Capturing systematically users' experience of evaluation tools for integrated AMU and AMR surveillance

Tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a goal for many countries. Integrated surveillance of antimicrobial use (AMU) and resistance is a prerequisite for effective risk mitigation. Regular evaluation of any surveillance is needed to ensure its effectiveness and efficiency. The question is how to evaluate specifically integrated surveillance for AMU and AMR. In an international network called CoEvalAMR, we have developed guidelines for selection of the most appropriate tools for such an evaluation. Moreover, we have assessed different evaluation tools as examples using a country case format and a methodology with a focus on the user's experience. This paper describes the updated methodology, which consists of a brief introduction to the case and to the tool separately. Moreover, there are 12 functional aspects and nine content themes which should be scored using a 4-tiered scale. Additionally, four Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) questions should be addressed. Results are illustrated using radar diagrams. An example of application of the updated methodology is given using the ECoSur evaluation tool. No tool can cover all evaluation aspects comprehensively in a user-friendly manner, so the choice of tool must be based upon the specific evaluation purpose. Moreover, adequate resources, time and training are needed to obtain useful outputs from the evaluation. Our updated methodology can be used by tool users to share their experience with available tools, and hereby assist other users in identifying the most suited tool for their evaluation purpose. Additionally, tool developers can get valuable information for further improvements of their tool

Status Report on Education in the Economics of Animal Health: Results from a European Survey

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Europe Needs Consistent Teaching of the Economics of Animal Health

The prevalence of meat consumption dictates that there is a global need for people educated in animal health economics. Since there are limited resources available for animal health surveillance, as well as the control and prevention of diseases, people skilled in animal health science with a deep understanding of economics and the allocation of scarce resources are required to enable consumer to access safe, value-added meat product

Certificazione, rintracciabilità e vini regionali

La comunicazione intende sottolineare l’importanza della certificazione per le piena percezione del valore e soprattutto della sostenibilità dei vini. La trasformazione della certificazione come dimostrazione del rispetto degli obblighi del produttore, essenzialmente limitata ai sistemi di controllo pubblici, in strumento di conoscenza facilmente divulgabile, validi per tutti i consumatori, ha reso necessario il perfezionamento di metodi appositi. L’applicazione attuale e potenziale dei metodi innovativi garantisce risposte accurate e certificabili ex post sul reale collegamento fra le produzioni, la loro struttura produttiva e la loro provenienza. Il contributo dei metodi scientifici a ridurre la percezione di incertezza e di opacità rappresenta uno strumento fondamentale nelle strategie di valorizzazione dei vini regional

Feasibility Study on the Setting up of a Platform For Data and Information Exchange for the European Fruit and Vegetable Market

This study is the feasibility analysis of a platform for data and information exchange for the European fruit and vegetables market. The platform should be: managed in partnership by the European Commission (DG AGRI) and the industry through its professional organizations; made available to Producer Organisations which are members of the platform network; focused on the most representative producer Countries (at least, France, Spain, and Italy); including an Internet-based data & information exchange system, managed by an SQL-Server database (or equivalent); and a Web Portal for the provision and the propagation of the information to the professional sector and to the public services; covering a defined list of products (apples, pears, peaches, nectarines, plums, strawberries, kiwi, asparagus, tomatoes, citrus fruits); providing data related to production, stocks, harvest campaign forecast, prices, consumptions. The specific tasks of the study are: Legal assessment (compatibility of the platform with existing European law, and national law on competition and privacy, if relevant); Collection of existing data and methodologies (overview on the existing data collection and processing mechanisms in at least 3 of the main producing Countries); Technical requirements of the platform; Conclusions and recommendations. Five organisations which produce information for the fruit and vegetable industry have been identified in Belgium, France, Hungary, Italy, and Spain. They are POs, APOs and inter-branch organizations (IBOs), which already operate their own information systems by covering wide geographical areas. The functioning of these organizations has been analysed through a questionnaire composed of five sections in which the following aspects are asked about: (1) the information system\u2019s activities and organisational layout; (2) hardware and software equipments utilised; (3) basic reference national law and rules in the fields of privacy and competition; (4) structure and financing of the organisation; (5) how the need for more information and data about the fruit and vegetable industry is perceived, and what are the motivations for participating into a European platform aimed to data and information exchange. In Chapter 1, the legal framework about privacy and competition matters has been examined thoroughly. The questionnaires\u2019 feedbacks on the field have allowed to make an insight analysis of the information made available from the European institutions, and to assess the significance of national legislation for the purposes of this study. From this perspective, practical requirements for the platform have been drawn, in order to assure its compliance with the legislative framework. The answers of the interviewed organisations to sections 1, 2, 4, and 5 of the questionnaire have been examined in depth in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 deals with the following elements: (a) identification of an appropriate platform model; (b) the possibility for the interviewed organisations to participate into the European platform. The solutions identified for the platform organisation and operation are based on a reasoning about the possible motivations for the actors potentially involved (i.e., the public and private institutions) to develop a common initiative. In particular, an area of common interest has been identified, in order to define the objectives of the platform and its organisational layout. This includes the basic rationale for the functions to be undertaken by the public institutions. The platform model proposes a series of solutions related to the juridical aspects, the technical requirements, the costs, and the financial sustainability. An implementation strategy has thus been suggested and specific tasks have been assigned to the potential participants. The concluding remarks and the role of public institutions in the implementation of the platform are the object of Chapter 4

