This paper examines the contemporary cooperative business model as a distinctive organizational form shaped by cooperatives’ dual nature as both an enterprise and a membership community. Building on this premise, the study operationalizes the “value creation–delivery–capture” framework and argues that cooperative value stems not only from market transactions but also from members’ coordination and interaction, since members simultaneously act as users, owners, and carriers of democratic control. The analysis identifies three major challenge areas affecting cooperative sustainability: (1) weakening member participation, information, and engagement, which disrupts the causal link between member promotion and economic outcomes; (2) managerial professionalization without robust accountability, resulting in competence asymmetries, formalized democracy, and reduced effective member control; and (3) intensified market pressure and competition, which increase the likelihood of convergence toward investor-oriented model. The paper then outlines perspectives for sustainable development: strengthening the alignment between cooperative values, governance, and economic performance; implementing systematic education, training, and information as a functional mechanism enabling meaningful democratic oversight; and fostering business model innovation, including digitalization to enhance transparency, member involvement, and operational efficiency.

Enhancing social capital, improving market connections for healthy goods and services, and increasing business and technical management capacities can help farmers adopt more sustainable and profitable business models. The aim of the study was to map the business models used by farmers in three agricultural systems (tree crops, cereal-based rotations, and pastures) across European countries. The study used a simplified Business Model Canvas to define the elements of the business model. Then, a two-step cluster analysis was applied to identify the characteristics that define each business model. As a result, four business models were described. A comparative analysis was then made between them. Based on these analyses, conclusions were drawn about the socioeconomic opportunities for their further development.

This article presents the assessment of the degree of influence of socio-economic parameters of farms applying soil restoration strategies over the supply chain cooperation, public-private partnerships, and landscape alliances in Austria and Bulgaria. The aim of the assessment is to highlight new socio-economic opportunities, which can be a target for the public policies. The study is based on the pilot farms analysis of the TUdi1 project survey results. The analysis of the socio-economic parameters is made with an Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP). The results are analyzed on both county and soil restoration strategy base. The analysis shows that Fertilization strategies have impact on supply chain cooperation. The goal aims to involve all suppliers and the most important socio-economic opportunities are certainty of demand, access to finance, and uncertainty of income. In terms of fertilization and remediation strategies, the analysis shows that the most important socio-economic opportunities are related to certainty of demand and access to finance. On the other hand, the implementation of Remediation strategy requires higher consensus in the local society and more activities, which explains the stronger interaction of this criteria with the goals public-private partnership and landscape alliances. In this case, the most important socio-economic opportunities are certainty of demand, access to finance, political support, and training and equipment.

The approach developed by us adheres to the limitation methods recommended by the FAO, and more precisely to those that take into account the number and degree of existing limitations for a certain set of soil characteristics, and is tailored to the specifics of agricultural production at the farm level. The research enables dynamic monitoring of changes in soil quality in accordance with measures taken to improve its health. This study presents a methodology that combines a limited set of soil characteristics specific to each farm. The aim is to make it easier for farmers to provide the necessary information and to make data-driven decisions, taking into consideration soil health and ensuring sustainable farm management. The suggested methodology will be used as a backbone of software that will be developed for profit optimization at the farm level. The soil features selected for work are grouped into four large groups, complying with the rule to work with the smallest possible number of characteristics that describe as fully as possible the agroecological conditions in relation to the requirements of the plants, while at the same time not allowing double and triple evaluation of the same characteristic. The degrees of restrictions (from L0 to L4) are determined for each soil feature separately using the developed scales, and based on this, the suitability for agricultural use of the farm is assessed. A comprehensive assessment and classification of farms by suitability for agriculture is carried out.

Soil health is a significant problem in agriculture which demands a tailor-made approach. The study aims to develop a methodological approach for farm typology construction in terms of soil health. Thus, the focus is on EU farms, which produce in the three key cropping systems - grassland, cereal-based rotation, and tree crops. It was applied principal component analysis based on which it was constructed four factors, related to soil health. This approach bridges soil health problems with socioeconomic, environmental, and technology assessments. Soil health farm typology determinations is an essential step in any realistic evaluation of constraints and opportunities that farmers face and helps develop appropriate technological solutions, policy interventions, and comprehensive environmental assessment. It can be used to describe the possibilities and implications at larger regional scales of new strategies for promoting soil restoring and best fertilization technologies in agriculture and its inclusion in agricultural and environmental policies. The farm typology in term of soil health was constructed applying two sequential multivariate techniques: principal component analysis (PCA), and cluster analysis (CA).Key words: soil health, farm typology, crops, tree crops, cereal-based rotation, grasslandAcknowledgement: The research is made under the project “Transforming Unsustainable management of soils in key agricultural systems in EU and China. Developing an integrated platform of alternatives to reverse soil degradation” – TUdi. This project receives funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation action under grant agreement No 101000224.

