A Research on Producer Reasons for Participation into Agricultural Fairs

Ever-developing agricultural technologies and progress in communication science increase competition and globalization in converge countries. Agricultural fairs offer ambient to bring producers and input-suppliers of agriculture together at certain places and times. They offer direct and efficient information about new technologies to producers. German Agricultural Society and Leader Farmer Association have jointly organized outdoor fairs in Turkey since 2010. Agriculture Days Fair is one of the most important events among these jointly organized fairs. This study was conducted to determine the reasons for producers’ participation in these fairs held in 2015 and 2017 and to determine the effects of socio-economic characteristics of the producers on their reasons for participation in these fairs. A total of 589 questionnaires were made in this study (250 in May 2015 fair and 339 in August 2017 fair). The same questionnaire forms were used in both years. CHAID analysis technique was employed in analyzing data gathered from the producers. It was observed that producers generally participated in agricultural fairs just for the excursion or spent time with their families at weekends. However, it was also determined that the producers were informed about the agricultural fairs by producer organizations and Leader Farmer Association participated in the fairs to promote a new products or to give information about new technologies and inputs. It can be suggested that beyond informing producers about the fairs, Leader Farmer Association formed within the scope of Leader Farmer Project initiated with the support of German Agricultural Society (DLG) should convey information about how important the fairs are in the acquaintance with introducing new information and technologies.

Theological Revolution and the Idea of Equality

The transition in Europe from a predominantly agricultural society dominated by a landed aristocracy to an emerging commercial one with an expanding bourgeoisie gave birth to a reformulated expression of Christianity whose doctrines could better legitimate the new institutions and practices of commercial society. Whereas Catholicism provided an ideology that justified the landlords’ capture of economic surplus, Protestantism legitimated the emerging bourgeoisie’s ability to do the same. Protestantism’s privileging of work and asceticism afforded social respectability to the bourgeoisie and ideological support for its capturing a share of society’s surplus. It gave legitimacy to the harsh social treatment of a rising class of wage workers who had been separated from any ownership, control, or ready access to the means of production. Protestantism served as a transitional religion between a traditional agricultural world dominated by Catholic doctrine and a more modern commercial one dominated by secular thought.

Recession or resilience? Long-range socioeconomic consequences of the 17th century volcanic eruptions in the far north

Past volcanic eruptions and their climatic impacts have been linked increasingly with co-occurring societal crises – like crop failures and famines – in recent research. Yet, as many of the volcanic cooling studies have a supra-regional or hemispheric focus, establishing pathways from climatic effects of an eruption to human repercussions has remained very challenging due to high spatial variability of socio-environmental systems. This, in turn, may render a distinction of coincidence from causation difficult. In this study, we employ micro-regionally resolved natural and written sources to study three 17th century volcanic eruptions (i.e. 1600 Huaynaputina, 1640/1641 Koma-ga-take/Parker, and 1695 unidentified eruptions) to look into their climatic as well as socioeconomic impacts among rural agricultural society in Ostrobothnia (Finland) with high temporal and spatial precision. Tree-ring and grain tithe data indicate that all three eruptions would have caused significant summer season temperature cooling and poor grain harvest in the region. Yet, tax debt records reveal that the socioeconomic consequences varied considerably among the eruptions as well as in time, space, and within the society. Whether the volcanic events had a strong or weak socioeconomic effect depended on various factors, such as the prevailing agro-ecosystem, resource availability, material capital, physical and immaterial networks, and institutional practices. These factors influenced societal vulnerability and resilience to cold pulses and the resulting harvest failures caused by the eruptions. This paper proposes that, besides detecting coinciding human calamities, more careful investigation at the micro-regional scale has a clear added value as it can provide deeper understanding on why and among whom the distal volcanic eruptions resulted in different societal impacts. Such understanding, in turn, can contribute to interdisciplinary research, advice political decision-making, and enhance scientific outreach.

Udział polskich ziemian z Mińszczyzny w pracach rady nadzwyczajnej do spraw związanych z potrzebami gospodarki rolnej w Rosji w latach 1902-1903

The article presents an unknown period from the history of the Polish gentry from the Taken Lands at the beginning of the 20th century. It shows the participation of Polish landowners in the work of the Extraordinary Council for matters connected with the needs of agriculture in the Minsk guberniya in 1902-1903, the purpose of which was to describe the state of agriculture in Russia and to indicate ways of its modernization. The Polish landowners, gathered in the Minsk Agricultural Society, were the most active element among all members of the 9 discrits committees in the Minsk guberniya. For the first time since the fall of the January Uprising, they had the opportunity to show their organizational skills and substantive preparation for the discussion on the situation of agriculture in the Minsk guberniya.

