Farms generally produce products with low differentiation. To reach an increase in the profit and sales, product differentiation is one of the potential strategies that could be successfully applied. This paper identifies "Intermediate Consumption/Total Output" as a simple and user-friendly indicator for farm product differentiation performance and comparison assessment in the Czech Republic, based on a two-step cluster analysis performed on 1 225 farms with different operating conditions and reproduction process characteristics in the Czech Republic. The data are sourced from Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN CZ). Four farm clusters based on product differentiation levels are identified and described from the point of view of the production process and conditions. The resulting cluster profiles, in general, indicate the production conditions and process affecting the resulting product differentiation. Nevertheless, farms deliver extraordinary product differentiation values in fields with less favourable conditions and production processes. Those have the potential to be an inspiration for farms with lower product differentiation values. The result of this paper provides hope, less favourable conditions are not a limit for formidable performance. This paper result can be practically applied by anyone aiming to easily identify, evaluate, and compare farm product differentiation levels.

https://www.agriculturejournals.cz/web/agricecon.htm?type=article&id=442_2020-AGRICECON

Mineral fertilisers such as nitrogen (N) or phosphorus (P) are commonly used as important inputs in agricultural production. Their inadequate use can result in lower yields and loss of quality. However, excessive use of nitrogen can lead to environmental pollution and adverse effects on human health. This paper assesses nitrogen fertiliser use and the environmental efficiency of crop production of EU member states using the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) approach. The results of the analysis show that the crop sector in the five member states of the European Union (i.e., Slovenia, Italy, Greece, Austria and Spain) is relatively environmentally efficient. In the remaining member states, efficiency is lower by varying degrees. This means that their agricultural sectors use too much fertiliser to produce the same output as more efficient farms, compared to other countries. The results of the study shed light on the environmental efficiency of crop production in the tEU and can contribute to the application of better management techniques and more effective agricultural policies.

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/8720

The alignment of the environmental, economic and social sustainability of farms is necessary for enhancing the provision of public goods in farming. This study combines the use of three tools for the assessment of farm sustainability. It provides first insights into the sustainability performance of farms at different stages of agro-ecological transitions in 15 case studies covering a range of different farming systems across Europe. Each case study reflects a different-transition towards agro-ecological farming. The tools applied were COMPAS (an economic farm assessment tool); Cool Farm Tool (a greenhouse gas inventory, water footprint and biodiversity assessment tool); and the SMART Farm Tool (a

multidimensional sustainability assessment tool). First results of the use of combined sustainability assessments deepen the understanding of different farming systems. Sustainability performance varies greatly between farms, but overall, agro-ecological farms tend to enhance biodiversity and water quality. For soil quality, no clear patterns could be identified. The same applies to economic performance at different stages of the agro-ecological transition. Quality of life was generally rated medium to high on all investigated farms. The combined sustainability assessment enabled the identification of areas for further policy development. Aligning the tools required harmonising definitions, simplification and assumptions with regard to the input data of the tools.

https://d-nb.info/1227329148/34

The standard economic price theory of working with efficient source allocation is being confronted with a series of empirical findings of asymmetric price responses. The objective of the research was to examine whether the distribution of prices within the dairy chain in the Czech Republic was fair and whether farmers progressed in a collective approach to strengthen their position in the supply chain. We used the pre-cointegration and cointegration approach to test for asymmetry in the transmission of farm milk prices throughout the supply chain. Furthermore, we measured the development of market concentration by means of the Herfindahl-Hirschman index and discussed the background of the figures with producer organisation representatives. The results proved there were asymmetric price transmissions. In response, farmers consolidated and concentrated their milk sales. The concentration should not yet be understood as a goal but as a means to the next steps.

https://www.agriculturejournals.cz/web/agricecon.htm?type=article&id=22_2021-AGRICECON

This paper provides values of economic, energy and environmental assessments of 20 crops and assesses the relationships of soil-climatic conditions in the example of the Czech Republic. The comparison of main soil quality indicators according to the configuration of land and climate regions is performed on the basis of energy and economic efficiency as well as a comparison of the level of environmental impacts. The environmental impacts are identified based on the assessment of emissions from production and also in the form of soil compaction as an indicator of the relationship to soil quality. As concerns soil properties, of major importance is soil skeleton, slope of land and the depth of soil, which cause an increase in emissions from the energy produced. Substantially better emission parameters per 1 MJ through energy crops, the cultivation of perennial crops and silage maize has been supported. Among energy crops, a positive relationship with the quality of soil is seen in alfalfa, with a significant reduction in soil penetrometric resistance; energy crops are also politically justifiable in

competition with other crops intended for nutrition of population. The main advantage of energy crops for the low-carbon economy is their CO2 production to MJ, which is almost half, especially in marginal areas with lower soil depths, slopes and stoniness, which can be included in the new agricultural policy.

