THE ROLE OF “INTEGRATED PRODUCTION” SCHEME IN THE NEW FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CMO: A TOOL FOR COMPETITIVENESS, SUSTAINABILITY OR OLIGOPSONY BY LARGE RETAIL CHAINS?

The new Common Market Organization (CMO) for the fruit and vegetable sector approved in 2007, continues to include sustainability and competitiveness of the sector among its most important goals. The key role of the new (as well as the old) CMO is still played by Producers Organizations (POs): among other things, they should help farmers to organize and to concentrate supply in order to satisfy the old and new requests by large retailers in Europe as well as in other foreign markets. On the other side POs should also help farmers to apply the best available growing, preserving and packaging technologies, in order to become more competitive but also sustainable from an environmental point of view. In order to satisfy these requests POs have been traditional supporters of new production systems like “Integrated Pest Management” (IPM) and later “Integrated Production” (IP); they have generally offered to their farmers technical assistance for its application in the fruit and vegetable sectors. The main stated objective of IP schemes is to reduce the use of pesticides, and therefore to increase the environmental sustainability of these productions. However differently from the case of organic products, in the case of IP no EU regulation or standard exists. The absence of this common standard has allowed regional authorities to introduce different definitions of IP. Moreover large retail chains, the most important buyers for these products, apply chain-specific requirements, again based on the “idea” of IP and perhaps also on regional IP scheme, to some extent, but always with differences quite important. The actual result is that farmers producing vegetables and fruits must often apply, for the same product grown on the same farm, different technologies in order to obtain different certifications (i.e. regional IP scheme and possibly few different retailers’ scheme) all of them theoretically based on the “common idea” of IP but with quite different interpretations. These different certifications schemes imply, at the farm level, a relevant increase in costs of production and commercialization, without generating any positive economic effect, on one side, and with a large degree of uncertainty in terms of effect on environmental sustainability of these production technologies. The paper starting from the case of fruit production in Emilia-Romagna region, discusses these negative implications together with the possibility for large retail chains to exercise some oligopsony power with respect to POs also using IP schemes. Few implications are drawn with respect to the potential benefits of a common IP scheme defined by EU regulation, and few considerations are made about the main characteristics that this certification should have in order to be (at least theoretically) efficient.Agricultural and Food Policy, Industrial Organization,

A Comparative Study of EU and US Trade Policies for Developing Countries: The Case of Agri-Food Products

Trade relations between developed and developing countries are one of the hot topics of the ongoing World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations. The conclusion of the Cotonou Agreement between EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, the introduction of the EU’s Everything But Arms initiative for the least developed countries and the United States’ African Growth and Opportunity Act for 39 African Countries, represents tangible incentives for many developing countries to continue their efforts to open their economies and build free markets. This paper analyzes the trade creating effects of EU and US trade policies as total effect, for agri-food products of developing countries in a gravity model framework. Data refer to a 10 year period: 1996-2005. The findings show larger trade creating effects of EU trade policies, especially for upper-middle income countries. Variation in trade creation, across the years, is not statistically significant, except for the low-income countries.Gross Trade Creation, Agricultural Trade Policy, Developed and Developing Countries, International Relations/Trade,

Can new organic cropping systems produce vegetables with lower use of resources and losses of nitrate?

To secure a sustainable production of plant foods for the future, there is a need to develop new cropping systems. These systems should have reduced needs of external resources and reduced environmental impact, while product yields are maintained at high level. Therefore, field trials were performed in Italy, Slovenia, Germany and Denmark with the aim to study new organic cropping systems for production of vegetable crops; and the systems’ effect on labor and energy consumption and the risk of losing nitrate to the water environment. The cropping systems included an in-season living mulch to exploit ecosystem services by attracting beneficial insects, suppressing weeds, and taking up excess nitrogen during production of two high-value crops of leek and cauliflower. The first year results show that high yields and quality were maintained if the living mulches were properly managed e.g. by sowing date or root pruning to control plant competition. The systems including living mulches changed the costs from +22 to -2% and total energy consumption from +14 to -4% compared to sole cropping depending on the change of management techniques in each country. The proportion between human power and fossil fuel consumption was changed. The risk of nitrate leaching was affected to a minor degree depending on the spatial layout of living mulch and crop rows. The study indicates that new cropping systems can be developed based on in-season living mulches for organic production with high yields, weed suppression and reduction of the risk of nitrate leaching. However, the management of the living mulches in terms of machinery, agronomic techniques and timing needs to be developed to optimize outcomes for food security, energy use and environmental impact. The study is part of the INTERVEG project

