Socio-economic aspects of animal health and food safety in organic farming systems

Sustaining Animal Health and Food Safety in Organic Farming (SAFO) is a European Commission funded Concerted Action Project with the objective to contribute to improved food safety and animal health in organic livestock production systems in existing and candidate member countries of the European Union. We aim at doing this through exchange and active communication of research results and conclusions between researchers, policy makers, farmers and the wider stakeholder community, including consumers. Workshops form a central part of these activities, documented by the proceedings. This volume with the contributions to first SAFO Workshop in Florence in September 2003 is the first in a series of five proceedings published during the lifetime of the project (2003-2006). The Workshop in Florence on "Socio-Economic Aspects of Animal Health and Food Safety in Organic Farming Systems" focused on financial and economic aspects of organic livestock production at the farm level and in the whole organic food chain. The impact of attitudes of various stakeholders on the development of organic livestock production was also covered. The Workshop was attended by 70 delegates from 22 countries, representing a wide variety of expertise and aspects of organic farming from certification activities, marketing economics and social science to animal health and welfare. It was apparent, from the papers, posters and working group conclusions, that organic livestock producers work within a society and are governed by if not the same – at least very similar - economic constraints as conventional farmers. In addition, they have voluntarily taken onboard the organic rules and values. It is also clear that the interface of the organic values, and those of society and food production at large, can impose complex constraints on production at farm level. For instance, while animal health appears to be an important concept to the consumers in deciding what to buy, there appears to be a discrepancy between the welfare expectations of consumers and the production realities. One of the key issues raised by the workshop was the need to educate the consumer and to focus on the process rather than the product. Contents Part A: A framework for organic livestock production: socio-economics, health and welfare economics and marketing chain Potential contribution of economics to animal health and food safety on organic farms A.W.Stott Farm level economics of organic milk and beef production in several European countries C. Deblitz, E. Deeken, M.D. Izquierdo-Lopez Market situation for organic livestock products in Europe U. Hamm, F. Gronefeld Political economy of organic foods P. R. Kledal Is it easy for producers to market organic beef? The case of Biobourgogne Viande in France P. Sans, G. de Fontguyon, B. Sylvander, A. Le Floc’h, M. Auersalmi, O. Schmid Current practice and prospects of organic livestock production in Greece G. Arsenos, P. Fortomaris, G. Banos, D. Zygoyiannis Working Group reports: Implications of economic constraints and consumer and producer attitudes to standard development, in relation to animal health, welfare and food safety Sheep and beef production farm level constraints and recommendations for enhancing health welfare and food safety. Dairy farms vel constraints and recommendations for enhancing health welfare and food safety. Poultry production vel constraints and recommendations for enhancing health welfare and food safety. Part B: Italy: a case study in the development of organic livestock production The activities of Regional Agency for Development and Innovation in the Agro-forestry sector (ARSIA) for the development of organic agriculture and livestock productions in Tuscany M. Bonanzinga, P. Bottazzi, C. Mearini Impact of economic investments on animal welfare: a case study C. Contini, A. Martini, V. Ferrante, L. Omodei Zorini, P. Migliorini, G. Lorenzini, S. Rosi Bellière Sustainable production methods and economic development of the marginal rural zones of the Italian Central Apennines F. Ansaloni, V. Cammertoni Why are consumers buying organic meat and milk? A qualitative study on the Italian market D. Gambelli, S. Naspetti, D. Vairo 125 Analysis of organic dairy farm revenue for the period 1999 – 2002 in the province of Bologna, Italy S. Danio, P. Vanelli Production costs and profitability of organic Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and organic industrial milk in northern Italy A. Menghi, K. de Roest Poster presentation: Socio-economic effects of organic crops and animal rearing diffusion in Tuscany, Central Italy A. Pardini, F. Longhi Part C: A framework for organic livestock production: standards, attitudes and expectations Why do humans keep animals? Does the answer help to define the standards for organic animal husbandry? G. Rahmann Guidance and advice on animal health and welfare in organic production systems – do attitudes matter? M. Hovi Consumer perceptions and production realities C. E. Milne Organic standards: by whom and for whom? W. Lockeretz, V. Lund Impact of socio-demographic factors on consumption patterns and buying motives with respect to organic dairy products in Switzerland J. Sanders, T. Richter Working Group reports: Attitudes of consumers to animal product quality and safety: identification of problems and development of recommendations Attitudes of veterinary and advisory staff to organic livestock production: identification of problems and recommendations Part D: Poster presentations Current socio-economic trends of organic plant and animal produce in Western Australia C. Faiello, A. Pardini, L. C. Litjens Organic farming in the Slovak Republic O. Ondrašovičová, M. Vargová, O. Ondrašovič, J. Kottferová, J. Juršík Organic farming in Latvia E. Selegovska, L. Degola Organic agriculture in Poland – legal and market aspects J. Zastawny, H. Jankowska-Huflejt, B. Wróbel The economy of organic livestock production enterprises in Andalusia, Spain – two case studies R. García Trujillo, J. Fernández, T. Haba, P. Blázquez Organic livestock production and marketing of organic animal products in Austria S. Wlcek, M. Eder, W. Zollitsch Rearing healthy meat sheep at a reasonable cost the redon orcival project in France M. Benoit, G. Laignel, J. Cabarnet Part E: Report from the Working Group on Standard Development Report from the Working Group on Standard Development M. Walkenhurst, A. Sundru

