scholarly journals The cost disadvantage of steep slope viticulture and strategies for its preservation

OENO One ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-68
Author(s):  
Larissa Strub ◽  
Simone Mueller Loose

The falling fallow of steep slope vineyards is caused by cost disadvantages that have not been analysed so far. This study quantified the production costs of different types of steep slopes, identified cost drivers within viticultural processes and assessed the impact of grape yield on the production cost for vertical shoot positioning (VSP) systems. It also examined under what conditions the reshaping of steep slope vineyards into transversal terraces (TTs) is economically viable. Costs were derived from a dataset of 2321 working time records for labour and machine hours from five German wine estates over three years. The costs for standard viticultural processes were compared across five site types with different mechanisation intensities by univariate analysis of variance with fixed and random effects. The net present value (NPV) of reshaping slopes into horizontal terraces was also assessed. Manual management of steep slopes was determined to be 2.6 times more costly than standard flat terrain viticulture. The cost disadvantage of steep slopes mainly stems from viticultural processes with limited mechanisability that require specialised equipment and many repetitions. Current subsidies fall short of covering the economic disadvantage of manual and rope-assisted steep slopes. Climate change-related drought and yield losses further increase the economic unsustainability of steep slopes. Under certain conditions, the transformation of manual steep slope sites into TTs can be a viable economic option. Strategies to reduce the cost disadvantage are outlined. The estimated cost benchmarks provide critical input for steep slope wine growers’ cost-based pricing policy. These benchmarks also give agricultural policy reliable indicators of the subsidies required for preserving steep slope landscapes and of the support needed to transform manual steep slope sites into TTs.

OENO One ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 415-429
Author(s):  
Larissa Strub ◽  
Manfred Stoll ◽  
Simone Mueller Loose

Low-input training systems, such as minimal pruning (MP) and the semi-minimal pruned hedge (SMPH), require less working hours as a result of fewer viticultural process steps and permit a higher degree of mechanisation. However, their effect on viticultural costs and per litre costs on both flat terrain and steep slopes has not yet been analysed. This study quantifies the viticultural costs of vertical shoot positioning (VSP) and low-input training systems for standard processes on different types of flat terrain and steep slope vineyards. The costs were obtained from a dataset of 1,519 working time records of labour and machine hours from 20 vineyards belonging to five German wine estates over three years. The costs for standard viticultural processes were compared across three pairs of VSP and low-input training site types with different mechanisation intensities. The comparison was carried out by univariate analysis of variance with fixed and random effects, and by descriptive analysis of mean values.On flat terrain, SMPH significantly decreased the costs for the viticultural steps of winter pruning, tying, shoot positioning and defoliation, but it increased the cost for pest control. Hence, the total cost on flat terrain decreased marginally, but still significantly, by 46 %. The cost effects on steep slopes were similar, decreasing by 34 % for SMPH in unsupported steep slope harvester sites and by 46 % for MP rope and winch-supported steep slope sites. The per-litre costs were calculated for different yield levels. Since the yield in low input systems is higher than in VSP, the production costs per litre further decreased.The study confirmed the high cost-saving potential for wine growers of the mechanisation of canopy management and the omission of winter pruning in low-input systems. Combined with higher yields, the cost savings from low-input systems are particularly suitable for producers of bulk wine and market entry and mid-level wine profiles. By converting to low-input systems, the costs associated with mechanisable steep slope vineyards can be reduced to amounts approximating VSP on flat terrain. For certain wine profiles, low-input systems should therefore constitute an integral part of strategies to increase the economic sustainability of steep slope viticulture. The estimated cost benchmarks provide critical input for the cost-based pricing policy of steep slope growers. These benchmarks also give agricultural policy reliable indicators of the subsidies required for preserving steep slope landscapes.


2020 ◽  
pp. 74-81
Author(s):  
L. Golovina ◽  
E. Yurkov

The article examines important problematic issues of domestic bakery production. On the example of one of the bakeries of the Orel region, the changes in the list of production costs for the production of white bread for the period 1999-2019 are analyzed. The article discusses the benefits for the baking industry of canceling the return of unrealized bread from commercial enterprises. The reasons for the deterioration of the quality of wheat flour and white bread in the country's retail chains are considered. The problem of increasing the profitability of bakery production due to changes in the pricing policy is touched upon. The conditions for improving the financial condition of bakery enterprises, as well as the possibility of attracting investment in the industry, are considered.


