No abstract

Brunensis, 65(6): 1967Brunensis, 65(6): -1978 Milk and dairy products present an important source of essential nutrients which should be a part of human beings nutrition. While the recommended consumption of milk and dairy products is set at the level of 220 kg/person/year, the current studies show that Slovaks consume only 160 kg/person/year. One of the possibilities how to reverse this negative trend is to raise the Slovak consumers awareness of the positive impacts of yoghurts and fermented milk products on their health, as well as to made from them a so-called trendy food. The aim of the presented paper was to determine the consumer behaviour in the purchase of yoghurts and fermented milk products produced in Slovak Republic. As the research methods were used the methods of survey and structured questionnaire consisting of 16 closed and 1 opened question (total number of respondents was 1,131 randomly selected respondents from all regions of the Slovak Republic). For a deeper analysis of the obtained results, there were set out six assumptions and ten hypotheses, which were tested with the use of Pearson's chi-square test, Fisher's exact test, Cramer's contingency coefficient and Phi coefficient. The results of the presented paper show, that despite the fact that almost 77 % of respondents said that they prefer in their purchase yoghurts and fermented milk products produced in the Slovak Republic, only 26.4 % of respondents said that they prefer the local producers of these products; exactly 44 % of respondents said that they always look for the information about the content of fat in the yoghurt they buy; more than 33 % said that they buy yoghurts and fermented milk products marked with the Quality Label "Značka kvality SK"; more than 62 % of respondents said that they purchase yoghurts and fermented milk products produced by ecological farming exclusively and rather and exactly 60.1 % of respondents said they prefer the plastic packages of yoghurts and fermented milk products. Up to the question aimed at determining which flavour consumers actually miss on the market, we have to conclude that these flavours are mostly kiwi, muesli with cranberries, chocolate with mint, coconut and banana.

Agriculture constitutes a very important sector in the Slovak economy that generates in addition to the basic food production also services, provides jobs, has a significant impact on regional development and provides nutrition of the population. One of decisive factors influencing the economic stability of agriculture is production efficiency which is strongly linked to support policy, through which partially is ensured the financial availability of enterprises. The use of subsidies by the EU is very important tool for ensuring economic sustainability of agriculture in the Slovak Republic conditions. The aim of this paper is economic evaluation of primary agricultural production in manufacturing and economic conditions in the Slovak Republic and their alternative comparison with selected EU Member States. The paper also refers to differences in level of subsidies in selected countries in the EU and their impact on possibilities of investing funds into the production development. Our calculations showed that without the intervention of the Common Agricultural Policy of the EU (especially subsidy policy) would be Slovak agriculture economically unprofitable, what could lead to its failure.

Submitted paper deals with the consumers´ purchasing preferences towards organic food in Slovakia, pointing at the situation on the organic food market in Slovakia finding the consumers' preferences when buying organic food. The results of the questionnaire survey identified the preferences and opinions of respondents about organic food. Paper analyses the questionnaire survey by 227 respondents concerning the purchasing preferences towards organic food in Slovakia. In order to achieve given aim and to ensure deeper analysis of the results, there had been stated 3 assumptions and 5 hypothesis. As the results of the survey proved, 65% of respondents buy organic food, of which 39% of respondents buy organic food at least once a week. Up to 98% of respondents have already met the concept of organic food and know what it means. 37 % of respondents buy mostly organic fruit and vegetables, 18% of respondents buy the most the meat and meat products in organic quality and 13% of respondents prefer dairy products in organic quality. The most preferred place to buy organic food are specialized stores (36 %),to buy organic food directly from the producer is the most popular way for 29 % of respondents, hypermarket and supermarkets are favorite place to buy organic food for 19% of respondents, and 12% of respondents buy organic food mostly in farmers´ markets. Only 4% of respondents prefer another way to buy organic food. Quality of organic food and not using the pesticides is the most important criteria for buying organic food (36%). Price has also really strong influence on purchasing decision, when 34% of respondents are the most affected by the price when purchasing organic food. Package is considered as the least important criteria when buying organic food by 72% of respondents. On the basis of provided results of our survey and formulated hypothesis which were evaluated by Chi-square goodness of fit test, Chi square test of the square contingency and Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Based on research can be concluded that there is a difference in preferences of respondents. In Slovakia exists the dependence between the consumers´ preferences towards organic food and conventional food product and there are strong preferences for buying the organic food.

The degree of a company’s acceptance and integration of the CSR concept is directly reflected in the fundamental principles of the company. Through the environmental sustainability, a company can make a positive contribution to the society and the natural environment. Competitive and cost pressures are the key drivers of sustainable development in the industry. Today, many international food and drink companies are delivering excellent achievements. The present paper tries to highlight how much are food manufacturing companies committed to caring for the environment as a main component of their CSR strategy. In order to fulfil the defined objectives of the paper, the primary and secondary sources of information were collected and used, as well as there was used the method of interview, using a questionnaire (total number of respondents was 100 food manufacturing companies). In our research the highest percentage of large, SMC and micro companies indicated the reduction of negative operational impacts as the most important commitment of companies in relation to environment. Most large companies invest to installing pollution reducing technology to improve environmental quality (67%) and utilizing more environmentally friendly raw materials (51%). These areas indicated the highest percentage as well as for SMC. In the case of large companies there are more visible movements in environmental practices than in micro and small-medium companies.