https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/5/1415

This paper aims to analyse the technical efficiency (TE) of dairy farms and find its determinants. To accomplish this problem, the Stochastic Frontier Analysis was applied. The data were obtained from the Farm Accountancy Data Network database for dairy farms (TF15-45—Specialist dairying) for 2004–2019. Dairy farms were divided into four clusters according to their physical size (number of livestock units per farm) and economic size (standard output per farm). The largest farms by physical and economic size are located in Denmark and Cyprus. The smallest, in comparison, are in Bulgaria, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Austria, Poland, Romania, and Slovenia. Farms in the EU are relatively technically efficient, i.e., they use their resources efficiently to produce maximum output (production). However, they have the potential to achieve better economic results and be more competitive, as the size of farms’ is not fully optimised. The abolition of the milk quota can be considered a factor in improving technical efficiency, as the indicator is higher after the abolition. New and old member states have almost comparable technical efficiency levels (the p-value of the t-test is 0.463), with old members having slightly higher level TE. Subsidies have contradictory effects on TE. Farm efficiency with higher subsidies per cow is higher for farms with €51–100/cow. However, as subsidies increase, TE decreases. Only the group of farms with the highest subsidies has a higher TE. More diversified farms are more technically efficient than specialised farms. Milk yield did not influence the analysed indicator. The analysis results can serve the stakeholders as a tool for modelling future agricultural policy, as the European farms are very heterogenous and show different conditions and economic outcomes.

https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/11/1114

The Czech Republic ranks among the countries with a strong tradition of home food self-provisioning. In this article, we focused our attention specifically to the traditional and frequently neglected phenomenon of rural self-provisioning while newly introducing a data-based analysis of the phenomenon in two areas, i.e., suburbs and peripheries of the South Moravian region. Unlike the research carried out in the CR or EU to date, our survey aims exclusively at the analysis of households with access to land, which allow a more detailed scrutiny of growing a wide range of commodities, the attitudes to it and its perspectives. The results of the field study carried out in 178 rural households in two types of South Moravian regions (suburban and peripheral) from 2017 show the regional differences in food self-provisioning. They also contribute to a better understanding of a phenomenon whose variability within a rural territory is quite known a little. Even though the suburban and peripheral regions have very comparable natural conditions and opportunities of growing crops (a similar type of estate, nearly the same size of the gardens surveyed), we can observe rather remarkable differences, especially in the extent of the areas being farmed and in the scale of breeding domesticated animals (work demanding activities). Compared to that, only negligible differences were found in growing commodities demanding less work (fruit and tomato growing). The identified differences in attitudes to

self-provisioning in the observed regions (depending on the varied types of population in the regions) allow for analysing the perspectives of particular self-provisioning activities both in South Moravia and the CR on the whole.

https://www.sciendo.com/article/10.2478/euco-2021-0030

The problem of food waste is broadly discussed, but empirical data are still missing. The importance of this topic increases as the reporting of food waste levels will be mandatory for EU member states. How much food do we waste? Which categories of food are wasted the most? The main aim of this paper is to estimate the food waste component and its composition in municipal mixed waste. For this purpose, waste composition analysis was conducted in the Czech Republic. Reasons for using this method are explained and its limitations are discussed. Collected data were also used to compare seasonal differences and different types of housing development. Additionally, several ways of reducing household food waste are suggested. The results show a significant variability of measured values within four defined types of residential areas and two monitored periods in 2018 and a relatively small amount of disposed edible food waste. The most significant component of food waste was the inedible part of food which presents in average about 60% of the total amount. The results also indicate that more food waste occurs in an urban area compared to rural area and households threw out more food in September/October than in June/July.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10163-021-01214-7