Sustaining export-oriented value chains of farmed seafood in China

This thesis is intended to improve the understanding of China’s evolving export-oriented farmed seafood systems, and in particularly, shrimp and tilapia farming value chains in Southern China. An integrated, systems thinking and interdisciplinary approach in which both top–down and bottom–up approaches were combined. The research moved from system reviews, to field surveys and workshops, and then to improving sustainability by Action Research (AR), in order to form a holistic understanding of sustainability at both national and local scales. In the new millennium, the aquaculture sector has matured, and many factors now slow the growth rate of Chinese aquaculture production, such as increasing culture of high-value species and an emerging trend of extensification. There are been some strategy shifts in the aquaculture industry such as changing from a high production to high profit orientation and from causing environmental damage to ecological remediation. A key conclusion is that high growth rates, regularly used in policy dialogues, are misleading indicators and do not reflect, realistic or sustainable, growth profiles. Although overall Chinese aquaculture production is likely to further increase to meet an increasing and changing market demand, growth rates will decrease further. China already is and will continue to be a fisheries products net importer, however, if fishmeal excluded China will remain as a seafood net exporter. The status and development of four internationally-traded farmed seafood, tilapia, penaeid shrimp, macrobrachium prawns and striped catfish in China were reviewed. China is the largest producer of tilapia, penaeid shrimp and macrobrachium prawns, and striped catfish is not produced in significant quantities due to climate limitations. Meanwhile, China is the largest exporter of tilapia, the second largest exporter in the volume and third in value of shrimp in the world, while macrobrachium prawns mainly support domestic markets. Tilapia and penaeid shrimp were selected for further research. An analysis of tilapia and shrimp farm scale indicators and their relationship to farming system and market orientation, farm intensification and performance was made. Farm area, both land and water area, labour, including paid and unpaid were effective indicators to distinguish farm scale. Small-scale farms had higher land productivity in production terms but no difference in value output term, and they had much lower labour productivity than medium and large-scale farms. Farming systems were also correlated with land and labour productivities. Market orientation was closely linked to farm scale as most farms with an export orientation required registration with CIQ (China Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine) and were mainly large-scale. An assessment of local stakeholder sustainability perspectives along value chains revealed that more than 80% shrimp and tilapia farmers didn’t want their children to continue basing their living on aquaculture; because they considered it hard work, high risk and poorly remunerated. Farming was comparative stable with few changes in the five years prior to the survey. Major sustainability factors identified by stakeholders included input costs, profit, water availability & quality and the weather, most of which were outside their control. The measurement of these sustainability factors was firstly proposed by stakeholders and then developed to a set of sustainability indicators (SIs). Life cycle assessment (LCA) was used as evaluate the environmental performance of tilapia, pig and integrated tilapia-pig farming systems in China. Pig farming had higher environment impacts based on most impact categories than tilapia, and integrated farming systems. Sensitivity analysis showed that improvements of 5% and 10% higher feed efficiency, reduction of fishmeal in feed to 1% level and use of EU electricity could significant reduce overall environmental impacts. An action research (AR) approach was used to assess the practice of farm record keeping with farmers which were found to be generally low and a major constraint to improving product traceability increasingly demanded by consumers. Large scale and CIQ farms were more likely to keep records and for them to be detailed and analysed to inform improved management. Farmers’ motivation, ability and capability and background had significant correlation with record keeping practice. Two major dilemmas were identified by the analysis. Easy-to-use farm record-keeping system more suitable for less formally educated farmers was a clear requirement but useful storage and analysis of farm data capacity requires sophisticated management tools such as a computer system. Another dilemma is the need for coercion by regulatory authorities or encouragement through provision of education and training in increasing on-farm record-keeping to a level required for international trade and, increasingly, domestic markets. “Precision aquaculture”, value chain integrated solution, and further social-economic reforms were discussed. Finally, sustainable intensification, diversification, and extensification were proposed as strategies for China to meet the challenges of globalization and the growing demands of export and domestic value chains. In order to enhance sustainability of the sector and provide opportunities for small-scale farmers, the current status and changes of the Chinese social, economic context, food safety and environments issues were discussed. Farmers’ organizations, future consolidation, and land reforms were identified as key to the required changes of farmed seafood value chains

