József Popp

Biofuels and Their Co-Products as Livestock Feed: Global Economic and Environmental Implications

This review studies biofuel expansion in terms of competition between conventional and advanced biofuels based on bioenergy potential. Production of advanced biofuels is generally more expensive than current biofuels because products are not yet cost competitive. What is overlooked in the discussion about biofuel is the contribution the industry makes to the global animal feed supply and land use for cultivation of feedstocks. The global ethanol industry produces 44 million metric tonnes of high-quality feed, however, the co-products of biodiesel production have a moderate impact on the feed market contributing to just 8–9 million tonnes of protein meal output a year. By economically displacing traditional feed ingredients co-products from biofuel production are an important and valuable component of the biofuels sector and the global feed market. The return of co-products to the feed market has agricultural land use (and GHG emissions) implications as well. The use of co-products generated from grains and oilseeds can reduce net land use by 11% to 40%. The proportion of global cropland used for biofuels is currently some 2% (30–35 million hectares). By adding co-products substituted for grains and oilseeds the land required for cultivation of feedstocks declines to 1.5% of the global crop area.

Cost-benefit analysis of crop protection measures

Reducing pesticide use can provide growers with direct economic benefits by decreasing the cost of inputs and increasing net returns. Chemical pesticides will continue to play a role in pest management for the future. In many situations, the benefits of pesticide use are high relative to the risks or there are no practical alternatives. The number and diversity of biological sources will increase, and products that originate in chemistry laboratories will be designed for particular target sites. Innovations in pesticide delivery systems in plants promise to reduce adverse environmental impacts even further. The correct use of pesticides can deliver significant socio-economic and environmental benefits in the form of safe, healthy, affordable food; and enable sustainable farm management by improving the efficiency with which we use natural resources such as soil, water and overall land use. Some alternative methods may be more costly than conventional chemical-intensive agricultural practices, but often these comparisons fail to account for the high environmental and social costs of pesticide use. Genetically engineered organisms that reduce pest pressure constitute a “new generation” of pest management tools. The use of transgenic crops will probably maintain or even increase the need for effective resistance management programmes. However, there remains a need for new chemicals that are compatible with ecologically based pest management and applicator and worker safety. Evaluation of the effectiveness of biocontrol agents should involve consideration of long-term impacts rather than only short-term yield, as is typically done for conventional practices. The justifications of government intervention in the management of pest control include the need to address the externality problems associated with the human and environmental health effects of pesticides.

The effect of acquisition moves on income, pre-tax profits and future strategy of logistics firms

Our research deals with a comprehensive study of the management success factors of logistics service providers using a new approach, and examines the life of logistics service companies. The data were collected from 51 logistics service providers in Hungary. We searched for the proper enterprise scale – acquisitions – strategies (including the method of looking for the economies of scale in the LSP segment to be examined, and the role of strategy choice). Our research has found that among logistics companies those firms which followed the growth pattern has significantly higher sales revenue than the companies growing organically. Additionally, logistics companies – considering their pre-tax profits work more efficiently when they have a growth strategy (regardless of its time lag). However, this claim is true only for those companies that did not have any (revenue) growth over the previous Received: May, 2017 1st Revision: August, 2017 Accepted: November, 2017 DOI: 10.14254/20718330.2017/10-4/18 Journal of International Studies S ci en ti fi c P a pe rs

Information technology developments of logistics service providers in Hungary

ABSTRACT The objective of this research is to examine the role of sector-specific information technology (IT) developments and their significance in terms of the revenue and earnings before tax of Logistics Service Providers (LSPs), as well as the impact of these developments on the flexibility and integration of LSPs. A survey questionnaire was conducted with 284 LSPs participants. The data provided by the 51 responding enterprises provided a representative sample for the analysis of the sample population and the drawing of general and relevant conclusions related to basic population. It can be concluded that their revenue, earnings before tax and degree of integration into the supply chain depend on the sector-specific IT developments carried out by the given enterprise. IT investments will remain important in the future and the introduction and leveraging the best technologies may yield competitive advantages and higher financial rewards for LSPs.

A novel ranking distance measure combining Cayley and Spearman footrule metrics: Combination of Cayley and Spearman's footrule metrics

Defining the appropriate ranking distance measures among rankings is a classic area of study. The goal of our work is to identify a combination of methodologies, which is proven to be capable for the determination of a proper ranking system. In our study, we used 3 well‐established metrics: Kendall tau, Spearman footrule, and Cayley distance and a novel metric created by the combination of Cayley and Spearman footrule metrics. The results of the newly introduced metric depend on how fast we can trade a permutation of items to the reference permutation according to the Spearman footrule. On the other hand, the distance also depends on the number of cycles and the inversions in the cycle. Two case studies—chemometric data of phytonutrients of tomato varieties and sensometric data of orange juices—were used to test the performance of the studied ranking distance metrics. The properties of the new metric were compared to the traditional metrics regarding the normality of their distributions, significant number of differences between the rating objects, and the quality of the rankings. Results were validated by leave‐one‐out cross‐validation and significant differences by Wilcoxon matched pairs test.

Co-Authorship and Co-Citation Networks in the Agricultural Economics Literature: The Case of Central and Eastern Europe

This article analyzes co-authorship and co-citation networks in the agricultural economics literature on Central and Eastern Europe written during the last twenty-five years. It highlights the principal researchers in the field, together with their authorship and citation networks, on the basis of 238 articles written between 1990 and 2013. Most of the articles were written by a small number of researchers, indicating that clusters and central authors play an important role in scientific progress. Contrary to expectations, it turns out that number of articles and central role in network are not related. Finally, clusters are found to cite themselves more than the average, thereby boosting scientific progress for their members.

