To leave or not to leave? Understanding determinants of farmers' choices to remain in or abandon agri-environmental schemes

Effectiveness of Agri-Environmental Schemes (AESs) as tools to enhance the rural environment can be achieved not only by increasing uptake rates, but also by avoiding participating farmers abandoning the scheme once they are in. For this reason, it is important to also consider what affects farmers\u2019 decisions to remain in the scheme rather than leave it at the end of the contractual obligation. However, up to now, there has been very little on this issue in the literature. The paper offers a contribution to this by revealing the role of determinants like the farmer\u2019s and farm structural characteristics, farmer\u2019s learning process, neighbourhood effect and the impact of changes in the policy design on the farmer\u2019s decision to remain in the scheme over a long time scale. This is examined in a long-standing scheme in the case study area, the Veneto Region of Italy. The paper uses duration analysis and is based on longitudinal panel-data of the entire population of 2000-2015 adopters. By using only data available in official regional records, it also provides regional policy-makers with an operational tool that is useful to analyse the impact of their AES design changes. The results of the duration models show that a larger farm size, a younger farmer age, the succession in the family farm, and the farmer\u2019s positive attitude towards the environment, trigger longer durations in AES. Similarly, the impact of the accumulation of the farmer\u2019s experience in the scheme management, as well as the neighbourhood effect increase the probability of remaining. Lastly, the changes in policy tailoring and targeting also have a positive impact on maintaining the farmer in the scheme. The paper concludes by noting that duration analysis can deliver useful results in order to guide policy-makers in the effort to steer higher levels of farmers\u2019 persistence in the scheme and provides some recommendations for a more mature agro-environmental policy design

From Geographical Indications to Rural Development: A Review of the Economic Effects of European Union Policy

One of the main functions of geographical indications (GIs) is to provide information and quality to consumers. This, in turn, can generate benefits for producers and stimulate rural development processes, as advocated by European Union (EU) legislation. The objective of the present study is to understand if the theorized effects of GIs on local economic development are supported by empirical evidence. Using a systematic approach, we reviewed the literature on the topic and structured the results of the review adopting a supply chain framework. This allows us to better understand how the effects of GIs are distributed among the chain actors and finally arrive at the local territories where GI products originate. Evidence shows that GIs are actually able to generate value added, especially at the consumer and retailer levels, while the effects on the economic performance of producers are more heterogeneous and dependent on specific local conditions. The review also highlighted some drawbacks in the literature that make it difficult to draw robust conclusions about the actual impact of GI policy at the European level. Therefore, despite the GI tool actually showing good potential for improving local economic conditions, more structured and focused research is needed

Modelo de precios hedónicos aplicado al vino del "Nuevo y del Viejo Mundo": : estado del arte

The basic hedonic hypothesis is that goods are valued for their utility-bearing characteristics and not for the good itself. Each attribute can be evaluated by consumers when making a purchasing decision and an implicit price can be identified for each of them. Thus, the observed price of a certain good can be analyzed as the sum of the implicit prices paid for each quality attribute. Literature has reported hedonic models estimates in the case of wines, which are excellent examples of differentiated goods worldwide.The impact of different wine attributes (intrinsic or extrinsic) on consumers’ willingness to pay has been analyzed with dissimilar results. Wines coming from "New World" producers seem to be appreciated for different attributes than wines produced in the "Old World". Moreover, "Old and New World" consumers seem to value differently the wine’s characteristics. To our knowledge, no cross country analysis has been done dealing with "New World" wines in "Old World" countries, leaving an important gap in understanding underlying attributes influencing buying decisions.La hipótesis hedónica básica es que los bienes son valuados por sus características y no por el bien en sí mismo. Cada una de esas características es evaluada por el consumidor en el momento de decidir la compra por lo que es posible estimar un precio implícito para cada una de ellas. El precio observado de un producto puede ser, entonces, analizado como la suma de los precios implícitos de los atributos que definen el producto. Existe vasta literatura sobre precios hedónicos en el mundo del vino, al tratarse de un caso referente de producto diferenciado. El análisis del impacto de los diferentes atributos del vino sobre la disponibilidad a pagar del consumidor ha reportado resultados disímiles. Los vinos provenientes del "Nuevo Mundo" parecen ser apreciados por atributos diferentes que los vinos del "Viejo Mundo". Adicionalmente, los consumidores del "Nuevo y Viejo Mundo" aprecian distintas características en el vino. A nuestro saber, no se han llevado a cabo análisis de tipo inter-países de vinos del "Nuevo Mundo" vendidos en el "Viejo Mundo". Esta carencia deja una gran brecha en el entendimiento de cuáles son los atributos que influyen en las decisiones de compra del consumidor.Fil: Estrella Orrego, María Jimena. Università degli Studi di Padova (Italia). Dipartimento Territorio e Sistemi Agro-ForestaliFil: Defrancesco, Edi. Università degli Studi di Padova (Italia). Dipartimento Territorio e Sistemi Agro-ForestaliFil: Gennari, Alejandro. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Agraria

Are non-industrial private forest owners willing to deliver regulation ecosystem services? Insights from an alpine case