Several non-governmental initiatives have emerged in the Czech Republic in recent years with the aim to organise the provision of public goods or ecosystem services from agriculture and forestry. These initiatives are usually started by activists (elites) and take forms such as foundations or trust funds, but often present themselves as collective actions of communal interests. This paper sets out to present four cases of such efforts and to show their common and contrasting features in light of their relevance to local needs and possible integration in the future CAP framework. A particular focus is on the community-based character of these initiatives for the pro- vision of public goods. This is done by examining the necessary conditions for the success of collectively managed common pool resources. The research shows that elite-driven non-governmental organisations often emerge because of a lack of interest on the part of public bodies and because local communities do not have the capacity to set up a collective action for the provision of environmentally and socially “beneficial outcomes” (ESBO). The investigated NGOs, however, soon came into conflict with non-involved actors. To improve the governance mechanism, an extension towards a community-based collective action is proposed. However, each step of such a transition is a challenge for the initiatives of the presented case studies. The first critical issue is to find a common interest among actors. Similarly, “sharing power” represents a struggle which consequently delays progress in creating effective internal governance. The difficulty in progressing towards community-based collective action is amplified by the uncertainty concerning property rights induced by the activities of the NGOs and unfav- ourable socioeconomic and institutional conditions. Finding that the private initiatives are far from being able to transform into community-based collective

action, we propose to launch a measure of institutional funding for the coordination and management of their projects – similar to LEADER but more concentrated in scope.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026483771930170X

The post-2020 Common Agricultural Policy targets at supporting small and medium-sized farms. Capping and redistribution of direct payments would have a direct impact on the economic viability of farms. Calculation of economic income is a reasonable way how to calculate the economic viability of firms. However, accounting profit has been preferred for its estimation so far. The article aims to compare the income from accounting and economic point of view and reveal how much the results differ across the EU. The literature review, an empirical analysis based on Farm Accountancy Data Network (2016–2018), and a clustered heat map were applied. The results provide clear evidence of high variability of opportunity costs when calculating the economic viability in the EU, especially between countries with small intensive farms and some post-communist countries where larger farms dominate.

https://www.agriculturejournals.cz/web/agricecon.htm?type=article&id=412_2020-AGRICECON

The COVID-19 crisis has had a negative impact on macroeconomic development in the Czech Republic, with the second quarter of 2020 seeing the most severe downturn since the formation of the Czech Republic in 1993. The Czech Statistical Office recorded a year-on-year decrease in GDP of 11% (CZSO, 2019). The analysis presented here focuses on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on selected aspects of animal breeding and summarizes the situation up until 1 October 2020.

https://academic.oup.com/af/article/11/1/47/6129035

Fertilizer inputs, crop yields, the composition of technological operations and intensity of treatment with different types of pesticides in both basic approaches were evaluated. A comprehensive comparison of impacts showed that all crops, except sugar beet, achieved better economic and emission parameters of production based on the evaluation of GHG production by using reduced tillage compared to ploughing. The total reduction of GHG emissions based on CO2eq on average of all crops per ton as a result of the technological processes was 6% using reduced tillage. The most significant CO2eq reductions were achieved for rye and oat (13%), and spring barley (8%). The reduction of crop yields ranges from about 1% (spring barley) to 4% (grain maize). Cost reduction per tone was in the range of

14% (rye) to 2% (silage maize). The energy gain was at reduced tillage improved at poppy (8%), rape (4%), oat (3%), rye (3%) and spring and winter barley (2%). From the evaluation of the number of chemical protections, a lower number of total protections was found at the no-till system for most crops. In most cases, there was no difference between ploughing and reduced tillage. There was an increase in specific nitrogen consumption per tonne of production in marginal areas, reduced tillage led to an increase in soil compaction.

https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/5/456

This paper analyses farmland price formation under investors’ increased demand in the Czech Republic from 2008 to 2014. We adopt a stochastic metafrontier approach to hedonic price modelling and investigate the relative differences in farm and investor pricing. Our results provide evidence of buyer group-specific land valuations, asymmetric price dispersions and their temporal changes. These changes reflect the developments of market microstructures and market-supporting institutions induced by buyer competition. While initially significantly lower due to high market and bargaining power, prices paid by corporate/cooperative farms converged with high-level investor prices over time. Individual and family farms were largely unable to compete at the new price levels.

https://academic.oup.com/erae/article/48/1/97/5998099

The OECD-FAO's Agricultural Outlook and the European Commission DG AGRI's Medium-term agricultural outlook report provide price forecasts. Users of these forecasts may be interested in their accuracy. This paper measures the accuracy for values forecast for the following year. These are very accurate as regards the AO EU price of poultry, the EC outlook price of common wheat and feed barley, but not so accurate as regards the EC outlookon beef prices. In some cases, discrepancies between the forecasts follow a systematic pattern. The paper also discovers how the OECD-FAO's outlook projections for a common wheat world representative price are changing from year to year. Usually they are positively correlated, but there are certain exceptions where their correlation is significantly negative. This means that the price projections of some commodities may vary dramatically.