Настоящето изследване се концентрира върху методиката за оценка на управленческата устойчивост в земеделските стопанства в България и е част от серия публикации по темата. Базирайки се на принципите за устойчиво управление, а именно – демократичност, работеща аграрна администрация, работеща пазарна среда, управленческа устойчивост, се извеждат алтернативите за прилагането на метода за мултикритериен анализ AHP. Също така се извеждат и критериите, спрямо които се прави оценка.

Настоящата разработка се фокусира върху изследването на мястото и ролята на клиентската стойност в икономическите системи, като се концентрира върху ролята на клиентската стойност при (агро)екосистемните услуги. Разгледани са различни теоретични и приложни дисциплини, за които понятието клиентска стойност има пряко или косвено значение. Обобщени са различните дефиниции, както е проследено и развитието на понятието за клиентска стойност. В емпиричната част на изследването, на база на направено анкетно проучване, са обобщени резултатите за връзката на продавачите на (агро)екосистемни продукти към техните клиенти, степента им на познаване на пазара,клиентите и техните специфики.

В условията на динамични процеси на пазарите малките земеделски стопанства може да изгубят от своята конкурентоспособност поради комплекс от фактори. Модерните пазарни канали не са атрактивни за малките земеделски стопанства. В отговор на динамичната среда малките стопанства биха могли да прилагат в своята дейност иновативни бизнес модели, които да им позволят да използват своите силни страни и да се опитат да избегнат тези бизнес практики, които водят до загуба на конкурентоспособност или до финансови загуби. В настоящата статия се разглеждат основните проблеми, пред които се изправят малките земеделски стопанства. От друга страна, се проследява процесът на конструиране на бизнес моделите. На последния етап се представят три иновативни бизнес модели, извежда се дефиниция за тях, определят се основните елементи на стратегиите и възможните алтернативи на използването им. С помощта на метода АНР се прави експертна оценка на важността на елементите на различните бизнес модели и се дава количествена класация на алтернативите.

Настоящата публикация се занимава с отговора на научноизследователския въпрос: Защо ангажирането на стейкхолдърите представлява ядрото на стратегията за мениджмънт на стейкхолдърите? За да отговорим на този въпрос, ние коментираме първоначално природата на ключовите за нашия отговор понятия, които са: „стратегия“, „стейкхолдър“ и „ангажиране на стейкхолдъри“. На тази основа след това аргументираме отговора на зададения от нас въпрос, който се състои във факта, че основната цел както на стратегията на стейкхолдър мениджмънта, така и на ангажирането на стейкхолдърите, е постигане във всеки един момент от оперирането и развитието на организацията/проекта на така наречената „WIN-WIN-СИТУАЦИЯ“, която да създаде необходимите условия за устойчиво развитие, както общо, така и в частност, при въвеждането и развитието на интелигентното земеделие.

Soil health business models can lead to the maintenance of sustainable and competitive agriculture. The agricultural policy in the EU pursues different incentives to encourage adoption of environmentally oriented practices. Investments in soil health can lead to significant benefits not only for the environment but for society as well. The aim of this paper is to present the methodological approach for assessing new incentives for soil health business models in the frame of the NOVASOIL project. The goal is to investigate the opportunities and gaps of new incentives for redirection of financial streams and policy support measures for provision of innovative soil health technologies. The methodology includes two phases. The first one comprises of targeting new incentives for soil health and then identifying the corresponding gaps and opportunities. The second one continues the analysis with assessing the selected incentives with the BOCR-ANP model.

Настоящето проучване е част от поредица статии, насочени към изследване на проблемите, свързани с устойчивостта на земеделските стопанства и представянето на методология за оценка на тази устойчивост. В него се прави сравнение между устойчивостта на земеделските стопанства и принципите за гавърнанс устойчивостта. Така ние се стремим да поставим началото на дискусия относно принципите за устойчиво управление на земеделските стопанства, предизвиквайки научно-академичната общност. В този контекст изсветляваме разбирането за управленческата устойчивост на земеделските стопанства.

In the management of livestock farms, many decisions are made about the production cycle. Often these decisions are taken intuitively or on the basis of partial information based on the farmer’s experience. The decisions that are made depend on many factors, the mutual influence that is difficult to assess intuitively. Analytic network process is a multi-factor decision model that can be useful in managing livestock farms. The article shows the essence of the model as well as its practical application based on a sheep farm.

