Juan Carlos Rodríguez-cohard (p), José Domingo Sánchez-Martíne Antonio Garrido-Almonacid

Carlos Bacha

New technologies and organizational schemes are spreading out in developing countries for traditional crops. Olive growing has been a millenary activity in the Mediterranean basin, but now globalization is opening opportunities and arising challenges for new generations of farmers to deal with. Maghreb countries have adopted different national strategies using olive oil as a generator of foreign currency or limiting its production in favor of food security. Nowadays, things are changing because of the extension of welfare, the reduction of poverty and the opening of new niches in the internal markets. The aim of the paper is to understand how the process of changing is affecting agriculture in olive growing regions in Maghreb countries. The methodology used combine the analysis of quantitative available data from international and national bodies, the information obtained in three field works and the data extracted through the content analysis of 40 in-depth interviews carried out during 2020 and 2022 in four regions: The Rif, Mèknes, Marrakech and Sfax, with farmers, entrepreneurs, scholars, consultants and policy makers. The results show that the newcomer farmers are adopting new organizational and productive schemes. Knowledge and innovation are the most key elements for modern agriculture producing high-quality olive oil, either as a commodity or as a bottling product. New actors are entering the activity leaving traditional modes of growing out of the market. For the very next future great economic, social and environmental challenges, such as the competitiveness of companies, the inequality or climate change loom on the horizon.

Ana-Maria Opria (p), Lucian Rosu, Corneliu Iatu

Juan Carlos Rodríguez-cohard

Sustainable rural development is one of the goals being pursued at European level. The adoption of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in 1962 paved the way for its realisation, with EU Member States being offered funds to finance economic and social development projects in rural communities. However, the capacity of Member States to manage effectively the financial support allocated at the national level has a direct impact on the potential of these funds to lead to sustainable rural development and improved territorial cohesion. Studies carried out so far in different European countries have highlighted differences in the capacity of rural communities to absorb funds, which has led to widening gaps. This is because financial support often reaches more developed rural communities, while those with fewer opportunities are less able to absorb funds. Therefore, the topic approached in this paper is a better understanding of rural fund absorptions while aiming to build a classification of rural communities based on their performance over two periods of European funding for rural areas (2007–2013 and 2014–2020). It also aims to analyse the resulting typologies in order to identify potential factors leading to different performances of rural communities in absorbing financial support, which is the purpose of the paper. The study focuses on rural communities in Romania, an EU Member State taken as a case study due to the sharp development gaps it faces. The data used for the classification of rural communities are the funds absorbed so far at the local level from the National Rural Development Program, funded in itself from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), part of the CAP. In addition, data such as wealth, education, and HDI level were used to test a number of factors influencing the absorption capacity of the communities. In terms of methods applied, the contingency table analysis was used in classifying the rural communities, and regression was applied for testing the factors influencing the absorption capacity of communities. The study confirms the results of European research, and that the gap between developed and underdeveloped municipalities is indeed widening. Moreover - even at regional level a discrepancy can be observed which accentuates regional differences.

Cristina García-Nicolás (p)

Ana-Maria Opria

This work is part of a project that aims to create a digital repository in order to offer a wide and diverse range of information to facilitate innovative activities in the rural environment, both by companies and public administrations.
This first contribution has as its frame of reference the role of rural innovation as a transversal element in the development of areas affected by depopulation and ageing. The objective is to define the characteristics of innovation in the European and Spanish framework, through public policies and projects carried out, i.e., good practices, in order to be able to define the most appropriate proposals for their application to the regional area of Castilla-La Mancha.
Innovation forms part of the action plan designed by the European Commission for rural areas, whose main pillars are territorial cohesion, accessibility, improvement of infrastructures and services, and sustainability. All of this is in line with the objectives set for the 2021-2027 programming period, among which proximity to citizens through local management is linked to the Strategy against depopulation presented by the regional government of Castilla-La Mancha (2021-2031).
According to the OECD (2009), the new rural paradigm requires a multi-sectoral approach focused on places and investments, as opposed to previous approaches which had sectors and subsidies as their main lines of action. In the same vein, ESPON (2018) argues the need to address the problems of rural areas through smart approaches, based on the "silver economy", specialisation through unique resources, green advantage, and social reorientation.
In this context, the paper seeks to identify opportunities for innovation in rural Castilla-La Mancha and to establish some principles to facilitate the identification of viable development proposals.

Alice Cruz, Carlos Bacha (p)

Cristina García-Nicolás

Brazil´s milk production increased significantly from 1974 through 2016. The country ranks as one of the world's largest producers of bovine milk; however, its productivity (measured in milk liters per cow) is below the figures achieved by other major milk producing countries. Moreover, Brazilian regions hold huge disparities about their dairy farming productivity and those differences have enlarged over the time.
Trying to better evaluate this phenomena, this paper analyzed the differentiated evolution of dairy cattle productivity among and inside the Brazilian regions, trying to unveil spatial associations among Brazilian municipalities concerning to their dairy farming productivities. Time period from 1974 through 2016 as well as minimum comparable areas (MCA) are taken into consideration. Exploratory spatial data analysis confirmed the existence of spatial autocorrelation of milk productivity, indicating that dairy cattle productivity in one MCA is linked to the productivity reached on its neighboring MCA. Over the analyzed period low-low clusters of dairy productivities have predominated inside the Brazilian North and Northeast regions, which are the poorest regions in Brazil and have held few technical researching centers, technical middle schools and universities dealing with this subject as well as credit for improving their milk production. High-high clusters show up into the Brazilian Southeast and South regions, which are better attended by researching and teaching institutions and rural credit. The configuration and geographic location of these clusters have changed during the studied period. In order to reduce those disparities, at least, improving researching and teaching about milk production and rural credit availability at the Brazilian North and Northeast regions could have spillover effects and led their farmers to increase their dairy farming productivities. However, in order to allow the faraway milk production to reach the consuming markets also a new transportation network would be addressed.