Energy homeostasis in rabbit does during pregnancy and pseudopregnancy

This study was conducted to evaluate the changing concentrations of metabolic hormones and metabolites in pregnant (P) and pseudopregnant (PP) rabbit does. Twenty-five New Zealand White rabbit does were submitted to artificial insemination (AI) and then classified as P (n = 15) or PP (n = 10). Blood samples were collected weekly until day 32 post AI. During pregnancy, leptin concentrations were greater on Days 14 and 21 (P < 0.05), while insulin was greater on days 21 and 32 post AI (P < 0.05) compared to PP does. The triiodothyronine/thyroxine (T3/T4) ratio was greater in the first and last week (P < 0.001); whereas, cortisol concentrations were greater in the last week of pregnancy and after parturition (P < 0.01) compared with that of PP does. Non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) concentrations increased from day 7 until day 32 post AI (P < 0.05). Glucose concentrations were unchanged throughout pregnancy although concentrations were positively associated with litter size. These results indicate concentrations of hormones and metabolites change during pregnancy to ensure energy requirements are met for both the foetuses and the maternal tissues. Physiological hyperleptinemia, hyperinsulinemia, and changes in cortisol as well as thyroid hormones indicate there is an adaptation of metabolic functions induced by pregnancy. These adaptations could be mediated by gonadal steroids because changes mainly occur in the second half of pregnancy when the profile of the sex hormones differs between P and PP does

Combination of Spatial and Temporal Diversification in European Cropping Systems

There is a lack of results on the advantages and limitations of combining different crop diversification strategies both in time and space, which makes it difficult for famers and advisers to find relevant information for the transition towards more diversified cropping systems. A network of ten field experiments (diverIMPACTS project) was built across seven European countries, covering a range of pedo-climatic conditions and different farming systems: arable and vegetable systems under both conventional and organic management. Each field experiment tests one or several diversified cropping systems, which combine three diversification strategies with low input practices. These diversified cropping systems are compared to reference systems, which are less diversified and more dependent on external inputs. The three strategies of crop diversification are rotation, multiple cropping (growing different crop species on the same land within one growing season) and intercropping (growing different species in proximity on the same field). A diversified system includes, for example, the addition of cover crops or cash crops, such as legumes, for their expected ecosystem services, or crops for new markets (e.g hemp, lentil), the use of multiple cropping to increase productivity per year (e.g. winter barley with soybean) and intercropping (e.g. barley/pea,wheat/faba bean, oat/lupin) to increase productivity per unit of area and reduce external inputs. Expected impacts include: higher arable land productivity, diversification and increased farmer revenues through access to new markets and reduced economic risk, lower environmental impact through reduced use of pesticides, chemical fertilisers, energy and water, and improved delivery of ecosystem services, including biodiversity. The diversified cropping systems will be assessed using standardized measurements across the network and multi-criteria assessment tools. Decisions regarding the design and management of the diversified cropping systems will be recorded to support other diversification initiatives. The year 2018 is the first year of the network. This paper presents the original approach, the strategies designed in the network, and the assumptions concerning the interests to combine temporal and spatial diversification in order to improve the delivery of multiple services. This network will be a source of inspiration for other initiatives of crop diversification in Europe. The ultimate goal is to guide farmers in their transition towards more diversified cropping systems and to promote innovations by various actors at different scales (e.g. innovations regarding machinery for sowing or harvesting new sole or mixed crops, value-chains through the consolidation of new markets, new process of transformation, or adaptation of value-chains to intercropping)

EFFECT OF LIVING MULCH ON PEST/BENEFICIAL INTERACTION

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of cover crops on pest/beneficial dynamics and to test the potential of living mulch on enhancing biological control against insect pests. The research, carried out in the frame of the InterVeg (Core Organic II) project, involved four European countries: Germany, Slovenia, Denmark and Italy. Three crops were tested: cauliflower, leek and artichoke. The preliminary results obtained in Italy on cauliflower, indicated that the living mulch did not affect the infestation of the cabbage butterfly, Pieris brassicae, showing no detrimental effect of this technique on pest dynamics. A very high level of parasitization against cabbage butterfly was detected either in the living mulch crop (88%) and in the sole one (63%). Living mulch showed to increase the spider and rove beetle activity density, while the carabid activity density was slightly higher in the sole crop

EFFECT OF LIVING MULCH ON PEST/BENEFICIAL INTERACTION

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of cover crops on pest/beneficial dynamics and to test the potential of living mulch on enhancing biological control against insect pests. The research, carried out in the frame of the InterVeg (Core Organic II) project, involved four European countries: Germany, Slovenia, Denmark and Italy. Three crops were tested: cauliflower, leek and artichoke. The preliminary results obtained in Italy on cauliflower, indicated that the living mulch did not affect the infestation of the cabbage butterfly, Pieris brassicae, showing no detrimental effect of this technique on pest dynamics. A very high level of parasitization against cabbage butterfly was detected either in the living mulch crop (88%) and in the sole one (63%). Living mulch showed to increase the spider and rove beetle activity density, while the carabid activity density was slightly higher in the sole crop

Approaches to Identify Pregnancy Failure in Buffalo Cows

Simple SummaryEmbryonic mortality and pregnancy failures still represent a major issue in domestic livestock production, particularly in dairy cattle. Despite the presence of extensive work in this research area, there is still no effective, accurate and practical method able to determine timing and viability of embryo specifically during early gestation. Indeed, technologies and techniques for predicting pregnancy success must continue to be developed. The aim of this work was to find the best strategy to diagnose pregnancy failures in buffalo cows in order to improve farm reproductive management. Among the methods compared in this study (ultrasonography, progesterone, PAGs), pregnancy-associated glycoproteins (PAGs) seem to be the best marker for predicting embryonic mortality between 25 and 40 days of gestation to be utilized as a diagnostic tool to improve reproductive management in buffalo farms.The aim of this work was to find the best strategy to diagnose pregnancy failures in buffalo. A total of 109 animals belonging to a buffalo herd subjected to a synchronization and artificial insemination (AI) program were enrolled in this study. Blood samples were collected at days 0, 14, 25, 28 and 40 after AI for the determination of progesterone (P4) and pregnancy-associated glycoproteins (PAGs) by the radioimmunoassay (RIA) method. Transrectal ultrasonography was performed on day 25, 28 and 40 after AI to monitor pregnancy. The animals included in the data analysis were assigned ex post in pregnant (n = 50) and mortality (n = 12) groups. By ultrasonography, the predictive sign of mortality was the heartbeat. At day 25, the PAGs concentration was significant in predicting embryonic mortality with respect to ultrasonography and P4, at the cut-off of 1.1 ng/mL. At day 28, either PAGs, at a cut-off of 2.2 ng/mL, or ultrasonography, with no detection of heartbeat, were highly predictive of embryonic mortality. PAGs were the best marker (p < 0.05) for predicting embryonic mortality between 25 and 40 days of gestation in buffalo. Its utilization as a diagnostic tool can influence management decisions in order to improve farm reproductive management

Assessment of the control measures of the category A diseases of Animal Health Law: Classical Swine Fever

EFSA received a mandate from the European Commission to assess the effectiveness of some of the control measures against diseases included in the Category A list according to Regulation (EU) 2016/429 on transmissible animal diseases (‘Animal Health Law’). This opinion belongs to a series of opinions where these control measures will be assessed, with this opinion covering the assessment of control measures for Classical swine fever (CSF). In this opinion, EFSA and the AHAW Panel of experts review the effectiveness of: (i) clinical and laboratory sampling procedures, (ii) monitoring period and (iii) the minimum radii of the protection and surveillance zones, and the minimum length of time the measures should be applied in these zones. The general methodology used for this series of opinions has been published elsewhere; nonetheless, details of the model used for answering these questions are presented in this opinion as well as the transmission kernels used for the assessment of the minimum radius of the protection and surveillance zones. Several scenarios for which these control measures had to be assessed were designed and agreed prior to the start of the assessment. Here, several recommendations are given on how to increase the effectiveness of some of the sampling procedures. Based on the average length of the period between virus introduction and the reporting of a CSF suspicion, the monitoring period was assessed as non-effective. In a similar way, it was recommended that the length of the measures in the protection and surveillance zones were increased from 15 to 25 days in the protection zone and from 30 to 40 days in the surveillance zone. Finally, the analysis of existing Kernels for CSF suggested that the radius of the protection and the surveillance zones comprise 99% of the infections from an affected establishment if transmission occurred. Recommendations provided for each of the scenarios assessed aim to support the European Commission in the drafting of further pieces of legislation, as well as for plausible ad hoc requests in relation to CSF.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio