Seasonal variations in the tourism industry consist of alternating patterns of overuse and underuse of touristic potential and resources, which correspond to overexertion in the peak periods and to reduced income levels in the trough periods. We analyze both trend and seasonal components for agritouristic boarding houses, conventional boarding houses, hotels, and overall arrivals in 41 Romanian counties by using the Season-Trend decomposition using the LOESS method previously used in forecasting. Our findings suggest that there is a moderate positive relation between trend and seasonality in agritouristic boarding houses, a situation that is not shared with other types of accommodation units studied. While at a country-wide level the seasonal character of agritourism is not significantly different from other types of accommodations studied, in some counties located in south-east Romania, the seasonality exhibited by agritourism is significantly lower. Agritourism seasonal patterns exhibit spatial correlation features, indicating that underlying natural and anthropic causes exert more influence than in the case of other types of accommodations. These findings may be used to shape public policy and entrepreneur behavior in agritourism and rural tourism, domains where farm income diversification is instrumental to surviving events such as crop failures, price changes, and consumer behavior.
The use of scanning technologies and digital photogrammetry with the help of drones in the field of agritourism activities in Romania is a topic of novelty, because all the data necessary for the implementation or development of such research can be collected very quickly and with maximum efficiency. The classic methods are cumbersome and with a high consumption of inputs, and human and financial resources. The case study presents a practical method of applying this technology in the case of the agritourist farm REMMAR, from Vâlcea county, Romania, which wants to expand its agricultural production capacity with ecological products. Graphic support was obtained by scanning or digitizing existing maps in the physical/printed format and by acquiring data of interest in the digital format by photogrammetric methods and aerial field scanning of the studied area. The original elements of the topic are: how to obtain images by using photogrammetric methods; developing the methodology of the research and the actual development, from setting the basic objectives to obtaining and presenting the final results; elaboration of the methodology of the needs analysis and designing the specific data model; designing and the practical implementation of the geographic information system in terms of structure, methods, and means of software implementation. The successful implementation of the system was achieved only under the conditions of the existence of a data model specific to the field of action, and first realizing the conceptual foundation of the applicable data model, which would allow the registration, storage, extraction, processing, and effective analysis of the data of interest. From a theoretical and practical point of view, the research has a unique character in Romania, because it presents for the first time the development of a standard methodology for the design, expansion, and promotion of agritourism farms. The built geographic information system (GIS) is an effective tool for the management and control of the quality and efficiency of works specific to sustainable agricultural production.
Land use and land cover are the main anthropogenic factors that lead to the rapid and aggressive degradation of land and interfere with the functioning of ecosystems, especially through the expansion of urbanization and the reduction in forested areas. The purpose of this article is to identify sources of official data and to build an updated dataset upon which analysis algorithms can be applied. Basic analyses were performed on the dataset to study the evolution of land use and land cover in Romania during the period 1990–2022 and to analyze whether they align with and support national and European strategies for economic development. The study is based on the historical evolution of land use and land cover over the past 30 years, which has allowed us to identify current trends and to analyze potential future positive and negative effects, and facilitates the adoption of documented corrective measures. The methodology applied is based on the collection and analysis of historical data obtained mainly from the TEMPO database managed by the National Institute of Statistics and from the annual reports of the National Environmental Protection Agency, analyzing these data, identifying current trends, and issuing specific recommendations. Monitoring the dynamics of land use during the mentioned period allowed us to identify the most important developments with positive effects (a slight increase in forested areas and minimal variations in arable land) but mostly negative effects (a drastic reduction in areas occupied by vineyards and orchards, a decrease in areas occupied by water, and a concerning increase in unproductive land). The results highlight the importance of the immediate implementation of the national general cadastre system, as well as the importance of implementing appropriate policies, legislative provisions, and land management practices aimed at environmental protection and supporting sustainable development and biodiversity in general.
The analysis of the impact of the organic and mineral fertilization systems on the production and sustainability of the temporary grasslands in Romania represents a decisive step in establishing the optimal management in such a technology. The purpose of this research is to determine the influence of these two types of fertilization on hay production, floristic structure, chemical composition–nutritional quality, economic efficiency, and sustainability, in order to improve the cultural technology. The study was carried out in the area of Horezu, Romania. A mixture of five fodder plants was used in the study—Dactylis glomerata, Phleum pratense, Festuca pratensis, Lolium perenne, and Lotus corniculatus—which were sown in two fertilization systems: mineral and organic. The research was carried out between 2017 and 2020, very different years from a climatic point of view. The year 2017 was used to establish the autumn experience, so it is incomplete and was not used in the interpretation of the obtained results. The results of our research contribute to the implementation of better technology for the cultivation of temporary grasslands because the statistical interpretation established that they are significant for all the objectives pursued: production, floristic and chemical composition, and economic efficiency. We recommend small farmers reconsider the use of an organic fertilization system, as they can achieve maximum efficiency, improvement of all physical and chemical properties of the soil, and reduction of feed contamination.
A new technology based on GPS and aerophotographic determinations has begun to be used on a larger scale. Currently many tractors and machines are equipped with such technology, which allows the owners and administrators of agricultural land to practice a modern agriculture called “precision agriculture”. Our approach deals with two very important aspects regarding the agricultural and forest areas, namely the cadastral records and inventory and the precision works. Regarding the preparation of the topo-cadastral documentation it was very clear and relevant that the technology of aerophotography with the help of drones, is as accurate and faithful as the classic one (that is to say on the ground), only that its efficiency is much higher. Also, it has been shown very clearly that this technology has many advantages, as it allows the construction of a database, with which the forestry and agricultural specialists can easily and quickly generate a series of thematic maps that will facilitate very much their management activity. Following the researches, it was found that in the future agriculture and forestry will use drones on a larger scale, as they allow obtaining data and information in real time, as opposed to satellites, and the clarity of the images and the accuracy of the data is significantly higher, contributing greatly to modern management practice and performance, in which decisions can be made quickly and very efficiently documented.