Assessment of Socio-Economic Sustainability and Resilience after COVID-19

The pandemic period has caused severe socio-economic damage, but it is accompanied by environmental deterioration that can also affect economic opportunities and social equity. In the face of this double risk, future generations are ready to be resilient and make their contribution not only on the consumption side, but also through their inclusion in all companies by bringing green and circular principles with them. Policy makers can also favor this choice

An Adaptive Framework for Improving the Effectiveness of Virtual Enterprises in the Supply Chain

This thesis describes a research project that develops an adaptive framework for improving the effectiveness of virtual enterprises in the supply chains in Mongolia. The research takes empirical and quantitative approach to study the phenomenon of virtual enterprises. Based on a literature review, the factors that influence organisations to join in virtual enterprises are studied by a higher-order factor analysis. As a result, agility is identified as one of the main benefits organisations can gain by joining a virtual enterprise temporarily and changes in business performance are conceived as the measures of effectiveness. Next, a taxonomy of enterprises is developed with five distinguishing clusters that achieve differing levels of agility and business performance. This study suggests that enterprises that are monitoring changes in their business environment take most advantage of agility and achieve the best levels of performance. These findings then allow an adaptive framework based on common reference architectures to be developed as a main contribution of this study. The framework includes a breeding environment as a ‘pool’ of prepared enterprises with the ability to form temporary collaborations to react responsively, rapidly and effectively to the fast-changing opportunities. A structural equation model was used to examine the model fit with the supporting hypotheses, based on the observed data. Then, a powerful clustered expectation maximisation algorithm was applied to the analysis of the grouped enterprises. Finally, a simulation-based case study was conducted to validate the developed framework. The results provide rich empirical evidence of the beneficial impact of virtual enterprises on agile supply chains. The research provides rich empirical evidence of the beneficial impact of virtual enterprises on agile supply chains. It also provides theoretical and managerial insights that can be used to strengthen the drivers, enablers and capabilities that enhance the effectiveness of virtual enterprises collaboration in agile supply chains that can be translated to a global context. These are major contributions the ‘body of knowledge’ in themselves, but the research also adds usefully to the study of applied research methodologies in the area

An information System for Food Safety Monitoring in Supply Chains based on HACCP, Blockchain and Internet of Things

With the rapid growth of China's economy, people's living standard has been increased continuously, which changed the consuming habit of consumers, and more and more attention is paid to food safety and quality. However, in recent years, a series of serious food safety incidents occurred, such as "Sudan red", "clenbuterol", "Sanlu toxic milk powder" and "trench oi". It is worth noting that not only in China, but even in Europe these kinds of scandals have broken out during the past 20 years, including Escherichia coliin hamburgers, Salmonella in eggs, poultry and pork, Listeria in pates and cheeses, and the "horse meat scandal" in 2013. These food safety problems not only harm people's health, but also undermine their trust in food markets. The main purpose of this cumulative dissertation is trying to guarantee the food quality and safety from a supply chain management perspective, and the key issue is building a decentralized information system which is not dependent on the trust of a central authority or organization for the whole food supply chain. By using the internet of things and blockchain technologies, this new decentralized information system could become a disruptive innovation which could provide an information platform for all supply chain members (including government departments and third-party regulators) based on openness, transparency, neutrality, reliability and security. We want to establish a food supply chain traceability system for real-time food tracing, build a safety control system for food supply chain by integrating it with general supply chain risk management methods, and significantly improve the performance of the food logistics company. All of these will ultimately enhance the safety assurance of a food supply chain

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse