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The literature on migrants’ integration and wellbeing is ample, but the case of economic-asylum seekers in a protracted asylum application system is yet to receive sufficient attention. The economic-asylum seekers are a unique group who migrate with an economic motive but apply for asylum to achieve economic integration in the host country. We use the aspiration-capability framework and a mixed-method approach: participant observation, focus group discussion, and field survey, to study a group of economic-asylum seekers from Nigeria when they were waiting for their asylum decisions in Italy. We find that they evaluate their wellbeing by reflecting on their premigration aspirations, integration constraints, and capabilities. They report lower life satisfaction compared to their satisfaction in Nigeria, and were affected by several barriers including structural, psychological, economic, and social constraints. Our study generally describes what it is like to live in limbo and frustration, with a limited assurance for a better tomorrow. It gives voice to the economic-asylum seekers and contributes to the integration literature by examining their perceptions of integration constraints.

In contemporary Bosnia and Herzegovina, rural poverty is an unresolved issue, despite farming having been a poverty coping strategy for many rural dwellers, especially after the end of the Balkan war. Eradicating poverty is among the priorities of the national government that aims at EU candidacy and accession. Being the most dynamic among agricultural sectors, berry farming is a key agricultural activity at the national level and had been the subject of rural development interventions, including the establishment of agricultural cooperatives. This article provides evidence from the largest agricultural cooperative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, to inform decision making and policy planning. The article aims at describing and analyzing the status and dynamics of poverty at the farm household level while highlighting their contributing factors, as well as at proposing possible development strategies based on the voice of local actors. Given the complexity and multifaceted features of the investigated issues, the methodological approach of this study relies on a mixed-methods research design, where the quantitative findings from the analysis of poverty status and dynamics and their contributing factors are complemented by qualitative findings from participatory activities. The results of the study pinpoint the successful contribution of the cooperative to the improvement of farmers' working conditions and market access and suggest that supporting collective action among berry farmers can be an effective rural development intervention to alleviate rural poverty and prevent poverty fallouts. To date, structural characteristics of farm holdings and households and climate and market-related conditions have significantly contributed to the farmers' poverty as well as to farmers’ exposure to poverty. Furthermore, bridging the gender gap is still a challenge in Bosnia and Herzegovina which should be addressed urgently to mitigate the problem of social exclusion and to promote bottom-up innovation.

Digital technologies are often seen as an opportunity to enable sustainable futures in agriculture and rural areas. However, this digital transformation process is not inherently good as it impacts on many aspects (e.g. economic, environmental, social, technological, institutional) and their relations. The Responsible Research and Innovation approach calls for a better understanding and anticipation of the often unknown impacts. To meet this aim we have developed a framework that allows to gain insight on the relations between the social, the cyber and the physical, i.e. a Socio-Cyber-Physical System and have described conditions for a successful digital transformation of such a system. These are design of, and creating access to digital technologies, and navigating system complexity. This framework allows for a better problematisation of digital transformation and has been illustrated through an example of digital dairy farming. It supports an enhanced understanding of moral responsibilities regarding digital transformation, fitting within the Responsible Research and Innovation approach, as well as the succinct step of understanding who is responsible or accountable for the identified (positive or negative) impacts, i.e. responsibilisation.

This study is a systematic review of literature on the impact of international migration on rural areas. We examined this impact on six rural welfare indicators, including labour, livelihood activities, income, food security, land use, and rural development. We selected 44 papers from a pool of 1544 articles published from 2007 to 2018. We found that the impact of international migration on selected indicators varies and are highly context-specific. The results point to the existence of heterogeneity in impacts, capable of creating a space of losers and winners among migrants and non-migrants households. The immediate impact is the loss labour effect, which leads to a process of feminisation of agriculture and the use of child labour. In the intermediate, this trend changes the power relationship in rural areas, briefly increasing the opportunities for the non-migrants household to control land. However, remittance helps the migrant household to move up in the income ladder, improving their food security, enabling the repurchase of land and causing a transition away from agriculture. We submit that international migration from developing countries could create a dynamic process of structural and functional transformations in rural areas, which may ultimately lead to a transition away from agriculture. We provide several policy implications and identified some research gaps for future studies.

