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A health-friendly crop rotation system for soil is an essential tool for sustainable agriculture, especially in the context of achieving the objectives of the European Green Deal. Therefore, the research aims to assess the integration of three crops beneficial to soil health into the production of winter wheat and winter rapeseed every third year and their socio-economic and environmental impacts in Latvia. The research results revealed that crop rotation has a significant impact on the economy of farms, and only ...

Soil liming is an essential component of sustainable soil management, affecting both crop yields, nutrient uptake efficiency, and environmental quality. Therefore, the research aims to assess the economic and environmental efficiency of soil liming in Latvia. This research compared the economic and environmental efficiency of crushed lime and limestone flour in Latvia, analysing the costs, benefits, and impacts of a six-year liming cycle on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and phosphorus leaching. The research resul...

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is one of the most critical European Union (EU) policies, making a significant financial contribution to agriculture and rural development. As a result of CAP reforms, support payments change as they adapt to the global context, thereby contributing to economic, environmental, and social sustainability. Therefore, the present research aims to assess CAP support payments in the context of building more sustainable and resilient agriculture in EU Member States. The research emplo...

The European Union (EU) Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) plays a crucial role in agricultural and economic development in the Member States. In the future, CAP support instruments must foster sustainable agriculture, with economic, social and environmental goals achieved through synergy. It would be increasingly important to assess the effectiveness of support payments in terms of their economic, social, and environmental dimensions. Accordingly, the present research aims to evaluate CAP support payments' soc...

The European Union (EU) climate objectives rely on sustainable agriculture. This research assesses greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and key agricultural indicators in Latvia from 2020 to 2022. This research aims to assess the developmental trends of agricultural GHG emissions and farming indicators in Latvia to identify strategies or future investigations necessary to mitigate GHG emissions and enhance sustainability. In Latvia, agriculture accounted for 21-22% of total GHG emissions in carbon dioxide (CO2) equivale...

Agriculture plays a crucial role in the global carbon cycle, as it serves as a source of one of the greenhouse gases. Therefore, a data-based understanding of how to mitigate its impact on the environment and climate change is needed. The research aim is to evaluate the dynamics of the agrifood system in the European Union (EU) Member States from 2013 to 2022, with a primary focus on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, livestock population density, and agricultural land use. The results indicate that Germany, France, ...

The research aims to examine the pace of growth of lodgepole pine, the amount of damage caused by biungulates and the quality of trunks for lodgepole pine provenances growing in the western part of Latvia in the areas around Ugale and Kuldiga, identifying the most damage-resistant and promising provenances for cultivation in Latvia. In Latvia, foresters and plant breeders have been working for years to increase the quality and productivity of local tree species, while assessing various forest stand management patt...

The research aims to identify changes in the biometric measurements and demographic structure of game ducks living on Lake Engure. Game management in Latvia as well as the entire Northern Europe is an important segment of the economy, which has rich and ancient traditions. Although a small segment of society perceives game management as the killing of animals, which is not the case, it should be understood that it represents an economic activity resulting in limiting the animal population, which can increase rapid...

In the European Union (EU), food production needs to become more sustainable and environmental-friendly. Farmers play a crucial role in sustainable agricultural practices on their farms because one of the goals of the EU Farm to Fork Strategy is to reduce nutrient losses by at least 50%, while ensuring that there is no deterioration in soil fertility, which could reduce fertilizer use by at least 20% by 2030. Therefore, the aim of the present research is to examine fertilizer consumption in EU Member States and to...

Pesticides are traditionally used in agricultural production to protect crops against pests and diseases. However, there is growing public concern about the negative impacts of pesticides on human health and the environment. Therefore, one of the policy documents of the European Green Deal, which plays an important role in long-term agricultural development and environment-friendly management, is the Farm to Fork Strategy, which requires reducing pesticide use by 50% in the European Union (EU) by 2030. Therefore, ...

Investments made in response to climate change could help to foster environment-friendly business practices. Therefore, bioeconomy industries are considered crucial for achieving climate neutrality in Europe by 2050. Accordingly, bioeconomy strategies have been designed in many countries, including in Latvia. Therefore, the aim of the present research is to examine the investment environment and the amounts of gross investment made in bioeconomy industries, as well as foreign direct investment attracted to Latvia ...

Bioeconomy industries play an important role in contributing to national economies and a transition to climate-friendly farming practices. This is evidenced by various policies implemented, including the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the European Union (EU) Bioeconomy Strategy and the European Green Deal. The increasing productivity and new technologies can have negative environmental impacts, affecting the economic framework associated with ecosystem services. To address these challenges, coordina...

