Abstract: The study analyses the strategies Italian farmers use to cope with the risks that face their production. We specifically explore the potential and the limitations of the economic tools for climatic risk management in agriculture of the Common Agricultural Policy 2014-2020, that foresees contributions for economic tools for risk management, in relation to farms’ needs, exposure and vulnerability of agricultural areas to climatic risk. We consider at the farm level approaches to hedge risks in terms of the use of technical tools (agricultural practices, pesticides, fertilizers, irrigation) and economic/financial instruments (insurances, etc.). We develop cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses as well as analyses of correlation that underline the main differences between the way farms adapt their structure and management towards risk. The results show a preference for technical tools, despite the presence of important public aids on economic tools such as insurances. Therefore, there is a strong need for a more effective and integrated risk management policy scheme. Synergies between economic tools and risk reduction actions of a more technical, structural and management nature (production diversification, irrigation infrastructures, technological and management innovations and formation-information-consultancy, etc.) are emphasized.
Abstract: The largest share of policy and money within the
European Union goes to agriculture. The Union’s Common
Agricultural Policy has undergone several transformations in the last
five decades, with the main change taking place in the 1990s. This
change influenced agriculture in the Czech Republic, inasmuch as the
fledgling republic was preparing to join the European Union and
adopt its policies. In the 1990s, Czech agriculture passed from
a centrally planned economy to a market economy and subsequently
adopted the terms of the Common Agricultural Policy. The Czech
Republic is also characterized by a significant diversification of
landscape sphere. Agricultural entrepreneurs in the Czech Republic
are still not accustomed to the possibility of grants from the European
Union. They focus rather on national or regional subsidies. Only half
of all agricultural entrepreneurs in the Czech Republic use European
subsidies. This article focuses on the introduction of the Common
Agricultural Policy to the Czech Republic and its subsequent
influence on Czech agriculture. It is demonstrated through the
implementation rate of the CAP in the EU Member States and
a closer focus on Czech integration.