Настоящата разработка се фокусира върху изследването на мястото и ролята на клиентската стойност в икономическите системи, като се концентрира върху ролята на клиентската стойност при (агро)екосистемните услуги. Разгледани са различни теоретични и приложни дисциплини, за които понятието клиентска стойност има пряко или косвено значение. Обобщени са различните дефиниции, както е проследено и развитието на понятието за клиентска стойност. В емпиричната част на изследването, на база на направено анкетно проучване, са обобщени резултатите за връзката на продавачите на (агро)екосистемни продукти към техните клиенти, степента им на познаване на пазара, клиентите и техните специфики.

The main aim of the report is to research socioeconomic and environmental problems in farms applying soil health practices in the EU-TUdi-projectI I - partner countries - Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, and Spain. It was constructed farm typology related to soil heath using two statistical methods. The principal component analysis (PCA) constructed four socioeconomic which evaluate the socioeconomic and environmental problems. On the second step, it was applied cluster analysis (CA) to separate the farmers into homogeneous groups with similar characteristics. There were identified four farm types regarding soil health.

The following article presents an analysis of various factors and attitudes of farmers in Bulgaria towards the provision of agro-ecological public goods. A survey is being conducted as part of the project “Provision of Agro-Ecological Public Goods in Agriculture by Improving Contractual Relations (PRADO)” 2022 – 2023, led by the Institute of Agrarian Economics in Sofia. In addition, a partial proportional logistic model was used for evaluation purposes as well. The analysis of farmers’ perceptions and willingness to participate in the provision of agri-environmental public goods focuses on four main types of contracts: result-based agreements, collective action initiatives, value chain arrangements, and land tenure agreements. The research findings indicate that several factors, including education level, production of certified organic goods, cultivated area size, discounted land rental, and primary farm activities, have a positive influence on farmers’ inclination to engage in the four types of contracts under analysis.

Incentives influence ecosystem services through motivating changes in land use and management. This chain of influence is complex because incentives can cause multiple intended and unintended changes in land use and management, each potentially having co-benefits and trade-offs across multiple ecosystem services. The incentives that can help the business model to become sustainable from the point of view of the soil health have been identified and assessed in the frame of NOVASOIL project1. The research aims to explore the incentives that drive farmers to act towards improving soil health. These factors (incentives) are then applied to the business model canvas (BMC). By consolidating these incentives into a map, a comprehensive overview is created to understand how they contribute to the current state of the business model and the improvement of soil health. Through this process, the focus is to address the question of how soil health business models can effectively contribute to the maintenance of sustainable and competitive agriculture. By reviewing and assessing the key incentives for soil health, we produce a provisional set of critical incentives, mapped onto the BMC.

The effect of the application of biostimulants in agricultural crops has not been fully studied and evaluated from an economic aspect. The purpose of the research is to assess the economic efficiency of the application of biostimulants in the organic production of spring rapeseed and oats. 2-year field trials were conducted using a block method with foliar treatment with Chitosan, Vermicomposting and nature-identical growth regulator in 2 phenological stages. The biological response of the crops at different doses of the biostimulants was investigated. The obtained primary results were used as input data for the construction of an economic-mathematical model for economic evaluation. In a methodological aspect, linear modeling is applied in order to optimize the production structure of a selected agricultural holding. It is concluded that biostimulants have a positive effect on yield and biometrics of treated crops, but the complex economic effect on farm profit is organic.

The study is part of a series of articles aimed at investigating the problems related to the sustainability of agricultural holdings and to develop a methodology for the assessment of this sustainability. The present study tries to make a parallel between the sustainability of agricultural holdings and the principles of governance sustainability. The article also starts a discussion about the principles of sustainable management of agricultural holdings. In this point, we shed light on the understanding of the governance sustainability of agricultural holdings.

A first field experiment was carried out in the Experimental field Bozhurishte on Leached Smolnitsa with corn for grain (Zea mays, L.) in 2 crop rotations in 2022 under TUdi project. The paper presents the results and short analysis.

The present study reviews the classification and typology of cooperatives. The main goal is to prove that there are different tools, approaches and criteria for systematizing the types of cooperatives. Different classifications of cooperatives by type provide a lot of information related to the illumination, more precise understanding and explanation of the behavior, structure, specialization or broad diversification of the cooperative. The types of cooperatives were also examined, as a more complex set/system of characterizing criteria, give additional, even more complete, comprehensive and in-depth information about the cooperative.