Forests provide humanity with essential raw materials, and the demand for these materials is growing, especially in conditions where it is necessary to replace the use of fossil resources with renewable ones. Latvia-s import of timber from Russia and Belarus has increased 8 times in 2021, when comparing 2013, reaching 33% of timber import value. Current geopolitical situation and supply chain sustainability calls for necessity to evaluate possibility to reduce the dependency on the timber import from Russia and Be...

The knowledge-based bioeconomy has been prioritized through European Union (EU) research and innovation policies. In December 2017, the government approved the Latvian Bioeconomy Strategy 2030, which set the horizontal strategic goal of achieving -research excellence in traditional bioeconomy industries and efficient transfer of knowledge-. Therefore, the aim of the present research is to examine one of the submeasures -promoting research excellence and efficient knowledge transfer within traditional bioeconomy in...

Business in the bioeconomy plays an important role in regional growth and balanced development of the country. Therefore, it is important that local governments stimulate business development. The Latvian Bioeconomy Strategy 2030 was approved in 2017 with the aim of rapidly developing bioeconomy industries based on efficient use of natural resources. Therefore, the aim of the present research is to examine one of the sections of the strategy - -Result-oriented motivation system for local governments- for the imple...

Forests are import to the health of the planet, as well as an economic resource of the country. Latvia has 5th highest forest area coverage in the European Union. Major tree species in Latvia are birch, pine and spruce, with the birch having one of the highest felling rates as % of end of year stock. Importance of the topic is that as Latvia, in the particular in exports of selected timber products, as softwood sawn timber, birch plywood, chipboards and pellets, are among one of the ten largest exporters in the wo...

The development of areas of bio-economy, which replace fossil fuels with bioresources in production and the provision of services, is important in many countries. Therefore, in 2017, the government approved the Latvian Bioeconomy Strategy 2030, which provides for four key integrated groups and one complementary group of measures to implement this strategy. As five years have passed since the strategy was approved in Latvia, it is necessary to assess the progress of its implementation. Therefore, the aim of the pre...

Public procurement is the acquisition of products and services needed for the public sector and involves significant public budget resources. Incorporating environmental requirements into public procurement promotes both the goals of sustainable development and the principles of the circular economy. Green public procurement practices are becoming increasingly important, not only in the world, but also in Latvia. Therefore, in 2017, the Latvian Bioeconomy Strategy 2030 was approved, which envisages the development...

The forest industry is an important sector of the economy of many countries, because the timber grown in it can be used for achieving various economic goals, including increasing added value and exports. However, the social functions of forestry: rural employment and the availability of forests, in the form of various ecosystem services, are also important to the public. Forests are home to various protected species, and forest biotopes, biotopes associated with forests as well as the biodiversity of forests play ...

A bioeconomy refers to economic activities using renewable biological resources to produce energy and consumer goods. The role of the bioeconomy in the world tends to increase, as countries need to find environmentally friendly solutions under changing climate conditions. For this reason, bioeconomy strategies are developed in many countries to purposefully contribute to their development. Among the Baltic States, Latvia was the first one to design and adopt its national bioeconomy strategy (Latvian Bioeconomy Str...

COVID-19 has imposed shocks on all segments of food supply chains, simultaneously affecting farm production, food processing, transport and logistics and final demand. It is therefore important to assess the risks, the probability of their occurrence and their impacts in order to develop risk mitigation recommendations. In Latvia, poultry farming as an agricultural industry has centuries-old traditions. Poultry in Latvia are produced both on large poultry farms and on small and backyard farms. There are 21 large a...

Flow of water and thus access of oxygen to the roots of the trees is ensured by drainage system. Therefore these system had been established, mostly since 1960th and 70th in a third of the forest area of Latvia. It has boosted the overall increment of forests substantially. However, around the same time, also beavers had been reintroduced in territory of our country. Water flow is often stopped by beaver dams. The aim of our case study was to assess the impact of dam removal and ditch reconstruction on the increme...

Stock market in Latvia necessitates to be increased in size to attract more investors and encourage economic development. The opportunity for stock market’s enhancement are registered companies in Latvia. What is the landscape of Latvian registered companies and weather, there are enough companies with financial profile having potential for stock market listing, that is the question to be assessed by the authors, comparing those companies’ financial profile to the average Baltic States and Nordic countries stock m...

The Covid-19 pandemic has produced another era on the planet while we sort out the outcomes in various parts of our everyday life. The food sector and food supply chain do not incorporate an exception. In Latvia, the agricultural and food sector is important for the national economy; therefore, it is important that production, processing, logistics, supply and trade disruptions are successfully overcome during the pandemic and the food sector develops rapidly after the crisis and is more resilient in the future. T...

