Spatial aspects of implementation of the Rural Development Programme in the Czech Republic: Modernisation of agricultural enterprises, cooperation of farmers, networks

This master thesis focuses on the topic of agricultural subsidies and other issues related with agriculture policies and farmers' behaviour. Emphasis is laid on the importance of cooperation between farmers and the creation and institutionalization of their networks. The main aim of this study is to analyze spatial aspects of subsidies flowing from the first axis of Rural Development Programme (RDP) in the Czech Republic and then to compare, explain and verify the results with a research made among farmers in two model regions. The theoretical part of this study provides an outline of agricultural changes in Czech and European agriculture and discusses the most recent trends in multifunctional agriculture, rural development and networks. My research was carried out in two sections. In the first section I tried to evaluate regional differences in allocations of subsidies to Modernisation of Agricultural Enterprises (MAE; RDP, Axis I, measure 1.1.1.) in the Czech Republic between the years 2007 and 2010 on the level of districts (N = 77). I tried to explain these differences through the use of representative physical- and socio-geographical quantitative indicators. In the second section I conducted a qualitative survey (standardized interviews) with 22 farmers and 12 institutional actors in model areas of..