The main objective of this paper stems from the need to provide new insights into the competitiveness of the agricultural products distribution system in the Republic of Serbia, through determining the impact of customer contact as part of the agricultural distribution channel on the competitiveness of agricultural holdings. The survey was conducted on a sample of 126 farms from the territory of the Republic of Serbia through a closed-type survey (12 claims related to customer contact and 15 claims related to the competitiveness of the agricultural products distribution system; five-stage Likert scale), which was distributed electronically. The contribution of the paper is reflected in the results which showed that the level of customer contact (as part of the distribution channel) influences the level of competitiveness of the agricultural products distribution system (in the Republic of Serbia). The results also form the basis for further research in this field.

The sector of small, medium companies and entrepreneurs (SMEs) has an important role in the economic development of countries around the world. The advantage of this sector lies in its flexibility, quick adaptation to change and the quality of satisfying the modern, increasingly demanding market. Through the sector of small, medium entreprises and entrepreneurs it is possible to develop a competitive economy based on innovations, knowledge and new technologies and influence the competitiveness of the Republic of Serbia. The aim of this paper is to point out the importance of improving the competitiveness and innovation of the SMEs sector for the future economic development of the national economy.

Some of the specific characteristics of quince fruits, such as the high content of pectin substances and relatively low content of fermentable sugars, lead to certain challenges during alcoholic fermentation. The aim of this research was to evaluate the effect of quince variety on fermentation dynamics, alcohol yield and chemical composition of produced spirits. Nine quince varieties grown at the experimental field "Radmilovac" (University of Belgrade - Faculty of Agriculture), were used in this study: Vranjska (SRB), Leskovačka (SRB), Morava (SRB), Pazardžijska (BLG), Hemus (BLG), Asenica (BLG), Portugal (POR), Triumph (BLG) and Rea's Mammoth (USA). The investigation was carried out in 2018. Soluble solids content in quince fruits was in the range from 12.90% (Pazardžijska) to 16.80% (Morava). Total sugars and total acids expressed as malic acid were in the range from 6.74 % and 0.53% w/w (Pazardžijska) to 9.76 % and 1.27% w/w (Morava), respectively. The highest alcohol content had spirits made from quince varieties Leskovačka and Asenica (9.88 litres of 40% vol. alcohol from 100kg of fruit), while the lowest alcohol content had spirit made from variety Rea's Mammoth (7.20 litres of 40% vol. alcohol from 100 kg of fruit). All spirit samples had methanol content (up to 1350 g/hl, calculated at 100% of alcohol) and other quality parameters in accordance with the legal regulations.

The Web-Based Swine Ration Balancing System is a server-side application whose purpose is to balance the swine rations. With such an application, building the ration recipe is faster and more likely free of errors that could be generated in manual calculations, or in general computer spreadsheet solutions. Integrated with proper software support, the described application may run even offline. It is a free application, available for all interested users. Furthermore, it is an open-source application, so potential developers may use existing code for modifications due to tailored demands and requirements. Web-Based Swine Ration Balancing System is an application developed in HTML and PHP programming languages and based on MySQL as a relational database management system.