Journal articles on the topic 'Agricultural innovations Agricultural innovations'

AbstractMeeting the societal demand for food, bioproducts and water under climate change is likely to greatly challenge the maize-soybean agriculture of the Midwest USA, which is a globally significant resource. New agricultural systems are needed that can meet this challenge. Innovations in water management engineering and cropping system diversification may provide a way forward, enabling transformation to highly multifunctional agricultural watersheds that expand both agricultural production and water-related services to society, and which provide scalable units of climate adaptation in agriculture and water systems. Implementation and refinement of such watersheds require corresponding social innovation to create supportive social systems, in economic, political and cultural terms. A range of emerging social innovations can drive the emergence of highly multifunctional agricultural watersheds, by enabling robust cooperation, resource exchange and coordinated innovation across multiple societal sectors and scales. We highlight relevant innovations and opportunities for their exploratory implementation and refinement in the Midwest.

Subject of research is the economic content of innovation in agriculture. Purpose of the study is to consider the economic essence of innovation, outline the problems of the development of innovative activities of agricultural enterprises. Methods of research. The article uses a set of scientific methods of scientific research. The following research methods were used to write the article: logical generalization - to assess trends in the formation of the economic content of innovations in agricultural enterprises, as well as in the formation of a mechanism for managing the innovative process of an agricultural enterprise; dialectical and historical - in the study of scientific approaches to the formation of the economic content of innovations of the subject of economic activity, the generalization of foreign experience in securing business and the identification of conceptual approaches to taking into account the impact of threats on the innovative activities of the agricultural enterprise. Results of research. Challenges of modern times exert pressure on agriculture: population growth, the effects of climate change, the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture, economic development and the growing instability associated with land, water and energy shortages. This scenario enhances the critical role of innovation to make agriculture a more competitive and sustainable industry. The article reveals the economic content of innovations as a category of economy and features of the functioning of innovations in agricultural enterprises of Ukraine, as well as the author's definition of the term "innovation". The main features of the innovation process are considered. Application of results. The results of this study can be applied in the practice of financial and economic activity of agricultural enterprises. Conclusions. Our analysis of professional literary sources and the scientific generalization of the existing views on the disclosure of the economic content of the term "innovation" have allowed us to state that, first, there is no conventional interpretation that would cover its most significant qualitative characteristics, and secondly, the main discussions of this issues focus mainly on three conceptual directions. Determining the specific features of bringing innovation to the consumer, it is customary to talk about innovation activity or innovation process as a process of transforming knowledge into innovation, passing the following stages: "science - technology - production - consumption". So the basic condition for the effective functioning of agricultural production is the expanded reproduction that occurs in the interaction of economic and natural-biological processes. Therefore, in the management of innovations need to take into account the requirements not only economic laws, but also the laws of nature: equivalence, indispensability and a combination of life factors, laws of minimum, optimum and maximum.

The aim of the paper is to present a conceptual framework from which to develop an appropriate innovation policy in African countries. Particular emphasis is placed on agricultural innovation, their role in stimulating agribusiness and the overall development of the African continent. Increasing food production and bioenergy, improving agricultural economics, African farmers' incomes, reducing poverty and adapting to climate change are challenges that can be addressed or mitigated by innovations in the agricultural sector. Africa's agriculture is a highly unproductive sector as a result of lack of appropriate innovative technologies, credit, infrastructure, lack of knowledge, information and skills. Agricultural innovations in African countries relate to the invention of insecticides, resistant varieties, fertilizers, irrigation pumps, genetic programs, sustainable agricultural practices, etc. Across Africa, farmers are embracing "climate-smart" innovations. An example of the response to climate change is the raising of 200 million new trees. African countries need to improve educational system performance, science and technology, institutions, increase financial and human investment to build local technology capabilities and learn from the experiences of other innovative regions. Although most African countries have made significant progress in terms of agricultural innovation, the results are still not quite satisfactory.

Innovation is a key issue in the discussion about the links between agriculture, food production and sustainability. Indeed, the creation, adoption and exploitation of innovations can interact with all three dimensions of sustainability – environment, society and economy. Despite the increasing support for innovation practices in the agrifood sector from institutions and public policies, innovation in this sector has spread quite slowly. Indeed, the diffusion of innovations strongly depends on the social, institutional and productive system behind the technological/structural features of the farms. The analysis of the drivers underpinning the innovation diffusion dynamics in agriculture is therefore a very interesting topic for studies in this domain. This paper aims to provide a map of the diffusion of innovations in the Italian agricultural sector, highlighting differences and territorial specificities. We try to explain the drivers and factors influencing such specificities, drawing from data on the agricultural sector as well as information on the institutional and regulatory framework. Data on the diffusion of product, process, organizational and marketing innovations in agriculture have been gathered for the 110 Italian provinces, drawing from the 2010 Agricultural Census survey. Maps of the diffusion of the different types of innovations have then been constructed and analysed. Results show that the diffusion of the different innovation types is not uniform within the country. Some are typical to specific areas where productive or market opportunities occur. Others are not territorial-specific but are linked to the features of the single farms. The influence of the regulatory context also seems to play a significant role. By analysing the local expenditure in rural development intervention, we analyses how the synergies among the productive and institutional systems may act as a driver for innovation diffusion in agriculture.

The article is devoted to the modernization of domestic agricultural production, its support from the state, the introduction by agricultural producers of innovations in the production process. The article systematizes the views of economists on the forms (directions) and methods of supporting innovation in agriculture. Modernization of agricultural production is one of the primary tasks of increasing the competitiveness of the industry. Improvement of production in agriculture, which is impossible without the use of innovation, is becoming a key factor in achieving success in competition in foreign markets for agricultural products. Statistics show that the technical and technological modernization in the industry is extremely weak. It should be noted that the level of innovation in domestic agriculture is about 10%, while in the US it is more than 50%. The decline in the production of agricultural machinery threatens the technical and technological modernization of the industry, since agricultural producers with limited financial capabilities, with the continuation of this negative trend in the near future, there will be no possibility of an alternative choice when acquiring the much-needed equipment. The insignificant financing of innovations in agriculture by the state led to the fact that only 2% of agricultural enterprises introduce innovative technologies into their activities. The state needs to support domestic producers of agricultural equipment, since their absence poses a real threat to the food security of the national state.

Economic changes have significantly accelarated in the 21th century. In this turbulent market environment enterprises are forced to adapt continously as they must be flexible in order to meet changing market needs. To achieve flexibility companies require innovation. The economic relevance of innovations is significant in every market sector and agriculture is no exception. Re-dynamizing agricultural innovations is a possibility for the outburst of the Hungarian agriculture. Agricultural enterprises have to face competitors as well and they should give priority to efficiency, sustainability and competitiveness in order to preserve their position in BOTH global and domestic markets. This study examines the innovation potential of the agricultural enterprises in the North Great Plain region based on own databases and case studies.

