Recently economic development has been an issue of intense research and discussion in an academic society. Many facets of countries’ economic development were examined, including foreign trade. As a foundation of international cooperation, this indicator is relevant in observing one’s internal development and external ties. In case of Latvia, this topic is heavily influenced by economists, and the geographical perspective is quite underdeveloped. In this research, the economic ties of Latvia were explored through the analysis of its main export groups in sectors of agriculture, forestry and fisheries throughout the first decade of the 21st century. With the aim of establishing clear ties between Latvia and its major export markets, the statistics of foreign trade was analysed using frequency analysis. It can be reported that in general Latvian export markets are closely located and consist of the Baltic Sea Region countries such as Denmark, Germany, Russia and others. Despite the differences in commodity group destinations, it can be clearly stated that a division of trade flow still exists, separating it into two directions - Eastern and Western, where the former allocates the majority of Latvian processed commodities and more sophisticated goods, and the latter consumes raw materials and less transformed materials. This arguably shows a difference in demand in Western and Eastern markets, where the first mostly requires materials for its own industry, while the latter procures them for consumption on the local market, again pointing to a complexity of reforms required for the Latvian economic focus turning towards Western markets.

In the current context of economic instability, youths are faced with the emergence of a feeling of uncertainty with respect to their own chances of having a good debut on the labour market. The world crisis, the social reality that all societies are faced with, brought again up to the forefront the idea of young individuals’ fragility on the labour market (Balan, 2014). According to Eurostat statistical data, in the European Union young people represent one-fifth of the total population. Today the young people are facing the impacts of economical crisis and globalisation, population ageing and innovation explosion, which affects employability, education and training systems and social development. Successful youth’s integration into the labour market is one of the main factors for future development and their inclusion into society. One of the main indicators for youth’s inclusion into society is the development of a knowledge-based economy. It is important to aim at the development of a knowledge-based economy in rural regions because the majority of unemployed persons are concentrated in these regions. The Quintuple Helix Model represents the relationships between universities, firms and governments and, in this case, their influence on youth’s integration into the society and labour market in rural regions. The paper presents a brief analysis of youths’ unemployment development and their integration into the labour market in Latvia’s regions and an analysis of the factors affecting this phenomenon by using the Quintuple Helix Model.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the main characteristics of the modern farm in Lithuania and to analyse correlation between features, which should have a modern farm, to understand the age of agricultural system and agricultural concept. The research based on the answers of two groups of experts (180 experts: 98 experts-professionals and 82 experts-farmers). The present paper is examining the characteristics and role of agriculture modernization in the economic and social development of Lithuania. The main characteristics of the modern farm are: new machinery and equipment, technologies, modern production buildings, farms apply a range of innovations, farmers are seeking knowledge are interested in innovation, take part in exhibitions, events, they are energetic, creative and implementing good management practices. Big farms in Lithuania had the opportunity to devote more funds to co-finance structural support, and were able to get more support and modernize faster than small or medium-sized farms. The big farms are more modernised than small ones, but the impact of farm modernization on the rural development sustainability is bigger and more positive from the smaller farms than bigger ones.

The paper aims at examining the levels of social cohesion and socio-economic dysfunctionality in former State Agricultural Farms (post-PGR) areas and at assessing the possibilities for initiating bottom-up actions, and for participating in the creation of mechanisms for local development. Data used in the study was obtained in multimethods approach, i.e. mainly during a questionnaire survey, in-depth interviews and observation concerning the financial situation and the social environment (social problems and cohesion), that is, the elements predicted to be the key factors obstructing effective corrective actions within local development. We have demonstrated that post-PGR areas should be treated as especially problematic not only because of their economic dysfunctionality, but mainly because of the complex social problems they experience (lack of local ties, hostility, aggression between neighbors). Such a difficult environment requires substantial interference which should take into account the problems specific to the population. The threat resulting from the heterogeneity of such communities should be a significant factor shaping the perception of local development problems.

In the EU during the last decade, interest has risen for both consumers and producers in Food Quality Schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs. For producers, the appeal lies in the benefits associated with the collective reputation of quality that characterizes labels linked to geographical origin. This paper obtained estimates of technical and scale inefficiencies of PGI bean farms in Greece by applying the DEA methodology. The main part of the divergence from the efficient frontier is more due to inadequate use of inputs and less because farms are not operating at the optimal size. The vast majority of the farms in the sample achieved technical efficiency scores in the range of 70–100% and scale efficiency scores in the range of 80–100%. Average technical efficiency is lower than average scale efficiency which means that a larger segment of overall inefficiency is due to producing below the frontier than to operating at an inefficient scale.

The purpose of the research is to evaluate the technologies, available to the Latvia’s sector of fish processing and their utilized capacity, as well as to identify the factors influencing production process, providing recommendations for development and improvement of further policy of the sector. The author evaluated availability and utilized capacity of production technologies in the Latvia’s sector of fish processing, considering the analysis of financial indicators of the made investments, production capacity load and fish processing companies. In view of economic theory, the factors, influencing the production process of Latvia’s sector of fish processing, were defined. As a result of analysis, the author established that the development of production of Latvia’s fish processing sector is to a great extent influenced by the availability of human resources, raw materials and investments, as well as undertaking. For further development and policy planning of the sector it would be advisable to take into account these factors, influencing the production process of Latvia’s sector of fish processing and their changes. The formed combinations of indicators may be used in scientific researches on establishment of production technologies availability and their utilized capacity, and identification of factors, influencing the production process; they may facilitate researches for its calculation and importance, as well as may assist the institutions involved in the fisheries’ policy formation to work more successfully and improve the common policy in the field.

