The data on chemical composition of groundwater in the boreholes installed in the fields of a swine-breeding complex JSC Kontvainiai irrigated by liquid manure and in the production territory are presented in the article. This complex is situated on the Lithuanian coast, southeast of Klaipeda district. The data covers the period 2001-2005. It was established that the chemical composition of groundwater depends mainly on the soil. Ion sum was 2 times higher in the water of the well which was installed in the soil having a peat layer. The chemical composition of groundwater depended as well on its movement direction. As groundwater moves to the southeast, south and southwest from the fertilized area, the mineralization of water in wells 1 and 4 was the highest – 699 and 728 mg lE-1, respectively.

The aim of the paper is the assessment of the changes in productivity expressed as the share of production costs in total output and its breakdown by major cost types of Latvian and Lithuanian farms over the period of the implementation of Rural Development Programme (RDP 2007 – 2013). The country’s agricultural productivity is determined by comparison of the total agricultural output value (in producer prices) and total inputs which include intermediate consumption expenditure, depreciation, labour costs and other external costs. The information for the analysis was sourced from the standardized Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) data. The results show that productivity level is higher in Lithuanian farms, although the tendency is that the share of costs in production value is increasing in Lithuania, so the difference between two countries is reducing. The changes of productivity in both countries infer the relative growth in the productivity in crop farming both in Latvia and Lithuania respective to dairy farming, as well as the productivity of large farms respective to small and medium farms. The comparisons of major cost items reveal an especially high level of energy costs in Latvia, as well as a high and soaring level of depreciation in Lithuania, especially in dairy farms. In the future policy making, it is worthwhile to design the measures targeting the confinement of risks and negative trends identified in the study.

The evaluation of EU Member States’ co-founded programmes was assigned particular importance in recent years. The core question to be answered in programme evaluation is whether the stated objectives are accomplished by particular intervention. Until recently, the use of ‘naïve’ estimates was common in the evaluations of EU Member States Rural Development Programmes. The use of these estimates leads to potentially substantial selection bias resulting from using the outcomes of non-participants as a proxy for the possible outcomes of participants in the case of non-participation. The effectiveness of interventions on outcomes of interest can be better evaluated by propensity score matching (PSM). The objective of the study is to determine the net average effects from semi-subsistence farm support measure of the Latvian Rural Development Programme 2007 – 2013. To reach the research objective, propensity scores based on the most important characteristics were calculated for participants and non-participants of the measure and average treatment effects for gross value added were evaluated by matching methods. The research results show that the positive programme effects evaluated by ‘naïve’ estimators are overestimated in comparison with the results obtained by more rigorous PSM method.

The objective of the study was to investigate the microbiological content of cow (Bos primigenius) milk in Latvian organic farms according to season and herd size with a purpose to detect their impact on the distribution of mastitis causing pathogens in milk. Samples were collected in 14 organic dairy farms of Latvia, 4 times through 2012: in winter, autumn, spring and summer period. Raw milk samples (n=564) obtained from cow composite milk were studied. The samples were divided into three groups in accordance with the number of cows in the cow-shed: A (3-30), B (31-60) and C (61-124). The total colony count (TTC) and the isolation of mastitis causing bacteria were analysed using standard methods. Bacterial growth occurred in 90.4% of samples. Isolated microorganisms belonged to 35 species, and the following bacteria were the most prevalent agent, including Coagulase negative staphylococci in 29.4%, Staphylococcus aureus in 24.1%, Kocuria kristinae in 12.9%, and Enterobacteriaceae spp. in 10.3% out of 564 milk samples. Depending on the season, the average number of TCC was the lowest in summer (4.66 ± 4.01 log10 CFU mLE-1), moderately higher in spring and winter (4.72 ± 4.18 and 4.82 ± 3.54 log10 CFU mLE-1, respectively), but significantly higher in autumn (5.43 ± 4.80 log10 CFU mL-E1). Coliforms were not isolated from group A herds instead of B (3.1%) and C (4.6%). Occurrence of Staphylococcus aureus was noticeably higher in B (19.1%) and C (20.8%) than in A (12.6%) herds. Most of group A herds met the milk quality requirements, while group C herds produced more contaminated milk.

The value of farm diversification is unquestionable especially in terms of additional income generation, income stability and easing the employment difficulties of agricultural producers; its importance has recently been in the focus of agricultural and rural policies. The research purpose was to describe the situation of farm diversification in Hungary and to analyse the characteristics of diversified farms, as well as to determine which factors influence the extent and direction of diversification. The research method is based on statistical data analysing and questionnaire survey. Contrary to the above my analyses showed that the share of diversified farms is rather low in the small-scale, semi-commercial and part-time farms; its wide scale distribution is hindered by several factors. Based on the analyses I found that in private farms and in corporate farms it is characteristic that farm diversification activities are closely connected to the main activity of the farm, but they are of different type. I could state that the share of diversified farms is more significant in the labour-intensive farms and primarily in commercial farms. The share of young farmers and farmers in active age, qualified and with a full-time job is higher in the diversified and organic farms.

