Coordination and integration among farms within agri-food chains are crucial to tackle the issue of fragmentation within the primary sector, both at the European and national level. The Italian agri-food system still complains about the need to aggregate supply to support market dynamics, especially for niche and quality products that characterize the Made in Italy. It is well known that the Italian agri-food sector is closely linked to the relationship between agriculture on one hand and culture/tradition on the other, which is reflected in the high number of quality products that have obtained EU PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) and PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) recognition. The development of vertical forms of coordination has found significant support in recent years from the integrated supply chain design approach, which is increasingly becoming an essential tool for implementing rural development policies. In this context, the study provides a comparison between companies that have joined the Integrated Supply Chain Projects of the Rural Development Program and those that have not applied. The aim is to highlight any differences in order to understand policy impact. The analysis is based on the Emilia-Romagna region Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) data, and the sample consists of more than 2 thousand farms. The statistical analysis conducted compares treated and non-treated using the Welch-t-test for independent unmatched samples. The main results show higher values for treated farms when structural variables are analyzed, like the utilized agricultural area or the agricultural work unit. In general, higher balance sheet performances emerged for treated farms. In conclusion, this study shows that the Integrated Supply Chain Projects represent a worthwhile tool both to increase cooperation, food quality, and to enhance a competitive agricultural sector.

The territorial planning approach to allocating productive forces is based on the fact that territories have competitive advantages in producing specific products. However, in agriculture, the advantages principle cannot be used to shape the allocation patterns, due to a variety of intervening factors, such as the climatic and environmental conditions for agricultural production and the quality of land and availability of water. In the case of Russia, one of the most diverse countries in terms of the territorial disparities in agricultural production, this study examines the location and development patterns of the agricultural sector. The study identifies the competitive advantages of territories by comparing localization of agricultural production, production costs, performance, and profitability of agricultural producers, as well as prices of agricultural products in 78 different administrative regions in Russia. The study reveals which regions have more advantageous conditions for over-concentrating energy capacities, labor resources, fixed capital, and investments. However, at a certain point, over-concentrated production forces can lead to a deterioration in the performance of farmers due to an increase in capital intensity. Therefore, countries with significant regional differences in agricultural production should adjust their spatial development patterns according to the parameters of territories’ comparative advantages.

Indonesia, an emerging archipelagic nation, possesses abundant natural resources spanning marine, land (including forests and water sources), and diverse biological riches. The agricultural sector emerges as a pivotal driver of growth across the country, exhibiting extensive distribution. Consequently, there is an urgent imperative for comprehensive research to bolster and optimize the performance of this sector. This study aims to meticulously analyze and scrutinize macroeconomic variables aimed at enhancing Indonesia’s agricultural sector. Through the utilization of a dynamic panel model, the study zeroes in on crucial variables: economic growth in the agricultural sector, farmer terms of exchange, human development index, population density, inflation, average daily wages, and lagged economic growth data from each province in Indonesia. The best model for dynamic panel testing, employing both First Difference Generalized Method of Moments (FD-GMM) and Generalized Method of Moments System (SYS-GMM) approaches, is identified as the SYS-GMM model. This model exhibits unbiased and consistent estimation, as evidenced by the Arellano-Bond (AB) test and Sargan test results. The analysis conducted using this selected model reveals notable findings. Lagging agricultural sector performance, human capital measured by the Human Development Index (HDI), and farmers’ exchange rates are found to significantly and positively influence the economic growth of the agricultural sector. Conversely, inflation exerts a significant and negative impact on sectoral growth. However, wage levels and population density do not demonstrate a significant partial effect on the economic growth of the agricultural sector.

In the trend of the 4th Industrial Revolution and the trend of digital transformation, along with the orientation of building ecologically sustainable agriculture, modern countrysides, civilized knowledge farmers, meeting the requirements of international economic integration. More than ever, countries’ agriculture requires human resources from managers to researchers and those directly getting involved in agricultural production that meet the standards of professional qualifications, capacity and quality of work performance. In Vietnam, in terms of resources in the agricultural sector, there is a surplus of manual and simple labor but a shortage of high-skilled workers and lack of good managers and organizers. In terms of policies and laws in the field of agriculture, it is relatively complete when there are 15 laws passed in 4 production sectors: fisheries, forestry, horticulture and animal husbandry. This is an important legal basis to mobilize resources, including agricultural human resources in order to develop the country. However, the legal system on human resource development in the field of agriculture in general and on training, education, compensation and support in particular is still lacking and scattered. Thus, the article focuses on analyzing the current status of regulations and practices of implementing regulations on human resource development in the agricultural sector, thereby proposing corresponding policies and laws in Vietnam in the next time.

Technology development in the agricultural sector is important in the development of Thailand’s economy. The purpose of this research was to study the approach of guidelines for future agricultural technology development to increase productivity in the Agricultural sector in order to develop a structural equation model. The research applied mixed-methodology. Qualitative research by in depth interview from 9 experts and focus group with 11 successful businesspersons for approve this model. The quantitative data gather from firm, in the 500 of agricultural sector by using questionnaire, using statistical tests of descriptive analysis, inferential analysis, and multivariate analysis. The research found guidelines for future agricultural technology development to increase productivity in the Agricultural sector composed of 4 latent. The most important item of each latent were as following: 1) Agrobiology Technology (= 4.41), in important item as choose seeds that for disease resistance and tolerate the environment to suit the cultivation area, 2) Environmental Assessment (= 4.37),, in important item as survey of cultivated areas according to topography with geographic information system, 3) Agricultural Innovation (= 4.30), in important item as technology reduces operational procedures, reduce the workforce and can reduce operating costs, and 4) Modern Management Systems (= 4.13), in important item as grouping and manage as a cooperative to mega farms. In addition, the hypothesis test found that the difference in manufacturing firm sizes. Medium and Small size and large size revealed overall aspects that were significantly different at the level of 0.05. The analysis of the developed structural equation model found that there was in accordance and fit with the empirical data and passed the evaluation criteria. Its Chi-square probability level, relative Chi-square, the goodness of fit index, and root mean square error of approximation were 0.062, 1.165, 0.961, and 0.018, respectively.

This paper focuses on studying the impact of institutional distance between home and host countries on the entry mode choice of multinational enterprises (MNEs). Based on theories of transaction costs and institutional theory, we predict the trend of choosing investment forms of wholly-owned enterprises (WOEs) and joint venture enterprises (JVEs) in the agricultural sector of Vietnam in the context of free trade agreement implementation. The data of 364 MNEs from 22 different nations that directly invested in the agricultural sector of Vietnam in the period 1996–2019 were extracted from Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI), which is provided by World Bank. An empirical investigation has employed logistic regression. The results show a positive relationship between institutional distance with regard to rule of law and regulatory quality and WOE choice. Furthermore, the entry mode choices of MNEs in Vietnam’s agricultural sector are also noticeably influenced by the implementation of freedom trade agreements (FTAs).