https://online.agris.cz/archive/2021/03/08

The paper deals with the sources of competitiveness of Czech cereal production by considering precision farming technology and employing micro-level data collected in the FADN database for the period 2005–2018. The analysis is based on the stochastic frontier modelling of an input distance function in the specification of the four-component model, which currently represents the most advanced approach to technical efficiency analysis. To provide a robust estimate of the model, the paper employs methods which control for the potential endogeneity of netputs in the four-step estimation procedure. Furthermore, the total factor productivity change is calculated using the Törnqvist-Theil index. The results reveal that Czech cereal producers took great advantage of their production possibilities and experienced technological progress, which contributed considerably to productivity dynamics and consequently to an increase in their competitiveness. Precision farming, which is associated with a large number of innovations reflected in technological change and optimal resource use, contributed to higher technical efficiency connected with cost savings in Czech cereal production.

https://online.agris.cz/archive/2021/03/02

This study focuses on evaluating the technical efficiency (TE) of food and drink companies in the Czech Republic and on finding its determinants. The analysis is based on the data of 597 firms and uses the stochastic frontier method. We have identified the key players in the market and the less effective groups of processors. Foreign-owned companies have a strong position because of a better economy, but the results showed that their efficiency is comparable with that of Czech-owned companies. The results helped confirm that the size of the company influences its TE. The lowest efficiency was observed in small companies. TE also differed among branches of the food industry. The highest efficiency was in the bakery and milk industries, and the lowest efficiency was in fruit and vegetable processing. Subsidised firms reached a significantly higher efficiency. With respect to economic results, there is still a need to improve competitiveness through investments.

https://www.agriculturejournals.cz/web/agricecon.htm?type=article&id=93_2021-AGRICECON

The content of organic matter in the soil, its labile (hot water extractable carbon–HWEC) and stable (soil organic carbon–SOC) form is a fundamental factor affecting soil productivity and health. The current research in soil organic matter (SOM) is focused on individual fragmented approaches and comprehensive evaluation of HWEC and SOC changes. The present state of the soil together with soil’s management practices are usually monitoring today but there has not been any common model for both that has been published. Our approach should help to assess the changes in HWEC and SOC content depending on the physico-chemical properties and soil´s management practices (e.g., digestate application, livestock and mineral fertilisers, post-harvest residues, etc.). The one- and multidimensional linear regressions were used. Data were obtained from the various soil´s climatic conditions (68 localities) of the Czech Republic. The Czech farms in operating conditions were observed during the

period 2008–2018. The obtained results of ll monitored experimental sites showed increasing in the SOC content, while the HWEC content has decreased. Furthermore, a decline in pH and soil´s saturation was documented by regression modelling. Mainly digestate application was responsible for this negative consequence across all soils in studied climatic regions. The multivariate linear regression models (MLR) also showed that HWEC content is significantly affected by natural soil fertility (soil type), phosphorus content (−30%), digestate application (+29%), saturation of the soil sorption complex (SEBCT, 21%) and the dose of total nitrogen (N) applied into the soil (−20%). Here we report that the labile forms (HWEC) are affected by the application of digestate (15%), the soil saturation (37%), the application of mineral potassium (−7%), soil pH (−14%) and the overall condition of the soil (−27%). The stable components (SOM) are affected by the content of HWEC (17%), soil texture 0.01–0.001mm (10%), and input of organic matter and nutrients from animal production (10%). Results also showed that the mineral fertilization has a negative effect (−14%), together with the soil depth (−11%), and the soil texture 0.25–2 mm (−21%) on SOM. Using modern statistical procedures (MRLs) it was confirmed that SOM plays an important role in maintaining resp. improving soil physical, biochemical and biological properties, which is particularly important to ensure the productivity of agroecosystems (soil quality and health) and to future food security.

https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/11/4/779

An article is focused on fertilization management in farms with different specialization of production. Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium nutrients balances were analysed. An average amount of nutrients and final balance are shown in graphs in detail. Average amount is calculated as an input of nutrients on one hectare of arable soil during one calendar year. The balance shows the result value of nutrients in soil in the end of vegetation period. Crop farms dispose only with a limited number of animals and, therefore, they are focused on production crops with a limited part of forage crops. This farms usually use mineral fertilization. Milk production farms utilize mineral as well as organic fertilization. They combine production and forage crops. Farms specialized in cattle, sheep and goat production are characterized by large pasture and forage crops areas with high ratio of legumes, which impact the value of fertilization calculated per arable soil. Farms with mixed production balance crop and animal production which result in combination of mineral and organic fertilization. Production and forage crops are more balanced in this type of farms, as well as the fertilization management.

The economy of fattening chickens was on average loss-making for the population under review, except for 2018, which was affected by low prices that did not cover production costs. Subsidies to the poultry sector has significantly improved the fattening economy. Fattening of chickens was profitable with the subsidy in 2016-2018, but in 2019 the subsidies were not enough to make a profit. For 2020, it is assumed that, after considering the subsidies, the fattening of chickens will be profitable.

In the first part, the article presents the current market situation for selected species in the world, in Europe and in the Czech Republic. The second part deals with the economics of growing selected species in the Czech Republic. Selected species include apples, pears, cherries, sour cherries and plums.

At a time when the Czech economy is facing a pandemic for the second year in a row, one of the key sectors, the food industry, which makes a significant contribution to securing a basic offer on the retail market, cannot be left out of the monitoring. This is human nutrition, which is extremely important at a time of health problems for a large part of the population. However, the article will be devoted to the economy of this sector in the mentioned period, because it also has its undeniable importance and conditions the performance of all sectors, not excluding the food industry. At this time, however, we must rely only on preliminary data from the Czech Statistical Office (CSO), specifically for the 1st Q 2021. The introductory part of the article will inform about the overall state of the Czech economy, then it will discuss the food industry with the processing industry indicators as well as the structural aspects of the evaluated sector.

Meat and meat products make up a significant part of food consumption in the Czech Republic. However, consumer preferences have changed in recent years. There is an increasing emphasis on environmental and ethical issues in livestock farming, but also in the production of meat and meat products (Bonnet et al., 2020). In Europe, sales of organic products are growing, and the proportion of people with alternative consumption behaviors in the form of flexitarians, vegetarians or vegans is increasing, especially among the youngest generation of consumers (De Backer and Hudders, 2005). While in emerging economies meat consumption (in kg per capita per year) increases due to rising income levels (Meade and Rosen, 2013), in developed countries meat consumption is declining (Santeramo et al., 2018). One of the reasons for the decline in meat consumption in developed countries is the great heterogeneity of perceptions of product attributes that affect consumer benefits and willingness to pay for specific meat and meat product attributes (Gracia and de-Magistris, 2013), and increased interest in health, organic and ethical implications of meat consumption (Vanhonacker et al., 2013; Mathijs, 2015).o zdravotní, ekologické a etické dopady spotřeby masa (Vanhonacker a kol., 2013; Mathijs, 2015).

The paper deals with international comparison of pig production costs and revenues in selected European countries in years 2017-2019. The average results of the EU countries were compared with the best 1/3 companies in Czech Republic, Denmark and France. Main cost items and natural productivity indicators were explored to clarity the differences among EU countries.

At the beginning of 2021, a research project was launched at the Institute of Agricultural Economics and Information, the aim of which is to examine the connection between external and internal factors, together with the characteristics of the company, with the choice against risk strategies. The mentioned project was elaborated using the methods of quantitative research. The content and preliminary descriptive results resulting from the obtained data have been processed in this article.

Due to the growing organic food market in Europe and the Czech Republic, the need for information on its condition and development is also growing. The Institute of Agricultural Economics and Information (IAEI) monitors the development of the organic food market in the Czech Republic since 2009. The text is devoted to the overall situation of the organic food market in the Czech Republic in the period from 2009 to 2019 and presents basic market indicators. The results presented in this article are based on data obtained from the questionnaire survey among producers and distributors of organic food.

