Applied methods and materials to support regional planning vary; planners update their analytical frameworks based on the newly available data. Development goals, priorities and strategies need to be based on available (local) resources, which are identified as either comparative advantages or uniform development goals at a certain planning level. This paper presents a novel analytical framework for the Rural Development Programme of the South Transdanubian Region (Hungary) for the period of 2021-2027. Descriptive, cross tabulations and indicators of spatial autocorrelation were applied to the number of projects supported under the Rural Development sub-measures in 2014-2020. Large variation was observed in the LEADER development areas, and we confirmed that the pull effect of the regional centres is unclear. The results warn on the location-determined peripheries in the region. Agriculture oriented, even small settlements are better acceptors of rural development funds than other clusters of resource availability.

We selected the rural region of Koppány Valley in Hungary to investigate the residents’ natural gas use practices. Natural gas can be a feasible alternative for improving the quality of life in rural areas. The study’s aims were to look at the social, economic, and environmental facets of residential gas use in order to assist regional planning decisions in our selected rural area that would encourage efficiency and energy source switchover. The variables were collected using a quota-based sampling system survey. We chose to use binomial logistic regression model to ex-amine the explanatory variables’ significance. The higher the settlement scale in our data, the more likely it is that gas will be used. Residents who do not trust their mayor have a lower chance of using gas. When compared to insulated homes, non-insulated houses are less likely to use gas. Higher education level, pensioner category, and whether the individual accepts that bio-gas has environmental benefits are not significant categories. Therefore, residential heating technology is more likely to be supply-driven, than demand-driven. We would suggest the application of subsidies for heating equipment replacement, in combination with educational campaigns, in addition to establishing a higher degree of trust in their mayors.

The phenomenon of food waste and food loss at any stage of the supply chain is significant in developed economies. The purpose of this article is to highlight the areas of milk processing where milk loss occurs, and, after quantifying the data obtained, reveal the extent of the losses. To achieve the goals, we conducted on-site visits to one of Hungary’s milk processors. The methodology is based on the Food Loss and Waste (FLW) standard, accordingly we determined the extent of milk loss at the company level, supplemented with loss values by each dairy product. During the analyzed processing stages (receiving of raw milk, skimming, pasteurization, Extended Shelf-Life (ESL) milk, cheese milk, sour cream, yoghurt, and kefir) 1203.4–1406.8 L of raw material per day can be accounted as losses, which makes up 0.9–1% of daily production. A Milk Production-Milk Losses (MPML) model was created where six factors (technology and automation, design of the plant aspects, quantity of orders, expertise of employees, number of product variants, optimal storage capacity) were methodized that significantly influence the rate of milk losses over different time periods. Our paper highlights how areas of the production stage can be developed to decrease milk loss.