Agricultural land is an important natural resource exploited for agricultural production to provide food for the population. The pressure on agricultural resources has increased in the world, as the population grows and non-food land uses increase. In Latvia, the utilized agricultural area (UAA) has decreased since 1991, and in 2020 it was 2.3 mln. ha or 36% of the total area of the country, while the forest area increased, and in 2020 it was 3.1 mln. ha or 48% of the total area. In 2019 in Latvia, the unfarmed an...

The commercialization of innovations in the food industry faces many risks. Only one in ten products successfully reaches supermarket shelves. In particular, the Latvian fish processing industry faces significant difficulties on the path to a successful launch of innovative products still depending on the production of one type of product ? canned fish. Continuing the study on the possibilities of using the fish species available in the country, Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, in 2018-2019, de...

Organic production is an overall system of farm management and food production that combines best environmental and climate action practices. Although various research studies estimate that the demand for organic products will increase in the world, farmers are reluctant to switch to this more environmentally friendly way of farming. In Latvia, organic farming developed rapidly after joining the EU in 2004 owing to the support policies implemented by the European Union (EU) and Latvia. In 2004, there were 1043 cer...

Organic production has become a highly specialized agricultural system, which requires specific professional education, knowledge and technologies. The global demand for organic products is projected to increase in the future. In Latvia, the output of organic agricultural products continues increasing, yet the current output as well as the growing processing and sales capacity is not able to meet the demand for organic products by consumers, which is expected to increase over the next years. Therefore, the aim of ...

The development of rural areas is important for the economy of any country. In Latvia, the development of rural areas depends on economic growth in the key industries for the rural areas ? agriculture and forestry. Accordingly, it is important to use the various support instruments of the European Union (EU) Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for rural development, which include financial support not only for agriculture but also for forestry. Therefore, the overall aim of the present research is to assess the use o...

Climate change, Paris agreement and following strategies for sustainable environment are key direction in 21st century, in order to have an environment and economy to live in for this and next generations. This topic is on the agenda of several high-level task forces at United Nations (UN) and the European Commission (EC). While some definitions and terms are still blurred and unclear, there are already several measurement indicators, which are monitored. One of 17 UN sustainable development growth (SDG) goals, nu...

Forest value depends on multiple factors, as well as on prevailing market conditions. It is measured in natural units. The most popular approach in calculating the economic value of a forest is the discounted cash flow method. The most influential factor is an discount rate, since the value determination is based on the assumption that a forest life cycle is 120 years. Therefore, the overall aim of the present research is to evaluate an optimal discount rate for long-term forest management. The research showed tha...

Soil and its quality are the key factor that determines opportunities for agricultural production in a particular territory. However, through lasting land management practices, soil structure can be significantly modified. In the context of climate change, soils can contribute to increased greenhouse gas emissions; for this reason, the techniques that contribute to sustainable land management have to be used in agricultural production. In many Central European countries, organic soils have been extensively used an...

The issues of rational use of land resources have become increasingly relevant, as all economies depend on the goods and services provided by the natural environment. Soils as a natural resource perform a number of key environmental, social and economic functions. In Latvia, utilised agricultural land occupies 2.3 mln. ha, yet no research investigations into organic soils have been conducted. The use of agricultural land, organic soils in particular, is associated with negative environmental impacts. Therefore, th...

Forest plays a multifaceted role, which is determined by its economic, ecological and social values; therefore, sustainable forestry development has to ensure a balanced use of all the values. For the first time in Latvia, the situation in hunting management was analysed, assessing the level of safety and traumatism. The research aim is to assess safety in the process of hunting and the real situation in Latvia. The research found that the most dangerous kinds of hunting were hound hunting and waterbird hunting du...

The research aim is to estimate the profit a forest owner can earn per full forest rotation cycle from forest stands of dominant coniferous species in Latvia, selling both the assortment of logs and biomass (BM) from final felling. The research analysed the situation in privately managed forests, composed of the coniferous species пїЅ Norway spruce (Picea abies L.) and Scots pine (Pinus syllvestris L.) пїЅ in different forest types in Latvia. The calculation of revenue from forest product sales took into account b...

The research aim is to identify a financial gain a forest owner can make from the management of a deciduous forest stand in Latvia provided that the stand is logged at the final (clear) felling age and the revenue is earned selling the wood as roundwood assortments and residue biomass or only as biomass (BM). The present research analysed the situation with forests owned by natural persons of the Republic of Latvia and identified the amounts of revenue a forest owner can earn growing deciduous пїЅ birch, black ald...

In 2015 in Latvia, the total value of agricultural output in constant prices (including subsidies on products) reached EUR 1.25 billion, and the value of crop products accounted for 63% of the total. The world population will increase by 35% by 2050; therefore, the Latvian Agricultural Sector Analysis Model (LASAM) has been developed for making projections for agricultural industries. The overall objective of the research is to develop a dynamic simulation model for various crop sectors. The present research analy...