The ERDN thematic issue of Studies in Agricultural Economics (March 2014)

The ‘theme’ of Volume 116, Number 1 (March 2014) of Studies in Agricultural Economics is the European Rural Development Network. The whole issue is available online at www.aki.gov.hu/studies. We hope you enjoy reading it!

Please, read the table of contents and the foreword written by Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Andrew F. FIELDSEND (click to download): Contents and foreword

The ‘theme’ of this issue of Studies in Agricultural Economics is the European Rural Development Network (ERDN, www.erdn.eu). The ERDN was set up in 2002 to bring together the efforts and competencies of various research institutions, mainly located in eastern central and south eastern Europe, through jointly conducted work on the state and the paths of transformation of rural areas, and especially farming, in the region, in the perspective of the anticipated enlargement of the European Union (EU) and its future policies.

The ERDN is coordinated by the Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics – National Research Institute in Warszawa and encompasses the leading research centres in the region. The network goes from strength to strength, and its annual autumn conference is now well established. Agricultural economists are strongly represented but the ERDN appreciates that one of the main features of rural development is its complexity, and therefore the network includes scientists with a broad range of competences.

Several members of the Editorial Board of Studies in Agricultural Economics have actively participated in the work of the ERDN over the years and it therefore seems appropriate to publish a thematic issue of the journal that would showcase the research competences of the network.

The idea was favourably received and this issue includes contributions from Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary and Poland.

dr Andrew Fieldsend

Editor-in-Chief

Budapest, March 2014

www.aki.gov.hu/studies