Integrated Development Of Agriculture And Rural Areas In Central European Countries

Integrated Development of Agriculture and Rural Areas in Central European Countries presents the exciting results of original research on the integrated development of agriculture and rural areas in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland. This edited collection includes academics from both Western and Central European Countries who worked together on a three-year research project. The project yielded unique data that covers different aspects of rural development-both agriculture and non-agricultural activities-and is of special relevance owing to these countries' status as new members of the European Union. Following an introduction into the transition process and the current situations in each country, variations in farm performance are analyzed, a detailed look is taken at the rural development in the EU, the role of non-agricultural farm diversification is analyzed, and the major findings of the research are presented. This exceptional collection compiled by Davidova, Bauer, and Cuddy, will appeal to scholars of agriculture and rural economics and policy.

This title was first published in 2000: This volume analyzes key issues of the process of integrating Central and Eastern European countries with the European Union related to agriculture. The issues include the comparative advantage of CEEC agriculture and its development under various accession policy scenarios; the likely policy developments in both the CEECs and the EU, based on economic, social and political economy considerations; the expected economic impacts and adjustment costs for the agro-food sector under various policy outcomes; the most important constraints for integration including policy convergence issues and internal constraints; and how integration will potentially affect trade and labour flows in the Union. The country combines detailed country-specific and region-wide empirical and theoretical analysis.

This book identifies, diagnoses and evaluates social and economic processes taking place in the rural areas of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) states in the last 25 years and affecting the immediate future, with a particular focus on their spatial diversity. It addresses questions related to the rationality of the current development policy and possible results in the future. Contemporary processes of socio-economic development are typified by the fact that spatial and regional disparities are tending to increase. This unfavourable phenomenon manifested both in society and in terms of polarised space needs to be counteracted using an effective development policy. The book highlights issues concerning demography, functional structure and non-agricultural activity, and identifies new challenges arising from membership of the European Union (EU). Accession to the EU and the opportunity to implement support measures has further increased the dynamism of transformation – a process that proceeded under various scenarios and different regulations and assumptions that have yet to be identified and evaluated. Furthermore, the current internal policies of individual CEE states concerning rural areas are diverse and likely to affect differential future development. The book is based on the knowledge and experience of scientists from countries in the region investigated, who have the best understanding of the subject matter and have observed the transformations. It is intended for researchers exploring the development of the countryside and practitioners dealing with regional and national development policies targeting rural areas.

This book reflects on how the economies, social characteristics, ways of life and global relationships of rural areas of Europe have changed in recent years. This reveals a need to refresh the concepts we use to understand, measure and describe rural communities and their development potential. This book argues that Europe has 'outgrown' many of the stereotypes usually associated with it, with substantial implications for European Rural Policy. Rural structural change and its evolving geography are portrayed through regional typologies and the concept of the New Rural Economy. Demographic change, migration, business networks and agricultural restructuring are each explored in greater detail. Implications for equality and social exclusion, and recent developments in the field of governance are also considered. Despite being a subject of active debate, interventions in the fields of rural and regional development have failed to adapt to changing realities and have become increasingly polarized. This book argues that rural/regional policy needs to evolve in order to address the current complex reality, partially reformulating territorial or place-based approaches, and the New Rural Paradigm, following a set of principles termed ‘Rural Cohesion Policy’.

For a long time agriculture and rural life were dismissed by many contemporaries as irrelevant or old-fashioned. Contrasted with cities as centers of intellectual debate and political decision-making, the countryside seemed to be becoming increasingly irrelevant. Today, politicians in many European countries are starting to understand that the neglect of the countryside has created grave problems. Similarly, historians are remembering that European history in the twentieth century was strongly influenced by problems connected to the production of food, access to natural resources, land rights, and the political representation and activism of rural populations. Hence, the handbook offers an overview of historical knowledge on a variety of topics related to the land. It does so through a distinctly activity-centric and genuinely European perspective. Rather than comparing different national approaches to living with the land, the different chapters focus on particular activities – from measuring to settling the land, from producing and selling food to improving agronomic knowledge, from organizing rural life to challenging political structures in the countryside. Furthermore, the handbook overcomes the traditional division between East and West, North and South, by embracing a transregional approach that allows readers to gain an understanding of similarities and differences across national and ideological borders in twentieth-century Europe.