Animal health and price transmission along livestock supply chains

Animal health diseases can severely affect the food supply chain by causing variations in prices and market demand. Price transmission analysis reveals in what ways price variations are transmitted along the supply chain, and how supply chains of substitute products and different regional markets are also affected. In perfect markets, a price variation would be completely and instantaneously transmitted across the different levels of the supply chain: producers, the processing industry, retailers and consumers. However, empirical studies show that food markets are often imperfect, with anomalies or asymmetries in price transmission and distortions in the distribution of market benefits. This means, for instance, that a price increase at the consumer level may not be transmitted from retailers to processors and producers; yet, on the other hand, price falls may rapidly affect the upstream supply chain. Market concentration and the consequent exertion of market power in key segments of the supply chain can explain price transmission asymmetries and their distributional effects, but other factors may also be involved, such as transaction costs, scale economies, and imperfect information. During the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) crisis, asymmetric price transmission in the beef supply chain and related meat markets determined distributional effects among sectors. After the spread of the BSE food scare, the fall in demand marginally affected the price paid to retailers, but producers and wholesalers suffered much more, in both price reductions and the time needed to recover to precrisis demand. Price transmission analysis investigates how animal health crises create different economic burdens for various types of stakeholder, and provides useful socioeconomic insights when used with other tools.Les maladies animales peuvent avoir de graves r\ue9percussions sur la fili\ue8re agroalimentaire en occasionnant une instabilit\ue9 des prix et de la demande. L\u2019analyse de la transmission des prix met en lumi\ue8re la mani\ue8re dont les variations de prix se transmettent tout au long de la cha\ueene d\u2019approvisionnement et leurs cons\ue9quences sur les productions de substitution et sur les diff\ue9rents march\ue9s r\ue9gionaux. Dans un march\ue9 parfait, toute variation de prix se r\ue9percute de mani\ue8re int\ue9grale et instantan\ue9e \ue0 chaque niveau de la cha\ueene d\u2019approvisionnement : producteurs, transformateurs, d\ue9taillants et consommateurs. Des \ue9tudes empiriques ont toutefois montr\ue9 que les march\ue9s de l\u2019agroalimentaire sont souvent imparfaits, avec des anomalies ou des asym\ue9tries dans la transmission des prix ainsi que des distorsions dans la r\ue9partition des b\ue9n\ue9fices commerciaux. Ainsi, par exemple, une hausse du prix pay\ue9 par le consommateur ne se transmet pas n\ue9cessairement du d\ue9taillant aux transformateurs et aux producteurs, tandis qu\u2019une baisse des prix affecte tr\ue8s rapidement la fili\ue8re en amont. Si les asym\ue9tries de la transmission des prix et leur impact distributif peuvent s\u2019expliquer par la concentration des march\ue9s et par la puissance commerciale exerc\ue9e par des segments cl\ue9s de la cha\ueene d\u2019approvisionnement, d\u2019autres facteurs entrent \ue9galement en jeu, tels les co\ufbts de transaction, les \ue9conomies d\u2019\ue9chelle et les failles de l\u2019information. Lors de la crise due \ue0 l\u2019enc\ue9phalopathie spongiforme bovine (ESB), l\u2019asym\ue9trie de la transmission des prix au sein de la fili\ue8re viande bovine et des march\ue9s connexes de la viande a eu pour cons\ue9quence un impact distributif parmi les secteurs concern\ue9s. Suite \ue0 la panique caus\ue9e par l\u2019ESB, la chute de la demande a eu des r\ue9percussions marginales sur le prix pay\ue9 aux d\ue9taillants, tandis que les producteurs et les grossistes ont \ue9t\ue9 beaucoup plus affect\ue9s, non seulement par la chute des prix mais aussi par le temps qu\u2019il leur a fallu attendre avant que la demande retrouve son niveau d\u2019avant la crise. L\u2019analyse de la transmission des prix permet de comprendre la diversit\ue9 des r\ue9percussions \ue9conomiques d\u2019une crise de sant\ue9 animale en fonction des parties prenantes concern\ue9es et fournit un \ue9clairage socio-\ue9conomique pr\ue9cieux lorsqu\u2019elle est utilis\ue9e parall\ue8lement \ue0 d\u2019autres outils