Author(s):  
Amine Ghoumrassi ◽  
Gabriela Țigu

Abstract Logistics management is one of nowadays tools to face economic challenges; it’s a mix of business and core activities of the organization. The supply and distribution activities integrated together form what’s known as logistics activities. The logistics activities within a business organization attempt to satisfy customers through achieving the time and location related market challenges and also through the cost of the service provided as well as the quality, taking into consideration customers needs and purchase power. Customer satisfaction is important because it provides marketers and business owners with a metric that they can use to manage and improve their businesses. Customer satisfaction is also a way to determinate the continuity of the business or of a product life by measuring the loyalty of the customers. If the customers are happy and satisfied, it will ensure the continuity of sales which means the continuity of the business. In the past customer satisfaction was more focused on requirements such as quality and reliability reducing costs of poor quality. In mid 50’s the production costs were continuously increasing, The way to maintain the company’s position within a changing market and increase profit starts by focusing on the service provided to the customer and on decreasing the cost, logistics activities became the backbone of these organizations that target the customer satisfaction while achieving competitive advantage. This study aims to show the impact of the logistics management on customer satisfaction in small and mid-sized Algerian industrial companies, by interviewing the companies managers and everybody in charge of the logistic process, the interview questions will be based on some literature review issues.


2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (1-2) ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Apáti ◽  
E. Kovács ◽  
M. Kocsis

In this study we were studying the question whether walnut production under domestic natural and economic circumstances shall be considered a profitable activity or not. Our partial objective is to determine, what level of natural inputs and production costs are required for walnut production, what yield level, selling price and production value can be attained, what level of profitability, rentability and efficiency may production have, is the establishment of a walnut orchard profitable on the entire lifespan of the plantation, and the production of which is more efficient: the dry shelled walnut production requiring postharvest activity or the raw, shelled walnut without postharvest activities. In this study, comparison of two systems is conducted. First version: producer establishes a walnut plantation and sells walnut raw and shelled. Second version: producer also invests into a drying facility, and in this case the end product is the dry, shelled walnut. If the producer sells walnut right after harvest in a raw bulk, total production costs in productive years reaches 974,011 HUF/ha. Attainable yield is 2.63 t/ha with 396.3 HUF/kg selling price, therefore the profit is 138,258 HUF/ha with 14.19% cost-related profitability. In the case when the producer sells dried, shelled walnut, production costs are 25% higher compared to that of raw walnut due to the cost of drying. By calculating with the postharvest loss, average yield is 1.84 t/ha, however, its selling price is way higher (882.84 HUF/kg), therefore the profit per hectare reaches 475,496 HUF with 39.01% cost-related profitability. Thus it can be stated that walnut production in an average year may be profitable even without postharvest, but efficiency is improved significantly when the producer sells the products dried. Investment profitability analysis revealed that production of raw, shelled walnut is not economically viable, since the plantation does not pay off on its entire lifespan (30 years), while walnut production with postharvest is efficient and rentable, since both net present value (NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR) showed more favourable values than in the previous case, and the orchard pays off in the 21th year after establishment.


FLORESTA ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Berger ◽  
Anadalvo Juazeiro dos Santos ◽  
Romano Timofeiczyk Júnior ◽  
Alexandre Muzy Bittencourt ◽  
Vanderlei Santos de Souza ◽  
...  

