Hrabrin Bashev
Governance Modes for Supply gf Agro-Ecosystem Services by Agricultural Farms in Bulgaria
Summary:
Despite growing environmental issues, and increasing public and private interests, scientific studies on the management of agroecosystem services are at the beginning stage. This article incorporates the interdisciplinary New Institutional Economics framework, and identifies and assesses diverse private, market, collective and public modes of management of ecosystem services applied by the Bulgarian farms. The study has found out that farms of the country use a great variety of private, market, collective and public modes of governance of farm activity related to agroecosystem services. There is significant differentiation of employed managerial forms depending on the type of ecosystem services and specialization of agricultural holdings. Management of agroecosystem services is associated with a considerable increase in the production and transaction costs of participating farms as well as big socio-economic and environmental effects for holdings and other parties. Factors that mostly stimulate the activity of Bulgarian producers for protection of agro-ecosystems and their services are participation in public support programs, access to farmers' advice, professional training, available information and innovation, received direct subsidies, personal conviction and satisfaction, positive experience of others, long-term and immediate benefits for the farm, and integration with suppliers, buyers and processors. Suggested holistic framework for analysing the system of management of agro-ecosystem services is to be extended and improved, and widely and periodically applied in the future.
