Value Sharing and Food System Dynamics for Milk, Tomato, and Cereals Food Chains

The aim of the paper is to analyse value sharing and food system dynamics of milk, tomato, and cereals food chains, so to explore the agro‐food enterprises capacity to be competitive and sustainable. The paper is based on the functionalist approach of Malassis and the notion of the system of the General Systems Theory. The methodology is aimed at creating a consolidated financial statement for each food chain so to re‐create the chain value and identify how this is shared among the different food chain stages. The analysis is carried out on primary and secondary data: around 2400 financial statements concerning 480 enterprises from 2003 to 2007 and stakeholders’ interviews. Results show that value is usually created in the processing and distribution stages, to the detriment of the primary sector, and that the retail managing practices tend to impose damaging structural changes on farms whose profitability is at times becoming sustainable only thanks to European subsidies. To conclude, there is evidence of inadequate definition of strategic and network alliance along the chain. Competitiveness is still a concept achieved by single food chain stages against others and food chain internal competition entails a declining sustainability of small farms and enterprises.food chain, value system, economic performance, potato, fruit, cheese., Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Industrial Organization, Risk and Uncertainty,

Food chains and value system: the case of potato, fruit, and cheese

The aim of the paper is to analyse patterns of value system sharing along food chains, so to explore the agro-food enterprises capacity to be competitive and sustainable. The research focused on three food chains: potato, fruit, and Grana cheese of Emilia Romagna region. The paper adopts the value system approach. The methodology is aimed at creating a consolidated financial statement for each food chain so to re-create the chain operating profit and identify how this is shared among the different food chain stages. The analysis is carried out on 189 enterprises for the potato chain, 187 for the fruit chain and 203 for the cheese chain. The number of enterprises was invariable over the 5 year 2003-2007, leading to some 2,900 financial statement analysis. The chains analysed show differences. In the potato and fruit chains 35% of value is created by distribution, whereas in cheese chain only 13.6%. Over the five years value decreases 5% in fruit and potato and 9% in cheese. The lack of adequate strategic food chain partnership allows an increasing retail market power over the whole chain at the expenses of the primary sector entailing a declining sustainability for all chain actors.food chain, value system, profitability, potato, fruit, cheese, Agricultural and Food Policy,

Value Sharing and Food System Dynamics for Milk, Tomato, and Cereals Food Chains

The aim of the paper is to analyse value sharing and food system dynamics of milk, tomato, and cereals food chains, so to explore the agrofood enterprises capacity to be competitive and sustainable. The paper is based on the functionalist approach of Malassis and the notion of the system of the General Systems Theory. The methodology is aimed at creating a consolidated financial statement for each food chain so to recreate the chain value and identify how this is shared among the different food chain stages. The analysis is carried out on primary and secondary data: around 2400 financial statements concerning 480 enterprises from 2003 to 2007 and stakeholders’ interviews. Results show that value is usually created in the processing and distribution stages, to the detriment of the primary sector, and that the retail managing practices tend to impose damaging structural changes on farms whose profitability is at times becoming sustainable only thanks to European subsidies. To conclude, there is evidence of inadequate definition of strategic and network alliance along the chain. Competitiveness is still a concept achieved by single food chain stages against others and food chain internal competition entails a declining sustainability of small farms and enterprises

Value Sharing and Food System Dynamics for Milk, Tomato, and Cereals Food Chains

The aim of the paper is to analyse value sharing and food system dynamics of milk, tomato, and cereals food chains, so to explore the agrofood enterprises capacity to be competitive and sustainable. The paper is based on the functionalist approach of Malassis and the notion of the system of the General Systems Theory. The methodology is aimed at creating a consolidated financial statement for each food chain so to recreate the chain value and identify how this is shared among the different food chain stages. The analysis is carried out on primary and secondary data: around 2400 financial statements concerning 480 enterprises from 2003 to 2007 and stakeholders’ interviews. Results show that value is usually created in the processing and distribution stages, to the detriment of the primary sector, and that the retail managing practices tend to impose damaging structural changes on farms whose profitability is at times becoming sustainable only thanks to European subsidies. To conclude, there is evidence of inadequate definition of strategic and network alliance along the chain. Competitiveness is still a concept achieved by single food chain stages against others and food chain internal competition entails a declining sustainability of small farms and enterprises

Value Sharing and Food System Dynamics for Milk, Tomato, and Cereals food Chains

The aim of the paper is to analyse value sharing and food system dynamics of milk, tomato, and cereals food chains, so to explore the agro-food enterprises capacity to be competitive and sustainable. The paper is based on the functionalist approach of Malassis and the notion of the system of the General Systems Theory. The methodology is aimed at creating a consolidated financial statement for each food chain so to re-create the chain value and identify how this is shared among the different food chain stages. The analysis is carried out on primary and secondary data: around 2400 financial statements concerning 480 enterprises from 2003 to 2007 and stakeholders’ interviews. Results show that value is usually created in the processing and distribution stages, to the detriment of the primary sector, and that the retail managing practices tend to impose damaging structural changes on farms whose profitability is at times becoming sustainable only thanks to European subsidies. To conclude, there is evidence of inadequate definition of strategic and network alliance along the chain. Competitiveness is still a concept achieved by single food chain stages against others and food chain internal competition entails a declining sustainability of small farms and enterprises

