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Nowadays effective grazing management plays a critical role in sustaining biodiversity, maintaining soil quality and protecting natural habitats, thereby supporting ecological balance. The present study aims to explore stocking density trends on livestock farms with different economic size in the Baltic States over the years 2004 - 2023 and contrast them with changes in the EU stocking density. Stocking density is measured in livestock units per hectare of forage utilized agricultural area and acts as a basic eval...

Nowadays, sound grazing management is an essential prerequisite for efficient use of agricultural land. As it facilitates the preservation of plant biodiversity, soil properties and natural habitats, grazing management contributes to sustainable agriculture through maintaining ecological sustainability and environmental quality. Grazing (stocking) density of livestock has a profound impact on soil health, including its overall biochemical and microbial properties. If its chosen level is higher than the -carrying c...

The development, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and revision of the EU policies on agriculture, including environmental and the common agricultural policy, plant protection, sustainable use of fertilizers, pesticides and veterinary drugs, requires comprehensive and reliable statistical knowledge. The introduction of Regulation (EU) 2022/2379 on agricultural input and output statistics poses a challenge as it brings significant changes to the system in Latvia by not only broadening the range of inputs and i...

Nowadays, sustainability has become the core concept affecting the public perception of economic development and natural resource management all over the world. Although intensification of agricultural practices is typically viewed as a way to achieving and retaining food independence at national and supra-national levels, there are concerns about its potential negative impact on biological diversity, natural habitats, healthy ecosystem and resilience to climate change. As a result, intensive farming might be rega...

A constantly growing demand for fossil fuels in the world and its contribution to climate changes is putting intense pressure on various energy consumers in different industries. Thus, agricultural producers come under close scrutiny and face a difficult challenge of switching to a sustainable mode of production that would ameliorate detrimental effects on greenhouse gas emissions. This study aims to fill the gap in the literature and contribute to the current body of knowledge by analyzing the consumption of ener...

As rising temperature, climate changes and growing greenhouse gas emissions are viewed as inevitable consequences of burning fossil fuels, energy consumers in different sectors of national economy are expected to contribute to the optimization of their energy consumption. Therefore, farmers need to develop sustainable means of agricultural production that are able to meet strict requirements for higher efficiency. The study aims to fill the gap in the literature by exploring the consumption of energy per livestock...

Commonly the intensification of agricultural practices is regarded not only as one of the established techniques for achieving agricultural and food independence but also as the key instrument for alleviating world hunger. Despite its considerable potential, intensification has become a controversial topic that attracts particular interest due to its substantial negative impact on greenhouse gas emissions, biological diversity and natural habitats. This paper aims to explore and compare the degree of intensificati...

This paper aims to explore the degree of intensification and extensification of agricultural practices followed by farms of different economic sizes and the type of farming in Latvia. While intensification is considered as an effective way of achieving agricultural independence at supra-national and national levels, more voices are raised against an increasing demand for energy and unsustainable agricultural activities causing irreparable damage to natural habitats and reducing biological diversity. Although farmi...

This paper aims to explore the efficiency of energy consumption on farms of different economic sizes in Latvia. Burning fossil fuels to satisfy a continuously growing demand for energy created by the industry, transport and households has been a cause of concern for several decades. It has been widely acknowledged as one of the major reasons for a massive increase in greenhouse gas emissions, a dramatic rise of global temperature and ongoing climate changes. Since farms use energy not only directly by operating ma...