Sustainability of Local Agri-food Products in the Border Area of Northern Portugal and Castilla-Léon

Even in relatively peripheral areas, such as the Portuguese-Spanish border regions, agriculture and food systems have changed greatly in the last decades. Traditional agricultural systems have been declining and some products are no longer appreciated, or even tend to become quantitatively insignificant. Not only are producers ageing but their knowledge and know-how along with the local genetic heritage and biodiversity associated with farming are at risk of disappearing. Local products and markets have been progressively integrated into the larger framework of the global food market. Distributors, restaurant owners and consumers in general rely more and more on exogenous food products, despite the undeniable quality of the existing products and the emerging new urban demand for these products at a larger scale. Recent studies show that there is still room for small-scale production and localized food systems, although a considerable effort needs to be made if they are to be strengthened or re-established. This paper presents a comparative study of both the potential and limitations of traditional local products in the border area of Northern Portugal and the Spanish Province of Salamanca, in Castilla-Léon. It analyzes the types of products, production processes, qualification strategies, as well as the markets and commercialization approaches. The study is based on official published documents and interviews with local producers. Results show that the Portuguese regions are better positioned in terms of number of producers of traditional products, especially the organic products. On the whole, the major difficulties seem to lie in adequately qualifying, promoting and commercializing the products. Besides, co-operation among local agri-food entrepreneurs (in each zone and across the border) is quite feeble and does pose a challenge for the future. In general, localized systems tend to be quite weak, due to the decrease in population and the poor co-ordination among actors and the organization of local supply chains.Local agri-food products, peripheral areas, Portugal, Spain., Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Labor and Human Capital,

Finito: A Faster, Permutable Incremental Gradient Method for Big Data Problems

Recent advances in optimization theory have shown that smooth strongly convex finite sums can be minimized faster than by treating them as a black box "batch" problem. In this work we introduce a new method in this class with a theoretical convergence rate four times faster than existing methods, for sums with sufficiently many terms. This method is also amendable to a sampling without replacement scheme that in practice gives further speed-ups. We give empirical results showing state of the art performance

Sistemas e manejo de irrigação de baixo custo para agricultura familiar.

A limitação de água no Brasil tem sido um problema de quase todas as reglOes fisiográficas, sendo que o Norte de Minas Gerais e o Nordeste brasileiro têm passado por secas prolongadas contínuas. A agricultura familiar nessas condições passa por enormes dificuldades, uma vez que sem água é impossivel cultivar. Muitas comunidades de agricultores familiares estão instaladas em regiões próximas de rios ou reservatórios, onde a agricultura irrigada vem sendo cada vez mais difundida e sendo um atrativo a essas comunidades, que têm se mobilizado no sentido de inserir dentro do processo produtivo. Énecessário, entretanto, capacitar esses novos irrigantes, bem como os que já estão estabelecidos, quer em projetos públicos, assentamentos ou em situações particulares para fazer uso adequado da água retirada de fontes de água cada vez mais reduzidas. Esta cartilha tem intenção de fornecer a agricultores familiares informações e conhecimentos básicos de sistemas de irrigação, considerando seu uso voltado para a conservação de água, bem como informações sobre como usar a água para irrigar as plantas de modo a manter o solo com umidade suficiente para uma produção adequada com mínimo de perdas de água.bitstream/item/133043/1/Cartilha-Manejo-Irrigacao-03-09-2015.pd

Nature and landscape sustainability in Portuguese rural areas: Which role for farming external benefits valorisation?

