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Over recent, circular economy literature has spread, but limited attention has been devoted to food consumption. In this chapter, we present a conceptual tool to approach circularity in food consumption, namely the circular food consumption practice (CFCP) framework. Literature on food waste management, social practice theory, circular business models, and sociotechnical transitions are the building blocks of the current framework. Such a framework is useful to analyze the potential implementation of a set of household activities fostering circular economy. Adopting an ecological perspective of food consumption, the framework reconnects households’ food-related behavior to its overall environmental implications; this perspective highlights also the role for circular economy of activities beyond recycling.

Framework of circular food consumption practice (CFCP)

Together with the benefit due to the worldwide increase in consumer interest in traditional European food style, a growing phenomenon of agropiracy has taken place. Firms' marketing strategies tend to concentrate on product purity while we believe there exists a well-defined path worth: 1. introduction of a traditional (original) product on international markets; 2. local firms' imitation of the successful good; 3. local firms redesigning original products according to local consumption models and preferences. A representative sample of American consumers were interviewed in 12 US cities. Econometric analysis results suggest that a strategy aimed at emphasizing the authenticity of the origin of any product may not lead to any improvement in its market share, but it might very likely affect that market as a whole. Products should be offered as part of a sort of traditional product package to promote food habits rather than just commodities. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The agri ‐food sector and food consumption models have experienced both worldwide and in Europe a process of change that still appears ongoing. The main effects of this change are clearly visible in a whole series of new developments. The most interesting of these appears to be the role played by food product quality as a basis on which to implement modern marketing policies targeting an increasingly segmented market. This obviously makes it necessary for food consumption analysts to shed light on what it means, within today’s European and world consumption scenarios, to produce quality goods. On this point, in recent years the concept of quality may be said to have undergone rapid evolution. Quality has gone from meaning only intrinsic product attributes, hence synonymous with excellence, to a broader definition full of different meanings. (more...), Proceedings in Food System Dynamics, Proceedings in System Dynamics and Innovation in Food Networks 2010

Traceability can serve various purposes in the food sector, including that of chain quality control. However, the aspects that seem to be most frequently required of traceability are those related to food safety. Nevertheless, traceability systems development has recently shifted its focus from the major aspects of food safety to a price premium search approach. Although such an approach often appears to lie behind production strategies, there is no technical or theoretical evidence to support it: traceability systems do not guarantee, per se, quality. On the other hand, a rigorous traceability system that pursues multiple objectives involves costly procedures that are very likely to feed all the way up to the consumer side. (more.....), Proceedings in Food System Dynamics, Proceedings in System Dynamics and Innovation in Food Networks 2010

This paper analyses factors affecting the likelihood of farmers to participate in short supply chains to market their products. While in literature participation in farmers markets is often emphasised as a re-action to mainstream production strategies, mainly imposed by large retailer, relatively little attention has been given to whether short channel mechanisms and location- related features induce selection for specific typologies of farms and farmers. Our results indicate that more attention needs to be given by both researchers and practitioners to the complexity of factors leading farmers to participate in short supply chains.

The topic of integration and development of sustainable chains has lately gained much attention in the academia debates. In particular, how to manage integration in the bio-energy chains is discussed. Integration is a process of progressive dependence among different actors willing to coordinate processes of innovation. This dynamic is generated by the interaction of individuals willing to start up collective action. The effectiveness of a collective action depends on the number of formal norms developed by collective contracts. This paper tackles these issues considering the specific case study of a collective action in a bio-energy chain. It focuses on the decision-making process of farmers on whether to join or not a collective action, analysing their trade-offs over the attributes of collective contracts. The empirical study was conducted in an area in Southern Italy, most affected by soil erosion problems. A stated preference model was implemented where respondents were asked to choose between alternative collective contracts with varying attribute levels to start biomass cultivation. Two hundreds face-to-face questionnaires were administered to farmers in September-October 2013. First results show that participation is mainly influenced by minimum price guaranteed, contract length, and re-negotiation before the end of a contract.

