Browse

A health-friendly crop rotation system for soil is an essential tool for sustainable agriculture, especially in the context of achieving the objectives of the European Green Deal. Therefore, the research aims to assess the integration of three crops beneficial to soil health into the production of winter wheat and winter rapeseed every third year and their socio-economic and environmental impacts in Latvia. The research results revealed that crop rotation has a significant impact on the economy of farms, and only ...

One of the primary elements to achieving targets set out by the European Green Deal in Latvia is mitigation of climate change in livestock production, where dairy farming is one of the leading sources of agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The aim of this study is to evaluate the economic and environmental impacts of five types of feed additives in Latvian dairy farming, with aim to reduce emissions. The research analyses milk production statistics, evaluates it together with scientific emission factors a...

Soil liming is an essential component of sustainable soil management, affecting both crop yields, nutrient uptake efficiency, and environmental quality. Therefore, the research aims to assess the economic and environmental efficiency of soil liming in Latvia. This research compared the economic and environmental efficiency of crushed lime and limestone flour in Latvia, analysing the costs, benefits, and impacts of a six-year liming cycle on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and phosphorus leaching. The research resul...

The transition to sustainable agriculture in Europe depends on farming systems that are not only environmentally sound but also economically viable and measurable. Meeting the targets of the European Green Deal and the Farm to Fork Strategy requires tools that translate sustainability into quantifiable, comparable, and actionable data at the farm level. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is one way that offers this capacity, yet methodological gaps and data limitations continue to constrain its wider use. This study inve...

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is one of the most critical European Union (EU) policies, making a significant financial contribution to agriculture and rural development. As a result of CAP reforms, support payments change as they adapt to the global context, thereby contributing to economic, environmental, and social sustainability. Therefore, the present research aims to assess CAP support payments in the context of building more sustainable and resilient agriculture in EU Member States. The research emplo...

The European Union (EU) Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) plays a crucial role in agricultural and economic development in the Member States. In the future, CAP support instruments must foster sustainable agriculture, with economic, social and environmental goals achieved through synergy. It would be increasingly important to assess the effectiveness of support payments in terms of their economic, social, and environmental dimensions. Accordingly, the present research aims to evaluate CAP support payments' soc...

The European Union (EU) climate objectives rely on sustainable agriculture. This research assesses greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and key agricultural indicators in Latvia from 2020 to 2022. This research aims to assess the developmental trends of agricultural GHG emissions and farming indicators in Latvia to identify strategies or future investigations necessary to mitigate GHG emissions and enhance sustainability. In Latvia, agriculture accounted for 21-22% of total GHG emissions in carbon dioxide (CO2) equivale...

Agriculture plays a crucial role in the global carbon cycle, as it serves as a source of one of the greenhouse gases. Therefore, a data-based understanding of how to mitigate its impact on the environment and climate change is needed. The research aim is to evaluate the dynamics of the agrifood system in the European Union (EU) Member States from 2013 to 2022, with a primary focus on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, livestock population density, and agricultural land use. The results indicate that Germany, France, ...

In the European Union (EU), food production needs to become more sustainable and environmental-friendly. Farmers play a crucial role in sustainable agricultural practices on their farms because one of the goals of the EU Farm to Fork Strategy is to reduce nutrient losses by at least 50%, while ensuring that there is no deterioration in soil fertility, which could reduce fertilizer use by at least 20% by 2030. Therefore, the aim of the present research is to examine fertilizer consumption in EU Member States and to...

Pesticides are traditionally used in agricultural production to protect crops against pests and diseases. However, there is growing public concern about the negative impacts of pesticides on human health and the environment. Therefore, one of the policy documents of the European Green Deal, which plays an important role in long-term agricultural development and environment-friendly management, is the Farm to Fork Strategy, which requires reducing pesticide use by 50% in the European Union (EU) by 2030. Therefore, ...

Investments made in response to climate change could help to foster environment-friendly business practices. Therefore, bioeconomy industries are considered crucial for achieving climate neutrality in Europe by 2050. Accordingly, bioeconomy strategies have been designed in many countries, including in Latvia. Therefore, the aim of the present research is to examine the investment environment and the amounts of gross investment made in bioeconomy industries, as well as foreign direct investment attracted to Latvia ...