ResumoEste trabalho objetivou verificar o impacto do custo da terra na rentabilidade da produção de madeira de Pinus. O setor florestal tem como característica fundamental gerar retornos financeiros em longo prazo, tornando muitas vezes o investimento na atividade um grande entrave a novos negócios. O preço da terra é uma variável que depende do retorno da atividade florestal, tornando necessário conhecer o efeito que o valor desse recurso terá sobre a rentabilidade. Para realizar uma estimativa da rentabilidade na atividade florestal, foram utilizados os critérios econômicos Valor Presente Líquido (VPL) e a Taxa de Interna de Retorno (TIR). Os resultados obtidos mostraram ser mais atrativa a não aquisição da terra, com VPL de US$ 5.584,00 e TIR de 18% ao ano. Já quando foi considerada a compra da terra, os resultados econômicos sofreram redução, com VPL de US$ 3.711,00 e TIR de 11% ao ano. A opção de arrendamento apresentou VPL de US$ 3.531,00 e TIR de 13% ao ano. Porém, antes de utilizar esses critérios como tomada de decisão, outros fatores devem ser avaliados, como o impacto da renda da reserva legal, melhor grau de utilização das terras e um manejo florestal adequado, visando aumentar a receita com a obtenção de novos produtos e maior produção das florestas.Palavras-chave: Rentabilidade econômica; preço da terra; manejo florestal; pínus. AbstractThe effect of land cost in the forest profitability: a case study for Santa Catarina. This research aimed to ascertain the impact of land cost land on profitability of Pinus spp. timber production. The forestry sector has as key feature to generate financial returns in the long term, often making the investment activity in a large barrier to new business. The price of land is a variable that depends on the return of forest activity, making it necessary to know the effect that the cost of this resource will have on profitability. In order to estimate return on forest activity, it uses economic criteria, like Net Present Value (NPV) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR). The results proved to be more attractive the non-acquisition of land, with NPV of US$ 5.5804,00 and IRR of 18% per year. Considering the investment in land (purchase or lease), the economic results have suffered reduction with NPV of US$ 3.711,00 and IRR of 11% per year. The lease of land presented a NPV of US$ 3.531,00 and IRR of 13% per year. But, before using such criteria as the only decision making, other factors must be evaluated as to obtain the income of the legal reserve, the better level of use of land and a proper forest management, aiming to increase revenue with the acquisition of new products and increased production of forests.Keywords: Economic profitability; land price; forest management; pinus.


Foods ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 2682
Author(s):  
Timo Strack ◽  
Manfred Stoll

Row orientation, among others, is a crucial factor in determining grapevine performance and health status, thus affecting berry components that form the basis of the later wine profile. However, the literature about the impact of changes in row orientation at steep slope sites on grapevine fruit composition as well as the differentiation between canopy sides hardly exists. Thus, the aim of this work was to gain knowledge about the impact of row orientation in steep slope vineyards on selected primary and secondary metabolites in berries of Vitis vinifera L. cv. Riesling. Samples were taken from both canopy sides of different row orientations of terraced and downslope vineyards in steep slopes. Free amino acids in the juice and flavonols in the berry skin had a positive correlation to sunlight exposure. Furthermore, grapevines showed adaptations to constantly higher light conditions, e.g., physiologically in reduction in chlorophyll content or protective mechanisms resulting in a lower susceptibility to sunburn damage. Thus, grapevine fruit parameters are affected by row orientation change in steep slopes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (24) ◽  
pp. 9060
Author(s):  
Lugo-Méndez Helen ◽  
Castro-Hernández Sergio ◽  
Salazar-Pereyra Martín ◽  
Valencia-López Javier ◽  
Torres-González Edgar Vicente ◽  
...  

The kinetic energy produced by a turbofan engine is inseparable from the unavoidable generation of waste heat dissipated into the environment and the chemical exergy of exhaust gases. However, exergoeconomic cost analyses of these propulsion systems have focused only on the formation process of the functional product and not the cost of residue formation. In this study, symbolic thermoeconomics was applied to evaluate the impact of residue formation on the production costs of a turbofan engine and analyze the effect of component malfunctions on the fuel impact formula for diagnosing anomalies. The GE90-115B high bypass turbofan engine under takeoff conditions and a thrust requirement of 510 kN was considered as a case study. The total exergoeconomic cost of the engine was 26,754.28 USD/h: 61.04% corresponded to external resources; 0.14% and 33.07% corresponded to waste heat dissipated from the bypass and core engine, respectively; 3.28% corresponded to the chemical exergy of the exhaust gases; 2.47% corresponded to capital and operating costs. A malfunction analysis revealed that a 1% reduction in the isentropic efficiency of the compressor reduced the total kinetic exergy by −0.77 MW, increased fuel consumption by 0.49 MW, and generated irreversibility and residue of 0.80 and 0.45 MW, respectively.


