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The European Union’s Farm-to-Fork Strategy sets out its ambitions and approach to how European’s value food sustainability, and the accompanying opportunities for improving the environment as well as the lifestyles and health of EU citizens. It identifies the role of agroecological approaches in primary production as one of the means by which these ambitions can be achieved, through new knowledge and innovations in land management and supply chains. This article concludes the Special Issue on the EU Horizon 2020 projects LIFT and UNISECO, synthesising requirements for the realisation of transitions to agroecology in Europe. It reports the key needs identified of developing human capital, partnerships, cooperation and social capital, access to data and tools, and the links between these needs and relevant EU and national level policies. Les systèmes alimentaires doivent être réorientés pour mieux prendre en compte les interactions avec l’environnement, l’économie, la santé et la société. Les transitions vers des pratiques et des systèmes agricoles agroécologiques peuvent relier les domaines de l’action publique et permettre d'atteindre des objectifs environnementaux, économiques et sociaux. Ces transitions fournissent une perspective pour examiner les politiques, les pratiques et les comportements des acteurs des systèmes agricoles et des chaînes de valeur, l’identifi cation des obstacles à l'adoption et les domaines d’action publique auxquels ils contribuent ou qui présentent des lacunes. Le développement du capital social et humain et de structures de gouvernance qui permettent les transitions vers l’agroécologie est la clé de leurs chances de succès. L’éducation et l’apprentissage tout au long de la carrière sont essentiels pour développer les connaissances et les compétences des jeunes générations de gestionnaires fonciers et d’autres acteurs des chaînes de valeur, tout au long de leur carrière. Le résultat recherché est une compréhension partagée des avantages des pratiques et des systèmes agroécologiques, créant des opportunités pour rééquilibrer les politiques vers la neutralité climatique, inverser la perte de biodiversité et renforcer les droits des citoyens. Pour concrétiser ces opportunités, les politiques et stratégies doivent être cohérentes à tous les niveaux territoriaux et systémiques, et adaptées au lieu, au système, aux personnes et aux étapes des transitions. Dans l’ensemble, elles devraient être conçus pour garantir que tous les citoyens bénéfi cient des transitions vers des systèmes agricoles agroécologiques, sur le long terme, et que personne ni aucun lieu ne soit désavantagé par les processus de changement ou les résultats escomptés. Die Lebensmittelsysteme müssen neu ausgerichtet werden, um den Wechselwirkungen zwischen der Umwelt, der Wirtschaft, der Gesundheit und der Gesellschaft stärker Rechnung zu tragen. Die Umstellung auf agrarökologische Anbaumethoden und - systeme kann die Politikbereiche miteinander verbinden und zur Erreichung ökologischer, wirtschaftlicher und sozialer Ziele beitragen. Sie bieten einen Ansatzpunkt für die Überprüfung der Politik, der Praxis und der Verhaltensweisen der Akteure in landwirtschaftlichen Systemen und Wertschöpfungsketten. Des Weiteren helfen sie bei der Ermittlung von Umsetzungsbarrieren und von Politikbereichen, zu denen sie beitragen oder in denen es Lücken gibt. Die Entwicklung von Sozial- und Humankapital sowie von Governance- Strukturen – die den Übergang zur Agrarökologie ermöglichen – sind ein wesentlicher Erfolgsfaktor. Bildung und lebenslanges Lernen sind ein zentraler Baustein, um die Kenntnisse und Fähigkeiten der jüngeren Generationen von Landwirten und Landwirtinnen und anderen Akteuren in den Wertschöpfungsketten zu entwickeln. Das angestrebte Ergebnis ist ein gemeinsames Verständnis über die Vorteile agrarökologischer Praktiken und Systeme. Dieses schafft Möglichkeiten für eine Neuausrichtung der Politik im Hinblick auf Klimaneutralität, Umkehrung des Verlusts der biologischen Vielfalt und Stärkung der Rechte der Bürger. Zur Verwirklichung der Möglichkeiten, sollten Politiken und Strategien über territoriale und Systemebenen hinweg kohärent und auf Ort, System, Menschen und Phasen des Übergangs zugeschnitten sein. Insgesamt sollten sie so konzipiert sein, dass alle Bürgerinnen und Bürger langfristig von der Umstellung auf agrarökologische Bewirtschaftungssysteme profi tieren und dass niemand oder kein Ort durch den Veränderungsprozess oder das angestrebte Ergebnis benachteiligt wird.

