – “Survey of farm managers”, were conducted by at import owing 1.8 ha of land each, and became the most typical economic entities farming this land....

Russian dairy enterprises underwent dramatic changes during 1990-2001. Not much is known about the position of these enterprises under the new conditions. This study examined a sample group of dairy enterprises in the Moscow region to try to identify similarities and divergences in historical background, performance, managerial and structural characteristics....

This paper presents an historical account of the significance of wine production in a region of south-central Hungary, with a particular focus on the transformations accomplished under socialism and the problems faced by this branch of the rural economy in the post socialist years. Drawing on his own and other...

Irrigation has been found to be a central key part in curbing food scarcity not only in Tanzania but also in many other developing countries. The continued dependence on rainfall in agriculture has proved incapable of sustaining the population increase. This study examines the sustainability of smallholder irrigated agriculture as...

Family farming has been in focus in Sweden as well as in all traditional European agricultural policy. However the concept appears in many different contexts, it can denote both a statistically defined size or institutional form of agricultural production, or an economically defined firm with certain advantages vis a vis...

Reconciling food production and nature conservation is a challenge shared by all. This document stresses the need to maximize the contribution of protected areas to food security and poverty alleviation through soundlymanaged agriculture. Farmers and forest dwellers, including a large proportion of indigenous people, are the main inhabitants and users...

Building on existing models for the role of agriculture in industrialized and developing countries, this chapter examines a number of critical aspects of agriculture’s role in Central and Eastern European (CEE) rural development. By reviewing the contributions of this proceedings volume, we focus on the perspectives of small farms, rural...

Over the last decade, the consumption of poultry products in developing countries has grown by 5.8 percent per annum, faster than that of human population growth, and has created a great increase in demand. Family poultry has the potential to satisfy at least part of this demand through increased productivity...

Over the past decade, Africa and other developing regions have been in the midst of tremendous changes. Market liberalisation and governmental decentralisation policies have interfaced with globalisation and urbanisation trends to dramatically transform social, political, economic and cultural lives. Agriculture can no longer remain behind-serving only to meet subsistence food...