Innovative Solutions of the Future Internet: Needs of the Food Chain Users

Within the SmartAgriFood project 135 in depth interviews in 6 countries, and 8 focus group discussions in 5 countries were carried out for identification and evaluation of the potential applications of the Future Internet (FI) in the agri-food area. Several innovative ideas were described by the participants and there were also some demands, expectations and limitations which were universally mentioned by them. One of the main expectations is that FI should be accessible for anybody, anywhere and anytime. In addition the followings should be ensured: higher privacy; compatibility; integration of systems; longer range in communication; lower implementation costs; and user-friendly interfaces. The most important prerequisite is making aware and training of the users, as most of them do not have appropriate experience about using the Internet. For enhancing the application of the ICT solutions in the agri-food sector the above mentioned needs of the users should be considered and met by the ICT community

Knowledge Transfer Tools for Enhancing Sustainability

The majority of SMEs needs repeated explanations and evidences to be convinced about the feasibility of adopting measures for improving sustainability. This is a particularly challenging task since meeting the requirements of business growth, reduction of environmental impact, social responsibility and good governance at the same time requires complex thinking and ability to find trade-offs. Human and financial resources of SMEs are usually limited. It is difficult to motivate them to change their practices until they can’t see that these changes improve or at least maintain the viability of their business and will bring them clear benefits and relatively quick return of their invested efforts and resources. Although everybody agrees that the reduction of the environmental impact and increasing the social responsibility of food and agriculture businesses is unavoidable and beneficial for the society in general, SMEs are not convinced that their additional costs and efforts will be acknowledged by the customers and consumers. If during the explanation of the sustainability requirements the main emphasis is put on the environmental aspects this message may not be satisfactory effective to persuade food SMEs to take actions, particularly in the less affluent countries. Similar typical causes of the reluctance to act on improving compliance to environmental and social requirements were found in the Latin- American countries and in Hungary, which include the following arguments and concerns:• The smaller is a business, the smaller is its contribution to the total environmental impact.• Many other businesses including larger ones than us can continue to make business without making major changes in their activities. Why should we make the first step? Is it a real consumer requirement?• Who will cover the additional costs of the changes, sustainability measures?• Our limited resources have to be focused on production. We do not have time to spend on measurements and calculations. Why shall we share our data with our competitors, why shall we give them information, what they can use for competing with us

Related to Sustainability: Challenges and Barriers

The aim of this study was to identify challenges and barriers related to sustainability issues within the Hungarian agri-food sector. Within the SALSA EU FP7 project a survey was carried out which helped to evaluate the current status of the Hungarian food supply chains related to sustainability challenges.The specific issues, which have to be considered, is the use of soy products and ingredients containing soy products in food, the consumer concerns about the use of GMO, and the sustainability of the soy and beef supply chains.In Hungary the general interest related to the sustainability issues is still lower than within the North-West European countries. The results of the survey will be delivered in the presentation and discussed several topics according to the status of the Hungarian agri-food chains members’ awareness related to the “Triple Bottom Line”

TEXTURAL PROPERTIES OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES AND THEIR CHANGES DURING FREEZING AND STORAGE AT LOW TEMPERATURES

Five sour cherry varieties (Pándy, Érd, Meteor, M63 and M136), four apple varieties (Starkrimson, Idared, Goldenspur, Jonathan), two peach varieties (Elberta and Champion) and two pear varieties (Hardy and Alexander) grown in Hungary were investigated. Changes of commercial carrots during pretreatment and freezing were also studied. Textural properties were studied during ripening, freezing and thawing using the texture profile method of SZCZESNIAK et al. (1963), penetrometric measurement (LÁSZTITY et al., 1973) and organoleptic control. Both the penetrometric and organoleptic methods were found to be satisfactory for classifying the fruits of different degree of maturity. Textural changes occurring during freezing were strongly affected by the variety and also by maturity degree. Frozen and thawed products were always softer than fresh products and this was valid also for the texture after cooking. A chilling of sour cherries before freezing and immersion of some vegetables into a solution of lower pH decreased textural changes during freezing

Networking Related to Sustainability in Hungary

Sustainability is arguably one of the greatest challenges to Hungary in the future. The question is how to meet this need and tackle this challenge that requires commitment from the different players of the supply chain.This aim of the work within the FP7 Salsa project was to detect, explore the importance of sustainability and categories of the sustainability by the actors of the network and identify those elements related to sustainability issues, which support the future success along the soya and beef supply chain.In Hungary majority of the soy and beef enterprises are classic SMEs.The topics was quite “hard” for the questioned SMEs, because in one hand it is an increasing needs for sustainability, but in the other hand the environmental concerns haven’t acquired as significant awareness in Hungary as in western countries within the European Union. The needs regarding sustainability can be identified mainly from farmers and wholesalers (particularly multinational companies)., but most of the cases significant activities or changes have not been made yet.The producers emphasized that they fulfill the sustainability requirement if it is a real needs from their customers or without risking their success of their businesses. The other frequently mentioned answer was that they dealt with the sustainable aspects if it supports the most efficient use of the natural resources or the better quality of the product.Sustainability was associated with costs. The participants all agree that the cost of sustainability can be fairly high. However there is a significant need for sustainable production and products in Hungary, they do everything to meet the requirements of the sustainability standards. But in that case the members of the supply chain can see clearly the profitability of their investment in sustainability.Based on the results we could conclude that there is a harmonized, good business relation between the stakeholders within the Hungarian soy and beef supply chains. The power relations are different within the soy and the beef chains. Within the beef supply chains the wholesalers make the rules, and in spite of this, within the soy supply chain the bargaining power depends on the size of the soy production per year and on the market trends.Finally we could conclude that there is a real need from the players of the supply chains for collaboration, because only with the collective changing will contribute to enhance sustainable development in Hungary

From Pledge-Fulfilment to Mandate-Fulfllment: An Empirical Theory

The article presents a theoretical synthesis that could serve as the conceptual framework for empirical studies of the fulfilment of electoral pledges in modern democracies. Studies related to the program-to-policy linkage derived their hypotheses, for the most part, from an implicit, common sense model of mandate theory. The article presents a realistic version of positive mandate theory, one that is stripped of its normative assumptions and is suitable for empirical testing. It is informed by five theoretical building blocks: the concept of the binding mandate, the party theory of representation, the doctrine of responsible party government, modern normative mandate theory and the conceptual pair of delegation and mandate. The resulting framework incorporates the information content of the campaigns, the definiteness of the authorization and the strength of pledge enactment as its core components.</jats:p