This document is the project deliverableD1.3 Report on Collection of existing contents, tools and good practices – 1st version of the Transition2BIOHorizon 2020 project which is fundedunder the Grant Agreement 101000539. The deliverable is aboutthe first version of the report on Collection of existing contents, tools and good practices.

This document is the project deliverableD1.1 Conceptual framework of the awareness, communication and education toolkits – 1st version of the Transition2BIOHorizon 2020 project which is funded under the Grant Agreement 101000539. The deliverable is about the1st version of the conceptual framework of the awareness, communication and education toolkits of the project.

Discussion Paper. SHERPA: Sustainable Hub to Engage into Rural Policies with Actors, Project ID 862448, H2020 Call ID & Topic RUR-01-2018-2019–D: Rural society-science-policy hub .; International audience; In 2020, the European Commission initiated the preparation of a new long-term vision for rural areas. SHERPA can contribute to the process by feeding in the views of science-society-policy actors from 20 European territories. SHERPA Multi-Actor Platforms (MAPs) are invited to discuss local challenges and opportunities as well as their vision for the future of their territory (or their thematic area) over the next 20 years. The exercise will follow the SHERPA standard process: (i) preparation of a SHERPA Discussion Paper, (ii) adaptation of the Discussion Paper by each regional or national MAP, (iii) consultation with MAP participants, (iv) summary of the discussions in a MAP Position Paper, (v) synthesis of the regional and national MAP Position Papers for discussion at EU level (EU MAP and annual conference). This draft SHERPA Discussion Paper provides a synthesis of rural opportunities and challenges identified in recent publications. The final version will include results of EU funded research projects and statistics for the indicators identified in this document. Guidance on how to conduct the consultation in the Multi-Actor Platforms is provided in a separate document.

These articles provide insights on the nature and the evolution of the bioeconomy and the perceptions of scientists and consumers. Special emphasis is given to Central and Eastern European agriculture, where the growth of the bioeconomy is receiving increasing attention.

Numerous Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have been developed in irrigated agriculture. While there are studies focusing on ICT impacts at the farm level, no research deal with this issue at the level of Water Authority (WA). With the present study, the authors developed a theoretical framework based on Bayesian decision theory to assess the economic benefits brought by the introduction of ICT. An empirical example is provided with the aim of showing any potentialities and limitation of ICT for the management of water supply networks in agriculture. The adoption of ICT by WA have the capacity to achieve water savings and favor climate change adaptation. Site specific constraints as decisional power, water availability and technical issues do not allow the full exploitation of information services. A sensitivity analysis showed that by improving the quality of information, such constraints can be overcame. Policy remark is to favor ICT development jointly with end users, answering decision maker s information requirements. Acknowledgement

Reservoirs are increasingly deemed to be important given their potential control of water availability across seasons - from wet to dry seasons, especially given the concerns on the effect of climate change. In this paper, we focus on the collective action aspect of investing in irrigation reservoirs and on the potential scope for policy intervention. We formulate a model in which farmers pool resources to construct a collective reservoir. We conceptualized the reservoir as a blue club that increases the potential water availability in dry season, thus improving water safety for the whole society. We determine the societal potential inefficiency in club size and the potential policy measures to correct it, focusing on two different club access rules (open vs closed membership). Results show that linear subsidy are ineffective in case of closed membership, and minimum participation rules are required. Acknowledgement

The ‘Study on Producer Organisations and their activities in the olive oil, beef and veal and arable crops sectors’ aims to deliver an analysis of producer organisations from these three sectors. The analysis is mainly based on a survey conducted for a representative sample of 203 POs and 23 APOs. The sampling of the surveyed organisations builds on an inventory of existing organisations in the 28 Member States. The study reveals that there are many more non-recognised POs than recognised POs: there are estimated to be over five times as many non-recognised POs as there are recognised POs. The survey results confirm that producer organisations engaged in commercial activities also carry out other potentially “efficiency enhancing activities” (i.e. organisation of quality control, distribution and transport, input procurement, packaging, waste management etc.). The most important perceived benefits for the farmers include (i) market and price stability, (ii) reduced costs and economies of scale, (iii) higher price and ensuring a fair standard of living for the members and (iv) improved market access. The activities of producer organisations are widely perceived by survey respondents as contributing positively to CAP objectives.

UNO STUDIO SUI CASTAGNETI DELL’APPENNINO MODENESE, EFFETTUATO ATTRAVERSO UN APPROCCIO INTEGRATO, DEFINISCE LE PROBLEMATICHE GENERALI DELLA CASTANICOLTURA E APRE LA DISCUSSIONE SULLE FUTURE SCELTE GESTIONALI. TRA LE AVVERSITÀ, PARTICOLARE ATTENZIONE ALLA VESPA DEL CASTAGNO.

The efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the European Agri-Environmental Measures (AEMs) depends on policy design variables, spatial targeting and participant selection process. This paper develops an optimisation model jointly aimed at optimal AEMs targeting and payment setting. The model tests the potential integration of spatial information into optimisation models simulating spatially differentiated payment mechanism for AEMs in Emilia-Romagna (Italy). The results highlight a significant cost saving with differentiated payments. Spatial information modelled as a proxy of the willingness to accept the payment supports the fine-tuning of the model. The study highlights the importance of using the information on spatial differentiation in optimisation tools searching for optimal incentive-compatible targeting.

L’obiettivo del lavoro è valutare diverse opzioni di disegno delle misure agro-ambientali, includendo esplicitamente tra i fattori rilevanti nel processo decisionale privato i costi di transazione e l’incertezza. La metodologia proposta è basata su modelli di simulazione dell’adozione di pratiche agro-ambientali attraverso l’approccio real options, includendo i costi di transazione privati e simulando gli effetti delle diverse aspettative degli agricoltori sui prezzi futuri delle commodities. Le alternative di politica sono rappresentate da diversi livelli di pagamenti e diverse durate del contratto agro-ambientale. Il modello è applicato ad un caso di studio nella Provincia di Ferrara, area nella quale sono simulate diverse pratiche per la produzione di paesaggio, quali la creazione di siepi, boschetti e laghetti. I risultati mostrano come sia l’incidenza dei costi di transazione, sia le aspettative, rappresentino elementi determinanti la scelta di aderire alla pratiche agro-ambientali. Il lavoro mostra ulteriori possibilità di aumento dell’efficacia delle politiche agro-ambientali.

Innovation and new technology adoption represent two central elements for the business and industry development process in agriculture. One of the most relevant innovations in dairy farms is the robotisation of the milking process through the adoption of Automatic Milking Systems (AMS). The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of selected Common Agricultural Policy measures on the adoption of AMS in dairy farms. The model developed is a dynamic farm-household model that is able to simulate the adoption of AMS taking into account the allocation of productive factors between on-farm and off-farm activities. The model simulates the decision to replace a traditional milking system with AMS using a Real Options approach that allows farmers to choose the optimal timing of investments. Results show that the adoption of AMS, and the timing of such a decision, is strongly affected by policy uncertainty and market conditions. The effect of this uncertainty is to postpone the decision to adopt the new technology until farmers have gathered enough information to reduce the negative effects of the technological lock-in. AMS adoption results in an increase in farm size and herd size due to the reduction in the labour required for milking operations., Bio-based and Applied Economics, Vol 2 No 1 (2013): Agricultural policy and the wider policy context: evaluation issues, practices and tools

The research question addressed in this study is the impact of the CAP 2013 reform and alternative CAP scenarios on farm investment behaviour and economic performances in different farming systems. An ex-ante analysis of the farmers’ response to different policy scenarios is performed simulating some of the main changes introduced by the reform in both CAP pillars, accounting for regional variations across Europe. The methodology consist in the implementation of a farm-level mathematical programming model. The model is cast as an integer dynamic linear programming model based on the model developed by Viaggi et al. (2010) using GAMS software. The models are calibrated using a set of real farms data and accouting for farmers stated intentions collected through survey (Lefebvre, 2014). In this paper we present the model structure, the policy scenario and the results of the simulations carried out on 50 models, each corresponding to a surveyed farm.

International audience; no abstract

This paper provides a methodology for the computation of the full cost of several citrus byproducts and attempts to analyze, through a simulation model, the decision making process of a citrus firm seeking to upgrade citrus waste (CW) to several by-products. The results show the importance of using the full cost in the management of resources. Economic sustainability can be achieved by an increase in production efficiency, improving existing technologies and the ability to reuse waste. Yet a large amount of investment is still required, which only large firms can support, at least in the short-term.

Literature on innovation adoption mechanism has emphasised the positive effect of Single Farm Payments (SFP) and Rural Development Payments on adoption of new technologies. In this context, the expected process of CAP reforming after 2013 is likely to strengthen the role of innovation in the European Union (EU). The objective of this paper is to identify the determinants of the adoption of future innovation, in particular in connection to past innovation, and to assess the role of agricultural policy in the promotion of innovation adoption. The analysis is applied to two regions (Centre and Midi-Pyrénées) in France. Two separate Count models are developed in order to explain famers’ stated intention concerning different intensities of innovation adoption under two different policy scenarios. Preliminary results highlight that the CAP strongly affects the decision to innovate and the innovation intensity, even if there is no statistical significance for the variable connected to the amount of payments or the level of payment per hectare.

This paper addresses how environmental indicators and multicriteria methodologies can support evaluation of the environmental performance of EU agri-environment schemes (AESs). Prominent evaluation issues and problems concerning AES are discussed, with a focus on availability of information. With these issues considered, a multicriteria methodology was devised and applied to estimate the environmental effectiveness of an AES in each of two study areas: Ireland and Emilia-Romagna (Italy). The evaluation is based on information from the mid-term evaluation of the Rural Development Programmes. The results suggest that the AESs only partially achieved their objectives. This interpretation is tentative, largely due to the scarcity of quantitative data that related to effectiveness, the lack of quantitative target levels for objectives, and difficulties in determining the relative importance of different environmental objectives.

The objective of this paper is to investigate farmer choice under varying levels of monitoring and sanctions, with respect to compliance with the mandatory standards introduced by cross compliance and participation in, and compliance with, agri-environmental schemes under conditions of moral hazard.

The CAP reform process has been a central issue for agricultural economics research in recent years, and is gaining further attention in view of the post-2013 perspectives. The objective of this paper is to assess ex-ante the effect of different post-2013 CAP and market scenarios on the demand of productions factors. The paper is based on the use of farm household dynamic programming models maximising the net present value with a time horizon until 2030. A representative model has been implemented for 18 different farming systems in 8 EU countries. Changes in marginal values of selected resource constraints (land, labour and capital) are used to assess the potential effect of different scenarios on farm-household demand of production factors. Results highlight that both policy and market conditions change strongly the demand of productive factors., JRC.J.4-Agriculture and Life Sciences in the Economy

Innovation and new technology adoption represent two centrral elements for the enterprise and industry development process in agriculture. the objective of the paper is to provide an ex-ante analysis of the effectiveness of alternative policy design options concering the RDP measures intended o provide incentive for investment/innovation adoption in Bulgaria and Italy sace study. The research reported in this paper was funded by the EC within the project Assessing the multiple impacts of the Common Agricultural Policies on Rural Economies (CAP-IRE).