This paper argues that much of the discussion about constraints to the adoption of agricultural innovations is muddled because the distinction between variables that are endogenous to the fit between an innovation and a specified group of potential users, and those that are exogenous (that is, prerequisite conditions), is seldom made explicit during the innovation-development process. This distinction, which can emerge through a design-specification exercise, locates a much greater degree of responsibility for the eventual adoption outcome – whether positive or negative – within the innovation-development process itself. To continue to cite exogenous factors such as inappropriate land-tenure arrangements or lack of output markets as constraints to the adoption of innovations is to miss a fundamental step within the innovation-development process.

Nowadays Ukraine faces the difficult times under the influence of economic and political crises. Therefore, the only perspective way of products’ competitiveness is innovations, in the first place in the areas where there are many resources and opportunities. Agriculture is one of such most important strategic directions of Ukrainian economy. At the same time agriculture is the supporting foundation for the development of many other types of activity and it can substantially influence the development of Ukrainian economy on an international scale. The paper dwells on the nature, features and problems of implementation of innovations in the agriculture of Ukraine. The features of AIS innovation processes in current conditions are defined. Main problems and obstacles to agriculture innovative development in Ukraine are outlined. The authors emphasize the following factors of low innovation activity of agricultural entities: direct attitude of contemporary entrepreneur to innovation processes and understanding of their role in achieving success; lack of state assistance; insufficiency of legislative basis of its provision in Ukraine. Currently Ukrainian agricultural enterprises have a huge capacity for operation at competitive markets as equal partners of global agricultural leaders. Available resources and natural-climate conditions are among their factors of success. However, fast development of technologies dictates new activity conditions to strengthen and improve their positions through innovations. Despite the range of advantages, Ukrainian agro-industrial producers lag significantly behind the advanced innovations and developments in the world. However, there are some examples of successful innovative agri-food companies. Major deterrent factors that cause the low innovativeness of agricultural entities are direct attitude of contemporary entrepreneur to innovation processes and understanding of their role in achieving success, lack of state assistance and insufficiency of legislative basis of its provision in Ukraine.

Subject. Agricultural business cannot evolve successfully without innovation used in their operations. The low demand for marketing, corporate and environmental innovations stem from the underdevelopment of the innovative environment and infrastructure of regional agriculture, in particular. Objectives. We analyze the use of innovation in agriculture, evaluate the demand for various types of innovation among small agricultural businesses. Methods. The study relies upon such methods as monograph, abstraction logic analysis, analysis and synthesis, economic analysis, economic-statistical analysis. The statistical framework is based on official statistics of the Federal State Statistics Service. Results. The article points out the most promising types of marketing, organizational and administrative, environmental innovation. If they are capable of allowing for the implementation of organizational and administrative innovation, such entities are found to derive additional effects from new technology. It is hard for small and medium-sized agricultural businesses to implement innovation on their own. Thus, they can raise their performance by cooperating with large businesses. The article shows how small and large businesses may cooperate to master innovation. Conclusions and Relevance. Igniting the innovative activity of small agricultural businesses becomes a key to the food independence and security of the country. Innovation can be used more broadly if there is an appropriate innovative environment, which requires to improve the regulatory framework and refine the innovation encouragement mechanisms, incentives, stronger and deeper integration of agricultural science and production. There should be provisions of the agricultural policy, which would help various innovations permeate production processes of small agricultural businesses.

Agriculture has a significant economic position in each country, either historically or in terms of importance. Without the products of agriculture, there could be no life. That's the reason to analyze this industry. This industry is now, in the current global world, affected by new trends and new competition on the market. New management, innovations, and other challenges that occurred in this sector. It must face new threats. Especially, significant changes in the global world environment significantly affect this sector. Firstly, through the volume of crop production, respectively non-production due to significant climate changes. Secondly, due to stricter market conditions and its current regulation. Changes in these areas have a significant impact not only on the development in the agricultural sector itself but also on the development of the economy as a whole. Today, competitiveness plays a significant role in the world, as well as in agriculture. This paper summarizes the findings from the area of agriculture, nowadays trends in this sector, innovations. It analyses the competitiveness in this sector, which is characterized by its specific features. Then it summarizes the findings and main thesis about Common Agricultural Policy and its instruments. Another part of this article is dedicated to a very important topic - innovation in agriculture. Agricultural innovation is seen as a co-evolutionary process because it combined technological, social, economic, and institutional changes. The main aim of the article is to identify the impact of agriculture on the economic development of the Slovak Republic economy and to show the possibilities for innovation implementing into this sector. The selected indicators will analyze the description of the position of this sector in the past and today. The typical indicators for the agricultural sector were set. Methodological tools of the research methods were analyzing statistical methods as a regression model, and p-value. Through a regression model, we would like to know what is the dependence of crop and livestock productions on the GDP of agriculture. Finally, improvements to the current state will be suggested. To gain the representative data, more than 20 years of research were set. The object of research is the Slovak republic. The position of agriculture within this country was identified. The article shows the results of verification of dependencies between indicators in the agricultural sector, which showed that statistical significance is assumed, which of course is confirmed both in crop and livestock production. The systematization of domestic and foreign scientific studies and approaches to answering problems in the management of agricultural innovations and the low share of agriculture on GDP makes it possible to create suggestions for the innovative solutions in agriculture in Slovakia. Keywords: agriculture, management, innovation, crop production, livestock production, Slovak Republic.

Innovations play a significant role in the primary sector (i.e., agriculture, fisheries and forestry), ensuring a greater performance towards bioeconomy and sustainability. Innovation is being progressively applied to examining the organization of joint technological, social, and institutional modernizations in the primary sector. Exploring the governance of actor relations, potential policies, and support structures is crucial in the phase of innovation, e.g., during research activities, often applied at the national or sectorial scale. However, when opposing normative guidelines for alternative systems of agriculture arise (e.g., the industrial agriculture paradigm), modernizations in agricultural and forestry may contribute to outlining more sustainable systems. To date, innovations in the primary sector do not seem as advanced as in other sectors, apart from industrial agriculture, which sometimes appears to be the most encouraged. The present review aims to shed light on innovations that have been identified and promoted in recent years in the primary sector, including agriculture and forestry. The need to pursue sustainable development in this sector requires the inclusion of a fourth dimension, namely energy. In fact, energy sustainability is an issue that has been much discussed in recent years. However, the need for progressive technological progress is indispensable to ensure long-lasting energy efficiency. The aim is to understand what innovations have been implemented recently, highlighting opportunities and limitations for the primary sector.

The purpose of the article is to carry out a scientific generalization of the state of agricultural innovations and their state regulation in Ukraine on the example of scientific institutions. Research methods. The methodological basis of the research is the systemic method. A monographic method was used - for examining scientific publications of researchers on the problems of agricultural innovations and their state regulation; empirical, systemic and comparative analysis and synthesis, graphic methods - to assess the current state of science financing; statistical method - to assess the degree of government regulation and research funding; abstract-logical - for theoretical generalizations and conclusions. Research results. A review of scientific research on state regulation of agricultural innovations in Ukraine and the world is carried out. Shows the innovative position of Ukraine in international ratings. The state regulation of innovations through the analysis of the dynamics and efficiency of expenditures on agricultural science is investigated. Scientific novelty. The definition of state regulation of agricultural innovations was further developed as the choice of a certain model of organizational, regulatory, management measures for the creation and transfer of new technologies aimed at the formation of interrelated mechanisms of institutional, resource support for the support and development of innovative activities in agriculture for the purpose of socio-economic development. The substantiation of dependence of dynamics and efficiency of expenses on agrarian science and other spheres of economic activity in interrelation with macroeconomic indicators was deepened. Practical significance. Conclusions are made about the need to form a strategy for innovative development of the agricultural sector by supporting innovation and the IT industry; further cooperation between manufacturers, scientific institutions and the state. It is recommended to borrow foreign experience in terms of processing the state's strategy for regulating innovation in the agricultural sector, depending on the phase of economic development and budgetary opportunities. Tabl.: 5. Figs.: 4. Refs.: 38.

The main objective of this study is to determine the factors affecting the application of innovations for dairy farmers in the Milas district, Muğla province, Turkey. Data from 71 dairy farmers and the Multinominal logit model are used for this study. The dependent variable of the model is divided into three categories; “I don’t apply any agricultural innovations”, “I apply agricultural innovations only after other farmers apply and express their positive opinion” and “I apply agricultural innovations”. In conclusion of the analysis, the comparisons are done with the farmers who “do not apply any agricultural innovations,” and the farmers who “apply agricultural innovations only after other farmers apply and express their positive opinion”; it is determined that a one unit increase in educational level raised the likelihood of applying innovations after receiving positive opinion. When the farmers that “apply agricultural innovation”, and that “apply agricultural innovations only after other farmers apply and express their positive opinion” are compared, it is found that a one unit increase in the number of milking animals had increased the likelihood of applying the innovations.

This paper considers innovations as one of the factors of sustainable agricultural development of the Stavropol Territory. It focuses on the impact of state policy at the regional level in the field of innovations on the sustainable development of the region’s agriculture. This paper tests whether the implementation of the policy in innovations increased the sustainable growth of agricultural development. To do so, a model with switch variables was used. Principle component analysis was used to calculate a composite sustainability index of selected socio-economic and environmental indicators. The hypothesis that the introduction of a state policy aimed at innovation has a positive impact on the sustainable development of the regional agriculture was corroborated. We also assessed the impact of implementing this policy within each dimension separately. The socio-economic indicator is more important than the environmental indicator.

In 2017, the aggregate level of innovation activity in Russia amounted to 8.5%, the introduction of technological innovations - 7.5%; new business methods were used by only 2.3% of the surveyed organizations. In agriculture, technological innovations were carried out by 3.1% of enterprises, organizational - 0.9%, marketing - 0.5%; innovations aimed at increasing environmental safety in the production process or as a result of using improved products were introduced by 3.6% agricultural enterprises. According to the results of assessing the level of diffusion of innovations in agriculture, carried out on the basis of Rosstat data, the Central, Northwestern and Ural federal districts differ in a balanced level of innovation activity in all parameters. In the Volga Federal District, the share of organizations engaged in marketing innovations exceeds the average Russian level, but the aggregate level of innovation activity is low - 3%. A characteristic feature of the administrative-territorial units of the Russian Federation, in which the smallest share of innovative activity of any type in agriculture is recorded, is the predominance of small forms of management in their structure. According to the Analytical Center of the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia, in 2019 the number of people employed in agriculture was 4706 thousand people (6.5% of the employed people total number in the Russian Federation); among them only 113 thousand people were specialists in the field of information technology. The shortage of the qualified workforce with skills in digital technologies is more than 90 thousand people. Most respondents acknowledge the advisability of raising the qualifications of agricultural specialists in the field of digital technologies; they note the need to create centers of competence. In the context of macroeconomic and geopolitical instability, ensuring the Russian Federation’s leading position in the world food markets requires a set of institutional solutions aimed at increasing innovative activity in agriculture.

Unlike most studies that focused on specific innovations, this study systematically analyzed farmers’ adoption of agricultural innovations in general. It reports willingness to pay (WTP; willingness to accept (WTA)) as a proxy for adoption, its determinants, applied methods, and statistical models. After searching and screening, 80 studies qualified for review. Majority ( n = 30) of studies focused on farmers’ WTP for innovations in agricultural water provision or environmental and crop protection ( n = 35), while the remaining studies handled crop or animal improvement innovations. Most studies were performed in developing countries, using stated preference methods for economic valuation, with 55% of the studies ( n = 44) applying contingent valuation compared to 39% taking choice modeling approach. While farmers are generally willing to pay premium for improvement in agriculture technologies, WTP (WTA) depends on the innovation (system). For example, premiums ranged from about 0.125 to 2 USD/m3 of water depending on water supply (e.g. ground vs. surface water). Furthermore, the determinants of farmers’ WTP can be grouped into sociodemographic, biophysical, technological, institutional, and behavioral factors. As illustrated by relatively high WTP, the review demonstrates that farmers embrace most innovations, regardless of the context and methods applied.

The authors have analyzed the legal acts regulating accountancy in the Russian Federation and concluded that they contain no definitions, classification or descriptions of innovations, which makes it problematic to put the corresponding provisions of State programs into practice. The authors suggest singling out “expenditure on innovation” as a separate object of accounting and define it as expenditure for the purpose of improving the quality of production, works and service as well as improving the organizational and management system. This new level of quality can be measured by means of the following indicators: physical properties, chemical composition, technical and economic indicators. In view of the fact that investments in innovation can be referred to as both fixed capital (intangible assets, constant assets) and working capital (elite seeds, young animals, innovative biological additives etc.), the authors suggest adding to entry 08 “Investments in fixed assets” sub-entry 9 “Creating or purchasing innovations as part of fixed capital” and sub-entry 10 “Creating or purchasing innovations as part of working capital”. In view of the fact that Cash flow statement reveals some important analytical information about investing, it would be advisable to add to “Cash flow from investing activities” line 4215 “Cash inflows from selling innovations” and line 4225 “Expenditures on purchasing, creating innovations”

AbstractInnovations are the driving force for agricultural development under present diverse situations of uncertainty. The innovation system perspective acknowledges the contributions made by all stakeholders involved in knowledge development, dissemination and appropriation. According to the specific agricultural production system, farmers adopt innovations, modify them or innovate on their own. This paper examines the role of farmers' experiments and innovations in Cuba's agricultural innovation system (AIS), identifies knowledge exchange encounters and describes some strategies implemented to institutionalize farmers' experiments and innovations. The research methods comprised 34 semi-structured interviews with agricultural experts from the science, administration and advisory system, and 31 free list questionnaires to assess the institutional influence on farmers' experiments and innovations. In addition, three case studies of outstanding farmers' experiments are presented. The results suggest that the government's commitment to social participation in knowledge development provides the basic prerequisite for an effective integration of farmers' experiments and innovation in Cuba. The historically conditioned vertical structure of knowledge development and dissemination is gradually changing toward more horizontal procedures. The dynamic exchange of ideas at all kinds of interactive meetings, such as workshops or farmers' field schools, have favored farmer to farmer learning as well as knowledge sharing with research, academic and extension officials. This multi-stakeholders' approach contributes to institutionalize farmers' knowledge. Farmers' experiments and innovations play a major role in improving farm management and thereby can contribute to build resilience at the farming system level as well as for the national agricultural system.