CONTEXT: It is still an open question how to assess the contribution of digitalisation in agriculture to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, and how digitalisation then can be done in a responsible way. A socio-cyber-physical system (SCPS) concept can help this analysis, but little experience exists with its operationalisation and application, and its integration with the Responsible Research and Innovation approach. OBJECTIVE: To address this gap, this paper has a twofold purpose: a) operationalise the SCPS concept within an integrated assessment framework adaptable to multiple levels of analysis, contexts, and purposes (e.g. ex-ante, ongoing, ex post evaluation) to shed light on impacts of digitalisation in relation to SCPS entities, relationships, and activities; b) apply the designed framework in 21 multi-stakeholder platforms (Living Labs), which were established to explore needs and expectations in specific subjects relevant for European agriculture, forestry and rural areas. METHODS: Impacts were assessed through interviews (158 respondents), focus groups (378 participants), online surveys (273 respondents), and other secondary data. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate that the SCPS framework enables elucidating relationships between digital and broader sustainable development goals and needs, and can sharpen earlier assessments, going beyond a pessimistic or optimistic dichotomy associated to digitalisation by specifying effects and trade-offs in terms of enabling, disenabling, boosting and depleting impacts of digital agriculture. However, the framework being comprehensive and open to emerging socio-cyber-physical interactions, makes that Livings Labs doing participatory impact assessments struggled with the complexity and multiple dimensions of the topic. SIGNIFICANCE: The paper provides both conceptual and operational knowledge to set up impact evaluations of responsible digitalisation in agriculture and outline concepts that can help anticipating the consequences and trade-offs.

Digital technologies are often seen as an opportunity to enable sustainable futures in agriculture and rural areas. However, this digital transformation process is not inherently good as it impacts on many aspects (e.g. economic, environmental, social, technological, institutional) and their relations. The responsible research and innovation approach calls for a better understanding and anticipation of the often unknown impacts. To meet this aim we have developed a framework that allows to gain insight on the relations between the social, the cyber and the physical, i.e. a socio-cyber-physical system and have described conditions for a successful digital transformation of such a system. These are design of, and creating access to digital technologies, and navigating system complexity. This framework allows for a better problematisation of digital transformation and has been illus- trated through an example of digital dairy farming. It supports an enhanced understanding of moral re- sponsibilities regarding digital transformation, fitting within the responsible research and innovation approach, as well as a better understanding who is responsible or accountable for the identified (positive or negative) impacts, i.e. responsibilisation.

Increasing fish consumption along with rising competition in the global seafood market has brought fisheries and aquaculture producers to adopt several differentiation and marketing strategies. Labelling schemes were thus introduced to respond to a growing demand for traceable and sustainable products. However, the proliferation of quality labels brought to general confusion, calling for collective and public fish labels to ease decision-making. In our case study region (Tuscany, Italy), a number of policy-driven efforts were deployed for establishing regional labelling schemes for fisheries products with no observable impact on the market. Meanwhile, local companies have implemented a number of successful private and regional labels. The purpose of this research is to contribute to potential options for collective regional labelling schemes of fisheries and aquaculture products, through a case study analysis, building on agro-food value-chain and management approaches. Our empirical results highlight key issues and perspectives on labelling policies for local fisheries and aquaculture products.

Nitrogen is a crucial input to food production and yet its oversupply in many parts of the world contributes to a number of environmental problems. Most policies dedicated to reducing agricultural nitrogen pollution focus on changing farmer behaviour. However, farm-level policies are challenging to implement and farmers are just one of several actors in the agri-food chain. The activities of other actors — from fertilizer manufacturers to wastewater treatment companies — can also impact nitrogen losses at the farm level and beyond. Consequently, policymakers have a broader range of policy options than traditionally thought to address nitrogen pollution from field to fork. Inspired by the concept of full-chain nitrogen use efficiency, this Perspective introduces the major actors common in agri-food chains from a nitrogen standpoint, identifies nitrogen policies that could be targeted towards them and proposes several new criteria to guide ex-ante analysis of the feasibility and design of different policy interventions. Sustainably feeding ten billion people by 2050 will require fundamental changes in the global food system — a broad portfolio of policy options and a framework for how to select them is essential. This Perspective builds on the concept of full-chain nitrogen use efficiency to propose policy interventions and criteria that target major actors in the agri-food chain.

