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Both agricultural and environmental domains have to manage many different and heterogeneous sources of information that need to be combined in order to make environmentally and economically sound decisions. Such examples may be found at the definition of subsidies, national strategies for rural development, development of sustainable agriculture etc. This paper describes in detail the development of an open data model for (precision) agriculture applications and agricultural pollution monitoring when aiming at identification of requirements from users from agricultural and environmental domains. The presented open data model for (precision) agriculture applications and agricultural pollution monitoring has been registered under the GEOSS (Global Earth Observation System of Systems) Architecture Implementation Pilot – Phase 8 in order to support the wide variety of demands that are primary aimed at agriculture and water pollution monitoring.

Flax is cultivated on small areas in Latvia. Flax gives dual-purpose production – fibre and seeds. Latvian flax has a high fibre and seed quality. The quantity of flax fibre and seed yield depends on many factors. Several qualitative and quantitative traits, such as technical stem length, resistance to lodging, vegetation period, yield of straw and seeds, fibre and oil content and quality were evaluated. For the further development of Latvian economy flax varieties and hybrids of Latvian origin are an important goal. Fibre flax varieties 'Blue di Riga', 'Priekuļu 665', 'Ošupes 30' and breeding lines 'S-64-17-93' and 'L11-11/11-94' are valuable material containing a qualitative and quantitative indicators of variety. 92 Latvian accessions of flax hybrids have been evaluated, and 12 accessions with the best seed and straw yield have been selected for further DNA analysis. This will simplify and accelerate the selection of new valuable hybrids that will provide particular advantages in agriculture. The genetic analysis of DNA determines the kinship and diversity of flax varieties and breeding lines which can be used further in flax breeding.

Consumers are increasingly demanding choices of ready-made foods with excellent organoleptic and health-related properties. There are two main trends in Europe; firstly, consumers are increasingly choosing foods that are comfortable for use, secondly, the number of people who are overweight is increasing, with more consumers paying close attention to the ingredients and nutritional value of products in order to balance the amount of the food they consume per day. The aim of the research was to develop new potato main courses and to determine their nutritional value. The research was carried out at the Faculty of Food Technology of the Latvia University of Agriculture, Institute of Food Safety, Animal Health and Environment "BIOR" and Laboratory of Mineral Nutrition at the Institute of Biology of the University of Latvia. Four different potato main course types with amaranth, quinoa, bulgur and chicken were prepared for the study; plain potatoes were used as the control sample. The content of protein, carbohydrates, lipids, fibre and minerals (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Mo, B) was determined in all potato main course samples. The addition of amaranth, quinoa and bulgur significantly increased the content of dietary fibre, protein, carbohydrates and lipids (p<0.05), whereas the addition of chicken fillet significantly increased protein and lipid content, but reduced the content of carbohydrates and dietary fibre. The content of various minerals, which are an indispensable part of the diet as they are necessary for the body's life processes and normal development, was significantly increased by the addition of chicken to the potato main course. The highest dietary fibre content was detected in potato main course with amaranth (3.0 g per 100 g product), drawing up to 9.0 g dietary fibre per one serving (300 g). Following the Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006, potatoes with amaranth can be defined as the “source of fibre”. Keywords: nutritional value, potato main course, retorts packaging. Article DOI: http://doi.org/10.15544/RD.2017.078

Organic farming is part of the national economy where renewable natural resources are used in a sustainable and prudent way in the production process, and therefore the production of primary products is environmentally friendly. Latvia has high potential for growth on the basis of the EU as a whole – in 2016, the area of organically certified territories totalled 270.73 thousand hectares, or about 11% of the total agricultural land area, which was the fifth highest indicator among the EU Member States. The aim of the research is to analyse the availability of support tools for the organic farming sector and ways to improve their use efficiency. The available support tools contribute to increase in the number of organic farms and in the organic agricultural area as well as increase in productivity and a higher level of mechanisation. The development of organic processing and the provision of a complex production cycle are less important. Financial support for organic farming partially compensates for the loss of profits, but it does not include support measures directly addressing the problems faced by farmers – the availability of organic seed, certification fees, the availability of animal breeds and public awareness. Keywords: organic farming, support tools, sustainability Article DOI: http://doi.org/10.15544/RD.2017.138

One of the most important medium-term tasks in Latvia is the promotion of production and consumption of local food through implementing measures aimed at increasing the market share of food products produced in Latvia in public procurement and consumption. The research aim is to examine the situation of public food procurement in Latvia and assess the changes of local products share in public food procurement. In Latvia, at the end of 2014, in response to Russia's embargo on the Latvian-produced food products and to promote local food consumption in the country was accepted new Regulations. These Regulations prescribe the requirements for public procurement using environmental criteria, and their application, as well as the applicable tender selection criteria for the food supply and catering contracts. This contributed an increase of the quantity of purchases where ZPP criteria were used, thereby also increased the share of local production. The purchase of food from local farmers positively affects local entrepreneurship, while providing a significant income source for the local farmers; in this way, the viability of many small local agricultural holdings is maintained. Research methods used: monographic, descriptive, analysis, synthesis, statistical analysis. The present research was performed based on the statistical data, research papers and other information sources. Keywords: local food, public food procurement, sustainability Article DOI: http://doi.org/10.15544/RD.2017.236