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Fairness and ethical values in agro-food chain lay at the center of the current debate on agro-food chain sustainability. The food labels may contain elements focused on agro-food chain management fairness practices. The objective of the present study is to explore what types of fairness agro-food companies value in the food products they commercialize, and if the characteristics of agro-food companies have a relationship with the type of fairness valued. The research study collected 226 commercialized food products containing information on the agro-food chain fairness practices companies adopted to produce the food products. Data elaboration included a cluster analysis to identify groups of fair products, and a multinomial logistic regression to explore the relationship between the identified clusters and fairness types, organic, nutritional and functional claims, and price. Results support that fairness-oriented products provide information on different types of fairness that is distributive, procedural, and interactional. Some products provide economic information on the distribution of price between upstream and downstream actors. Other products focus on procedural and interactional fairness practices, such as dignity, respect and transparent relationship in agro-food chain; technologies used in the production and distribution of the product; and ethical certifications that companies hold. Fairness-oriented information differ depending both on the type of chain actor commercializing the product, and on the type of brand, that is whether commercial brand or private label. The main conclusion is that companies convey fairness-related information to consumers differently according to company’s role in the agro-food chain. Yet, there is need to exploit further the potential role of fairness practices in defining effective business strategies to contribute to higher equity and sustainability in the agro-food system.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the performance of water-saving technologies (WST) through an investigation of its effect at the farm level. Indeed, the study attempts to estimate the economic value of WST use in Algerian farming, through the comparison of some farm performance indicators between WST adopters, drip irrigation system as a WST, and farmers practicing gravity irrigation as a traditional system. A cross-section data from a survey is conducted in an irrigated perimeter situated in the north-eastern Algeria (Jijel region) encompassing 106 small horticultural farms (including 60 pepper producers and 46 tomato producers). First, the study compares some performance indicators between the two groups of farms. Second, a stochastic production frontier model is used to estimate the productivity gain generated by the WST adoption. Main results show that water consumption, gross margin, and water productivity are statistically significant between the two groups of farms. The average water productivity differential between WST users and non-users is 29% and 25% for tomato and pepper, respectively. The regression model has shown that increasing the WST use by 1% help to increase water productivity of the region by 0.20% for pepper production and 0.11% for tomato production. The findings of this study confirm the hypothesis that WST economize on water quantity, positively affects crop yield and can enhance water productivity.

This paper examines aggregate supply response of 19 selected crops in Algerian agriculture during the 1966-2018 period by employing cointegration analysis and error correction model (ECM). It tests whether there has been a long-run equilibrium relationship between agricultural outputs and prices, besides a confirmation about the responsiveness of agricultural supply to economic incentives (prices). Findings indicate that the long-run elasticities of all selected crops with respect to prices are statistically significant and mostly low, whereas short-run elasticities are lower, which appeals to the adequacy of adjustment to economic incentives. Furthermore, the results of the ECM confirmed the positive responsiveness to prices with differential rates of adjustment for selected crops, ruling out the applicability of a presumed perverse supply response in Algerian agriculture.

This study aims to analyze the determinants of vertical integration (ownership and contract-ing) among peasant farmers in Northern Algeria. The choice of asset control is between ownership and a simple contracting. Thus, the integration of vertical stages of agricultural produc-tion leads to higher gross margins, influencesthe choice of marketing and supply channels, and improves market participation of farmers. Three different regression models were used to determine the likelihood of a peasant household to integrate vertically (and horizontally) in its enterprise. Data were collected from 635 smallholder farmers in Northern Algeria. Farm structure, farm size, farmers' age, farmers’ level of education, seasonality, and geographical location were assumed to be the key factors in accounting for a household’s likelihood to ver-tically integrate in its farming enterprise. These key factors affect the household’s likelihood of horizontal integration. The study, then, carries the implication that policy-makers should develop increased awareness of farm structure, its scale, seasonal and spatial nature of agricultural production, as well as of some farmers’social characteristics in order to be able to improve the agricultural productivity.

This study aims to investigate the effect of main socioeconomic factors of technology adoption, with special reference to the role of assets specificity in farm management. The contribution of this study is largely empirical by testing some hypotheses in Algerian context. We investigate the determinants of technology asset control choices in the agricultural production in order to conclude on the constraints of farm extent and its implications for farm management and economic efficiency. Our main results assert that the technology asset control choice is determined by the farm size, organizational form, human capital, social status, and geographical location. These findings corroborate the existing theories and generate some empirical implications, leading to propose some directions for future research.