Suchergebnisse

European society, with its steadily increased welfare levels, is not only concerned about food (safety, prices), but also on other aspects such as biodiversity loss, landscape degradation, pollution of water, soil and atmosphere. To a large extent these concerns can be translated into a wider concept named sustainable development defined as a normative concept by Morgan and Sonnino (2008). Sustainability in the food chain means approaching a new emerging vision of a sustainable agro-food system introducing an institutional dimension to take into account. Among different attempts to conjugate such concepts, there is one that is taking place in many Regions of Italy. In the last years spontaneous aggregations of consumers are developing. They are named Solidarity Purchase Group (SPG). In short, they are characterized by an economy, not necessarily local, ethical and equitable, where social and economic territorial relations tend to develop districts and networks. One of the main characteristics of a SPG is the direct relations between small farms, and their customers with a high content of participation and specialization. The study means to tackle issues related to organizational frameworks, at farm and chain level, and to assess those elements that mark consumer's choices and satisfaction.

Within food plant cropping systems, microorganisms provide vital functions and ecosystem services, such as biological pest and disease control, promotion of plant growth and crop quality, and biodegradation of organic matter and pollutants. The beneficial effects of microorganisms can be achieved and/or enhanced by agricultural management measures that target the resident microbial biodiversity or by augmentation with domesticated and propagated microbial strains. This study presents a critical review of the current legislation and regulatory policies pertaining to the utilization of plant-beneficial microorganisms in the European Union (EU). For augmentative approaches, the nature of the intended effect and the product claim determine how a microbiological product is categorized and regulated, and pre-market authorization may be mandatory. Typically, microbial products have been incorporated into frameworks that were designed for evaluating non-living substances, and are therefore not well suited to the specific properties of live microorganisms. We suggest that regulatory harmonization across the sector could stimulate technical development and facilitate implementation of crop management methods employing microorganisms. Possible scenarios for regulatory reform in the longer term are discussed, but more investigation into their feasibility is needed. The findings of this study should serve as a catalyst for more efficient future use of plant-beneficial microorganisms, to the benefit of agriculture as well as the environment.

Within food plant cropping systems, microorganisms provide vital functions and ecosystem services, such as biological pest and disease control, promotion of plant growth and crop quality, and biodegradation of organic matter and pollutants. The beneficial effects of microorganisms can be achieved and/or enhanced by agricultural management measures that target the resident microbial biodiversity or by augmentation with domesticated and propagated microbial strains. This study presents a critical review of the current legislation and regulatory policies pertaining to the utilization of plant-beneficial microorganisms in the European Union (EU). For augmentative approaches, the nature of the intended effect and the product claim determine how a microbiological product is categorized and regulated, and pre-market authorization may be mandatory. Typically, microbial products have been incorporated into frameworks that were designed for evaluating non-living substances, and are therefore not well suited to the specific properties of live microorganisms. We suggest that regulatory harmonization across the sector could stimulate technical development and facilitate implementation of crop management methods employing microorganisms. Possible scenarios for regulatory reform in the longer term are discussed, but more investigation into their feasibility is needed. The findings of this study should serve as a catalyst for more efficient future use of plant-beneficial microorganisms, to the benefit of agriculture as well as the environment.

Within food plant cropping systems, microorganisms provide vital functions and ecosystem services, such as biological pest and disease control, promotion of plant growth and crop quality, and biodegradation of organic matter and pollutants. The beneficial effects of microorganisms can be achieved and/or enhanced by agricultural management measures that target the resident microbial biodiversity or by augmentation with domesticated and propagated microbial strains. This study presents a critical review of the current legislation and regulatory policies pertaining to the utilization of plant-beneficial microorganisms in the European Union (EU). For augmentative approaches, the nature of the intended effect and the product claim determine how a microbiological product is categorized and regulated, and pre-market authorization may be mandatory. Typically, microbial products have been incorporated into frameworks that were designed for evaluating non-living substances, and are therefore not well suited to the specific properties of live microorganisms. We suggest that regulatory harmonization across the sector could stimulate technical development and facilitate implementation of crop management methods employing microorganisms. Possible scenarios for regulatory reform in the longer term are discussed, but more investigation into their feasibility is needed. The findings of this study should serve as a catalyst for more efficient future use of plant-beneficial microorganisms, to the benefit of agriculture as well as the environment.

In the wake of highly volatile world prices of staple commodities, we examine the impacts of increases in maize prices on various categories of households in Malawi. Using household-level data, changes in household income are calculated taking into account the net maize production status of the household and food price elasticities estimated from a censored demand system. While maize price increases have unequivocal deleterious effects on the incomes of urban households, rural households experience differential impacts. Net producing households in rural areas benefit from price increases with households above the poverty line obtaining proportionally higher incomes. Adapted from the source document.

How do consumers and farmers organize credence food transactions? This paper discusses this issue through the concept of Food Community Network (FCN). A FCN is defined as an organization where consumers and farmers integrate their goals organizing a network. FCN is based on pooling specific resources and using membership-based contracts, to assign decision and property rights. It implies an organization based on a combination of several democratic and communitarian elements, with few market-like and bureaucratic ones. Based on those concepts this paper proposes a research to analyse the FCN governance mechanisms. Real case studies collected through an internet-based investigation on Community Supported Agriculture in North America have been found. Applying (i) new institutional economics and (ii) organizational science arguments, the case studies were used to determine features that are useful to describe how FCN governance works. On one hand we used (i) new institutional economics based features such as pooling resources and contracting; (ii) on the other hand market-like, bureaucratic, communitarian and democratic elements represent the organizational science approach. The results indicate a great variety of FCN organizational forms emerging in North America.

AbstractThis study reveals the consumer side of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the food industry, exploring awareness, preferences and willingness to pay for CSR of a representative sample of Italian households. The results clearly indicate that Italian consumers reveal a high level of awareness within clear, though heterogeneous, preferences for CSR initiatives. Five consumers' groups were identified: 'environmentalists', 'pro‐socials', 'collectivists', 'animal friends' and 'selfish health centered'. Furthermore, the study reveals consumers' willingness to pay a premium price to reward food companies addressing their concerns and expectations in terms of CSR. Findings offer insights for business managers on how to promote CSR, developing communication and information strategies focusing on specific needs and personal relevance within a group of consumers.

The present study focused on an environmental scandal that occurred in Italy, the Land of Fires toxic waste scandal, which caused consumer concerns related to the safety of food produced in the affected region, as well as massive market reduction in products associated with the polluted area. Based on a representative sample of Italian households (N = 1134), this study applied an extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model to analyze consumer purchases of regional food products after this environmental hazard. In addition to attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control, the model included risk perception, trust, and actual purchases. Using a structural equation model, our results provided support to the hypothesis that consumer perceptions of risk negatively impacted their purchase behaviors and suggested that increasing Italians' trust in government information could reduce their perceived risk and, consequently, increase their intention to purchase regional food.

AbstractWe replicate Bocquého et al. (2014), who used multiple price lists to investigate the risk preferences of 107 French farmers. We collected new data from 1430 participants in 11 European farming systems. In agreement with the original study, farmers' risk preferences are best described by Cumulative Prospect Theory. Structural model estimates show that farmers in the new samples are, on average, less loss averse and more susceptible to probability distortion than in the original study. Explorative analyses indicate differences between estimation approaches, as well as heterogeneity between and within samples. We discuss challenges in replications of economic experiments with farmers across farming contexts.