Purchasing local products has become a popular trend both in Latvia and in the world; yet, no single definition is available regarding what may be regarded as local products. The term local product is interpreted based on the distance between the producer and the consumer, administrative and political theories, social factors and personal opinions. Food systems refer to a full cycle from production to sales, whereas local food systems, which are regarded as an alternative to the global food system, are characterised by a short distance between the producer and the consumer, which increases mutual trust between the parties engaged. Besides, it has been found that local food systems are considered sustainable and local communities benefit from them economically, environmentally and socially. Local products are sold through traditional channels – food products are marketed through wholesale and retail networks – and through those popularising local products – short supply chains and direct sale channels – when products are purchased directly from the producer. The present research gives a summary and a short description of such sale channels. An essential role in increasing the sales of local products is also played by the public sector, as local products are purchased through municipal public food procurements. Even though the EU legislation stipulates that municipal public procurements may not require bidders to supply only local products because it contradicts the principles of free trade in the EU, yet, food products produced in the local region are preferred if sustainability criteria are integrated in procurement requirements.

Aim of the paper is to identify low productivity lands distribution in Vidzeme region, identify enterprises that could use wood chips from willow plantations established on these lands as the main resource in electricity and heat production and calculate produced wood ash amount from these enterprises that could be used as fertilizer and could be recycled in SRC plantations. For better soil fertility evaluation and economic turn predictions all agricultural lands are evaluated in quality units, where one quality unit in money is equal to 5.38 EUR or 70 kg of rye. According to studies, traditional farming in lands, which are below 38 quality units, could be unproductive. In Vidzeme region are 501,880 ha of agriculture lands from which 206,574 ha (52%) are lands with quality assessment under 38 units. According to local farmers’ opinion, the real quality unit, below which economically profitable farming is impossible, are 25 quality units. There are 87,900 ha of agricultural lands under 25 quality units, which represent 18% from all agricultural lands in region. These lands could be used by growing SRC plantations in 2013; the region has 48 enterprises that used wood chips, with total amount of 170,500 oven-dried tonnes per year. Wood chips from SRC plantation could be used in these enterprises. To fulfil the wood chip demand in the region, about 17,000 – 34,000 ha of agricultural land should be planted with SRC plantations. To increase the yields from these lands, fertilization is recommended. In this region are more than 300 enterprises, which use wood as the main resource for electricity or heat production leading to 14,000 oven-dried tons of wood ash production every year.

Spatial modifications should be introduced in areas where members of the local community actively participate in consolidation projects. Social acceptance is the key prerequisite for successful land consolidation. How should the sequence of land consolidation measures be planned in a rural area whose inhabitants have not expressed their opinions about the project? Are the existing criteria, which are applied to evaluate land consolidation measures mostly in agricultural regions, sufficient? Scientists and practitioners have been developing criteria that should be taken into account in the process of planning land consolidation measures. This article analyzes the criteria for planning land consolidation measures in Poland. Most of them are based on economic parameters, such as farm fragmentation, average land plot area, average farm area, shape of farm fields, proportion of plot sides. A criterion that is disregarded in the planning process is the local community’s attitude to the undertaking. This article attempts to define additional criteria for planning land consolidation measures based on the local community’s attitude to the project. The study was carried out in the Lublin Region, which is characterized by the highest number of land consolidation schemes in Poland. Attempts were made to describe social activity levels in the region’s rural municipalities. The selection of variables characterizing the local community was a key stage of the study. Variables that were indirectly indicative of social activity were included in the analysis: voter turnout in elections, municipal councilors’ level of education, number of non-governmental organizations, and number of local action groups.

The purpose of this study was to predict and compare salt accumulation in the soil profile under drained and undrained conditions. The water management simulation model, Drainmod (Ver. 6.1) was used to determine the optimal drainage system design parameters, which will decrease soil profile salinity and provide maximum crop yields in Ankara-Bala Basin of Turkey. Soil sampling points were coordinated with the Global Positioning System (GPS). Soil, crop and site parameters were obtained as an input. The model was run for 5 years from 2005 to 2010 to simulate optimum drainage design parameters (drain depth, drain spacing) while controlling soil salinity in the root zone. Soil water conditions and soil salinity level were simulated for crop rotation of corn (Zea mays) and winter wheat (Triticum). Yield of individual crops was predicted for each growing season. The results of the simulations were analyzed to identify alternatives of subsurface drainage system that would satisfy maximum crop productions. According to the simulation results, the drain spacing of 130 m and drain depth at 160 cm are recommended for Bala Basin. Soil salinity maps were created for undrained and drained conditions. Results showed that the soil salinity level and salinity stress can be reduced and yield increased by installing a drainage system.