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Czech agriculture is dealing with the consequences of climate change. Agroforestry cultures are being discursively reintroduced for better adaptability and resilience, with the first practical explorations seen in the field. Scholars have been working with farmers and regional stakeholders to establish a baseline for making agroforestry policy viable and sustainable. In a research effort that lasted three years, a large group of Czech farmers was interviewed via questionnaire surveys, standardized focus groups and in-depth personal interviews regarding their knowledge of agroforestry systems, their willingness to participate in these systems, and their concerns and expectations therewith. The information obtained helped the researchers gain better understanding of issues related to implementation of these systems. It was found that although trees are present on Czech farms and farmers appreciate their aesthetic and ecological landscape functions, knowledge about possible local synergies with crops and animals is lacking. This local knowledge gap, together with lack of market opportunities for the output of agroforestry systems and undeveloped administrative processes, have been identified as the greatest obstacles to the establishment of agroforestry systems. The researchers argue that the discovered cognitive and technological “lock-in” of the farmers may represent a risk to climate change adaptability and resilience. For the development of complex and localised land use (e.g., agroforestry) in such a context, the researchers suggest participative on-farm research, which would broaden the local knowledge base related to ecology and entrepreneurship.

Poverty business has become an important metaphor in the current debate regarding security in socially excluded localities. The term poverty business covers a range of business practices aimed at the poorest and most vulnerable populations. The goal of this study is to examine media representations of the phenomenon using content analysis of quantitative and qualitative data. First, characteristics of Czech media messages including the term “poverty business” are analysed. Next, key events are identified which have shaped the way poverty business is reported on in the analysed corpus. Finally, topics, groups and key actors are analysed based on the development of their quantitative representation in the corpus over time.

The poverty business has recently become a frequent issue in public discourse. The Program Declaration of the Government of the Czech Republic also reflects this, as the poverty business is mentioned here in relation to the abuse of the welfare system through overpriced lodging houses. In spite of the political significance of the poverty business, the research on this issue has been scant. No attempt has even been made to clarify the meaning of this concept. This study is meant to be a first step in understanding the poverty business in the Czech context; it aims to explore how this phenomenon was represented in the Czech news media. The research was based on the theory of representation and qualitative content analysis, a method that was devised for thematic analysis of media content. The data were drawn from the Anopress IT database. Out of 1,277 texts containing the term "poverty business" and similar relevant terms, 66 texts were selected for the analysis. The analysis found that the poverty business is mainly presented as a matter of housing; however, other meanings were also identified, all of which were connected to the idea of exploitation of the poor and vulnerable segments of society. The victims of the poverty business include not only the clients of poverty entrepreneurs but also other people who were categorized according to their alleged decency or indecency. The consequences of the poverty business were seen as relating to clients, interethnic coexistence and the public administration. The main subjects identified in media communications were the state, municipality, and poverty entrepreneurs, who played the role of culprits, profiting subjects, and rectifiers. To conclude, the poverty business was represented as a highly politicized issue that concerns the misuse of housing benefits and is seen both as a socioeconomic and ethno-cultural problem. The solution to the poverty business was mostly conceived as a technical intervention into the welfare system, ignoring the agency of the victims of the poverty business.

This study explores the relationship between social exclusion and housing tenure. It seeks to identify the factors that increase the chance that inhabitants of socially excluded localities in Czechia will live in a hostel (a single room occupancy hotel). Do these factors indicate a higher intensity of social exclusion among people who live in hostels? Do hostels house the more disadvantaged segment of the disadvantaged population, such as the inhabitants of socially excluded localities? Our aim is to produce a more nuanced understanding of the different needs of the heterogeneous population of socially excluded localities, which can be used to implement socially inclusive measures. We analyse data obtained in a survey of the population of excluded localities. We apply binary logistic regression using socio-demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of respondents and their households and variables measuring victimisation and respondents' risk behaviour as predictors. Along with descriptive statistics we present the results of the simple and multiple binary logistic regressions. The multiple model revealed the following predictors to be statistically significant: the share of rent in household income, household size, residential mobility, citizenship, labour status, criminal activity not punished by imprisonment, nationality/ethnicity, and property victimisation of the household. Except for the last two, these factors increase the chance of socially disadvantaged persons living in a hostel. Future research directions and the political implications of our findings are discussed in the conclusion.