Carbon footprint has become a widely used term and concept in the public debate on social responsibility towards a sustainable future. Carbon emissions reduction target represents a global challenge gaining the headlines around the world and pushing academic scientists to discuss actively possible technical innovations, economic consequences and environmental benefits. On the other hand consumers already have recognized a clear willingness to buy for the environmental and ethical dimensions of food products and policies for the primary sector, at the same time, have driven the above-described dynamics with greater resolution, recognizing the potential for an effective response to the squeeze in farm profit margins, supporting producers in their effort to leave the perimeter of commodities. However, Carbon footprint estimates largely differ across the literature, even though they refer to the same product, involving the same production processes. The present paper addresses explicitly the latter drawback, implementing a meta-analysis focused on fresh vegetables chain. The objective is assessing the uncertainty of `Carbon footprint' estimates, seeking a meaningful statistical description of the findings of a vast collection of studies. Our results show the large estimates variability across empirical studies and how they these estimates largely depend by certain study-specific characteristics, like methodology adopted., Proceedings in Food System Dynamics, Proceedings in System Dynamics and Innovation in Food Networks 2012

Food consumers often query or ignore the risk assessments of scientists, the food industry and public bodies. This is widely acknowledged. It has been suggested that this ‘expert-lay discrepancy’ is a relatively straightforward upshot of the fact that lay people lack the knowledge and technical understanding of experts. However, much published research on risk in psychology and sociology runs counter to this ‘knowledge deficit’ model (Hansen et al., 2003). In many cases, at least, lay risk assessments are not well explained as the product of ignorance, because they are in fact complex, situational sensitive expressions of a person's value system. There is obviously a pressing need today to understand expert-lay discrepancies in the assessment of food risks. We need to know how consumers perceive and assess risks; why they respond to communication and advice relating to those risks in the way they do; what factors affect their willingness to trust public institutions responsible for regulating the food industry and issuing guidance on food matters; and what determines their handling of specific food hazards. Psychometric and psychological studies of risk perception offer an invaluable corrective to excessive and simplistic reliance on the deficit model (Fife et al., 2000; Hansen et al., 2003). By emphasising the multi-dimensionality of lay risk perception, they have improved the understanding of expert-lay discrepancy. More generally, the demonstration that risks and benefits are not perceived independently of each other is a crucial finding of psychological research, and we now know that risk-benefit analyses that treat risk and benefits as independent factors should be handled with caution by those aiming to interpret or influence popular opinion. Our paper is an attempt to analyse consumers’ behaviour when facing a potential risky action such as consuming GM food. The hypothesis tested states that consumers take into account both costs (accident) and benefits (rewards) of uncertain outcomes and then minimize risk instead of trying to totally avoid it. A sample of 338 students, interviewed in year 2000 (188) and in year 2008 (150), enrolled in different Italian colleges was directly interviewed on an hypothetical genetically modified tomato market. A mixture distributions was used first for inferring on what variables influence the decision to take part on the "new market" proposed and, second, to estimate the Willingness To Pay (WTP) distribution for those willing to buy the GM product proposed.

Major changes have occurred in the agri-food sector, generating new and more complex concepts of food quality. One of the most significant indicators of these changes is market restructuring, in terms of rapid concentration among retailers, the dominance of chain stores and their imposition of cost and quality constraints. Retailers currently play a more important role in ensuring food product quality and safety than public authorities. To analyze this new aspect in the food sector, we carried out a survey on organic strawberry consumption in Italy. This segment of the organic sector is particularly interesting because the conventional strawberry may be considered an unsafe product due to the large use of chemical inputs in the production process. Nevertheless, the demand for organic strawberries demand is fairly low. We attempted to investigate such concerns through a questionnaire-based survey submitted to a representative sample of 318 Italian households. The questionnaire was structured into three areas of information to collect data related to consumer preferences for different characteristics of organic strawberries and psychometric and socio-economic variables. The data were analyzed using a Logit model to derive a demand estimate for organic strawberries. Our first results indicate the presence of a major role played by modern retailers and consumer lifestyles to drive the final demand of high-quality and safe food products.

Germany is an important world level market for fresh fruit. Spain and Italy are the main suppliers of fresh fruit on the German market while the main imported products are apple, grapes, peaches and oranges. The aim of this paper is to assess the role country of origin plays in the preferences of German consumers for peaches. Since German legislation requires fresh fruit sold on the market to clearly display the product’s country of origin, German consumers usually make their choice with this information to hand. How important is such information, and what is the trade-off between country of origin and price or organic production system? We attempted to investigate such concerns through a choice experiment approach conducted by means of a questionnaire-based survey administered to a representative sample of 300 German households. In the experiment, respondents were asked to choose their favorite peach among four alternatives. Each peach was described as imported from four specific countries (Italy, Spain, Turkey and France) and available at a specific price; some of the peaches were certified Organic or PDO. The stated choices are analyzed using a latent class choice model to derive estimates of preferences for peaches. Results indicate the presence of three distinct consumer segments in the German peach market. The largest segment (48%) showed a strong preference for Italian peaches as well as for organic and PDO certification. For this segment, price was not an important attribute. The second segment (41%) showed a strong preference for Spanish produce and organic certification. Price was important in this case. The third segment (11%) had a negative preference for Italian and Spanish peaches, with price being the main attribute.

The intense process of internationalisation of the food market is giving rise to new competitive scenarios. The growth of market shares by new export countries, along with other consumer and retailer's issues impose different marketing policies for agri-food products. In particular, a wider awareness of consumers for environmental and health issues is modifying the structure of demand for fresh products. In the past, the country of origin and a convenient quality/price ratio were the main strategic strengths for gaining and maintaining international market shares . Nowadays market shares are gained by moving towards new product attributes, namely environment friendliness and food safety. This paper aims to suggesting new and more successful marketing strategies. The case study is the German market of cherry tomatoes. An analysis of German consumer preference was performed on stated choice data. Results provide interesting insights. Product attributes related to the environment are found to be relevant. As these are defined as 'faith' attributes, we speculate that German consumers refer to product origin country as a proxy of its environmental aspects. Two separate competitive segments emerge, one with a higher level of environmental quality (Germany and Italy), and Turkey, Spain, France and Holland. Finally, results point out how policies need to be redesigned and focused on new and more complex issues expressed by consumers in modern and developed markets marketing.

New consumption habits stand out against the idea of a rational consumer, which is aimed at maximizing utility according to budget constraint. Presently, people have the tendency to behave differently according to various purchase opportunities; a significant role is played by both ethical sides and selfless motivations. These new trends fall within the context of a new social paradigm that foresees postmodern society’s rise. Consumers have the tendency to use the market as an arena in which political, ethical and environmental issues may arise, starting a new trend of an alternative consumption called “political consumerism”. In this paper we’ll try to understand how new consumption habits mirror features of postmodern society, starting with research work on specialized fairs of organic food in Sicily.

Islamic and Jewish laws forbid the stunning of animals before slaughtering, which is considered the least painful practice to kill farmed animals. The debate on ritual slaughtering has struggled over the years to conciliate the perspectives of religious and animal rights. However, this debate has disregarded to date that, whether animals are killed through laic or ritual slaughtering, they are farmed under industrial farm animal production (ifap) where their rights are often scarcely considered. Current point of view is a critical contribution to the debate on ritual slaughtering. Starting from current limitations of the debate as concerns its ethical and technical dimensions, the paper elaborates on the relevance that considering animal suffering under ifap would have in a more coherent debate. Our analysis highlights that despite the endeavour to select and regulate the best slaughtering method, animal conditions under ifap still represent the main challenge for the overall welfare of farmed animals. Thereby, beyond the conflict between animal and religious rights a latent problem of food choices exists, that involves both laic and religious communities. The paper suggests achieving a shared cultural and social acknowledgement of animal rights and finding solutions to spread extensive farming systems as the most urgent objectives to contribute to reducing the suffering of farmed animals.

There is increasing interest toward insects as an alternative protein source in Western countries even though, so far, most Western consumers react with disgust and rejection. The literature on consumer behavior has mainly investigated the willingness to consume insects with regard to human diet, revealing that providing information about the positive effects of edible insects and using familiar foods while ensuring that insects are not visible will increase the willingness to eat insects. What is still unclear are consumers preferences for specific insect-based products having different features in a non-hypothetical market. The current study analyzed 200 Italian consumers’ preferences for three insect-based products (carriers) such as pasta, cookies and chocolate bars through a non-hypothetical willingness to pay (WTP) elicitation mechanism, the Multiple Price List (MPL), in a mixed within/between experimental design. The influence of the different types of information on consumer choice and the main forces driving consumer preferences for insect-based food were tested. The findings reveal that different carriers generate different results in terms of WTP for conventional and insect-based versions of the products. Further, without being provided information, consumers deem insect-based products either equivalent (the same WTP for the two versions of pasta) or weakly inferior (lower WTP in the case of cookies and chocolate), while when information on the benefits of insect consumption is provided, consumers’ WTP increase for all the insect-based products analyzed. Finally, among the psychographic scales, Food Neophobia and Beliefs and Attitudes toward insects negatively affect the WTP for insect-based products.

This 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.

This study examines Chinese urban consumers' preferences for pig process attributes related to food safety. A consumer survey was conducted on 479 participants randomly selected in the cities of Nanjing, Chengdu, Wuhan, Changchun, Beijing and Guangzhou. The field survey was restricted to two kinds of retailing: supermarkets and local markets. The questionnaire included a contingent experiment to evaluate five different attributes of pig production processes, including food safety effort, stocking density as proxies of animal welfare, meat taste, origin of breeds and quality. Through a panel mixed logit model we found that respondents were highly sensitive to food safety albeit with heterogeneous preferences. Such heterogeneity is partially explained by socio-demographic variables. Our study suggests that very poor families living in smaller cities are those most concerned about food safety in urban China.

Animal welfare involves societal and human values, ethical concerns and moral considerations since it incorporates the belief of what is right or what is wrong in animal treatment and care. This paper aims to ascertain whether the different dimensions of individual attitudes toward animal welfare in food choices may be characterized by general human values, as identified by Schwartz. For this purpose, an EU-wide survey was carried out, covering almost 2500 nationally representative individuals from five European countries. Compared with the previous literature this study shows a twofold novelty: (1) it develops a general framework to link individual enduring beliefs and attitudes toward animal welfare attributes in food choices; (2) the framework is analyzed within a broad-based cross-country study. Our empirical results prove that human values related to self-transcendence are strongly associated to overall animal welfare attitudes and especially to those explicitly related to food choices, while values related to the spheres of self-enhancement and conservatism are significantly associated to less sensitive attitudes to animal welfare. Moreover, our results appear to indicate that a determinant of animal welfarism in food choices is potentially associated to individual concerns regarding food safety issues.

The current study explored consumers' preferences for natural versus enriched foods and identified the underlying driving forces behind consumer interest towards both attributes. A laboratory experiment with 200 respondents was carried out, applying the incentive compatible Becker-DeGroot-Marschak mechanism to measure consumers' willingness to pay for natural and enriched attributes of chewing gum. Empirical findings reveal that the two attributes are evaluated similarly by consumers. Furthermore, structural equation modelling identified a strong interdependence between the natural and the enriched attributes, suggesting they are complementary rather than substitutes/alternatives in consumers' food choices. Indeed, preferences for natural and for enriched attributes are influenced by different motivations nonetheless share a common driver: the general interest for healthy food.

In recent decades, the Sicilian wine industry has experienced a booming expansion because of the growing preferences of Italian consumers for Sicilian wines, especially in extra-regional markets. These consumers have been paying closer attention to Sicilian premium wines. For this reason, the objective of this study is to inform professional investors and wine managers about the consumer preferences with respect to the most important segment categories of domestically consumed Sicilian wines. Using the quantile regression technique, we analyzed the role of wine attributes and prices as an information tool in order to value for each wine segment the implicit price of the attributes affecting wine consumers’ choices. The results indicate that Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) and Geographical Indication (PGI) certification is the main determinant in the wine price mechanisms and certified wines achieve premium prices that are progressively higher as the price level of the wine increases. Furthermore the effect of the brand on price formation seems to have a significant impact for low-end wines, whereas it has no specific impact on the price mechanism for high-end wines.

BACKGROUND: This study, by combining sensory and experimental economics techniques, aims to analyse to what extent the production process, and the information about it, may affect consumer preferences. Sparkling wines produced by Champenoise and Charmat methods were the object of the study. A quantitative descriptive sensory analysis with a trained panel and non‐hypothetical auctions combined with hedonic ratings involving young wine consumers (N = 100), under different information scenarios (Blind, Info and Info Taste), were performed. RESULTS: The findings show that the production process impacts both the sensory profile of sparkling wines and consumer expectations. In particular, the hedonic ratings revealed that when tasting the products, both with no information on the production process (Blind) and with such information (Info Taste), the consumers preferred the Charmat wines. On the contrary, when detailed information on the production methods was given without tasting (Info), consumers liked the two Champenoise wines more. CONCLUSION: It can be concluded that sensory and non‐sensory attributes of sparkling wines affect consumers' preferences. Specifically, the study suggests that production process information strongly impacts liking expectations, while not affecting informed liking. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry

The wine market has evolved dramatically over the last three decades. The premium wine segment has expanded significantly to the detriment of basic wines. Nevertheless, in traditional wine producing and consuming countries, inexpensive wines still account for a large market share, both in volume and value. Marketing strategies for such wines are changing in an attempt to tap this increasingly crowded market segment. Despite its importance, the basic wine segment has not been studied in depth, and is often assumed to have no product differentiation. This paper tried to ascertain the existence of a possible degree of heterogeneity within non-premium wines and to measure, by means of elasticity computation, the relationships among categories of wines aggregated with criteria that go beyond price. A demand system (censored QUAIDS) was estimated, using a statistically representative panel of 6,773 Italian households, to see to what extent, if any, substitution occurs in home consumption of basic wines, which is the main channel of distribution of inexpensive wines in Italy. Although price is an important lever in supply policies, our results also suggest the importance of packaging, such as carton as an alternative to glass.

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&rsquo, trust in government information could reduce their perceived risk and, consequently, increase their intention to purchase regional food.

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.

In Italy there has been considerable political debate around the new energy policy, which is specifically designed to contribute to climate change mitigation. While there is renewed interest in nuclear energy generation, there has been heated debate concerning wind farms that have rapidly expanded and are dramatically changing the landscape in many rural areas. Finally, interest has also increased in biomass as an energy source. However, in this case, a significant part of the population is worried about landscape change and primary crop reduction. In this study we report the results from a nation-wide survey (=504 households) in Italy undertaken during summer 2009. A Latent Class Choice Experiment was used to quantify household preferences over different energy sources. Our results show that Italian households can be split into three segments with homogeneous preferences. The first segment (35% of the population) shows strong preference for wind and solar energy and dislikes both biomass and nuclear. The second (33% of the population) shows moderate preference for solar and wind energy and, as with the first segment, dislikes both nuclear and biomass. The third (32% of the population) shows a strong preference for green energy (solar, wind and biomass) and is very much against nuclear energy. The three segments were also characterized in terms of household socio-economic characteristics.

Social embeddedness, defined as the interaction of economic activities and social behavior, is used in this study as a conceptual tool to describe the growing phenomenon of food community networks (FCNs). The aim in this paper was to map the system of relations which the FCNs develop both inside and outside the network and, from the number of relations, it was inferred the influence of each FCN upon the formation of new socially embedded economic realities. A particular form of FCN was taken under consideration: solidarity purchase groups (SPGs). Performed with the aid of social network analysis on a sample of SPGs in Sicily (a region in southern Italy), the study allowed us to identify a relational (internal) social embeddedness, in which groups of consumers and farmers are directly influenced by reciprocal interactions, giving rise to more or less numerous links of reciprocity and trust depending on the number of interactions. It was also identified a structural (external) social embeddedness, generated by the nature of relations that the SPGs undertake with the various social actors. From the results of our analysis it emerges that SPGs lie at the intersection of many social phenomena, influencing them and in turn being influenced by such phenomena. We highlight the major role played by consumer and environmental associations in affecting the phenomenon of social embeddedness.

This article evaluates consumers’ preferences among different pig production systems using a generalized random-parameter logit model for ranked outcome. The aim is to indagate whether process attributes are considered relevant by European consumers. Differences of preferences across subpopulations, among northern and mediterranean European countries, are also tested. The study’s background includes consumers’ concern of both farm animal welfare and environmental impact of livestock production. A self-administered structured electronic survey was developed to investigate product and process attributes of pork meat. It was completed by a sample of 2,437 representative individuals from five European countries. Each respondent made 14 choices, rank-ordering 15 pig production profiles in terms of their individual preference. The choice was organized around a fractional factorial main effect orthogonal design. Each profile consists of five different attributes, including product’s and process’s ones: stocking density and floor type process attributes have been included as proxies of animal welfare production characteristics; impact on soil, air and water were included to underline environmental related process attributes; fat contents and chain type/product were used to include in the choice set also traditional product attributes. A generalization of conditional logit model for ranked outcomes was implemented, accounting for heterogeneity and correlation among the respondent’s choices. Our analysis highlights the fundamental strategic role played by the process attributes considered. Such an influence in choices, however, does not seem connected to psychographic or particular lifestyle variables. This might suggest that a floor type more conducive to animal welfare and considerable effort made by the farm to limit environmental impact both represent for consumers indirect indicators of food health and safety. In addition, for a mature product, as is pork in current European consumption models, to focus on intrinsic attributes such as fat quantity and quality would not appear efficient. This is confirmed by the result obtained for the “obese” segment, for whom fat quality is unimportant in their choice to purchase pork.

China is one of the most dynamic regions in the world in terms of economic growth and development. Such development has inevitably influenced the structure and habits of Chinese society. Whilst the economic condition of the middle class and high-income segment have steadily improved, cultural changes are also under way: ancient Chinese traditions now include major elements from other cultures, most notably the West (Hsing, 2011). The above scenario is the background to this paper. A structured research-administered survey was developed to investigate the changes in the Chinese consumer food culture: 500 urban participants were randomly selected from six reference cities, covering geographically almost the whole country. This study aims not only to analyze the propensity of consumers to include food products from other countries in their ancient Chinese culinary culture, but also represents an initial attempt to perform a market segmentation of Chinese consumers according to their degree of cultural openness toward non-Chinese food, taking into account socio-demographic, cognitive and psychographic variables.

Depletion of natural resources has become a key issue on the European policy agenda. Bottom-up measures have emerged in several countries with a view to promoting awareness campaigns and environmental sustainability, with the agenda set by individuals who start up collective initiatives at the local level. Such collective action provides an incentive to free-ride on the contribution of others. Social norms and the consequent behavior of individuals involved in collective action assume a key role in ensuring sustainable use of a public good, achieving significant, long-lasting success. The present study aims to ascertain which determinants most affect farmers’ willingness to contribute to common resources. The empirical study was conducted in an area in the province of Avellino (southern Italy) most affected by soil erosion problems. The study focused on the willingness of farmers to contribute to the public good through biomass production (Giant Cane). In all, 175 face-to-face questionnaires were administered to farmers in September-November 2013. Schwartz’s norm-activation model variables were collected. A Tobit model was implemented in which the dependent variable was the land farmers stated they were willing to cultivate with Giant Cane. Four on five psychological constructs, based on the NAM, proved statistically significant with the expected sign, showing that an altruistic behavioral approach is useful to predict the individual’s decision to adopt cooperation norms.