As non-industrial private forest owners own a large share of forests in Europe, their management choices can largely affect the delivery of forest ecosystem services of different types: provisional, regulation and cultural. The literature is rich in studies exploring the delivery of both provisional services (timber or wood products) and cultural ones (recreation or amenity). However, fewer researches have addressed the delivery of regulation services like regulation of climate, carbon sequestration or preservation of habitats. The paper intends to contribute to this scarce literature with a Southern European case study. It analyses whether non-industrial private forest owners from an Italian alpine region would be willing to deliver additional (i.e. beyond legal requirements) quantities of regulation forest ecosystem services, whether they would do so with or without payment, and what affects such willingness. Three services are analysed: habitat improvement, soil conservation and carbon sequestration. Three multinomial logit models are estimated on a sample of 106 non-industrial forest owners. The results show, among others, that the willingness to deliver regulation forest ecosystem services is enhanced when the service impacts also on the property scale: this result concurs with the literature which shows that non-industrial private forest owners very often maximise not only their profit but also their overall utility by considering the self-consumption of services. The paper concludes by providing indications for targeting and tailoring active forest management policies focused on non-industrial forest owners of Italian alpine regions

Modelo de precios hedónicos aplicado al vino del "Nuevo y del Viejo Mundo": estado del arte

The basic hedonic hypothesis is that goods are valued for their utility-bearing characteristics and not for the good itself. Each attribute can be evaluated by consumers when making a purchasing decision and an implicit price can be identified for each of them. Thus, the observed price of a certain good can be analyzed as the sum of the implicit prices paid for each quality attribute. Literature has reported hedonic models estimates in the case of wines, which are excellent examples of differentiated goods worldwide.The impact of different wine attributes (intrinsic or extrinsic) on consumers’ willingness to pay has been analyzed with dissimilar results. Wines coming from "New World" producers seem to be appreciated for different attributes than wines produced in the "Old World". Moreover, "Old and New World" consumers seem to value differently the wine’s characteristics. To our knowledge, no cross country analysis has been done dealing with "New World" wines in "Old World" countries, leaving an important gap in understanding underlying attributes influencing buying decisions.The basic hedonic hypothesis is that goods are valued for their utility-bearing characteristics and not for the good itself. Each attribute can be evaluated by consumers when making a purchasing decision and an implicit price can be identified for each of them. Thus, the observed price of a certain good can be analyzed as the sum of the implicit prices paid for each quality attribute. Literature has reported hedonic models estimates in the case of wines, which are excellent examples of differentiated goods worldwide.The impact of different wine attributes (intrinsic or extrinsic) on consumers’ willingness to pay has been analyzed with dissimilar results. Wines coming from "New World" producers seem to be appreciated for different attributes than wines produced in the "Old World". Moreover, "Old and New World" consumers seem to value differently the wine’s characteristics. To our knowledge, no cross country analysis has been done dealing with "New World" wines in "Old World" countries, leaving an important gap in understanding underlying attributes influencing buying decisions

Are Geographical Indications (GIs) Effective Value-Adding Tools for Traditional Food? Insights from the Newly Established Japanese GIs System

A GI system for protection of agricultural products and foodstuffs has been recently introduced in Japan aiming to provide a tool for: i) tapping into rural development; ii) increasing exports; iii) preserving the traditional products’ heritage and iv) improve products’ differentiation. Twelve registered GIs are analysed by grouping them in four categories according to their target market and consumer awareness. Our direct survey findings show that each product category is mainly focused on one of the above-mentioned targets, has specific SWOT factors, has different expectations from the GI recognition, its GIs’ governance system works differently, and that specific well-tailored policies are needed

Recreation Management in Venice Lagoon

The Venice lagoon is the largest one in the Mediterranean sea (550 km2). It is a relevant site for both professional fishing and recreation (fishing and boating). The paper estimates the recreational and sport-fishing demand using the contingent valuation method. A stratified sample-based survey has been made in order to a) quantify and describe the visitors, b) estimate the demand function of homogeneous recreational users’ subgroups, c) estimate the total annual recreational use value of the lagoon, d) simulate potential financing by users aimed to improve conservation management. Main results are: a) the survey has shown that around 13,000 users per year can be estimated (71% boating, and 29% fishing); the average number of annual visits per user is 5.4, b) the demand functions resulting from contingent valuation have been estimated, c) the total recreational surplus differs significantly both between fishing and boating users, and between users living in Venice (25%) and in the mainland (75%), d) the simulations of management policies financing conservation measures have been evaluated from the viewpoint of the users’ welfare. Different users’ charges have been considered. For example, a €31 annual entrance fee could be charged on mainland recreational users without reducing the total visitors’ number. However, management policies have to take into account redistributional effects and access rights of residents in Venice.Keywords: lagoon use-value, contingent valuation, recreation management

Drivers of farmers' adoption and continuation of climate-smart agricultural practices. A study from northeastern Italy

Abstract The EU rural development policy has addressed challenges related to climate change in agriculture by introducing public voluntary schemes, which financially support the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices. Several factors, most of which are non-financial ones, drive adoption and continuation of these schemes by farmers. Despite the importance of these factors, only a few studies explore their role in the European context. This paper contributes to filling this gap from a twofold perspective. First, it investigates the role of the farming factors, technology accessibility, environmental features, policy design and social expertise at the territorial level on early adoption. Second, it sheds light on farmers' attitudes and motivations and on social pressure on their decision to continue or discontinue the practices, by surveying a sample of early adopters. Three schemes for the Veneto region rural development programme are considered: no tillage, fertiliser reduction, and water and fertiliser reduction. The results highlight that non-financial factors should be considered in order to design more effective schemes to prompt farmers to adopt and continue such practices over the long run. The paper also stresses the need to complement financial support with proactive information-based instruments