The objective of this study was to assess energy ratios and net energy in plant production and energy ratios in animal production in Finland. Energy ratios and net energy were determined on the basis of plant- and animal-specific energy analyses. In plant production, energy ratios and net energy were assessed as a function of nitrogen fertilization, because indirect energy input in the form of agrochemicals was 5473% from the total energy input and nitrogen was responsible for the major part of this. The highest energy ratio was 18.6 for reed canary grass. As a whole reed canary grass was superior to the other crops, which were barley, spring wheat, spring turnip rape, ley for silage, potato and sugar beet. Reed canary grass and sugar beet gained the highest net energy yields of 111115 GJ ha-1. The optimum energy ratio was gained in general with less nitrogen fertilization intensity than farmers use. The energy ratios in pork production varied between 0.141.28 depending on what was included or excluded in the analysis and for milk production between 0.151.85. Ratios of 1.28 in pork production and 1.85 in milk production are unrealistic as they do not give any shelter to the animals, although they can be approached in very low-input production systems. If the ratio is calculated with feed energy content then the ratio is low, 0.140.22 for pork and 0.15 for milk. This shows that animals can convert 1422 percent of the input energy to usable products. In pork production, the largest portion of the energy input was the ventilation of the building. In milk production milking and cooling consumes a lot of energy and for this reason the electricity consumption is high.;

Technological advances have contributed to impressive yield gains and have greatly altered US agriculture. Selective breeding and directed molecular techniques address biological shortcomings of plants and animals and overcome environmental limitations. Improvements in mechanization, particularly of power sources and harvest equipment, reduce labor requirements and increase productivity and worker safety. Conservation systems, often designed to overcome problems introduced from other technologies, reduce negative impacts on soil and water and improve the environmental sustainability of production systems. Advances in information systems, largely developed in other disciplines and adapted to agriculture, are only beginning to impact US production practices. This paper is the fourth in the series of manuscripts exploring drivers of US agricultural systems. While development of technology is still largely driven by a need to address a problem, adoption is closely linked with other drivers of agricultural systems, most notably social, political and economic. Here, we explore the processes of innovation and adoption of technologies and how they have shaped agriculture. Technologies have increased yield and net output, and have also resulted in decreased control by producers, increased intensification, specialization and complexity of production, greater dependence on non-renewable resources, increased production inputs and hence decreased return, and an enhanced reliance on future technology. Future technologies will need to address emerging issues in land use, decline in work force and societal support of farming, global competition, changing social values in both taste and convenience of food, and increasing concerns for food safety and the environment. The challenge for farmers and researchers is to address these issues and develop technologies that balance the needs of producers with the expectations of society and create economically and environmentally sustainable production systems.

The role of commodity exchanges in process of trade of agricultural production, raw material and foods is revealed, possible ways of trade are considered and its optimum form is determined. On the basis of data of the Open Society Belarus universal commodity exchange streams of agricultural production in 2007 are analyzed, the basic tendencies and dynamics of trade are revealed, the circle of foreign participants of the tenders is outlined, the inventory of assortment admitted to the tenders is determined

The priority directions have been predicted by the analysis of technical-economic production aspects and it processing to the raw biomaterials.

Agricultural production is heavily dependent on water availability in Turkey, where half the crop production relies on irrigation. Irrigated agriculture consumes about 75 percent of total water used, which is about 30 percent of renewable water availability. This study analyzes the likely effects of increased competition for water resources and changes in the Turkish economy. The analysis uses an economy-wide Walrasian Computable General Equilibrium model with a detailed account of the agricultural sector. The study investigated the economy-wide effects of two external shocks, namely a permanent increase in the world prices of agricultural commodities and climate change, along with the impact of the domestic reallocation of water between agricultural and non-agricultural uses. It was also recognized that because of spatial heterogeneity of the climate, the simulated scenarios have differential impact on the agricultural production and hence on the allocation of factors of production including water. The greatest effects on major macroeconomic indicators occur in the climate change simulations. As a result of the transfer of water from rural to urban areas, overall production of all crops declines. Although production on rainfed land increases, production on irrigated land declines, most notably the production of maize and fruits. The decrease in agricultural production, coupled with the domestic price increase, is further reflected in net trade. Agricultural imports increase with a greater decline in agricultural exports.

During the last five decades, the world agricultural production technology has progressed rapidly, including the achievement of "Green Revolution". However, opening in the international agricultural trade market, which started from mid-1980s, influences characteristics change of each nation's agricultural growth and technological progress. This analysis characteristics technological change of agricultural production in world major countries from 1961 to 2005 by region and income level. Also, this analysis examined changes in factor productivity and factor input, and investigated characteristics in technical changes by estimating production function. As a result, this analysis discovered that technical change of agricultural production by region and income level, and decrease in factor productivity are progressing after 1980s in the world. According to the comparative analysis of inter-country agricultural production technology and Japanese agricultural growth path, the growth of Korean agriculture had fallen into stagnant after late-1990s as same as Japanese path.

The competitiveness of goods and enterprises which reflects organizational, administrative as well as technological advantages of business organizations, is one of conditions of success and development of one agriculture and for the whole national economy. The approaches of domestic and foreign authors allow to allocate commodity, industrial, branch, micro level, regional and country approaches to the definition of competitiveness and to revealing of its contents. In the terms of these approaches the most characteristic features of competitive environment and of the objects of competitiveness, as well as their function in agriculture, are reflected, in the connection with the chain of the competitive advantages formation. In particular, precisely the industrial approach is the most important in the process of competitive advantages creation for the agricultural business organization, which are the main suppliers of raw materials for industry. The basic terms which describe the essence of competitiveness, such as: competitive advantage, competitive resources, sources and factors of competitiveness, competitive positions and competitive positioning are discussed as well. All the components of competitiveness providing are in close interrelation and interdependency looking like the following chain: commodity - production – enterprise - branch - region - country