Evaluating the possible benefits of the introduction of genetically modified (GM) crops must address the issue of consumer resistance as well as the complex regulation that has ensued. In the European Union (EU) this regulation envisions the "co-existence" of GM food with conventional and quality-enhanced products, mandates the labelling and traceability of GM products, and allows only a stringent adventitious presence of GM content in other products. All these elements are brought together within a partial equilibrium model of the EU agricultural food sector. The model comprises conventional, GM and organic food. Demand is modelled in a novel fashion, whereby organic and conventional products are treated as horizontally differentiated but GM products are vertically differentiated (weakly inferior) relative to conventional ones. Supply accounts explicitly for the land constraint at the sector level and for the need for additional resources to produce organic food. Model calibration and simulation allow insights into the qualitative and quantitative effects of the large-scale introduction of GM products in the EU market. We find that the introduction of GM food reduces overall EU welfare, mostly because of the associated need for costly segregation of non-GM products, but the producers of quality-enhanced products actually benefit.

In questo studio, facendo ricorso al supporto GIS (Geophical Information System), sono stati analizzati i dati relativi all’applicazione della misura in favore dell’agricoltura biologica presente nel PSR della Regione Campania 2000-2006 per l’anno 2004 (primo anno di applicazione del programma). L’analisi condotta ha posto in evidenza come il supporto GIS possa essere di grande aiuto in questa tipologia di valutazione. Infatti, nel caso studio ha permesso di valutare in maniera abbastanza puntuale la congruità dello specifico intervento di politica comunitaria.

What is nowadays known as organic farming in Albania is at an initial phase. It is mainly located in the so called “marginal areas” by small farms. Organic market in Albania can be considered as at a very starting stage with small niches marketing point but with a growing interest of consumers for fresh productions with limited processing activities. The conditions for a better partaking in the country’s markets is, however, desirable since commercial and trade between Albania and other countries, mainly EU’s, is readily growing. The aim of the present research work is to present a descriptive analysis of the structural and productive indicators of the organic and, at large, the whole agriculture sector in Albania. The first part of the paper analyses the economical and social framework of today’s Albanian farming, which is still far from the European Union standards. Although organic farming in Albania is not as regulated as it is in the EU, we tried to outline to what extent organic farming can reach a productive and economical perspectives for local development. In the second part of the paper we analysed the situation of the potential of organic farms by means of a SWOT analysis. The strength and weakness points for the farms, together with the possibilities and threats of the organic market pointed out by environmental analysis, are selected with the intention of addressing the main issues, and attempting to delineate some peculiar policies and market intervention for overcoming the actual nodal points.

Il contenimento dei costi di produzione dell’uva è un tema cruciale nella conduzione delle aziende vitivinicole che devono ormai fronteggiare una concorrenza sempre più accesa. I costi di produzione sono tuttavia influenzati da numerosi fattori tra cui la varietà, la forma di allevamento, la resa, il livello di meccanizzazione e l’obiettivo qualitativo della produzione. L’articolo documenta un’indagine esplorativa di queste relazioni in un contesto aziendale specifico e mette in evidenza come la ricerca di una più elevata qualità tende a determinare un importante aumento dei costi il cui controllo richiede attenzione e sforzi di ricerca.

Lo studio analizza la rilevanza dell'attributo provenienza nell'influenzare le preferenze dei consumatori di pesche nel mercato tedesco. L'analisi dlle preferenze è effettuato con l'ausilio di un modello econometrico a classi latenti