Farm financial distress can be determined by many factors. Farm failure can be the result of macroeconomic environment, unsuccessful farmer’s management decisions, and even natural forces. Different financial distress determinants may have different influence on a farm financial position. This study presents average financial ratios (leverage, return on assets, and return on equity) and single ratio of rental equivalent to gross margin according to farm size, land quality, economic size, farmer’s age and type of farming in Lithuania. The new approach to financial distress diagnosis requires classifying farms into financial positions. Considering average financial ratios and single ratio of rental equivalent to gross margin, farms were classified according to financial positions in order to estimate these methods’ suitability for financial distress diagnoses. Using study results, farmers can identify their position according to the average ratios. This study could be a guide for farmers making the financial management decisions.

A pilot-scale horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetland was installed at the farm Mezaciruli, Zalenieki County, Jelgava region, in the middle part of Latvia, in August 2014 to improve stormwater quality collected from the farmyard and demonstrate applicability of constructed wetland as a convenient treatment option for contaminated surface runoff. The examined water treatment system consists of a sedimentation pond as a pretreatment plant, a water pump, a water distribution well, and a horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetland with the surface area of 160 m2 . During the observation period of 27 months (2014 – 2016) water quality parameters such as total suspended solids (TSS), nitrate nitrogen (NO3 -N), ammonium nitrogen (NH4 -N), total nitrogen (TN), orthophosphate phosphorus (PO4 -P), and total phosphorus (TP) were monitored and nutrient removal efficiency of the system was examined. Water samples collected at the inlet and outlet were compared. Monitoring results obtained during this study show that on average concentrations of TN and TP were reduced by 22% and 80%, respectively. However, nitrate - nitrogen concentrations on average increased by 10%, as during the time period from June, 2015 to March, 2016 reduction in NO3 -N concentrations was not observed.

The objective of this article is to assess farm efficiency and productivity change in specialised large farms located in the region of Mazowsze and Podlasie during the years 2014 − 2016. For this, we used the non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method and Malmquist index. Calculations were performed for three types of large farms classified as: field crop, pig and dairy. The study shows that mean technical efficiency of large field crop, pig and dairy farms amounted to 80, 75 and 70%, respectively. Technical inefficiency of field crop farms come mainly from scale efficiency, while of pig and dairy farms equally from pure technical and scale efficiency. It shows that inefficient management practices had an impact on farm performance. Therefore, in order to increase competitiveness of farms, an improvement of management practices is required. In the studied period the share of farms operating under increasing return was as follows: 67, 72, and 81%, respectively for field crops, pig and dairy farms. The improvement of efficiency of those farms could be achieved by increasing their size. The results indicate that 8% of field crops, 12% of dairy and 16% of large pig farms were operating under decreasing scale efficiency, which means that those farms were operating above the optimal scale. The increase in their efficiency could be achieved through size reduction. In dairy farms the average annual productivity growth of 2% was recorded. In pig farms the productivity reduction of 5.4% was observed. It was the result of a decrease in technological efficiency.

Conducting agricultural activity in areas facing natural constraints (ANC) affects farms’ production and economic results. ANC payments were introduced to compensate farmers for higher costs and lost income. The aim of the study is to compare the production and economic results of farms receiving ANC support with other farms. It was hypothesized that ANC farms achieve lower production and economic results than other units. The analysis is based on Polish FADN data concerning 2015. The sample included 12,105 farms, of which 4,652 (38.43%) received ANC subsidies. To describe the characteristics of the surveyed farms, positional measures were used due to strong asymmetry. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to assess the significance of differences in distributions. The results indicate the existence of significant differences in the production potential, production and economic efficiency of farms receiving ANC payments and ones without them. Agricultural farms receiving ANC payments are characterized by a significantly smaller area of agricultural land, a lower share of arable land in the UAA and a smaller share of leased land. They also have lower production volume, lower land and labour productivity. They achieve relatively lower incomes. Nevertheless, the payments to a small extent reduce these differences. On this basis, it can be concluded that ANC payments in Poland do not provide full compensation for differences in the production and economic results of a farm with worse agri-environmental conditions. Therefore, the impact of the CAP on the economic results of farms located in ANC is relatively small.

This article presents theoretical and practical aspects of content marketing decisions for the customer value creation in social networks by using the case of the organic farm ʻIlzenberg manor’. Focus of this paper is to determine which content marketing decisions create the biggest value for the customer in social networks. The first part of the paper deals with theoretical insights into the content marketing decisions and their ability to create the customer value in social networks. Findings of theoretical analysis disclose that there are interfaces between content marketing, separate content marketing decisions and the customer value in the context of social networks. Respectively, it leads to an assumption that the usage of content marketing decisions can be valuable for the customer value creation in social networks. The second part of the paper focuses on the case analysis of the organic farm ‘Ilzenberg manor’. In order to determine which content marketing decisions create value for the customer in social networks, authors examine a correlation between separate content marketing decisions and consumer value indicators by using data from ʻIlzenberg manor’ Facebook page. The obtained results expose that not all content marketing decisions create value for the customer in social networks. Hence, it means that a selection of separate content marketing decisions in social networks can be made through the customer value perspective. The article ends with insights, conclusions, limitations and future research possibilities.