Currently, the agricultural sector is facing new challenges. In addition to meeting the population's food needs in sufficient quantity and quality, it must fulfill new energy and environmental functions as well as other non-food uses such as biomaterials and biomolecules. At the regional scale, there is an increase of non-food valorization projects of biomass, including the methanisation plants. In France, the methanisation sector is in full swing with a national target of 1,000 plants by 2020, as defined in the Energy Methanisation Nitrogen Energy plan (EMAA). The development of methanisation sector generates a regional dynamic involving different stakeholders and linking various business sectors. Then the regional methanisation becomes a collective process in which farmers, industrialists, waste managers and local communities are engaged. The objective of this communication consists on understanding the socio-economic conditions in which this kind of regional projects have emerged. For this purpose, the “Centrale de Biométhane du Vermandois”, a regional methanisation plant in the north of France was studied. This analysis contributes to identify the nature of the expectations of the actors engaged, to better understand the governance in place and the decision-making processes surrounding the project. The results show the success factors but also the difficulties of implementation and development of the project. The results also highlight the main motivations of farmers to join the biogas project.

Initial density to large extent determined the stand development thus is crucial to ensure efficient transfer of genetic gain in forestry. Lower density may reduce the stand establishment costs, but also impact the stem quality and standing volume. Very limited information exists about older sparse plantations, therefore aim of the study was to characterize the forest inventory parameters of low-density Norway spruce (Pice abies (L.) Karst.) stands. Data were collected in two planted, un-thinned, 47 year old, pure stands in central part of Latvia (56⁰N, 25⁰E) with initial density 600 and 1600 trees ha-1, growing on fertile mineral soil. Even the sparsest stand (600 trees ha-1) had standing volume that was not significantly different from the average in Norway spruce forests in similar conditions at the age of 80 years (294±28.8 and 318±18.7m3ha-1, respectively), based on National Forest Inventory data. Mean height (21-22 m) and length of branch-free part (<1 m) as well as diameter of the thickest branch in bottom 2m of the stem (<2 cm) and proportion of trees with stem cracks (4%) was not affected by initial stand density. Mean breast height diameter decreased and lengths of dry-branch section increased with increasing initial stand density. The proportion of browsed trees was smaller in sparser stand (23% vs. 31%). Notably lower initial density of planted stands than currently required (2000 trees ha-1) can be used while avoiding negative impact on forest inventory parameters.

The aim of the study is to identify and describe community development approaches particularly emphasizing community-led local development as it dominates in the European Union as part of the rural development policy. The research is based on the literature review on community development approaches and community involvement in rural development. The most frequently used approaches are the following: community-led local development, community-led development, community driven development, community capacity building asset-based community development, and community economic development. The author concludes that the involvement of communities in development processes is promoted through specific programs implemented by policy makers and initiatives by communities and non-governmental organizations. Community involvement in development is influenced by many factors, such as democratic traditions and societal experience, the distribution of power and the exchange of knowledge between the social agents involved in development processes, the availability of resources and the skills to use them. Community projects are another way in which local agents can participate in improving the quality of life and solving local problems.

In order to be innovative in a rural area, it is necessary to act in an extraordinarily cooperative fashion, partly because the people living there know each other well, but also because they want to remain there, share their lives with the neighbours and do not simply change homes to start fresh in another part of town, as it happens in larger cities. The appropriate support of informational management regarding cooperative behaviour is in the focus of this paper. Our selection of research methods includes the execution of study projects to the subjects of innovation, It- and Information Management for an cooperative network, the development of an app to encourage young people to stay in the pertaining village, to the publishing of four books concerning communication and cooperation on the basis of original research, surveys, discussions with residents, meetings with the management of small enterprises as well as with the administration and colleagues of universities and the evaluation of the collected data through statistical methods and processes. We have found that the introduction of regular meetings of a variety of people with the task to think about new ideas and to decide on which one will be realized first, to give support in different ways before, during and after the project conclusion in combination with suitable Information Management is able to reduce the fear of digitalization and bind the focused power of concentration to the project. In conclusion we find that it is possible to augment the communal mind set to be innovative and creative in order to make rural living more pleasant.

By overviewing the developmental trends of Lithuanian cities, rapid growth in the urbanization of smaller suburb areas is observed. The aim of the research is to determine the factors impacting the urbanization of rural areas. The built-up areas of Kaunas district municipality and factors impacting their distribution are the object of this research. The largest built-up areas are in the subdistricts where cities are deployed as well as in subdistricts having the best living and recreational circumstances. When conducting the research, factors impacting the distribution of the built-up areas have been analysed.In Kaunas district municipality, beneficial circumstances for the urbanization development exist since the population growth in the last 7 years corresponds to the optimistic scenarios projected in the general plan. It has been determined that 3 factors have the greatest impact on the built-up areas: the area of the subdistrict itself, the distance to the centre of the region and the market value of the land.

Maintaining soil fertility is one of the main objectives of agricultural production. An important factor in soil fertility is its optimal structure. For the minimum cultivation of soil widely used equipped with spherical cut-off discs heavy harrows. The purpose of their use, along with others, in the cultivation of heavy soils, for example, chernozems, is the depression of soil boulders and, thus, the optimal structure. In the conditions of intensification of agricultural production under the influence of such soil-working tools in the cultivation of malocontuitive sod-podzolic soils and running gears of mobile equipment, the destruction of the soil structure, the reduction of the number of agronomically valuable water-supply units, and the spread of soil. Thus, for the cultivation of such soils, it is necessary to use discs of another profile, which would ensure the minimum destruction of agronomically valuable watertight aggregates. In order to create such a working body, the process of structuring the agronomically valuable water-conserving aggregates, factors influencing it and analyzing the energy criteria for the formation of a water-tight structure is considered. The features, which arise during mechanical cultivation of soil, influence of cultivation on its structure and features of the stress-strain state of soil are studied. A mathematical model is developed that allows calculating the stress state of the soil and designing the most rational form of disk working bodies. In the conducted studies, the influence of the depth of cultivation, the number of cutouts, the size of the cutout angle and the length of the chord of the projection were studied. On the basis of the developed mathematical model, a rational profile of the disk working organ for the cultivation of small-coupling sod-podzolic soils was obtained and its tests were performed, which showed a decrease of the erosion-dangerous particles of the soil by (<0,25 mm)  24%.