The structure of global wine consumption is changing from traditional concerns with color, taste, alcohol contents, brand, etc. to low alcohol, well-being, convenience, price, and others caused by social activities of woman and increase in one-person households, etc. We focus the wine market of the Republic of Korea because wine consumption trend in Korea is changing toward multiple directions. The purpose of this study is to segment wine market considering new consumption trend and find out the characteristics of target market(s). Three hundred thirty-eight Korean wine consumers were surveyed using questionnaire survey method. The research identifies five clusters of wine consumers: low-involvement type, epicure type, cost-effectiveness type, outside perspective type, and health-based type. Among them, cost-effectiveness type and health-based type accorded with new consumption trend are selected as target markets. The two target markets show different characteristics. It is expected that wineries or wine marketers could consider the profile of target markets when they produce or promote wine products related with cost-effectiveness and health benefits.

Illegal logging is a global problem associated with deforestation, climate change, and biodiversity loss with significant negative economic, environmental, and social impacts. In response to this phenomenon, European Union has enacted the European Timber Regulation (EUTR) that imposes economic operators to exercise due diligence thanks to traceability verifications. These are mainly based on a “paper-based” approach, with implementation issues as a consequence. Italy is a interesting case study, since it is the first importer of wood-energy biomass worldwide, where tons of fuelwood without clear traceability are imported every year, and EUTR enforcement still lags behind. Here, a Living Lab involving stakeholders and key informants, carried out a participatory and open assessment of the impact of digital technologies on EUTR enforcement and traceability in the national wood-energy sector. Results reveals that, even if digitalisation is at the first stage, it is far from being only a technological phenomenon since it is already able to impact on different aspects (social, economic, territorial, institutional) related to the EUTR application. Policymakers are therefore recommended to rely on holistic evaluations and approaches that recognise such a complexity, in order to foster a creation of a viable digital ecosystem in favour of EUTR implementation and traceability in the wood-energy sector.

A call to governments to enact a strategy for a sustainable food system is high on the global agenda. A sustainable food system presupposes a need to go beyond a view of the food system as linear and narrow, to comprehend the food system as dynamic and interlinked, which involves understanding social, economic and ecological outcomes and feedbacks of the system. As such, it should be accompanied by strategic, collaborative, transparent, inclusive, and reflexive agenda-setting process. The concepts of, directionality relating to an agreed vision for a future sustainable food system, and, reflexivity which describes the capacity for critical deliberation and responsiveness, are particularly important. Based on those concepts, this paper proposes an evaluative framework to assess tools and instruments applied during the agenda-setting stage. We apply the evaluative framework to recent food policy processes in Finland and Sweden, revealing that their agenda-setting design cannot be assessed as fully addressing both directionality and reflexivity, thus possibly falling short of the policy design needed for enable more transformative policy approaches., Highlights • Governments need to acknowledge the food system as complex, dynamic and multi-causal. • Developing a national strategy for a sustainable food system is a powerful leverage that will require more attention to the agenda-setting stage. • Five policy criteria, based on the concepts of directionality and reflexivity, are defined to assess tools and instruments to enact a strategic, inclusive, and reflexive agenda-setting process. •Assessment of the Finnish and Swedish food strategy shows that there is scope to improve their designs both on reflexivity and directionality.

Lack of public funding and environmental deterioration are promoting the search for innovative mechanisms enabling to boost farmers’ provision of agri-environmental climate public goods. This work aims to contribute to the current debate by highlighting the role of innovative contractual solutions through a systematic review of more than 60 articles. The review analyses the potential of result-based and collective contracts as innovative solutions compared to action-based instruments, which are those currently most used. The design of innovative contracts and other mechanisms, e.g., auction and screening contracts, can reduce the policy failures due to asymmetric information. The paper emphasises the trade-off between an accurate design of agri-environmental schemes and the related administrative burden, highlighting the need for a better understanding of the role of mechanisms design into the policy cycle. Some new instruments were not analysed in the review, due to the scarcity of literature, and there is the need of more case studies providing information on the effectiveness of instruments when implemented in different contexts. We fill the gap in empirical evidence through a SWOT analysis that evaluates the effectiveness and acceptability of innovative instruments for policy purposes.