Traditional farming systems are declining rapidly in Portugal. These labour intensive and low productivity systems are incompatible with depopulation and ageing of rural areas. This lack of socio-economic sustainability endangers nature and landscape conservation. Agri-environmental measures, applied in European Union since 1994, can be seen as potential answer to that problem in the Portuguese case. But to be effective, these measures need to be part of an integrated strategy directed to mitigate depopulation. The NGOs and the official organisations related to nature and landscape conservation are aware of that and acknowledge it in the National Strategy for Nature and Biodiversity Conservation. This decline in the farming external benefits supply happens simultaneously with the increasing of its demand. General public, of all ages and socio-economic strata, wants rural nature and landscape conservation for use and nonuse purposes. Contingent Valuation studies conducted in the North of Portugal (Santos, 1997; Madureira, 2001) show a positive willingness to pay of visitors and general public to assure traditional agrarian landscape conservation. To preserve the rural cultural heritage is the main reason presented by the public to stand for landscape maintenance. Official data on land use and demographic trends, data on touristic demand for rural areas and empirical evidence on public preferences for rural nature and landscape attributes are used to witness these different directions in supply and demand for farming external benefits. A closer look to this divergence is taken for the case of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro. This Region contains various typical landscapes where farmer’s action shaped nature in a singular way. This feature attracts many tourists and visitants, which number is expected to grow, specially for Douro vineyards classified as Humanity Patrimony. But all of these landscapes are, to a more or less extent, risking being abandon or restructured to allow mechanisation. Afforestation it is also becoming an alternative pattern in soil occupation at the Region. Thus, this Region exemplifies very well the social and political choices that come up in the context presented in this communication: (1) Which landscapes to preserve? How much of it? And (2) How to do it? Use Beneficiary Pays Principle or Provider Gets based mechanisms? The first questions are mainly social issues, making evident the importance of getting information on public preferences for related political decisions. The second group asks for political choices, where the main challenge is to define and implement solutions capable of tuning in societal choices with local population and economic agents aspirations and resources. Without these solutions traditional landscape will disappear. Some face that as inevitability. But should it be so? The general public seems to disagree with that. And increasing touristic demand indicates opportunities for local development through farming external benefits valorisation. Bringing evidence and discussion on these questions is the main purpose of this communication.

Rethinking post-Covid-19 school design in Brazil: adaptation strategies for public schools PEE-12 FNDE

In 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the disease COVID-19, whose causative virus is SARS-CoV-2, a pandemic. An important measure was the closure of schools in several countries to try to reduce the contagion levels, so that students were not exposed to risk, nor their families. The question that arises within this context is: In school architecture, what are the appropriate design methods to deal with challenges during and after a pandemic? In this scope, the article aimed to propose an adaptive design scenario in the post-pandemic moment for a standard school in Brazil. The methodology was built through a literature review and multidisciplinary research, to later present strategies based on the recommendations of competent bodies and studies focused on the school architecture, design patterns for 21st-century schools, technology and security. The focus was on design challenges in the education field in the post-pandemic moment, and on the adaptation of the school built spaces for the return of activities. The results can help the school community and public agencies in making decisions to face this challenge, recreating safer, user-centered schools

The portuguese agrifood traditional products: main constraints and challenges

Study developed under the Rural Natework Project “Observatório de sistemas de produção localizados e valorização de produtos locais; Identificação, análise e divulgação de boas práticas de comercialização e valorização de produtos agro-alimentares tradicionais” (PNRR: PA 0400157-58-59)Although Portugal registers a large number of protected brand names, its economic turnover is very low when compared to the other southern EU-Member States. To identify and analyze the main reasons of this weak economic significance of the Portuguese quality traditional agrifood products are the main goals of this paper. The main conclusions from the data gathered in step one of the research, which main goal was to understand the main reasons why agricultural firms do not adhere to the PDO/PGI food systems, are related with several issues, namely: the economic and transactions costs of certification, the heavy bureaucracy related to the certification process, the small difference in prices between PDO/PGI products and standard products, within the same reference market, and the preferences of Portuguese consumers. According to the respondents, Portuguese consumers do not know nor socially valorize PDO/PGI products, and privilege (i) traditional/local standard products, instead of PDO/ PGI products, and (ii) proximity marketed relationships. These latter findings contribute to highlight, not only why the interviewed firms do not adhere to the PDO/PGI systems, but also why the Portuguese PDO/PGI domestic market is narrow when compared with the ones of southern EU-Member Statesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio