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Agro-environmental measures emerged as important way of protecting the natural resources and maintaining the countryside. The participation rate of farmers in agro-environmental programmes is quite diverse within the European Union. This book focuses on Austria and the Czech Republic and their particular rural development plans. The measure "organic farming" is used to compare the countries. Therefore socioeconomic and structural factors are examined by a survey that was conducted in the border region of both countries. By using the participation-preference model differences in the motivation for participation between organic and conventional farmers as well as between Austrian and Czech farmers are shown. The aim is to highlight the underlying reasons and conditions that motivate farmers to adapt environmentally friendly farming methods.

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Dipl. - Ing. Laister Günther compares organic farming in Austria and the Czech Republic. Therefore he carries out a thoroughly investigation of the particular agricultural structure and agro-environmental programs and develops a conceptual model for the evaluation of the influencing factors.

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