International audience; European small-scale fisheries are confronted with several challenges, notably a decrease in the number of people engaged in capture fishing, growing competition from less expensive extra-EU markets, rising operational costs, strict regulations and the depletion of fishing stocks. Many small-scale fishers must adapt to change to maintain or increase their income using different business strategies. In this respect, we argue that new and diversified institutional arrangements combined with building social capital can help reach long-term economic sustainability for small-scale fisheries businesses, as well as the social-ecological resilience of coastal areas. In order to understand and analyse the multiplicity of strategies applied by small-scale fishers – including expansion towards non–productivist activities – this paper examines the role of new institutional arrangements based on small-scale, traditional, quality-orientated, multifunctional business strategies, as well as non-fishing activities. Using a case study approach, we analyse – in three different European fishery contexts (Greece, Italy, and the UK respectively) – how the interplay between building adaptive arrangements and the creation of social capital in selected small-scale fisheries provides relevant prerequisites for resilience.

Promoting sustainable agricultural systems, maintaining biodiversity, and establishing measures to counteract climate change are the clear objectives of the future Common Agricultural Policy (CAP); however, there is still uncertainty regarding its implementation. At the level of the European Union, the justification for the CAP appears increasingly linked to the translation of policy objectives into results-based measures. Accordingly, in this paper, we estimate a composite indicator to track changes at the farm level and assess the impacts of agri-environment climate schemes (AECSs) on the change in management intensity. As AECS payments are tailored to compensate for the costs and income forgone due to participation in environmentally friendly measures, we assume that any environmental benefits increase with the amount of payment received. We estimate the effects of differential payments on management intensity by applying a generalised propensity score approach to a case study comprising all AECSs implemented in the Veneto region (North-eastern Italy). We find that AECSs have a significant effect on the composite indicator of extensification, but the provision of environmental good differs among the varying levels of payments. Our results contribute in-depth reflections and a proposal for measuring the cost-effectiveness of AECSs to the ongoing debate on the post-2020 CAP regarding AECSs.

Among the food system's outcomes, food and nutrition security remains a key concern also in developed countries. This chapter analyzes food and nutrition security issues, unpacking the four dimensions in which the concept is articulated: availability, access, utilization and stability. Then the concept is explored, beyond the official definitions, through a description of the various frames that shape the public debate on food and nutrition security. These frames are: the classical productivist view emerged in the early post-war period; the neoproductivism, promoting a sustainable intensification aimed at producing more food while reducing negative environmental impacts, the entitlement approach based on Sen's reflections on people's capability to access food; the food sovereignty (Via Campesina, 1996) which regards food insecurity as an outcome of unequal power relations: the livelihood approach focused on the assets that determine the living gained by the individual or household; the right to food (De Schutter, 2014) based on the status of each individual as a rights-holder; the similar but less individualistic food democracy and food citizenship perspective which focusses on the collective dimension of those rights; the community food security, again close to the food citizenship but with stronger emphasis on communities and localization. Finally, the main contributions given by small farms to food and nutrition security are described, as identified on the base of the SALSA project outcomes.

This chapter opens the second part of the Volume, focusing on the small farms' role and dynamics within the evolving food system. Assessing small farmers' actual and potential contribution to the change towards a sustainable food and nutrition security requires a deep understanding of their strategic decision-making processes. These processes take place in a context highly conditioned by internal and external conditions, including the complex relations between farm and household, which are mapped and described. Building on an adaptation of Porter's model (Porter, 1990), the chapter investigates how farmers, given those conditions, define their strategies (in particular their innovation strategies) aimed at economic and financial sustainability through a multidisciplinary analysis of scientific literature. Internal conditions are identified in the light of the Agricultural Household Model (Singh & Subramanian, 1986) which emphasizes how family farming strategies aim at combining business-related objectives, and family welfare. Then, a comprehensive set of external conditions is identified and then grouped within eight categories: ‘Factors’, ‘Demand’, ‘Finance and Risk’, ‘Regulation and Policy’, ‘Technological’, ‘Ecological’, ‘Socio-institutional’ and ‘Socio-demographic’. Similarly, six types of strategies are identified: ‘Agro-industrial competitiveness’, ‘Blurring farm borders’, ‘Rural development’, ‘Risk management’, ‘Political support’ and ‘Coping with farming decline’.