L'èvaluation du paysage viticole de montagne

La "raison pratique" du croissant intéresse pour la valeur du paysage viticole de montagne naît grâce à la diffusion de l'intéresse pour le paysage rural. Cette étude d'évaluation du paysage s’applique aux collines orientales du Friuli (I), au bout de mettre en évidence l'impact du paysage de la viticulture collinaire. La méthodologie utilisée se base sur les principes de l’évaluation contingente puisque elle parait en mesure d'estimer la valeur économique totale d'un bien environnemental en mettant ensemble soit les valeurs d’utilisation directes ou indirectes que les valeurs de conservation du bien dans le futur, même sans la possibilité d’utilisation. Les résultats indiquent que tous les interviewés acceptent de payer pour la conservation du paysage viticole si la taxe correspond au 2-5 pour milles du revenu familial. Lorsque la taxe proposée s'approche au 1% du revenu familial le difficulté à payer augmentent rapidement. Pour déterminer les bénéfices des vignobles de montagne (valeur environnemental du vignoble) semble-t-il nécessaire de se orienter non seulement aux résidants, mais aussi aux visiteurs occasionnels et de demander à tous d’évaluer en même temps des émotions instinctives et des émotions intellectuelles. Ces utilisateurs peuvent en fait mieux apprécier les bénéfices matériels et esthétiques et avec une objectivité comparative supérieure, en pouvant par conséquent fournir des indication de « disponibilité à payer » crédibles et utilisables dans la construction de la valeur environnement

Caractère de base et politique économique pour la viticulture de montagne

L'évolution internationale du secteur et les tendances de la consommation ont imposé la révision des politiques de gestion du secteur vin européen puisque les considérables ressources financières apporté au secteur vin ne sont plus soutenables. L’objectif déclaré est d'éliminer tous les vignobles non rémunérés sans l'intervention du soutien communautaire. Il est vraisemblable prévoir que la viticulture européenne se concentrera dans des zones de plaine et de colline qui pourront garantir la complète efficacité de la production. La productions des micro-régions de montagne, souvent porteuse de vins de qualité et de consommation élitaire, pourra survivre à condition de rejoindre la dimension commerciale demandée par les marchés modernes. En tout cas en moyen et longue période la plupart de ces régions auront des perspectives d'adaptation et de remaniement des productions. Toute intervention de soutien publique pour un secteur vitivinicole traditionnel devrait disposer d’analyses de base pour vérifier le soutien global du secteur en moyenne période. Pour le secteur vin les analyses de base devraient comprendre spécifiques enquêtes opérationnelles et en particulier : (i) une recherche opérationnelle de type socio-économique devrait analyser la structure productive familiale existant en termes de durabilité, tout en en considérant les phases viticole, oenologique et commerciale, sous hypothèse d'activité indépendante ou associée pour comprendre la propension et les limites à l'innovation structurelle et organisationnel ; (ii) une recherche opérationnelle de type oenologique devrait analyser la propension à l'innovation technologique vers des productions compatibles avec les conditions d’environnement spécifiques, et la diffusion des connaissances oenologiques publiques et privées pour la valorisation de la technique ; (iii) une recherche opérationnelle de marketing stratégique devrait approfondir la valeur du paysage viticole pour pouvoir définir les typologies d'actions publiques et privées pour accroître la liaison entre vin et paysage spécifique