The possibilities and challenges of sustainable agriculture in Hungary: Searching for pathways for a feasible conversion in the agricultural sector

Gombos, Mátyás

4. Term

Urban, Energy and Environmental Planning, Master

2017

2017-06-02

70 pages

Since the 1980s, organic farming has been gaining ground, becoming more and more popular and has been appointed as one possible sustainable alternative to conventional agriculture. While its popularity has grown in foreign and international consumer markets, the practice has been facing kind of a crisis in Hungary. This master’s thesis addresses the problems of the organic farming sector in Hungary mainly in connection with the reluctance of conventional producers to consider organic farming, and the false myths and negative perception of consumers. The goal of this thesis is to answer the question: ‘What would encourage more Hungarian farmers to convert to organic farming?’ In support of this research question the thesis overviews the European and Hungarian organic scenes processing the history of the Common Agricultural Policy, the Hungarian agricultural sector since the regime change in 1989, and the brief history of organics in Hungary, separately. The methods used in this paper were literature review, data collection and interviewing experts in the field. The Analysis & Discussion chapter contains the findings of this thesis project, where besides data analysis and resolutions from the expert interviews, the theories of Diffusion of Innovations and Institutional Change were utilized.

agriculture ; organic farming ; Hungary ; CAP

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