To analyze more deeply and in a systemic perspective food system outcomes, and the contribution that small farming can give to the achievement of those outcomes, a detailed analysis of food systems is required, which highlights its components, activities and dynamics. Thus, this chapter deepens the analysis of the food system. We first reflect on the complexity of the concept of food system, discussing the abundance of different conceptualizations proposed in the scientific and political debate on the base of different disciplines and perspectives. Then, a comprehensive representation is shown, which is then unpacked. The food system actors, assets and functions are explored, with an eye on power relations among actors and on the main drivers of change. Governance (that also includes actors external to the food systems) is called ‘reflexive’, as long as it characterizes a system that is able to reflect upon the conditions and the forms of its own functioning, to detect and analyze threats and to change accordingly, with the involvement of actors external to the food systems. This analysis, which represents the focus of this section, provides the base for the description of the food system vulnerability developed in Chapter 4. Drivers of change and governance emerge as key categories to consider.

Life cycle assessment is a widespread method for measuring and monitoring the environmental impacts of production processes, thereby allowing the comparison of business-as-usual with more ecological scenarios. Life cycle assessment research can support evidence-based policy making by comparing and communicating the environmental impacts of agricultural and food systems, informing about the impact of mitigating interventions and monitoring sectoral progress towards sustainable development goals. This article aims at improving the contribution of science to evidence-based policies for agricultural sustainability and food security, while facilitating further research, by delivering a content-analysis based literature review of life cycle assessment research in agricultural and food economics. Results highlight that demand-side and system-level approaches need further development, as policies need to support redesigned agricultural systems and newly conceived dietary guidelines, which combine environmental protection and health benefits, without reducing productivity. Similarly, more research effort towards consequential life cycle assessment and multidimensional assessment may benefit policy makers by considering the rebound effects associated with the large-scale implementation of impact-mitigating interventions. Promising interventions involve the promotion of waste circularization strategies, which could also improve the profitability of agriculture. For effective policy making towards agricultural sustainability and food security worldwide, countries with the greatest expected population growth and raise of urbanization rates need more attention by researchers.

This paper presents an analysis of the knowledge retrieval networks behind the adoption of farm biogas in an area of Mediterranean Europe featuring arable farming systems. The overarching objective of the analysis is to help and understand the interplay between biogas adopters and the stakeholders of the Agricultural Knowledge and Innovations System (AKIS). Specifically, the paper proposes an application of social network analysis that aims at bringing out the influence of knowledge exchanged within the system on adopters' business decisions, as well as adopters' contribution to knowledge upgrading. Social network analysis focuses on the estimation of three network attributes (cohesion, knowledge co-creation, and brokerage) using primary data, collected in 2015 via questionnaire to plant adopters. Self-education, upstream industry, agronomists, farmer/biogas unions, university, public-funded projects, and public research centers are AKIS’ stakeholders, which adopters turn to when seeking for information and/or know-how. Upstream industry is the most influential node and the one that can help knowledge diffusion across adopters, regardless of their background. Self-accessible resources are major providers of information at the adoption-decision stage. The networks are centralized on self-education tools, while upstream industry and the Research Center on Animal Productions are the brokers. Policy intervention aimed at improving AKIS in the biogas sector should involve the upstream industry in decision-making, while considering the duality of self-accessible information vs. physical advisors. This paper shows evidence from a region where public incentives have allowed biogas diffusion, despite the region not being intrinsically suitable for it. Study findings may be useful for policy-makers and researchers who deal with the prevention, or mitigation, of the negative externalities of land use change via the promotion of informed technology diffusion.

The concern for the quality of food, its composition and contribution towards nutrition and health is widespread among public and private food system actors. The increasing interest in locally integrated supply chains leads to reconsider the configuration of the food system in relation to sustainability and health outcomes. This article focuses on the relationship between processing practices and nutritional value in the wheat-tobread sector, illustrated by a case study on the Tuscan Bread Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). By adopting a food system perspective, the case study shows how the different actors have mobilized to respond to multiple drivers of change. A mixed research method approach is adopted to illustrate the relationship between processing practices and nutritional value outcomes: practice-based indicators for each step of the chain are complemented with performance-based indicators of the chemical, physical and sensorial profile of Tuscan Bread PDO. Furthermore, the implications on food system governance of a differentiation strategy based on territorial origin and enhanced nutrition are discussed.

The paper argues for the need to integrate the linkages between migration, remittances and food crises in the migration-food security literature. Food crises that are exacerbated by erratic climatic changes, violence and other uncertainties are important drivers of international migration. Research on the impact of migration and remittances on food security has grown lately, but it is arguably not comprehensive in its approach. The role of remittances in improving household food security experience during food crises is a vital stream being neglected, and the impact of remittances on food security over a long-term is yet to be studied comprehensively. To fill this gap, we analysed the case study of Nigeria using a World Bank Living Standards dataset, and followed an instrumental variable approach. Our results showed that remittance is valuable in meeting both short and long-term food security, and it is a veritable instrument for meeting household food security during food crises. It is particularly crucial for female-headed households who are more vulnerable to food insecurity. Although it does not significantly improve dietary diversity, households receiving remittances are less likely to adopt unhealthy coping practices such as eating less nutritious food, and less likely to be worried about meeting household food requirements due to lack of money. We conclude that remittances do not only smoothen consumption; it also places households on higher food security equilibrium during food crises.

This chapter focusses on food systems' vulnerability. In a rapidly and unpredictably changing world, vulnerability of farming and food systems becomes a key issue. The conceptual bases for food vulnerability analysis and food vulnerability assessment are discussed in a systemic perspective with an eye to the transition approach (Geels, 2004) as a perspective capable to analyze how novelties can develop and influence the system capability to fulfil societal functions, and food and nutrition security in particular. A framework for assessing people's food vulnerability is presented together with a simple vulnerability model based on the three dimensions of exposure (the degree to which a system is likely to experience environmental or sociopolitical stress), sensitivity (the degree to which a system is modified or affected by perturbations) and adaptive capacity (the ability to evolve in order to accommodate environmental hazards or change) (Adger, 2006). Then, other sections are dedicated to discuss the general questions that should be answered by a vulnerability assessment exercise, and the specific challenges emerging when the assessment concerns a food system. These elements are then used in the Annex to this chapter as a base for the development of a detailed method based on seven distinct steps for conducting participatory assessments of the vulnerability of food systems.

Purpose This paper aims to explore the connectivity between social media use, access to migrant networks, information asymmetry and migration intentions. Design/methodology/approach The study was conducted using data from individuals living in Nigeria and analysed with a generalized structural equation model, which is rare for this kind of research. Findings The authors find a dual mediating role of the social media and the migrant networks in facilitating migration, i.e. reducing the threshold cost required to migrate and introducing a bias in terms of information asymmetry. While social media and access to migrant networks directly increase migration intentions, this changes when incomplete information is provided. People who use social media and their migrant networks for information are more likely to have information about destination countries than information on the transit risk. Social implications The study adds valuable insights for designing awareness campaigns aimed at reducing irregular migration. Originality/value This study contributes to the understanding of the intersection of migration and digitalization

The provision of public goods by agriculture is perceived as one of the main reasons for maintaining the agricultural sector support. The common agricultural policy (CAP) has become the main environmental regulation in agri-food sector. The CAP is an example of policy mix characterized by the implementation of a mixture of compulsory and voluntary instruments. Despite a thirty-year application, the current provision of public goods is unsatisfactory due to policy failures. A fertile debate about CAP reform started and the European commission proposed radical changes to the design of agri-environment and climate schemes (AECSs). This contribution aims to review inefficiencies that can hinder the achievement by CAP of the desired level of public goods. The contribution is developed within the H2020 project CONSOLE (CONtract SOLutions for Effective and lasting delivery of agri-environmental-climate public goods by EU agriculture and forestry).

