Dr. Monica Mihaela Tudor (p)

A brief overview of rural Romanian phenomena and processes in modern history reveals that rural areas and small rural households were highly stable systems, providing social and economic security. In all history, except during the communist period (1945-1989), small-scale agriculture was and continues to be the main component in the rural labour market in the quasi-absence of other non-agricultural employment opportunities. In all times, food self-consumption, supported by small farms, has had a leverage effect against poverty. More than that, the statistical information shows that small farms achieve higher levels of economic performance compared to large farms by diversifying their production structure and, through that, they make an important contribution to national food security. In the post-communist period (i.e. after 1989), in Romania, these functions and roles of the small farms have been restored and are widely recognised. If the meaning of ‘socio-economic resilience’ is the ability of an individual, of a household, community, region or country to resist, to adapt, and to fast recover after a crisis, shock or change, the economic and social functions and roles assumed in the transition period by small Romanian rural farms gives them the attributes of a resilient answer of the entire Romania to the post-communist changes and shocks.
Methodological approach is a descriptive one describing major socio-demographic trends that impacted Romanian rural society (rural-urban migration), economic dynamics (occupational structure, income structures and poverty) and farm system transformations (farm structure of farms by size, economic output, contribution to the agricultural production) in order to capture the ability of small-scale agriculture to preserve their role and function during the last 30 years.
New data revealed that small-scale agriculture still preserving its ability to absorb shocks and changes, but the dimension of this safety net is diminishing over time.

Prof. Juan Carlos Rodríguez-cohard (p), Prof. José Domingo Sánchez-Martínez, Prof. Antonio Garrido-Almonacid

Statistics available estimate that the area of organic olive groves worldwide exceeds 850,000 hectares, almost 31% (262,379 ha) was located in Spain. As far as Andalusia is concerned, the figure given is 117,380 ha, of which only 15,659 are located in Jaén, which is the world's leading producer of olive groves and olive oils. Given the low participation of the province of Jaén in organic farming, which only represents 2.93% of the total, compared to 8.52% for Andalusia as a whole, we wondered whether there were objective reasons to explain the lower participation of the province of Jaén in the organic olive and olive oil business. However, we found no physical, productive, or technological reasons to explain the low participation of the province of Jaén. Furthermore, there are localities where, despite the importance of olive groves, the percentages of organic participation are less than 1%, and even some where organic farming is non-existent, despite being mountain municipalities, where organic production is usually more common. In contrast to these data, there are also mountainous areas in the provinces of Seville and Córdoba with percentages of organic production. Contrasting, there are also mountainous areas in the provinces of Seville and Cordoba with organic production rates of around 80%, such as Constantina, Cazalla de la Sierra, and Pozoblanco.

Given this situation, the objective of this research is to determine the institutional causes that maintain a low level of organic olive cultivation in the province of Jaén. The initial hypothesis is that these could be related to productive behaviors, informal institutions, myths, beliefs, and other elements that condition the strategic decision-making processes of producers.

The method used is qualitative, with in-depth interviews with farmers who produce organically, are in transition, or do not produce organically, as well as with technicians and cooperative managers. Twenty interviews were conducted in different provinces of Andalusia to compare information from municipalities with high levels of organic olive cultivation and others with very low rates of organic agriculture or even no plots dedicated to this type of production. The results show that the keys to understanding the limitations of the expansion of organic production in the province of Jaén are training, information, and the lack of participation in the final markets. Measures are proposed to improve the transmission of information among farmers in the province of Jaén and mechanisms for accessing niche markets that will enable to upgrading.

Prof. Nicole Castro (p), Prof. Aniela Carrara, Dr. Daniel Amaral

Biofuel policies have intensified the integration between energy and agricultural markets, reshaping price dynamics within commodity value chains. This integration has also heightened concerns about unintended consequences of biofuel support policies for food systems, including potential implications for food security. In oilseed-based biodiesel systems, joint production plays a central role: soybean crushing, for instance, yields roughly 20% oil and 80% meal. As a result, policies that promote biodiesel demand for soybean oil simultaneously expand the supply of soybean meal. This coproduction structure creates an indirect but economically meaningful channel linking energy policies to livestock production costs and, potentially, to food prices and food security. Focusing on Brazil – where biofuels mandates have driven a rapid expansion of soy-based biodiesel production and where soybean meal is a key input in animal feed – this paper examines price transmission within this food-fuel-feed nexus. It addresses three questions regarding the relationship between soybean meal and animal feed prices: the magnitude of cost pass-through, how this transmission unfolds over time, and whether positive and negative meal price shocks generate asymmetric feed price responses. The empirical strategy combines two complementary time-series approaches. First, a Structural Vector Error Correction (SVEC) model captures system-wide dynamics among soybean meal, soybean oil, corn, feed prices, and aggregate demand conditions. Second, a Nonlinear Autoregressive Distributed Lag model in error-correction form (NARDL–ECM) is employed to test for short- and long-run asymmetries in the conditional pass-through from soybean meal to feed prices. Using monthly Brazilian data from January 2010 to December 2024, the results indicate the presence of stable long-run relationships among the variables. SVEC estimates show that soybean meal price shocks exert persistent effects on feed prices and contribute substantially to feed price variability over time, alongside corn price effects. NARDL results reveal significant asymmetries: feed prices respond more strongly and more rapidly to increases in soybean meal prices than to decreases, indicating incomplete and asymmetric cost pass-through.

Dr. Carmen Beatrice Pauna (p), Drd. Alexandra Ciucu, Dr. Raluca-Ioana Iorgulescu

Livestock management is an important component of agriculture, being one of the biggest supporters of the rural economy. However, it should be noted that this activity has negative effects on the environment. The current research aims to identify the level at which the 27 EU member states are found with regard to a series of indicators intended to define the impact on the environment, but also the weights of different types of livestock, or the farms that house them. Although all 27 countries that make up the EU were taken into account, the acceptance will be placed on nine countries that make up the ManuRefinery project consortium. The ManuRefinery project involves the creation of a bio-refinery designed to convert livestock manure into bio-based fertilizer, thus reducing the impact on the environment by reducing ammonia emissions. In this regard, a cluster analysis on panel data was implemented; by investigating the Eurostat database, it was found that, for some of the indicators, the data are reported at unequal time intervals, taking into account the three most recent periods, 2016, 2020, and 2023 respectively.

%CO2 animal production* from agriculture % **Air emissions accounts
%bovine from total livestock % Animal production-Livestock
%poultry from total livestock % Animal production-Livestock
%bovine farms from total agricultural holdings with livestock % Farm structural indicators
%pig farms from total agricultural holdings with livestock % Farm structural indicators
%AMMONIA % Agri-environmental indicators
%Organic animal farming - BOVINE % Farm structure
%GHG Enteric fermentation of cattle % Agriculture and environment-
Special sector topics

Acknowledgement
This paper is developed under the project: ManuREfinery (Grant agreement ID: 101157679) and funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CBE JU. Neither the European Union nor the CBE JU can be held responsible for them. The project is supported by the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking and its members.