Bioeconomy industries play an important role in contributing to national economies and a transition to climate-friendly farming practices. This is evidenced by various policies implemented, including the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the European Union (EU) Bioeconomy Strategy and the European Green Deal. The increasing productivity and new technologies can have negative environmental impacts, affecting the economic framework associated with ecosystem services. To address these challenges, coordina...

Forests provide humanity with essential raw materials, and the demand for these materials is growing, especially in conditions where it is necessary to replace the use of fossil resources with renewable ones. Latvia-s import of timber from Russia and Belarus has increased 8 times in 2021, when comparing 2013, reaching 33% of timber import value. Current geopolitical situation and supply chain sustainability calls for necessity to evaluate possibility to reduce the dependency on the timber import from Russia and Be...

The knowledge-based bioeconomy has been prioritized through European Union (EU) research and innovation policies. In December 2017, the government approved the Latvian Bioeconomy Strategy 2030, which set the horizontal strategic goal of achieving -research excellence in traditional bioeconomy industries and efficient transfer of knowledge-. Therefore, the aim of the present research is to examine one of the submeasures -promoting research excellence and efficient knowledge transfer within traditional bioeconomy in...

Forests are import to the health of the planet, as well as an economic resource of the country. Latvia has 5th highest forest area coverage in the European Union. Major tree species in Latvia are birch, pine and spruce, with the birch having one of the highest felling rates as % of end of year stock. Importance of the topic is that as Latvia, in the particular in exports of selected timber products, as softwood sawn timber, birch plywood, chipboards and pellets, are among one of the ten largest exporters in the wo...

The forest industry is an important sector of the economy of many countries, because the timber grown in it can be used for achieving various economic goals, including increasing added value and exports. However, the social functions of forestry: rural employment and the availability of forests, in the form of various ecosystem services, are also important to the public. Forests are home to various protected species, and forest biotopes, biotopes associated with forests as well as the biodiversity of forests play ...

Stock market development is crucial to any economy, as a funding alternative to bank lending, as well as the value added to the overall economy. One of the measurements to evaluate economic advancement is stock market capitalization (mcap) to gross domestic product (GDP), in this indicator Latvia is in one of the last places in the European Union (EU). Therefore, the main goal is to assess the landscape and Latvia’s potential to reach neighboring countries’ mcap to GDP level using existing registered companies, as...

Stock market in Latvia necessitates to be increased in size to attract more investors and encourage economic development. The opportunity for stock market’s enhancement are registered companies in Latvia. What is the landscape of Latvian registered companies and weather, there are enough companies with financial profile having potential for stock market listing, that is the question to be assessed by the authors, comparing those companies’ financial profile to the average Baltic States and Nordic countries stock m...

Agricultural land is an important natural resource exploited for agricultural production to provide food for the population. The pressure on agricultural resources has increased in the world, as the population grows and non-food land uses increase. In Latvia, the utilized agricultural area (UAA) has decreased since 1991, and in 2020 it was 2.3 mln. ha or 36% of the total area of the country, while the forest area increased, and in 2020 it was 3.1 mln. ha or 48% of the total area. In 2019 in Latvia, the unfarmed an...

Climate change, Paris agreement and following strategies for sustainable environment are key direction in 21st century, in order to have an environment and economy to live in for this and next generations. This topic is on the agenda of several high-level task forces at United Nations (UN) and the European Commission (EC). While some definitions and terms are still blurred and unclear, there are already several measurement indicators, which are monitored. One of 17 UN sustainable development growth (SDG) goals, nu...

Investment environment is crucial for countries to attract investors and for economic growth. Baltic States regained independence in early 90-ties, their sizes are comparable and after almost 30 years as independent countries, it is substantial to judge their investment environment and lessons to learn from each other to ensure long-term sustainable development. The paper analyzes and compares investment environment among three Baltic States. The aim of the paper is to determine current investment environment of t...