Agri-environmental schemes (AESs) constitute one of the main agricultural policy instruments that address environmental objectives in the Common Agricultural Policy. However, in spite of a 20-year application window and large budgetary shares allocated by EU member states, several studies demonstrate lower-than-expected environmental impacts. The reasons for poor environmental outcomes are the lack of targeting, low participation rates, spatial heterogeneity, and information asymmetry between farmers and public administrators. This study comprehensively analyses the determinants of AES adoption while highlighting patterns of the spatial agglomeration of participation in organic and integrated production. For this, we combine the results of farm-level adoption analysis with a spatial analysis of the participation rate. The results show that both micro- and meso-level characteristics strongly impact AES participation. In fact, farm and household structure, quality of extension services, and territorial conditions all significantly affect AES adoption.

A new food policy coherent with the goal of achieving sustainable food systems implies changing visions and radically revising the understanding of the system on which agricultural and food-related policies act. This paper identifies and discusses policy processes that contribute to sustainable food systems in Europe. Based on a conceptual framework that links the policy cycle approach to transition theories, we (i) assess the evolution of policy cycles of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to highlight how the food and nutrition concepts have evolved and been reframed throughout the five phases of the CAP, (ii) map and classify available policy instruments to assess potential synergies and gaps in view of their reorganization and (iii) indicate and discuss strategic tools for sustainable food policies. This contribution goes beyond the current literature highlighting the obstacles which hinder the transition to a policy regime that embodies the nexus among food and nutrition security, natural capital preservation and climatic and social justice, and proposing new avenues for food policy studies.

The economic crisis and the pressure towards efficient and effective use of public money claim for a higher accountability of research expenditure, as well as for a greater proximity of research to the needs of community. While agricultural productivity represents a worldwide goal for agricultural research as a response to growing food, feed and energy demands, other objectives besides productivity are becoming central. The challenge is to take into account broader impacts that go beyond academic and economic ones, and to improve knowledge on the causal impact-generating mechanisms. In this paper, we adopt a causal perspective and estimate the impact of agricultural research expenditure on multiple dimensions. We develop a structural equation model relating research expenditure, research activity, productivity and multiple impact indicators within a dynamic impact pathway, accounting for existing domain knowledge on causal relationships and their lag structures. The model is applied on EU 15 countries over the period 1980–2014, making use of official statistics from several European databases.

In a traditional wine region such as Tuscany (Italy), the wine production is perceived by several industry players as weak and fragmented because it is mainly managed by small and medium-sized wineries that have limited market power compared to large companies and distributors. In this paper, we hypothesise that this problem was influenced - in a period of strong market growth - by producers' choices that underestimated the impact of several external forces (e.g. competition, changes in demand and regulation) and promoted strategies without considering their combination with key context-specific physical, structural and socio-cultural factors. The study investigates the origin of these marketing strategies confronted with the contested fragmentation, exploring both current and future trends of the wine market in Tuscany. The objective is to provide a better understanding on how the combinations between these factors and firm's activities define regional settings in which the different strategies are developed and how these settings can be used to promote more effective and calibrated strategies towards greater economic sustainability of the sector. The focus is to understand the nature and the dynamics of interlinkages between the adoption of quality-based differentiation strategies, the diversification of marketing channels, and their regional and local determinants. We adopt a mixed quantitative and qualitative research approach composed of an analytical framework, an econometric analysis, and interviews with wine producers. First, the method provides a conceptual framework to understand the interlinkages between producers' strategies and local and regional determinants. Then, the winery decision-making process is modelled through a two-by-two differentiation strategy model that represents the wineries' decision towards the adoption of PDO/PGI appellation or organic certification in relation with the choice of distribution channels. Through the reciprocal of the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI−1) - calculated on alternative marketing strategies – we verified the extent of diversification of sale channels under the different quality choices (i.e. PDO/PGI and organic or without them). Then, the determinants of the choice of distribution channels were quantified by applying a censored regression model and the results were elaborated and discussed in the light of 32 producers' interviews. The main trend highlights the fragmentation of wine production that has been determined by the differentiation model adopted by the regional producers. The results confirm a great divide in strategies between those producing quality wines and those who do not: on the one hand being mainly involved in PDO/PGI or organic certification positively affects the choice of multiple distribution channels; on the other hand, those who are not involved in quality labels have concentrated their production in a restricted number of marketing channels. The analysis shows that different producers' strategies have been influenced by the interaction between structural factors, farm characteristics and terroir in response to external changes. It also reveals a transformation process in progress that involves the concentration of the supply chain. Producers are promoting greater consolidation and reassembling of the production through new producer networks and associations that aim to reduce the fragmentation and related weakness with new common strategies.