La filiera ortofrutticola

Il capitolo approfondisce l'analisi della filiera ortofrutticola biologica, analizzando dati aziendali e di mercato. Un'indagine qualitativa svolta specificatamente per la redazione del capitolo consente inoltre di definire le prospettive di medio periodo, secondo il parere degli operatori. I dati analizzati forniscono un quadro sostanzialmente positivo dello stato dell\u2019ortofrutticoltura biologica. La dinamica delle superfici, in particolare quelle ancora in fase di conversione, e le aspettative sui prezzi evidenziano una certa fiducia da parte degli operatori sulla possibilit\ue0 di ampliare la produzione di frutta e di ortaggi biologici, andando incontro a una domanda relativamente vivace degli stessi. Se la congiuntura sembra essere favorevole, non bisogna dimenticare, tuttavia, i limiti strutturali che caratterizzano gran parte delle aziende ortofrutticole in generale e di quelle che, nello specifico, utilizzano il metodo dell\u2019agricoltura biologica. Le piccole superfici a disposizione, la necessit\ue0 di continui investimenti e di un significativo impiego di manodopera costituiscono anche per le aziende biologiche dei vincoli rilevanti, che condizionano lo \u201cspazio di manovra\u201d dell\u2019imprenditore. Per molte aziende ortofrutticole biologiche il superamento di tali limiti \ue8 storicamente passato attraverso l\u2019adozione di forme di vendita diretta, che hanno consentito agli imprenditori di recuperare la marginalit\ue0 connessa alle attivit\ue0 di commercializzazione. A tutt\u2019oggi, questa sembra essere ancora la strategia ritenuta pi\uf9 efficace da parte dei produttori e dei rappresentanti delle loro organizzazioni. Questo indirizzo strategico, che sembra coinvolgere pi\uf9 gli orticoltori che non i frutticoltori, permea di s\ue9 ogni altra decisione aziendale, condizionando al soddisfacimento del cliente-consumatore, secondo i dettami del marketing, anche le scelte relative alle specie e alle cultivar da produrre, all\u2019impiego di manodopera e alla creazione di reti di imprese (prevalentemente informali), per assicurare una sufficiente ampiezza di gamma. Tuttavia, il continuo aumento delle produzioni ortofrutticole biologiche rende sempre pi\uf9 improbabile per il futuro la mera replicazione di tali assetti organizzativi e chiama le aziende all\u2019adozione di modelli di collaborazione pi\uf9 \u201cstrutturati\u201d, che permettano un\u2019interazione positiva con i canali distributivi pi\uf9 consueti per la massa delle produzioni ortofrutticole (grossisti, organizzazioni cooperative, grande distribuzione organizzata). L\u2019aumento della produzione ortofrutticola biologica, in altre parole, crea le condizioni per una di quelle \u201ccrisi\u201d (Greiner, 1998), che normalmente caratterizzano i processi di crescita delle imprese, delle organizzazioni e anche delle filiere. Al mondo della produzione spetta il compito di \u201cgovernare\u201d tali processi, evitando il rischio di una banalizzazione della frutta e degli ortaggi a produzione biologica

Sarchiatura e diserbo i costi dell'innovazione

Il Gruppo Operativo per l’Innovazione (GOI ) con il progetto S.E.M.S. (Smart Economic Monitoring Systems), finanziato dalla Regione Emilia-Romagna (Programma regionale di sviluppo rurale 2014-2020 – Tipo di operazione 16.1.01 – Gruppi operativi del partenariato europeo per l’innovazione: “produttività e sostenibilità dell’agricoltura”) ha selezionato, nell’ambito delle proprie attività e con il concorso decisivo dei tecnici delle organizzazioni di produttori e delle aziende sperimentali che hanno partecipato o hanno sostenuto il Goi, due operazioni colturali e altrettante macchine innovative, relativamente alle quali effettuare prove in campo e analisi economiche. In particolare, la prima operazione considerata è la sarchiatura del pomodoro da industria, eseguita con sarchiatrice ottica Garford Robocrop. La seconda è il diserbo sulla fila di un frutteto, eseguito in condizioni di forte inerbimento con Caffini Grasskiller

Short supply chain: analysis of the competitiveness of organic horticultural farmers at Italian regional level

The paper focuses on the competitiveness of organic horticultural farms implementing short food supply chain (SFSC), by analysing the organisational structures adopted by farmers and their economic performance. The collection of data based on face to face interviews with farmers and the review of the rural development plans of three central Italy regions. Results show that farms prefer a combination of organizational structures that involve both business to consumer and business to business strategies. A high number of farms realise direct selling to consumers implemented through in farm selling and market distribution channels. Nonetheless, farms performing the highest turnover take advantage from the support of informal or formal network of producers. At policy level intervention towards strengthening SFSC’s competitiveness is still lacking