Economic changes have significantly accelarated in the 21th century. In this turbulent market environment enterprises are forced to adapt continously as they must be flexible in order to meet changing market needs. To achieve flexibility companies require innovation. The economic relevance of innovations is significant in every market sector and agriculture is no exception. Re-dynamizing agricultural nnovations is a possibility for the outburst of the Hungarian agriculture. Agricultural enterprises have to face competitors as well and they should give priority to efficiency, sustainability and competitiveness in order to preserve their position in BOTH global and domestic markets. This study examines the innovation potential of the agricultural enterprises in the North Great Plain region based on public databases and case studies.

The article explains what an innovative activity in the economy involves and unfolds how the main concepts of theory of innovation are applied into the agricultural sector. It is pointed out that agrarian innovation is the final stage of fostering novelties in the agricultural sector (plant varieties, livestock breeds, cultivation technologies, etc), which has resulted in economic, social, ecological benefits and expanded reproduction. The study reveals that applying the main concepts of theory of innovation into agriculture has its specific features, namely: integrating innovative technologies into processes occurring in the nature; producing living organisms, which can be objectives and targets of innovation. The author identifies the factors hindering the introduction of innovations in the agricultural sector. It has been found that the lack of financial support and instability of legislation in the country are the root causes. A lack of necessary information and new ideas are yet other prime obstacles which prevent innovation processes in agricultural units. It is demonstrated that an innovative activity in proactive enterprises is a key factor for effective growth and a sustainable increase in agricultural production. It contributes to positive changes in production technology and production structure, a significant shift in motivation. The results indicate that some innovative products such as new varieties and hybrids of agricultural plants, new livestock and poultry breeds, machines and mechanisms, tools and equipment, modern means of production, etc. are of high demand on the market of innovative products. It is claimed that agricultural studies play an important role in meeting the demand since they accelerate the growth of this field by generating and introducing innovations. The author suggests the following steps for strengthening innovation policies in agricultural units: bringing in new competitive technologies in crop and livestock production; introducing high-yielding breeds and crop varieties / hybrids resistant to diseases and climate change effects; applying bio-technologies which increase production of new healthy products; improving means and methods of land cultivation; cleaning and storing raw materials; using energy-efficient technologies and ecological innovations, that make it possible to increase yields and productivity, minimize losses and sustain the environment.

The diffusion of innovations is described as a process in a number of scientific papers. At the same time, the causes of this process have not been sufficiently studied. The author’s goal is to consider the main regularities, under which the life cycle of innovations begins, and propose measures to enhance diffusion in modern conditions. As a scientific hypothesis, the author accepts the postulate about the primary role of the obolescence of attracted innovations in this process. The analysis revealed not only the economic proportions that initiate the start of innovation promotion, but also the influence on the diffusion rate of the obsolescence degree of innovations and the market share occupied by the new product. Methodological approaches have been developed to determine economic efficiency depending on the moment of technological change-over, as well as to determine the absolute and relative speed of innovation diffusion. Sociological studies were conducted to determine the state of innovation development and the time lag between obtaining information about an innovation and its practical implementation. The author presents his “Agroopyt” information system developed to disseminate knowledge in the agricultural sphere and ensure technology transfer in agriculture. Digital methods provide for significant accelerateion of the diffusion of innovations and expand its scope.

The research article's primary aim was to provide a comprehensive and systematic view of a new dimension of logistics in the form of logistics innovations in agricultural enterprises in Slovakia. The intention thereof was to define and then analyse selected logistics innovations in agricultural enterprises. The research object was formed by 95 agricultural enterprises in Slovakia. A questionnaire was used as the research instrument. MS Excel and IBM SPSS Statistics 20 were used to process the data in the questionnaire. The univariate descriptive statistics and multivariate descriptive statistics were used to interpret the data. The research results were tested and evaluated by means of Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. Medium-sized agricultural enterprises in Slovakia represented the largest segment (68%) of the study. The agricultural enterprises mostly understand the use of smart technologies as an innovation in logistics (mean = 4.43). The results of the research showed that the analysed agricultural enterprises intend to innovate mainly the production logistics (mean = 3.20). Out of the logistics processes, the agricultural enterprises want to innovate mostly the inventory management (mean = 4.55). Lean logistics is the most frequently implemented logistics innovation in agricultural enterprises (mean = 3.64). The hypothesis testing has proven that there is a statistically significant relationship between the utilisation of lean logistics and production logistics innovation. In addition, it was proven that there is a statistically significant relationship between the utilisation of radio frequency identification (RFID) and the logistics process innovation – inventory management.

Problem setting. Agrobusiness in Ukraine is one of the stimulus of stable economic functioning, social status, state’s food safety. Its sustainable development depends on various factors including in particular the introduction of innovations into the economic sphere of a specific agricultural producer. Latest research analysis. Economists and lawyers research the issues of agricultural innovations. We can outstand the scientific works by Kot O., Larina S., Oliynyk О., Mazurenko O., Semchyk V. These works consider agricultural innovations as an economic phenomenon without taking into account the legal aspect. This approach seems to be somewhat narrow. Discussion. Agricultural innovations are the result of the realization of the entity’s intellectual property (inventions, useful models, new kinds of plants) in the field of agrobusiness that is aimed at obtaining economic, social, environmental effects. In agricultural production agricultural innovations can be found in the area of crop growing, animal husbandry, fishing industry, agricultural engineering, organic production. Conclusions and prospects. Innovative legal relations in the field of agrobusiness are the relations that arise between specific entities and the ones in agricultural business concerning the order, the use of a new agricultural product, the technologies of agricultural products’ production, the maintenance of digital agricultural production in the field of agrobusiness for making profit, gaining positive social ecological effect. Agricultural innovations as an object of innovative agrarian relations are the important factors in the formation of national agrobusiness. Their use leads to an innovative model of agricultural production. The demand for innovative products allows to make an innovative chain of agrobusiness and it includes: the development of innovation, its commercialization, the operation of agricultural production, consumers’ offer for agricultural products, including innovations.

In sub-Saharan Africa, development and dissemination of perceived new agricultural innovations dominate the development agenda yet hunger and poverty remain widespread. A conducive policy environment is essential to support these efforts. Despite that national policies are a critical component in the functioning of an agricultural innovation system, studies have often overlooked their relevance in farmers’ adoption of agricultural innovations. There is an urgent need to enhance understanding of how policies affect long-term adoption of agricultural innovations aimed at increasing productivity and incomes of smallholder farmers. This study utilises thematic content analysis to examine the extent of integration of Conservation Agriculture (CA) and coherence in Malawi’s national agricultural policies, and their implication for CA adoption among smallholder farmers.Results indicate that inadequate integration of CA in the National Agricultural Policy (NAP), coupled with a lack of coherence of agricultural department policies, undermines farmers’ CA adoption. While inadequate integration constrains resource allocation for supporting CA activities, lack of coherence of agricultural policies radiates conflicting and confusing agricultural extension messages to smallholder farmers. We argue that inadequate CA integration and incoherence of policies are institutional constraints which prevent farmers’ sustained adoption. To facilitate long-term adoption of CA among smallholders, there is need to: (1) strengthen CA integration in agricultural policies; (2) improve departmental coordination to enhance coherence of agricultural strategies and extension messages disseminated to farmers; and (3) strengthen government’s role in supporting multi-disciplinary research to generate and disseminate best practices capable of sustaining CA adoption.

Abstract This paper investigates the effects of crop insurance on agricultural innovation (namely, drought-tolerant traits) in the context of climate change. A conceptual framework is developed to model the market equilibrium of agricultural innovations. Hypotheses derived are then tested by using data for US agriculture. We find that the US agricultural sector responds to climate variation by increasing innovation activities, but this response is weakened by subsidised crop insurance by about 23 per cent. This indicates that crop insurance may have an unintended crowding-out effect as an option of risk management and may inhibit societies’ long-run capacity to adapt to climate change.

The article presents the issue of innovation in the members of two producer groups (X producers of geese and ducks and Y producers of pigs) in relation to the farms. The source of the material was an interview questionnaire carried out in 2015. The research used a descriptive and comparative method. Farmers of the characterized groups ran farms where animal production was dominant, and therefore the innovations they implemented mostly involved animal production. More than half of respondents in this department increased animal stock. The most important vehicle for innovation for farmers was WODR training and courses. The innovations being introduced were mainly financed from own funds. More than half of the farmers surveyed claimed that innovations influenced the modernization of their farms, which had a positive impact on their economic performance and market competitiveness.

Rice is the main commodity in Indonesia so it needs to be supported by technological innovation in the context of increasing production. Currently, the Agricultural Research and Development Agency has created technological innovations to increase rice production because it is necessary to disseminate information on technological innovations so that all users can know and take advantage of these innovations. The purpose of writing this paper is to provide information and an overview of some of the current agricultural technological innovations in Indonesia that contribute to increasing rice production in Indonesia. Several agricultural technology innovations are currently being implemented such as new superior varieties technology, planting jajar legowo, Salibu rice cultivation system, hazton rice cultivation, SRI rice cultivation technology, integrated planting calendar, and integrated crop management. These technological innovations have had an impact on increasing rice production in Indonesia

The aim of this project was to explore the theme of social innovation for nutrition-sensitive and sustainable agriculture, resulting in examples of improved production and consumption of nutritious food. Social innovation refers to the generation and implementation of new ideas about how people organize interpersonal activities, or social interactions, to meet one or more common goals and in the process change basic routines, resources, and decision-making processes. In the country context of Myanmar, this research aimed to capture a variety of social innovation cases related to processes of agricultural transformation. Through the method of a collaborative case study write-shop, Myanmar-specific social innovations were identified, illustrating various forms of social innovation across the cases with citizen engagement processes. The write-shop method, in combination with the embedded expertise of development practitioners, proved to be a promising approach to identify niche innovations, distil insights, reframe actions, and promote critical thinking among different actors.

Public service can be defined as providing services (serving) the needs of people or communities who have an interest in accordance with predetermined basic rules and procedures. Public services view the public as a service target so that they are expected to be able to provide the best dedication in serving a more selective and educative public, as well as managing public policies run by the public bureaucracy. In order to create this, an application of innovation is needed. Innovation is an application or an effort to bring new ideas into implementation with a fairly large change of steps, lasts quite a long time and is quite general in scale. Padang Pariaman Regency is one of the rice producers in West Sumatra Province. Not only that, Padang Pariaman also has agricultural potential such as food crops, plantations, and so on. The agricultural sector is a sector that is able to survive and is utilized by the government to overcome the global economic crisis. For this reason, in addition to making innovations related to health and administration, the West Sumatra Provincial Government is focusing on increasing public service innovation in agriculture. This study aims to identify innovations in the West Sumatra Provincial Government related to improving public services within the Government. This research uses descriptive quantitative method. As a result, the Padang Pariaman Regency Government can improve food security, improve agricultural market information services, farm business administration, and increase plantation yields, which can facilitate and improve the lives of farmers. Suggestions for increasing public service innovation in the agricultural sector of Padang Pariaman Regency are expected that the Government can continue to evaluate the innovations that have been implemented.

Innovative processes in the agriculture of Ukraine have specific characteristics. Most enterprises require substantial investments to finance innovative development. The article highlights the factors that influence the development of innovative investment activity of agricultural companies and analyzes their innovative and investment potential. It systematizes a set of risks and threats inherent in innovative and investment activity of agricultural enterprises using SWOT-analysis, which helps determine its possibilities. It offers a matrix for selecting strategic alternatives of innovative development of agricultural enterprises, which makes it possible to link three vectors of the innovative and investment activity: the level of innovative activity of enterprises, the scope of their activities, the most appropriate strategies for further development.

The article discusses the economic problems of the innovative development of agriculture in the Russian Federation. The author describes the features of this process in agriculture that impede the introduction of innovations. As a result, the problems of innovative development that are characteristic of the economy as a whole under the specific conditions of agricultural production are intensified. Analyzing statistics, the author shows that the import substitution policy in agriculture in Russia is not fully implemented. The article describes the interconnection of the innovation process with the development and implementation of research and development and investment activity in the industry. The article analyzes the problems of using both own and attracted financial resources for innovative development. The author shows the problem of disparity in prices for agricultural and industrial products. The article also underlines the relationship of innovation and investment in human capital, the formation of human resources. The author makes the conclusions and proposals to stimulate the innovative development of agriculture.

The article analyzes the issues of financing the innovative component in the agribusiness of Russia. The article brings the analysis of the main indicators of agricultural production and reveals the current state of development of the agricultural sector. The authors highlight the features of the innovation process in the agricultural sector and the main directions of innovation in the activities of agricultural enterprises. The article also analyzes the main indicators of innovative activity in agriculture for the period 2016-2019. The work describes the sources of financing of innovation activities and the structure of institutions to support the innovation component in the agribusiness. The authors proved that the banking system is reluctant to lend to agricultural enterprises, and only a few Russian banks finance innovative developments in the agricultural sector. It is concluded that for the successful development of the agro- industrial complex, it is necessary to introduce innovations in production technologies, which requires increasing investment, as well as strengthening state support for the industry.

The main purpose of the research is to determine the role of innovation of agrarian enterprises for their effective management, as well as analysis of the internal and external environment of innovation activity of agrarian enterprises, their threats and opportunities with the help of SWOT-analysis. The systematization of literary sources and approaches to innovative activity of agrarian enterprises made it possible to generalize that the fundamental questions related to the interpretation of the essence of innovations, innovation activity and innovative processes of enterprises, with the specifics of their manifestation in agrarian enterprises, were investigated by domestic and foreign scientists as well as regulated by normative- legal acts. The urgency of solving this scientific problem lies in the fact that the determining factor of the efficiency of economic activity of the enterprise is their innovative development, which is based on the introduction and implementation of innovations, which determine the improvement of its activities, affect the strengthening of its market positions and produce suitable conditions for its development. One of the promising areas for innovations is the agrarian sector. Introduction of innovations in practice in all spheres of agrarian enterprises contributes to: the increase of labor productivity, decrease of expenses and cost of production, saving of various kinds of resources, increase of volumes and improvement of efficiency of agrarian production. The article analyzes the main directions of IT innovations in agrarian business, innovative solutions (products) and opportunities. It is determined, that any agrarian enterprise has its own peculiarities and specificity and requires individual innovative solutions. The management of the company often can easily identify, what is needed to increase the efficiency. And sometimes the services of analysts and IT consultants, who are professionals of their business, and can unmistakably determine the individual needs and decisions, can be useful. The peculiarities of formation and development of innovation process in agriculture were analyzed. A SWOT analysis of innovative activity of agrarian enterprises was conducted, which allowed to identify their strengths (weaknesses) sides, opportunities and threats. The results of the research can be useful for scientists, specialists and heads of agrarian enterprises, teachers of higher educational establishments, postgraduates, students and all those, who are interested in problems of development and efficiency of innovation activity.

This article identified network characteristics critical for successful agricutural innovations within networks, or a set of interrelated organizations aiming at knowledge exchange for innovations. To explore key success factors, the research questioned how networks cope with innovation characteristics and combined network characteristics with four innovation characteristics in four agricultural sub-sectors. Data were collected from in-depth interviews with farmers and network coordinators and from focus group discussions with farmers active in Flanders, the northern part of Belgium. Factors particularly helpful for success in agricultural innovation networks include numerous contacts, integration of knowledge providers in the network structure, face-to-face communication, a self-initiated coalition and surpassing innovation beyond the mere agricultural level, through collaboration with people from outside the sector. The findings are useful for academics, network coordinators and network members, possibly leading to a higher innovation performance via networking.

There has been an explosion of innovation in agricultural technologies, but whether the anticipated benefits are fully realised depends partly upon with the institutional structures are supportive. Many types of law will shape what innovations are viable and the scale of the economic returns. Australia does not have a coherent strategy for future rural regulation that will both minimise the public risks and increase the private opportunities from future agricultural innovation. This paper addresses these issues. It considers the diverse legal issues that will affect these opportunities, and it looks particularly at agricultural robotics as an example of the many ways in which legal issues will shape opportunities from innovation. It proposes that an integrated strategy, based on a careful analysis of future issues, would be a significant contributor to Australia’s agricultural sector and to its innovating industries.

Abstract:The nineteenth century saw an explosion in creativity and innovation, often applied to and motivated by an urge to improve, refine and make more efficient industrial and agricultural processes. There were many innovations in the field of agriculture, supported by the sponsorship of societies and associations and, in the 1850s and 1860s, by strong investment under High Farming. This article examines one of these innovations, the steam plough, with reference to its application in the Scottish Highlands in the 1870s and 1880s. In particular, it illuminates the social networks which lay behind the development and utilisation of the steam plough in the rural Highland context, delineating how aristocratic, religious and local networks combined to have a major impact on rural society in Scotland and beyond. It will examine how these networks interacted to promote the contemporary culture for agricultural and rural innovation through the development of the Fowler's steam plough. What makes this example of particular interest is the fact that agriculturally and financially, the Sutherland land reclamations were an unconditional failure. The environment was too challenging for the technology and despite vast financial resources, the landowner, the third Duke of Sutherland, was, after fifteen years, finally convinced by his advisors that further efforts were futile and irresponsible. This article will interrogate why, despite its essential unfeasibility, the project was pursued, and will argue that the momentum created by the dynamic between the three networks involved propelled it forward despite growing evidence of failure. This article therefore uses an inductive approach by examining a particular example of agricultural design innovation and analysing the pertinent social issues in what would have been termed by contemporaries ‘entrepreneurial spirit’.

Innovations currently represent a tool of maintaining the going concern of a business entity and its competitiveness. However, effects of innovations are not infinite and if an innovation should constantly preserve a life of business entity, it has to be a continual chain of innovations, i.e. continual process. Effective live of a single innovation is limited while the limitation is derived especially from industry. The paper provides the results of research on innovations effects in the financial performance of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Czech Republic. Objective of this paper is to determine the length and intensity of the effects of technical innovations in company’s financial performance. The economic effect of innovations has been measured at application of company’s gross production power while the Deviation Analysis has been applied for three years’ time series. Subsequently the Survival Analysis has been applied. The analyses are elaborated for three statistical samples of SMEs constructed in accordance to the industry. The results obtained show significant differences in innovations’ survival within these three samples of enterprises then. The results are quite specific for the industries, and are confronted and discussed with the results of authors’ former research on the issue.

Farmers’ views on research and extension services (RES) included in the Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System are rarely investigated. This study analyses the relationship between key factors of innovation behaviour (market orientation, learning orientation, and innovation attitude) and the use of RES through structural equation modelling, focusing on small-scale agricultural holdings. Market orientation and learning orientation appear to be positively correlated, confirming that synergies between both factors provide a background for innovativeness. Learning orientation and farm-holders’ education level, improve knowledge exchange and make the agriculture innovation process more inclusive. However, farmers’ innovation attitude is not clearly correlated with the use of RES. Motivations about “the will to do innovations” are represented by a construct that does not appear to have a determinant effect as a mediator in farmer’s decisions about using RES.

Innovative technologies in contemporary agriculture appear as an efficient instrument of introduction of ecological management to agricultural companies. The aim of the research is to investigate ecological consequences of agro-innovations. The research is based on methods of analysis, synthesis and logical generalization. The analysis of the publications of national scientists studying the issue of innovation in the agricultural sector has been studied. Terminological identification of the concept of "ahroinnovation" has been made. Best innovative technology for each type of agricultural activities has been singled out and grouped. Possible ecological and economic consequences of introduction the innovative technologies in national agricultural production have been predicted.

The aim of the work is to find relevant indicators for assessing the relationship between investments in fixed assets in agriculture, gross output of the industry, and agricultural exports using tools for modeling the impact of innovation and investment development on increasing production and export potential in the context of the formation of an export-oriented agricultural economy. The modeling methodology and the proposed estimating and forecasting tools for diagnosing and monitoring the state of sectoral and regional innovative agricultural systems are used to analyze the relationship between investments in fixed assets in agriculture, gross output of the industry, and agricultural exports based on the construction of the classification of Russian regions by factors that aggregate these features to diagnose incongruence problems and to improve institutional management in regional innovative export-oriented agrosystems. Based on the results of the factor analysis application, an underestimated role of indicators of investment in agriculture, the intensity and efficiency of agricultural production, were established. Based on the results of the cluster analysis, the established five groups of regions were identified, with significant differences in the level of investment in agriculture, the volume of production of the main types of agricultural products, and the export and exported food. The research results are of practical value for use in improving institutional management when planning reforms and transformations of regional innovative agrosystems.

The innovation of agricultural systems management is a determinant factor that guarantees adaptation to a new paradigm of global economy, environmental protection, and social requirements. The conventional concepts of innovation, applicable to new products and processes, do not consider many characteristics of the agricultural sector, such as social innovation and innovation resulting from new or renewed processes. Nevertheless, the overall impact of innovation on yields, competitiveness, and value can be hampered by the limited understanding or misinterpretation of Agriculture Innovation paradigms. For instance, the Rural Development Program (RDP) applies a restrict concept of innovation, being unable to embrace the full range of activities intended to implement new practices within the framework of the Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System (AKIS). Stimulating innovation in agriculture demands a change in policy innovation of RDP in order to preserve natural resources and combine agricultural priorities and the rural environment with the concepts of innovation. This paper focuses on the different views of the concept of innovation within the Program of Operational Groups (OGs) of the European Innovation Partnership for Agricultural productivity and Sustainability (EIP-AGRI), analyzing the Portuguese case study of the Lis Valley Irrigation District whose main innovation objective was to achieve and implement new processes of water management aiming at the conservation of natural resources as well as sustainable social and economic agricultural development. The Portuguese experience highlights why the application of innovation in agriculture may not reach the desirable outcomes.

Critical to sustainable agriculture, agrobiodiversity conservation provides immediate benefits and retains options for climate change adaptation. Reframing conservation as sustainable seed innovation allows for a dynamic view of farmer contributions. Sustainable seed innovation entails in situ conservation and the innovation of new plant varieties through traditional practices. Farmer interviews from regions throughout India form the empirical basis, while the concept intellectual property-broad, integrated with evolutionary economics, informs theory. Sustainable seed innovation within India receives support primarily from nonprofit groups favoring open-source systems. Conserving natural and financial capital motivated farmers to adopt sustainable techniques, but farmers believed attracting additional innovators required development of new markets. India’s Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act recognizes farmers as plant breeders but does not provide incentive to innovate sustainably. Moreover, agricultural policies reinforced by an underlying discourse where “progressive” farmers follow unsustainable practices incentivizes formal innovations, at the expense of sustainable innovations of farmers.

The article is devoted to theoretical aspects of diffusion of innovations, as the conditions of logistics of the agro industrial complex of Ukraine. The concept of innovation-economic niche as a separate system with the potential of making innovations, the development of which creates competitive advantages, is formulated. New types of diffusion are classified on the basis of decision-making mechanisms by innovators. The diffusion models are considered, the descriptions of specific features of the behaviour of the dissemination of innovations in the reaction-diffusion structure are studied and made taking into account the system-regulatory factors. The principle of informational conditionality of economic phenomena as the basis of distribution of diffusion is formulated. The existence of a cascade effect in the diffusion of basic innovations has been determined; the necessity of the accompanying innovations has been substantiated. The causal relationship between the influence of system-regulatory factors on diffusion, the emergence of a cascade effect, the formation of clusters of innovations and the general influence on the Kondratiev cycles have been investigated.

The main objective of the research was to characterize the innovation network and estimate an innovation adoption rate to evaluate its relationship with income generation in quinoa producers in Cabana. The characterization of the innovation network has been carried out using the social network analysis methodology (SNA), the innovation adoption index (IAI) has been obtained through an ordinal measurement scale and the return of the level of adoption of innovations on Producers' income has been estimated using the two-stage least squares methodology (TSLS) through the data obtained in a survey of 268 producers. The weak articulation of social capital has been evidenced in Cabana quinoa producers; however, the network of customers and input suppliers is well defined. Most of the producers stand out for their innovations in the productive component, the main weakness is related to the scarce innovation in the administration component. For each level of innovation adopted, a return of 49.09% on the income of the producer has been estimated, showing that the adoption of innovations has a greater impact on the generation of economic income compared to the years of schooling that only reaches 7.8%.