The objective of the paper is to understand the determinants of the spatial location of participation in Agri-Environmental Schemes and, in particular, to understand the interplay between structural determinants, priority criteria and spillover effects in guiding participation. As a first step, the paper seeks to conceptualise the issue based on the existing literature. Thereafter, an econometric model is used to provide an empirical application on data regarding participation in measure 214 of the Rural Development Programme 2007–2013 in an Italian region (Emilia-Romagna). The results show that both priority scores and the spatial dimension are significant in affecting participation.

[EN] The contribution of small farms to local food supply, food security and food sovereignty is widely acknowledged at a global level. In the particular case of Europe, they often are seen as an alternative to large and specialised farms. Assessing the real role of small farms has been limited by a lack of information, as small farms are frequently omitted from agricultural censuses and national statistics. It is also well acknowledged that small farms differ widely, and are distributed according to different spatial patterns across Europe, fulfilling different roles according to the agriculture and territorial characteristics of each region. This paper presents the result of a novel classification of small farms at NUTS-3 level in Europe, according to the relevance of small farms in the agricultural and territorial context of each region, and based on a typology of small farms considering different dimensions of farm size. The maps presented result from an extensive data collection and variables selected according to European wide expert judgement, analysed with advanced cluster procedures. The results provide a fine grained picture of the role of small farms at the regional level in Europe today, and are expected to support further data analysis and targeted policy intervention., This work was supported by the SALSA project (Small farms, small food businesses and sustainable food and nutrition security) (Project ID: 677,363) funded under H2020-EU.3.2. Societal Challenges - Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research and the bioeconomy; and by FEDER Funds through the Operational Programme for Competitiveness Factors - COMPETE and National Funds through FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology. Helen Sooväli-Sepping was funded by the Estonian Ministry of Education target-financed project IUT3-2 Culturescapes in transformation: towards an integrated theory of meaning making.

While the share of agriculture, forestry, and fisheries in rural economies has declined, the importance of diversification activities has increased. The aim of this study is to investigate how structural factors affect both the decision of diversification into on-farm non-agricultural activities and the total labour assigned to them, measured in terms of the workdays allocated to producing diversification activities. Using Tuscany, a region in central Italy, as a case study, a negative binomial hurdle model has been applied to represent the two steps involved in farmers’ behaviour. Farmers first decide whether to diversify and then decide the amount of farm resources to devote to diversification. The results have revealed that farms located in regions more distant from urban areas are more likely to diversify, but that distance is not an influential factor in predicting the number of workdays dedicated to diversification. In addition, small family farms are less likely to diversify than large farms, and those that do so dedicate fewer workdays to diversification activities. A possible explanation for this evidence is that structural and endowment constraints are entrance barriers for involvement in on-farm non-agricultural production.

The objective of this paper is to identify and analyse the role of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in affecting the spatial location of agricultural activities in an area of Northern Italy. The analysis is based on survey information (300 observations) regarding stated intentions of farm-households in two CAP scenarios, treated through statistical analysis intended to identify the potential determinants of different farm reactions, and using explicit spatial information (altitude, LFA, agrarian regions). Altogether, the study demonstrates the relevance of explicitly addressing the differentiated spatial effect of the CAP on different dimensions of agricultural activities. However, the work also highlights the limitations of the location-based representation of the spatial dimension compared with both non-spatial variables and more “functional” spatial variables.