Suchergebnisse

The increasing impact due to urban population's food supply causes a series of negative externalities related to food production, transformation and transportation. FAO and other institutions are trying to integrate traditional models of food supply with alternative ones like Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture (UPA). Defining the drivers that motivate the participation in different types of UPA could be useful to plan more participated and effective UPA development policies. Barcelona (Spain) hosts a number of cases representing different declinations that UPA can assume. This work aims at describing the differences in terms of motivations to enter the various typologies of Urban Agriculture (UA) in Barcelona. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews to 4 groups of users representing 3 of the most widespread models of UA initiatives in Barcelona (Allotment Gardens, Community Gardens, Pla Buits.)The results showed that participation in UA is mainly motivated by relational aspects and knowledge exchange and differences exist among the various UA models. Political reasons are mostly influencing the Community Gardeners while Pla Buits users' mains motivations are related to socialising and Allotment gardeners are mainly motivated by environmental aspects. Differences in the participants' demographic characteristics also emerged. Better targeted public policies contents and communication strategies for UPA development can thus be derived by the results obtained; to this end, recommendations have been provided. Further research should broaden the range of case studies and the sample size, in order to provide a more effective and comprehensive tool for tailoring UPA developing strategies to different contexts.

Soybean is a major ingredient for animal feeding in the EU, which is highly dependent on its import. Brazil is the main exporter of soy meal to Europe contributing to nearly 30% of EU total import of meal. The last ten years saw an increased demand from the EU feed and food industry in using sustainable raw material. In this context, the European Feed Manufacturer Federation (FEFAC) is currently discussing a guideline for the characteristics that sustainable soy production should have. At the same time, China has increased its share of import of soy and has become the main importer of soy in the world. Competition between Europe and Chine for the supply of soy is increasing. Trade barriers, due to complex sustainability requirements from the EU, could affect its import from Brazil. The SOJAPLUS program is a key initiative concerning the sustainability of soy production in Brazil. It was set up by the Brazilian Vegetable Oil Industries Association (ABIOVE) and by the Soybean Farmers Association (APROSOJA-MT). Considering the potential of this initiative to support the supply to the European market of significant amounts of sustainable soy, the objective of this paper is to discuss the possible harmonization of the sustainability criteria defined by these important EU and Brazilian soy market players. The two set of criteria have been compared, adopting the ITC data base and comparison method; the results show that SOJAPLUS comprises all FEFAC principles and most of its criteria. The main difference, however, is related to the verification system, which in SOJAPLUS is a 1st party system (self-verification) while the FEFAC guidelines consider a 3rd party system (audits); a relevant issue, common to both the FEFAC and SOJAPLUS approach, is related to the inclusion of GMO soy in the sustainability guidelines. As the FEFAC guidelines are still in discussion, there is a very interesting opportunity to harmonize both systems aiming at increasing the sustainability of soybean supply from Brazil to Europe by tackling the difficult challenges of 3rd party certification and GMO soy inclusion. The latter being a major concern for EU consumers, policy makers, farmers' associations and other stakeholders involved in the processing and consumption of soy.

Long, complex and globalised food chains often pose major challenges in terms of the sustainability of their environmental, economic and social impacts. The aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of the sustainability of the beef and soy supply chains in Latin America and the European Union (EU). Within an FP 7 project called SALSA, we explored the attitudes towards, preferences for, and awareness of specific sustainability aspects of supply chains from the perspective of non-business and business stakeholders as well as consumers.