How consistent is the new common agricultural policy with the challenges it faces

The latest reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has recently been accepted, identifying important challenges for EU agriculture, but proposing only limited changes to the previous CAP. Now it is time for the implementation of the new measures. However, from a theoretical point of view, it seems that the CAP can hardly meet the challenges it faces due to the inconsistencies between the predefined challenges and the measures proposed to meet them. The aim of the paper is to systematically analyse the consistency between the challenges of European agriculture and the policy measures aimed at meeting them. It seems that not all measures are consistent with the challenges.

The productive lifetime of sows on two farms from the aspect of reasons for culling

Abstract The aim of this study was to compare the characteristics of the productive lifetime (PLT) of sows kept on two farms, from the aspect of reasons for culling. The study was based on data from animals from two breeding farms in Hungary, using the data of 3493 crossbred Dutch Large White and Dutch Landrace sows (DLW × DL) between their first farrowing until the time of culling (2006 and 2012). For six years, the annual culling rate for both farms averaged 45%. The most frequent reasons for removal on both farms were reproductive problems (40%, 51%), leg problems (29%, 23%) and mortality (19%, 15%). There was a significant difference between the distributions of reasons for culling on the two farms (χ2=41.7, P≤0.001). The distributions of reasons for culling differed in three periods of sow breeding (Farm A: χ2=264.7, P≤0.001; Farm B: χ2=511.1, P≤0.001). The percentage of main removal reasons decreased, whereas the frequency of culling due to age increased. Using survival analysis (Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazard model), significant differences were identified between the PLT of sows culled due to reproductive problems (P≤0.001), leg problems (P≤0.001) and old age (P≤0.001). Reproductive problems (HR: 1.34, P≤0.001) and leg problems (HR: 1.39, P≤0.001) were higher and culling due to old age (HR: 0.44, P≤0.001) was lower on Farm A compared to Farm B. There were no significant differences between the two farms in terms of mortality (HR: 0.99, P=0.923). Overall, the results can be useful for breeders of crossbred (DLW × DL) sow populations in more accurately defining their culling systems.

Impact of Pesticide Productivity on Food Security

The seven billion global population is projected to grow by 70 million per annum, increasing by 30 % to 9.2 billion in 2050. This increased population density is projected to increase demand for food production by 70 % notably due to changes in dietary habits in developing countries towards high quality food, e.g. greater consumption of meat and milk products, and to the increasing use of grains for livestock feed. The availability of additional agricultural land is limited. Furthermore, more agricultural land will be used to produce bio-based commodities such as bioenergy or fibre instead of food and feed. Thus, we need to grow food on even less land, with less water, using less energy, fertiliser and pesticide than we use today. Given these limitations, sustainable production at elevated levels is urgently needed. The reduction of current yield losses caused by pests are major challenges to agricultural production. This review presents (1) worldwide crop losses due to pests, (2) estimates of pesticide-related productivity, and costs and benefits of pesticide use, (3) approaches to reduce yield losses by chemical, as well as biological and recombinant methods of pest control, and (4) the challenges of the crop protection industry. However, as long as there is a demand for pesticide-based solutions to pest control problems and food security concerns, the externality problems associated with the human and environmental health effects of pesticides needs also to be addressed.

Migráció megítélése a felsőoktatásban részt vevő hallgatók véleménye alapján

A szerzők kutatasi celkitűzese, hogy megvizsgaljak a napjainkban megfigyelhető nagyaranyu nepessegvandorlassal kapcsolatos esemenyeket, azok kivalto okat es prediktiv hatasat a felsőoktatasban tanulo egyetemi hallgatok, doktoranduszok altal felallitott es kepviselt attitűdjein keresztul. A megkerdezettek csoportjat, azaz a mintat, 425 fő a magyar felsőoktatasi intezmenyekben nappali tagozatos alapszakon, mesterszakon es doktori kepzesben reszt vevő hallgato kepezte. A megkerdezett mintan belul faktoranalizis segitsegevel kimutathato volt, hogy minel magasabb szintű kepzesen tanulnak az egyes hallgatok, azaz minel magasabb a legnagyobb iskolai vegzettseguk, annal nagyobb lesz korukben azok szama, akik toleransan viselkednek a migracios jelenseggel kapcsolatban. Meglepő lehet, hogy a nemzetkozi elettapasztalattal is rendelkező valaszadok kevesbe befogadoak a hasonlo tapasztalatokkal nem rendelkező tarsaikhoz kepest. Azt is megallapitottak, hogy a valaszadok munkatapasztalata jelentősen befolyasolja a befogado attitűd megletet vagy hianyat. A sikeres munkaerő-piaci integracio egyik kulcsa a megfelelő iskolai vegzettseg. A valaszadok is jelentőseget tulajdonitanak a migransok legnagyobb iskolai vegzettsegenek. A masik fontos szempont ugyanakkor a nyelvismeret: altalanos velekedes, hogy legalabb tarsalgasi szintű magyar nyelvismeret hianyaban aligha erhetnek el munkavallaloi sikereket a migransok. Mindez azert is erdemel kiemelest, mert a migracio tarsadalmi megiteleset befolyasolja a valaszadok gazdasagi helyzete: a jobb korulmenyek kozott elő valaszadok kevesbe latjak veszelyesnek a migraciot, mint a rosszabb gazdasagi helyzetben elő tarsaik. Vegzetul a migracio mediareprezentaciojaval kapcsolatban egyertelműen megallapithato, hogy a migracio belfoldi megiteleseben a hazai media szerepe kiemelt jelentősegű.