Projects / Programmes
Competitiveness of the agri-food sector
January 1, 2004
- December 31, 2008
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 4.03.00 |
Biotechnical sciences |
Plant production |
|
| 4.02.00 |
Biotechnical sciences |
Animal production |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| S187 |
Social sciences |
Agricultural economics |
agriculture, food processing, agricultural policy, competitiveness, indicators, sectoral models, agricultural household models, Input-Output models, agricultural structures, non-commodity outputs of agriculture, vertical market integrations, EU Common Agricultural Policy, decision-making models.
Researchers (12)
Organisations (3)
Abstract
Research aims of the programme group can be described by different aspects of competitiveness of the agricultural and food sector. The research team intends to create and disseminate new findings, develop and upgrade empirical tools, share its research expertise within the international research community, assist business subjects and policymakers with expertise, incorporate new findings to higher education curricula and develop young experts in the broader field of agricultural economics. By attaining proficiency and research expertise, the group aims towards efficient exchange of knowledge and research findings on the international level.
The research work can be classified in three groups described by the following keywords: indicators, models and instruments for strengthening competitiveness.
Research area dealing with competitiveness of the agro-food sector, estimation of the following indicators of competitiveness is envisaged: i) a network of indicators measuring competitiveness of the agro-food sector; (ii) policy information system; (iii) demand and supply elasticity coefficients for key agricultural products; (iv) socio-economic structure of agriculture; (iv) comparative analysis of legal regulation of agriculture; (v) institutional analysis of agriculture and food industry.
In order to obtain an overall assessment of competitiveness, and in particular the ability to forecast the impacts and consequences of changed economic conditions, the work concentrates to the following sectoral models: (i) development of Economic Account for Agriculture; (ii) internationally comparable partial equilibrium sector model; (iii) general equilibrium model with an emphasis on agro-food sector; (iv) regionalised input/output model for analysis of employment effects; (v) sectoral model based on positive mathematical programming with integrated module for analysis of environmental effects; (vi) analysis of decision-making processes by the farm household model; (vii) models of decision-making in agricultural policy
Special attention is devoted to the relevance and applicability of results for agricultural policy decision makers. In this context, the following instruments for strengthening competition are taken into account: (i) list of competitive products / production technologies; (ii) vertical integrations and models of marketing and traceability; (iii) evaluating feasibility of quality and food safety systems; (iv) evaluation of applicability and possibilities for e-commerce in agriculture; (v) assessment of potentials for supplementary activities of farm households; (vi) proposals for marketing strategy models; (vii) model for improvements in the market of production factors in agriculture; (vii) proposals for rational and efficient decision-making mechanisms in agricultural policy
Significance for science
Group is active in different areas of agricultural economics. The research group’s main achievements are in the field of sector modeling of transitional and EU accession processes of agriculture and food industry. The group has developed a whole range of sector models (partial equilibrium model, general equilibrium model, input/output model, linear programming models, and static deterministic household model) and for the first time applied them to the data for Slovenian agriculture and food industry. Several original solutions for modeling political instruments and price transmission have been developed. Models developed enable EU accession impact assessment as well as impact assessment of different scenarios of socio-economic changes. Further, the group has achieved important results in the field of agricultural labour supply response. For the first time, a neo-classical household model has been applied to the data for transitional countries. Original scientific contribution of the group is also linkage of political economy analysis and textual discourse analysis. The approach has been applied to assess the Common Agricultural Policy discourses, based on Commissioners’ speeches and assessment of political-economy reform processes. In this period programme group was involved in ten different EU financed projects (5th, 6th and 7th FP), indicating group's exceptional abilities to be continuously integrated into the international research activities, as well as indicating its referential position in the EU regarding certain research areas of agricultural economics. The group is among those with the highest rate of EU financed projects per researcher in the country.
Significance for the country
The group supplies key research support to the decision makers in the field of agricultural policy in Slovenia. The group conducts various permanent monitoring activities of agriculture, agricultural policy and food industry. Monitoring comprises a set of standard indicator based impact assessment methods enabling continuous analysis of the agricultural and food industry sector, as well as agricultural policy. The monitoring results are available to the governmental as well as non-governmental stakeholders on the yearly basis. The group’s expert and research results are continuously used in key steps of the decision making process concerning the national agricultural policy. This period included decisions such as implementation of the new direct payments scheme and rural development programme for the programming period 2007-2013. Different studies have been carried out to support the governmental decision making process in the field of agriculture, including the official national positions in the European Council bodies. Individual researchers of the group perform different expert tasks for governmental as well as industry clients. Through such activities the group has continuously gained a substantial amount of additional research funds. Programme group involves researchers of three different research institutions. With the exception of one research institution, the group includes all researchers in the field of agricultural economics in Slovenia. This approach enables coordinated and common development of the agricultural economics as scientific field. Additionally, simplified flow of human resources and ideas contributes to faster international research integration. The group is country agricultural policy representative in the bodies of OECD and European Commission. The group is also strongly engaged in establishing and in international integration of agricultural economics research in the Western Balkans countries, which is evident through different projects and awards.
Most important scientific results
Final report,
complete report on dLib.si
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Final report,
complete report on dLib.si
