In year 2000 the hulless barley lines bread at Latvia University of Agriculture and varieties and lines with diverse origin were estimated under conditions of Latvia. The results showed that lines bred in Latvia are in need of improving their agronomic traits. The varieties and lines from Canada and Czech Republic are the most suitable for the conditions of Latvia. Hulless material from CIMMYT can be used in breeding for early maturity, disease resistance and high protein content

The arcticle gives a comparison between diesel fuel used in Latvia and western countries. So far Latvia has ignored environmental concerns and EU standards.

Latvia has been a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) since 1999 and therefore has to carry through all the WTO agreements, including "Agreement on the application of sanitary and phytosanitary measures". Assessing risks in agriculture, Latvia must take into account available scientific evidence and introduce relevant educational courses. This paper presents the curriculum for the course "Risk analysis in agriculture" at the Latvia University of Agriculture. The course is offered to graduate students who have a Bachelor's degree in the agricultural and veterinary sciences.

Årsliste 2001 | Reports of national monitoring activities and results from Latvia, Switzerland and UK presented at the 16th meeting of the ICP Waters Programme Task Force in Riga, Latvia, October 18-20, 2000 | Statens forurensningstilsyn (SFT)

Economically the most important fish in Latvia is carp. They are fast-growing and suit weather conditions of Latvia. The author also describes growing of fish like tench, luce, crucian, rainbow trout, stream trout, bass, zander, and breem.

Experience of Latvia's neighbour countries such as Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and EU directives such as the Directive of Nitrates 91/676/EEC and the Structural Directive of Waters 2000/60/EC, suggest that agricultural pollution should be controlled also in Latvia. Agricultural run-offs in Latvia have been monitored by the Department of Environmental and Water Resources Management of the Latvia University of Agriculture and scientists from Swedish and Norwegian universities since 1994. There is a real danger than many farms will face problems related to the EU directives and therefore have to invest in readjustment of organic farming.

During the last decade economy of Latvia has experienced a decrease, crises and also depression. Further development process of Latvia could lead to a rapid economical boom. The application of scientific researches into the development of nationaly economy of Latvia is one of the important aspects. Though the globalisation and commercalisation of scientific researches must be taken into account as well. Science development is opening wide range of possibilitities for research perfection. Most of the Latvian, Lithuanian and Slovakian entrepreneurs are 30-40 years old, who suddenly appeared in the circumstances of conventionally free economy in their twenties.

The author tries to explain slow development of agriculutre in Latvia by indicating the reasons and possible improvements. She describes the structure of agriculture and characterises advantages of local weather. Problems of market economy, land reform and financing of agriculture are covered alongside the education system of agriculture in Latvia.

In Latvia, the Law of Plant Protection regulates all plant protection actions and registration of plant protection products according to EEC/94/414. Totally, 135 plant protection products, including 101 active ingredients and 17 biological products are registered in Latvia. There are six biological products on fungal basis, four insects - predators and seven parasitoids. There are no pheromones and plant extracts registered for commercial use in Latvia by this time. In spite of that, pheromones are used for the research and forecasting and warning purposes. In most cases, the company Flora from Estonia is a cradle of the applied pheromones in Latvia. Pheromones are used on agricultural fields and forests. During the vegetation period, decision support about necessity of plant protection measures is facilitated providing information to farmers through forecasting and diagnostic units. These units carried out monitoring of pests activity using different methods and measures, including pheromones. The obtained information about actual situation on the fields is recorded in the automatic responder and everyone can phone and get information free of charge

The energetic expedience of fuel ethanol production in Latvia was evaluated by the energetic expedience efficiency coefficient. This coefficient is expressed as the ratio between the energy contained in all the ethanol production components and the energy consumed in the grain production process, i.e. it is the ratio of the obtained and the consumed energy. In the given study the energetic expedience efficiency coefficient was calculated considering the conditions of Latvia. The calculations show that it is in the range of 1.12-1.19 depending on the yield of ethanol. If straw is used as energy carrier the coefficient increases up to 2.5. These data prove the profitability of fuel ethanol production from grain in Latvia.