Actual importance of research theme: Combating hunger and providing the Earth’s population with sufficient amount of products is considered one of the strategic priorities of human civilization sustainable development by the UN up to 2030. The rapid growth of this planet’s human population in the 21st century, estimated at 7.6. billion people, leads to the global demand for production and foodstuff. Simultaneously, traditional strategies of extensive development conventional in the 20th century and “target” intensification of agriculture do not take expected positive effect nowadays. World economy requires for new strategies of agricultural production, as well as promoting ‘green revolution’ based on the ground of IT technology advances and “Industry 4.0.”. The generalization of world experience concerning development and implementing agricultural production strategies in the 21st century is of greater theoretical and practical importance for all countries which export agricultural production in mass scales, including Ukraine which focuses on the leadership in the world agricultural business. Thus, the urgency of the issue confirms the actual importance of this article. The problem statement. Foodstuff output in world economy is growing slowly and does not meet the increasing demand for food and agricultural products in industry in global scales. Under these conditions the manufacturers of agricultural products like farmers, agro-businesses and agro-holdings, as well as transnational corporation alter and modify agricultural strategies that were conventional in the 20th century. Among the new strategies transition to precision farming and innovational agriculture based on implementing IT technologies takes the leading role. The core and socio-economic consequences of such strategy implementation require further study. Analysis of latest studies and publication. The important contribution to the study of the core and dimensions of agricultural production strategies linked to innovation and investment development as well as to improvement property relations is made by such Ukrainian scholars as P. Makarenko, V. Pilyavskiy [1] and O. Shul’ga [2]. Foreign scientists like Smaller, C., andW. Speller, withH. Mirza, N. Bernasconi-Osterwalder, andG. Dixie [3] paid the specific attention to the study of strategic priorities concerning risks minimization and profit maximization by agro-businesses and TNC within the realization of agricultural contracts at world markets. Overseas researchers KeatingB., HerreroM., CarberryP. [4] emphasized on actual importance of compliance with strategy of foodstuff security in global environment in their studies. However, the issue of developing the strategy of precise agricultural production based on widespread use of innovation and IT technologies, research into socio-economic consequences accompanying their implementation in the 21st century remains poorly studied. Research challenge of general issue. The issue of studies the core and elements of agricultural production development process in world economy is highlighted in world economic literature pretty well. Nevertheless, the study of TNCs and agricultural businesses strategies and strategies concerning transition of TNCs to the development of precise agriculture is really meaningful. Besides, at present time the trends of direct foreign investments as for agricultural lands purchase and priorities analysis of their use by TNCs in developed and developing world countries are uncertain. Socio economic consequences of mass precise agriculture introduction for national economy in countries with agrarian specialization also require detailed researching. Problem statement, objective of research. The objective of research is to highlight the core and define the regularity of formation, as well as emphasize the basic expected socio-economic consequences of precise agriculture development strategy implementing on the grounds of generalization the world experience of agricultural TNC sactivity. To achieve the objective set the article aimed at solution the following tasks: to note the main ‘players’ at the world agricultural market and study the priorities of their economic activity; to study the core and the elements of ‘green revolution’ strategy, as well as strategy of transition to precise agricultural production based on implementing innovations and IT technologies; to define strategic goals of TNCs as for the use of acquiring land ( at the cost of direct foreign investments) on the grounds of generalization developed and developing countries experience; to point out the expected socio-economic consequences of mass implementation of precise agricultural production strategies by TNCs and national agro-businesses for the economy of the countries specialized in agriculture. Method and methodology of the study. While studying the world experience of implementation the precise agricultural production development strategies theoretical and empirical methods of scientific research were employed. Historical and logical methods, abstract and specific methods, methods of analysis and synthesis, as well as causal (cause-and-effect) method were applied in the article to define strategic priorities of agricultural business and agricultural TNC specialization, to point out expected socio-economic consequences of mass transition to precise agricultural production in the countries with agrarian specialization. Synergetic approach, method of expert estimates and casual methods were applied to ground “green revolution” strategy, as well as strategy of TNCs as for transition to precise agriculture based on innovations and IT technologies. The results of study. Agricultural production is presented by farmers, households, state agricultural sector, national agro-businesses and agro-holdings, international TNCs. As a rule, farms are focused on domestic market; they specialize in production of minor parties of manual crop production and horticulture, grow vegetables, fruit and berries, as well as they are engaged in poultry farming, beekeeping, dairy production, stockbreeding in rather small scales. The farmers in developed world countries, particularly EU countries, concentrate on organic production which is of high demand among middle-class representatives. In EU countries farming is traditionally supported by the state, as it bears both economic and social valuable functions, i.e. assists in rural development and creates workplaces in countryside. The main stakeholders at the mass agricultural market in the world are considered large national and international agro-holdings an TNCs specialized in agricultural production and its industrial processing. TNCs shaped the closed loop – from selection to agricultural production, from its processing to its manufacturing. At the cost of large production scales, as well as capital concentration and centralization it is the agricultural TNCs which leads in production and export of foodstuffs at world markets. TNCs ‘ leadership at world agriculture markets is grounded on ‘green revolution’ strategy implementing, which consists of such elements as innovations, bio-selection to produce performance breed, intensive growth in crop productivity, including the one using GMO which makes cropping insensitive to water shortage, high temperatures and droughts. Agrarian TNCs in the 21st century actively implement the strategies of transition to precise agriculture based on the use of innovations and IT technologies. As the world experience confirms, strategies of transition to precise agriculture combine the following innovations: astronaut and aviation technologies, unmanned technologies, unmanned aerial vehicles; mass transition to the use of apparatus to analyze the ground online; spreading of “agro-scouting” innovation technologies as for field information gathering concerning the condition and development of agriculture; implementation intellectual system of managerial decision-making support; introduction of monitoring and control auto-system and implementation of IT-system as for account of agriculture process elements. The development of precise agriculture for national world economies which are agriculture-based offers a lot of benefits, such as: increase in labor productivity in agriculture; the decrease in employment that saves working capital of agro-businesses; industrialization and technical renovation of agrarian sector which promotes the market for IT products, precise machine building; increase in commerce and export potential of the country, mainly, in the sphere of monostructural crop production (grain, corn, soya, raps, oilseeds etc.). Such strategies also provide revitalization of direct foreign investment processes by TNCsconcerning purchasing farmland in the developing countries with their further listing as raw materials supplier for TNCs. The latter shape and control international links of production value added to all kinds of agricultural products. Among the risks which implementation of precise agriculture strategies bear for national developing country’s economy which are agriculture-based the following should be mentioned: risks concerning decrease in farms and decline in production of labor-intensive small-scale agriculture products (vegetables, fruit, honey etc.); risks of jobs recession and, respectively, the number of rural population and others. There are also other risks linked to these processes like risks of growing volumes of ready foodstuffs import, chronic scarcity of state budget and increase in internal debt, enhancing migration processes etc. In case of falling world prices for foodstuffs and worsening global conditions for agriculture products, including agrarian raw materials, in particular, due to another world economic crisis, the abandonment of occasional farmland purchased by TNCs in developing agrarian countries, their further freezing and ceasing the processing for better times should not be excluded. Under such circumstances the risks of famine for countries which could lose the managerial control over own land resources are also a threatening exercise as for implementing such TNC strategy. The field of results application. International economic relations and world economy, development of agriculture competitive strategies in world countries and agrarian TNCs in world economy. Conclusions. Farms, agro-businesses, agro-holdings and agrarian TNCs are the economic centres of mass agriculture production in all world countries. Farms are mainly specialized in labour-intensive small-scale agriculture production like horticulture, gardening, bee-keeping etc. Large agro-businesses and agrarian TNCs choose the strategy of specializing in mass monostructural agriculture production such as crop production (grain, corn, soya beans and industrial crops). In developed world countries TNCs apply the strategy of farmlands multi-purpose use, including the goals aimed at development and processing livestock and crop production; at development of renewable energy and bio-energy. In developed world countries TNCs focus on processing all kinds of agriculture products and foodstuffs production with high value added. Purchasing of farmlands by TNCs in developing countries, in particular, at the cost of direct foreign investment, provides for implementation the strategy of purchased lands engagement, mainly, to develop crop production as a raw basis for their further processing in the native countries for TNCs. The general world trend of agrarian TNCs development is use of innovation technologies, transition to precise agriculture based on IT technologies, aviation and astronautic technologies, unmanned aerial vehicles and other innovations which positively impact labor productivity and mass industrial production profitability, as well as choose transition to monostructural agrarian specialization as a priority, but bear a set of social risks for developing countries’ economies. Transition of Ukrainian agro-businesses and agro-holdings to the strategy of precise agriculture development based on innovations and IT technologies provides Ukraine’s competitiveness at the world agrarian markets. This process should go hand-in-hand with land reform taking into account Ukrainian farming interests. Establishing industrial processing of agriculture raw products and production of ready foodstuffs with high value added should be strategic for Ukraine.

Abstract In this special issue we will investigate, from the perspective of agricultural ethics (e.g. animal welfare, agricultural and food ethics, environmental ethics etc.) the potential to develop a Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) approach to agriculture, and the limitations to such an enterprise. RRI is an emerging field in the European research and innovation (R&I) policy context that aims to balance economic, socio-cultural and environmental aspects in innovation processes. Because technological innovations can contribute significantly to the solution of societal challenges like climate change or food security, but can also have negative societal consequences, it is assumed that social and ethical aspects should be considered during the R&I process. For this reason, the emerging concept of RRI calls for ethical reflection on the nature, scope and applicability of responsibility and innovation in innovation practices in general, and the way social–ethical issues can be applied and addressed in agriculture.