Latvia at the moment does not have precise data about long-term storage of Scots pine. Long-term storage in warm season may lead to significant damages for high priced timber, income reduction for timber sellers and quality loss risk for timber buyers, therefore, roundwood is transported as soon as possible, because of the risk of blue stain, crooks and insect damages. Results of this study on Scots pine were obtained during summer–autumn season of year 2015. Scots pine timber quality changes in long-term storage were analysed in 4 sample stacks – set up in summer (25 July) and stored for 100 days. In every sample plot there was a control pile, a pile with harvester spike damages, a pile with bark damages and a pile with harvester spike and bark damages. There were 32 timber assortments in every pile in order to determine also the emplacement effect in stack. In this study a high correlation was found between pine timber quality changes and meteorological conditions, side surface damages and storage length. By analysing the proportion of blue stain in cross-section and its changes during storage between control assortments and assortments with bark and harvester damages, significant differences were observed, therefore it can be concluded that not only bark damages influence the proportion of blue stain, but also harvester spike rollers. Based on the results of this study, we can predict maximum storage duration during summer–autumn period in Latvia, and it is set from 9 – 16 days.

Wood based ash can be used as a liming material and fertilizer in forest, thus providing a solution for utilization of wood ash and formation of additional increment of trees, especially on organic soils, where lack of potassium and phosphorus is a well-known factor limiting the growth of trees. Yet, many studies have been made with adverse results mostly because of different soil types and species investigated. However, by now the best results on fertilization with wood ash have been found on drained peatlands, where some nutrient deficiencies have emerged. The aim of this study was to find out the growth response of Norway spruce on drained organic soils after spreading of potassium sulphate (K2SO4) and wood ash (WA). The experiment was carried out in three middle aged Norway spruce (Picea abies) stands on drained mineral and peat soil. Experiment consisted of three replications of each treatment in each stand including WA, K2SO4 and the control on 400 square meter sub-sample plots each. The diameter and height of trees were measured. The samples of increment cores were collected 4 years after fertilization to determine the additional volume increment, which varied from 8.5 m**3 haE-1 in WA plots and from 9.7 m**3 ha-1 to 17.2 m**3 haE-1 on K2SO4 plots. Both - the wood ash and potassium application - significantly increased the increment of Norway spruce on drained mineral and peat soil, although no significant differences were found between the treatments (p = 0.82, α = 0.05).

The aim of this paper is to evaluate ecosystem services in riparian forests of Latvia using benefit transfer method. The core of benefit-transfer method is to transfer economic costs from one economic situation to another by using pilot indicators, thus saving time and monetary resources of the research. This method also is applicable for transfer of value of ecosystem services to research territories where such values have not been set. As to the evaluation of ecosystem services in riparian forests, data derived from these indicators are compared with the situation in riparian forest stands. Successful application of this method depends on the quality of existing research and their transferability. For example, the data on research of non-timber values can be used to set these values in riparian forests. Value of ecosystem services for 1 ha riparian forest stand in Latvia judging by 1) N and P removal (N - 8.14 euro haE-1 yE-1; P - 2.16 euro haE-1 yE-1); 2) Valuing carbon capture (478.6 euro haE-1 y-E1); 3) Valuing noise buffering (2.02 euro haE-1 yE-1); 4) Valuing air purification (NOx - 1332.5 euro haE-1 yE-1, NH3 - 216 euro haE-1 yE-1, particulate matter - 792 euro haE-1 yE-1); 5) Valuing pollination (timber - 15.25 euro haE-1 yE-1, non-timber - 4 euro haE-1 yE-1) total at 2850.67 euro haE-1 yE-1, which is significantly more than just the traditionally viewed timber value.

The article deals with the issue of rural development in Poland. The aim of the article is to determine the dynamics of change in the level of socio-economic development of rural communes in Poland (NUTS 5) in the years 2004 – 2014 through verification of the hypothesis of the existence of beta-convergence. The beta-convergence approach is verified by econometric modelling techniques. The statistical data came from the Local Data Bank (LDB) of the Central Statistical Office (CSO). Based on the analysis of changes in the development level of the rural areas in Poland it was stated that there is convergence. However, the strength of the convergence process is different depending on the dimensions of development. It reported a strong relationship between the average growth rate of aggregate indicators relating to the financial dimension. In other dimensions, such as labour market, living conditions, health and social care, education, demography and culture, it showed the occurrence of slow convergence processes.

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 scientific literature does not contain any single classification of management style. When dividing management styles into the classic and the new, the changes towards the nature of manager’s exposure to employees are taken into account. When analysing the structure of manager’s style, it is necessary to take into consideration the key factors: the conditions shaping management style, the opportunities for the manager to change and improve it purposefully. The efficiency of manager’s behaviour, together with the choice of management style, resulted in various objective and subjective factors. Objective factors include the factors which cannot (or very little) be affected by the environment. Subjective factors depend only on personal qualities which can be developed and improved. This article deals with objective and subjective factors shaping management style of a manager. The results of the empirical study on the structure of management styles of Kaunas district non-governmental organisations (hereinafter referred to as NGOs) have been presented, as well as the most significant advantages and disadvantages of objective and subjective factors shaping management style. Based on the data of the theoretical analysis and empirical study, improvement directions of the problematic factors of NGOs management styles have been identified and substantiated, taking into consideration the elimination of management style drawbacks.

In recent years, farmers’ markets have become one of the most popular places for alimentary shopping. People searching for the alternative and healthier products often choose farmers’ markets instead of shopping centres. However, farmers’ markets face the same or even tougher competition than the conventional shopping places: farmers not only compete with powerful shopping chains, they have to compete among each other for every single customer. Therefore, customer loyalty becomes inevitable in this industry. Knowing the factors that lead customers to switch to another vendor becomes very important for consumer retention. The aim of the research is to determine the factors influencing customer switching behaviour in farmers’ markets in Lithuania. In order to reach the aim, the research was conducted in several stages: 1) the expert evaluation was provided to determine the factors influencing the customer switching behaviour that would be relevant to the industry; 2) a questionnaire survey regarding latter factors was provided; 3) the influence of the factors on customer switching behaviour regarding the different states of customer loyalty was assessed.

The aim of the research is to determine the criteria of internal factors influencing the effectiveness of outdoor advertising. The eye-tracking experiment was conducted in Lithuania in 2016. Consumers’ visual attention toward specific criteria of internal factors influencing the effectiveness of outdoor advertising was measured. The chosen criteria were headline font size, the number of elements in the advertisement, and dominating elements in the advertisement (visual or textual). The main results of the research reveal that when the surface size of visual and textual outdoor advertising elements is the same, textual elements attract more visual attention than visual ones and that advertisements containing a large number of elements attract more visual attention than the ones containing a small number of elements. Moreover, when the font sizes of two headlines are both larger than the body text, but those headlines differ in font size one from another, there is no significant difference in consumers’ visual attention toward those headlines. Consequently, it is recommended to create outdoor advertisements with a large number of elements, where most of them are textual, in order to attract the consumers’ attention.

Increasing competition among health care service providers for pets and constantly growing requirements for the veterinary service quality, force veterinary service providers to search for some possibilities to remain competitive in the market in order to meet both customer needs and expectations, and animal needs best. The aim of the research is – having identified the choice motives for animal health care service, to enumerate the factors, influencing the choice of veterinary service. In order to find the pet keepers’ approach concerning the factors, influencing the choice of veterinary service, a pilot research was completed. According to the gained primary data results in the research, it was found that the key factors, influencing the choice of veterinary service are as follows: the service quality of health care, the recommendation of the person responsible for animal care and the price for the delivered service.

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.