Abstract
As discussed in Chap. 2, over the last decade, there has been an increase in interest in rural policy at the EU level. Indeed, the European Union Agenda 2000 agreement on agriculture contains an increased focus on rural development, acknowledging it as the second pillar of the Common Agricultural Policy. This increased focus on rural development at the EU level means that member states, including Ireland, have also increased their emphasis on rural development along a range of spectrums, such as reducing socio-economic disparities between regions, enhancing employment and competitiveness in rural areas, and re-orienting agricultural production. According to the Irish White Paper on Rural Development, one of the main goals of rural development policy in Ireland is to maintain “the maximum number of rural farms and especially family farms” (Irish Department of Agriculture and Food 2000).
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- 1.
The static model also employs a restart method. When a restart occurs the simulated annealing process begins again with a new sample of records. The restart is used so that more farm combinations can be explored. The static micro-simulation model also employs a restart method which is applied if the model fails to find a satisfactory solution within the maximum permitted iterations. When a restart occurs, the simulated annealing process begins again with a new initial sample of farm records. The restart is used so that more farm combinations can be explored. The simulation is complete when the total relative error is less than a specified target.
- 2.
Direct payments/subsidies account for more than 100 % of income whenever market based output is not sufficient to cover total costs.
- 3.
Family Farm Income as defined in the National Farm Survey is calculated by deducting all the farming costs from the value of farming gross output. Family Farm Income represents the financial reward to all members of the family, who work on the farm, for their labour, management and investment. It is important to note however that FFI does not include income from non-farm sources and therefore may not be equal to household income.
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Hynes, S., Morrissey, K., O’Donoghue, C., Clarke, G. (2013). Farm Level Spatial Microsimulation Modelling. In: O'Donoghue, C., Ballas, D., Clarke, G., Hynes, S., Morrissey, K. (eds) Spatial Microsimulation for Rural Policy Analysis. Advances in Spatial Science. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-30026-4_6
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