In order to obtain outputs comparable to the results of agricultural holdings in the FADN survey, a set of selected indicators of the EU Standard Output was calculated on the basis of the “Small FADN” survey data. The definition of the FADN Standard Output is precisely given by the EU methodology. However, in the “Small FADN” survey, it was necessary to partially modify this methodology for those indicators where the data needed to calculate the indicator were not included in the questionnaire or could not be collected in this type of farms. The farms were classified according to the official classification system of EU farms, which allowed farms to be classified according to economic size and type of farming. The economic results of the smallest farms confirmed the trend of decreasing production intensity depending on the size of the farm, however, the values of production calculated per hectare of agricultural land were mixed production and breeding of cattle, sheep and goats comparable to larger farmers of economic size V. - VI. However, labour productivity is significantly lower for small farms, which is partly due to the tendency of these farms to overestimate the number of working hours devoted to agricultural production. Significantly higher intensity of production and labour productivity is manifested only in larger individual farms of economic size VII. - IX. from the standard FADN survey. Farm Net Value Added per hectare of agricultural land (FNVA / ha) for small farms is comparable to larger entities due to the comparable amount of subsidies and for the monitored types of farming is also balanced. The higher value of the average is influenced by a few subjects with more intensive production (wine and fruit

producers). The value of Farm Net Value Added per worker (FNVA / AWU) is very low for small farms and, in line with larger farms of economic size V. - VI. does not reach an enough level to secure the farmer's main income. FNVA / AWU is the main indicator of a farmer's income and it is insufficient for the smallest farms, partly because we consider agricultural activity of these entities only as an additional source of income. Economic size VII. is a turning point for achieving efficient agricultural production and an enough income for the farmer. The pilot project confirmed the feasibility of the survey of the smallest farms registered in the LPIS and showed the way of automatically uploading some items from official sources to the FADN survey.

The article describes the importance of hard-to-insure risks and current risk management tools in the Czech Republic. These instruments include insurance and ad hoc support. The article shows how varied the offer is on the agricultural insurance market and how much money was used in the past year for ad hoc support. At the same time, the article describes an alternative instrument and this is a fund of difficult-to-insure risks.

The book presents a new perspective on evaluating the viability of farms in Czech areas with natural handicaps. It focuses on expressing and measuring economic viability and sustainability in agriculture, evaluates and proposes possible solutions for measuring viability in areas with natural handicaps. Based on specific research results, it also deals with relevant issues of approaches to the choice of methods enabling higher objectification of results in evaluating the economy of farmers in less favourable areas in the conditions of the Czech Republic. Part of the publication is devoted to the historical context of the topic development at the European and Czech level, including the characteristics of financial support for companies in less favourable conditions after 1948, after 1898, and after accession to the EU in the application of the European concept of economic support in less favourable areas in the Czech Republic. A significant part of the book focuses on the viability of agricultural enterprises, their definition, and modelling. From the point of view of the focus of own re- search, including the justification of the choice of the solution procedure, possible approaches are defined, discussed, and evaluated here and indicators relevant for expressing the economic viability and income level of agricultural enterprises. To specify the economic viability of farms, the Farm Economic Viability indicator is created based on Net Value Added and adjusted for rent, interest, and opportunity costs of capital related to labour costs and opportunity labour costs. The modelling of viability and identification of significant factors is performed using logistic regression. Based on the research, a selection of factors that can affect viability is made, which are then tested in the empirical part. We consider the most significant factors influencing the classification of farms into viable and non-viable category production cost indicators, especially the cost of production, the productivity of capital and labour, and the farm specialization. Insignificant factors include, for example, the share of other production or the utilized agriculture area of the farm. The results show differences in viability between types of areas facing natural constraints; simultaneously, the different impact of factors on viability in these areas is documented. The proposed approaches to measuring and modelling viability extend the existing procedures used and thus provide further insight into the economy of farms operating in areas with natural handicaps. The chosen procedures also make it possible to identify the critical limits of the variables and thus estimate the risk limits signalling lower viability of the farms.

The aim of the paper is to examine the possibilities of supporting the generation change of managers in agricultural holdings, what is the good practice in handing over the management of the farm and how to process could be supported. A questionnaire asked young farmers to find out what their difficulties were during setting up or overtaking a farm and how to support the process effectively. Young farmers considered as the most motivating subsidy support in the form of a start-up grant and then of complementary direct payment from the EU. They emphasized the role of other factors as motivation to start farming is also intrinsic. Because all respondents came from agricultural families, the key motivating factor was the family background. The farmers would welcome less administration and bureaucracy. It is necessary to think about how much administration is associated with obtaining subsidies and compliance with laws and regulations, because it is time-demanding and challenging. However, the main factor that is key to starting an agricultural activity and significantly hinders the further development of young farmers' economies is the lack of land. Here, the state still has large reserves to improve the availability of land for young farmers.

https://msed.vse.cz/msed_2021/sbornik/toc.html