Author(s):  
Ivan Svynous ◽  
Olesya Havryk ◽  
Tetyana Matula

Introduction. The issues of management of production costs of the enterprise have become important for domestic businesses after the transition of the economy to market principles of doing business. In the command-administrative system of management, pricing was the prerogative of state authorities, ministries and departments and was based on the implementation of a cost approach, which involves the inclusion in the cost of products of the full cost of its production and sale. Methods. During the research general and special methods of research of processes and phenomena in their interrelation and development were used, namely: monographic (at formulation of the purpose, tasks, subject and object of research); method of comparative analysis (in the study of the concepts of strategic cost management). At the stage of observation of business transactions, collection, measurement, design, registration, systematization and processing of information for research, the inductive method was used, and the deductive method was used in the process of theoretical understanding of the problem. Results. We believe that the main characteristics of the cost management system of an agricultural enterprise should be: phased implementation of the process; inclusion in the general process of enterprise management; establishing the impact of the external environment of the business entity; determining the characteristics of the internal environment; availability of feedback. Discussion. At the stage of reforming the domestic accounting system, the issue of terminology should be given special importance. It is advisable to use in regulations the definition of costs and expenses, limiting the scope of these categories and providing the possibility of their unambiguous qualification by enterprises that prepare reports for interested users, both external and internal. Prospects for the application of IFRS in Ukraine in terms of cost accounting require understanding of the basic ideas and meaning of international standards and research, the results of which will approximate, and further bring the guidelines and rules of cost accounting in Ukraine in accordance with international financial reporting standards. Keywords: production, management, costs, expenses, accounting, prime cost.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vadym Onokalo ◽  

The notion of efficiency as an economic category has been sufficiently researched in the domestic and foreign economic literature, but so far there is no unambiguous clear interpretation of the economic essence of this category and the only criteria by which it can be evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively. This is largely due to the complexity and versatility of the efficiency category. Today, the problem of efficiency occupies a key position in economic science and practice. The overall concept of efficiency is broad enough and is applied in a wide variety of fields. In the article proposals to determine the efficiency of capital turnover, either in terms of production costs or on the basis of net profit or consumed resources - we consider partial, those that do not reflect the main purpose of the enterprise. These proposals can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the use of individual components of capital, production space and equipment, cash. In our opinion, it is advisable to use a comprehensive scorecard that combines all of these approaches to form an overall conclusion about the enterprise's performance. Having considered the essence of the category "efficiency" and the basis of approaches to its definition, the article explores theoretical approaches to assessing the efficiency of enterprises in terms of economic efficiency of using their resources. The methods, techniques and aspects of different approaches to the evaluation of the effectiveness of the enterprises and their resources are considered and analyzed. In our opinion, it is advisable to use a comprehensive system of indicators, which includes indicators of efficiency of: labor, means and objects, to form a general conclusion about the effectiveness of the enterprises; management and organization; engineering and technology; competition, supply and demand. In assessing the cost-effectiveness of using enterprise resources, two sets of criteria should be applied, one of which provides for cost-effectiveness assessment and includes indicators of payback, net present value and internal rate of return, and the other of competitiveness, demand efficiency, supply efficiency based on determining market share indicators.


2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaomara Nascimento da Silva ◽  
Niraldo José Ponciano ◽  
Claudio Luiz Melo Souza ◽  
Paulo Marcelo de Souza ◽  
Leandro Hespanhol Viana ◽  
...  

Abstract The ‘Niágara Rosada’ grape (Vitis labrusca) is the main table cultivar produced in the North and Northwest Regions of the Rio de Janeiro State. This cultivar presents greater rusticity and lower production cost than the cultivars of fine grape (Vitis vinifera L.) because it is more resistant to diseases and the absence of some cultural treatments. The research aimed to determine the economic affordability of the production of ‘Niágara Rosada’ grapes in the north and northwest regions of Rio de Janeiro state, by calculating the Net Present Value (NPV) and the Internal Rate of Return (IRR), and to identify the risk of viticulture, through the sensitivity analysis and the use of the Monte Carlo method. To collect the data, questionnaires, and interviews were applied directly to the wine producers on the technical coefficients and respective production costs of the grape in 1 ha. The results highlighted that viticulture could be a good alternative for the regions, with satisfactory profitability. The variables with the most significant effect on profitability were the sale price of the product, the cost of labor, and the price of packaging. The probability of winegrowers to obtain a negative NPV is 33.32%, considering an attractiveness rate of 6% per year.


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