Le aree rurali europee sono soggette a forti cambiamenti trutturali: il ruolo del settore agricolo e della Politica agricola comune rappresentano temi cruciali, anche in vista delle prossime riforme della PAC. L’obiettivo del contributo è la discussione del futuro di queste zone, del ruolo della PAC e delle priorità di ricerca sulla base dei risultati di un meeting di stakeholders, svolto nell’ambito del progetto CAP-IRE (Assessing the multiple Impacts of the Common Agricultural Policies on Rural Economies). La finalità del progetto è supportare la futura gestione della PAC, indagando i cambiamenti socio-economici nelle aree rurali: fra le attività è previsto il dialogo con le realtà locali, rappresentate da gruppi di stakeholders. I risultati individuano le aree rurali come ambito di integrazione fra mondo produttivo e popolazione, dove un settore agricolo efficiente è determinante, il ruolo della PAC è visto sempre più come supporto a innovazione e qualità della vita, la capacità di gestire le nterazioni rurale-urbano e i cambiamenti globali è uno dei maggiori punti di forza.

L’innovazione e l’adozione di nuove tecnologie sono due elementi centrali per le imprese e i processi di sviluppo del settore agricolo. L’obiettivo di questo paper è di sviluppare un modello farm household in grado di simulare l’adozione di Sistemi di Mungitura Automatica (SMA) da parte di aziende ad indirizzo zootecnico per la produzione di latte nelle regioni Emilia-Romagna (Italia) e Noord Holland (Paesi Bassi) quando la decisione sull’adozione è caratterizzata da situazioni di incertezza riguardo alle condizioni future (costo del lavoro, prezzo del latte e scelte di policy). Il modello simula la decisione di rimpiazzare un sistema di mungitura tradizionale con dei SMA utilizzando l’approccio real options (RO) che permette alle aziende di scegliere la tempistica migliore per effettuare l’investimento in presenza di irreversibilità della decisione e incertezza. I risultati mostrano che l’adozione di SMA è influenzata dalle incertezze di policy e dalle condizioni di mercato. L’effetto di questa incertezza è quello di ritardare la decisione sull’adozione della nuova tecnologia fino a quando gli agricoltori non hanno ottenuto sufficienti informazioni per ridurre il rischio associato a un’innovazione soggetta ad effetto lock in.

Agricultural activity is affected by a very wide set of regulations and prescriptions due to agricultural and non agricultural policies. In the literature about agricultural policy, a growing attention has been paid to the issue of policy evaluation. The objective of this paper is to provide a literature review of the Multicriteria Analysis (MCA) applied to the context of policy and regulation evaluation. Such purpose implies to identify firstly the main issues of the policy evaluation process and then to identify the potential contribution of MCA as a decision support tool in a policy making context. In the literature, evaluation has been dealt through the measurement of the performance of a policy, program or regulation by way of effectiveness or efficiency concepts. In spite of the simple nature of these two criteria, the evaluation exercises are strongly affected by several problems, which are mainly due to the weakness in the definition and in the measurement of both policy objectives and policy impacts. Generally two main approaches have been adopted for policy evaluation purposes: a) Cost-Benefit Analysis, based on the monetisation of both costs and benefit, and; b) MCA, based on the measurement of a set of indicators and their aggregation taking into account the importance attached to each of them by the Decision Makers. MCA is a method that enables to provide a more robust evaluation with respect to Cost-Benefit Analysis mainly due to the expression of impact with physical and economic indicators rather than monetisation of the impacts. Such property, in addition to the flexibility of the method, allows to adapt the MCA to several contexts and to assess an evolution covering a very wide range of impacts (environmental, social and economic). Several MCA methods have been applied to agricultural and environmental regulation. Generally these methods differ for the adoption of different aggregation functions (single synthesising versus outranking methods), for the treatment of the uncertainty in the evaluation (eg. fuzzy versus non-fuzzy methods), and for the degree of DM involvement (participative methods, interactive methods, etc.). MCA has been invented as decision support in the choice of alternative projects when decision is effected by trade-offs between criteria and then has been extended to both ex-ante and ex-post policy analysis. However, the applications to policy evaluation still denote a wide room for improvement. In particular, a improved ability to support the decision process can be expected if the MCA is included in a consistent process of monitoring and data gathering, and both MCA and monitoring are developed in such a way as to provide a structured interaction with the DMs within a participative approach. In addition, a cautious integration between MC comparison techniques and policy analysis concepts (e.g. additionality) should be sought in order to avoid misinterpretations.