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is mostly suitable for growing in moderate climate conditions at temperature 20 ° C. Yields are influenced by many factors: soil characterization, available nutrients, distribution of pests and weeds, agrotechnology, genotype or variety and climatic conditions during the vegetation period. In recent years summary of meteorological conditions (precipitation and air temperature), showed that stressful conditions during the vegetation period had a diverse influence on the growth and development of plants.  Excess or lack of humidity in soil or drought and heat affected the size and shape of the potato tubers. The heat stress is the problem of agriculture in many regions of the world in the last years. The aim of the study was to evaluate cultivars and clones from the breeding material under the stress conditions at the Stende Research Centre. The field trials were set up due to project of the Latvian Ministry of Agriculture: "Evaluation of breeding material to implement integrated and organic agriculture crop production technologies"(2015-2018). The article summarizes results of nine potato clones and nine varieties in both integrated and organic systems during 2017-2018, when 2018 was one of the driest and hottest in the last 100 years. The evaluation of the varieties and breeding material phenological phases in two years showed that germination and flowering differed from year to year.  Due to hot and dry weather conditions flowering was weak for several varieties and the bud flowering was observed. In 2018 germination for some varieties was slower compared to the previous year, but for many varieties (‘Lenora’, ‘Prelma’, ‘Imanta’) and breeding material germination was not delayed (Table 1). The earlyest germination and flowering were observed for variety 'Monta'. Earlier germination compared to other varieties and clones was recorded to S01085-21 and S03067-33 and the variety ‘Rigonda’.  In the organic field earlier germination was observed for the varieties 'Rigonda', 'Monta', 'Prelma' and clones S01085-21, S07169 -35. The yield of varieties and breeding material lines in both years was good but still lower tuber yields were obtained in the integrated growing system and only one line (S01085-21) and variete ‘Gundega’ had significantly higher yield in comparison 2017. In the organic growing system tuber yields of all varieties and breeding material lines were significantly lower than the 2017 year. Yield reduction is not significant for 3 breeding material lines: S10063-128, 19922.29 and S2008-6.5.

Aim of this study is to develop a method for automatic shallow drainage ditch generation to drain terrain depressions using four factor least cost surface which is obtained using LiDAR (light detection and ranging) data and Sentinel-2 multispectral satellite imagery. LiDAR data are used for depression mapping in DEM, flow accumulation and slope modelling as well as CHM (canopy height model) to obtain relative vegetation height. Sentinel-2 imagery was used for land cover type identification as well as separating coniferous and deciduous forest stands. Study area is located in western Latvia and is 25 km2 large. Least cost surface connects DEM depressions and already existing drainage ditches by best possible path for shallow ditch network digging. Different methods are applied to determine depressions which can be drained as well as changes of affected drained area and depression depth. This results in suitable areas where to create shallow ditches to improve water runoff. Results show that using this method average reduction of area of depressions is 79% and average length of shallow ditches on each drained depression hectare is 370 m.

Rumen is a complex ecosystem where feed consumed by animals is digested by the help of rumen protozoa. They plays an important role in contributing nutrients to the host animal. This study aimed to investigate the effects of dietary inclusion of unicellular microalgae Chlorella vulgaris spp. on total count and generic composition of protozoa in cows rumen. In this study, dietary treatments were tested during three 21-d experimental periods. Each of period content different amount of microalgae supplement. In the first experimental period in cows feed was added 30g (3,14g/kg of DM) of Chlorella, in second period-90g (9,6g/kg of DM) of Chlorella and in third period-170g (18,7 g/kg of DM). As a result of this study, ciliates of 10 genera were detected and identified. The number of this genera and total amount of ciliates were counted. The analysis of rumen protozoa population in tested cows shows visible effect of the presence of microalgae in cows dietary. In particular, the density of ciliates protozoa of the cows treated with 90 and 170 g of algal supplement was visibly higher compare to results from the control diet. Microalgae-based supplement diet had stimulative effect on ruminal protozoa population and caused increasing of many protozoa genera such as Isotricha, Dasytricha, Charonina, Buetschlia, Ostracodinium, Ophryoscolex.

Since 1999, a long-term field experiment has been done at the Experimental Station of Vytautas Magnus University (former Aleksandras Stulginskis University) at 54º52′50 N latitude and 23º49′41 E longitude. The soil of the experiment site is Epieutric Endocalcaric Endogleyic Planosol (Endoclayic, Aric, Drainic, Humic, Episiltic) according to WRB (2014). The objective of our investigations was to assess the long-term impact of reduced intensity tillage systems, straw and green manure combinations on productivity and economical evaluation. A short crop rotation was introduced: winter wheat, spring barley, spring rape. The results were obtained in 2000-2017. Sustainable agroecosystems are able to maintain their condition, productivity and biodiversity, as well as their integrity over time and in the context of human activity and use. The sustainability of agroecosystems is inseparable from the stability of their productivity. In order to illustrate this, we estimated crop productivity differences % from the year 2000 to 2017. In terms of crop productivity, all the tested long-term complex measures of different intensities were similar, both when comparing with average productivity that year and when estimating cumulative differences com-pared with deep ploughing.