The Logic of Dispossession

One particular focus of world-systems analysis is to examine the historical trajectory of capitalist transformation in peripheral regions. This paper investigates the capitalist transformation in a specific peripheral area—the country of Bangladesh. In particular, it examines the role of dispossession in transforming an agricultural society into a neoliberal capitalist society by looking at the transformation of Panthapath Street in Dhaka, Bangladesh, since 1947. Building on the existing literature of dispossession, this article proposes an approach that explains the contribution of dispossession in capitalist accumulation. The proposed theory consists of four logics of dispossession: transformative, exploitative, redistributive, and hegemonic. These four logics of dispossession, both individually and dialectically reinforcing one another, work to privatize the commons, proletarianize subsistence laborers, create antagonistic class relations, redistribute wealth upward, and commodify sociopolitical and cultural aspects of urban life. This paper’s central argument is that dispossession not only converted an agricultural society into a capitalist society in Bangladesh, but that dispossession continues to reproduce the country’s existing capitalist system. This research draws on a wide range of empirical and historical evidence collected from Dhaka, Bangladesh, in 2017 and 2018.

FROM THE HISTORY OF THE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF TURKESTAN(Based on the UzNA I-103 fund)

The article is devoted to the study of the archival fund of the Turkestan Agricultural Society in the National Archives of Uzbekistan, which operated in the Turkestan region in the late 19th - early 20th centuries. The article provides information on the emergence and activities of the scientific community, as well as a description of their archives. The article also analyzes the historical data obtained as a result of the scientific activities of the society. It has been scientifically studied that the scientific societies created under the governor-general of Turkestan were first created in the country as a means of promoting and strengthening the statehood of the Russian Empire.Index Terms: Russian Empire, Governor-General of Turkestan, Horticultural Society, Agricultural Society, “Turkestan Agriculture”, “Farmers of Turkestan”, “Dehkon” magazine, National Archives of Uzbekistan, fund, list, storage unit

Some Reflections on Twenty-First Century Representations of Stalin in the English-Speaking World

Образы Сталина и упоминания о нем, а также худшие стороны его правления использовались правыми силами в англоязычных средствах массовой информации, включая социальные сети, чтобы создать впечатление, что даже умеренные левые политики являются поклонниками или подражателями Сталина. Кроме того, таким образом они хотели дискредитировать концепцию социализма посредством создания ассоциаций с советским диктатором. В то же время авторы академических исследований о Сталине с 2000 года отошли от таких клише, как «психопат», «монстр» и т. д., которые заранее искажают подлинный анализ и восприятие, в пользу более глубокого с аналитической точки зрения и основанного на фактических данных рассказа о Сталине и его влиянии. Центральное место в нем занимает тенденция видеть в Сталине убежденного революционера, который считал, что исполняет волю Ленина, а не просто диктатора, одержимого только личной властью и карьерой. Эта тенденция помогает пролить свет на самые сложные аспекты анализа личности Сталина и его эпохи, в частности на сопоставление трагедии и ужаса ГУЛАГа и голода, который можно было предотвратить, с его социальными и политическими достижениями, включая победу во Второй мировой войне, решительный переход Советской России от традиционного общества к индустриальному и общую урбанизацию. Статья посвящена прогрессивному подходу к рассмотрению этих двух взаимосвязанных вопросов. The images of and references to Stalin and the worst features of his rule have been used by right-wing forces in the English-speaking media, including social media, to suggest that even moderately left-wing politicians are admirers or imitators of Stalin. They have also used it to discredit the concept of socialism by association with the Soviet dictator. At the same time, academic studies of Stalin since 2000 has moved away from cliches, such as 'psychopath', 'monster' and so on, which pre-empt real analysis and understanding, infavorof a more deeply analytical and evidence-based account of Stalin and his influence. Central to this is a tendency to see Stalin as a convinced revolutionary who believed he was carrying out the wishes of Lenin rather simply to see him as a dictator obsessed only with his personal power and career. This helps to throw light on one of the most complex aspects of analyzing Stalin and his era, notably the juxtaposition of the tragedy and horror of the gulag and avoidable famines with the social and political achievements, including victory in the second World War and the decisive transition of Soviet Russia from a rural agricultural society to an urban and industrial one. The article focuses on cutting-edge thinking on these two interrelated questions.