New approach to analyze relationships between agritouristic supply and territory

This paper defines the phenomenon of agritourism in Friuli Venezia Giulia (NE Italy) at the end of 2009, in the light of the multifunctionality of agritouristic farms and taking into account the land use. The proposed statistical approach to outline the situation includes (a) the classification of the variables linked to agritouristic supply to find the main supply types, (b) the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) in order to classify the regional agritourisms according to their supply and (c) the Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) to investigate the relationships between agritouristic supply, agricultural land use and territory. Since the CCA is widely used only in social and environmental sciences, this work represents its first application in agribusiness field. The method becomes important during the agricultural policy planning processes because it provides decision makers with a means of rapid assessment of the relationships between rural supply and land uses on the territory.Rural Tourism, Agritourism, Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA), Agricultural Policy., Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q13, Q18.,

Optimize the Transport Cost and Environmental Impact of Whey Collection: A Case Study in the Region Trentino A. A. (Italy)

The scope of this research is to elaborate a strategy to minimize the logistic cost of the whey collection. The problem consists of the description of the whey collection basin and transport from CP (Cheese plant) to WPP (Whey processing plant). We started with an initial basic solution and proceeded with successive iterations to find the final optimal solution. Two numeric methods are proposed to solve iteratively the problem: the first one emulates the simplex method, the second one is an empirical solution to find the optimal route. Both are solved with an Excel and Google map software and do not require a dedicated LP program for calculus. The results demonstrate that both methods contribute to solve the transport problem and generate valuable information for the achievement of economic and environmental targets

THE ERRATIC BEHAVIOR OF THE NATURAL RESOURCES MARKET AND THE IMPACT ON THE LANDSCAPE-CULTURAL MOSAIC

The objective of this paper is eminently theoretical and aims to shed light on the way how the global market is dominated by antagonistic forces or actors (multinational corporations, ecological movements, national or supra-national governments) that create instability and chaotic fluctuations in natural resource and commodity markets with unpredictable impacts on the landscape-cultural mosaic. There is a contrast between the speed of financial actions, that operate with extremely fast times and repercussions, and the speed of ecological actions whose impact, especially on the landscape, is rather slow. The role of governments ends up following now one and now the other instance creating an additional factor of instability. Consequently, the effectiveness of the activities of the three actors overlaps, with different times, creating a system that even in the simplest cases has proven to lead to chaotic situations. The methodological reference will be to the Lotka- Volterra model which, as is well known, in the case of 2 actors leads to a situation of equilibrium, whereas when the actors are three or more gives rise to large ranges of deterministic chaos as supported also by Game theory

Sunflower oil innovation, claim assessment and consumer’ motivations to accept this food

The food product innovation is advancing under pressure of: 1.st the growing request of innovations in foods products and processing challenging new consumers’ needs; 2.nd, the advance in nutrigenomics and its contribution to increase knowledge about the relation between nutrition and food, iii) biotechnologies contribution to create customized food products to satisfy a variety of customers’ needs (Hobbs, 2002).           An emerging food product category is the nutraceutic food, contributing to satisfy ‘nutrients’ and ‘medical needs; beside it is easier with genomic techniques the original food composition to challenge the customers’ needs it must be considered the consumers’ adverse reaction for any technique used to change the food product composition. Purpose of this research is to suggest a modification of the sunflower oil composition obtained with genomic technique to change the product from bulk commodity to enhanced specialty food with health claims. The traditional bulk commodity market is based on uniform quality standard, higher volume of production priced at the minimum marginal cost. The specialty market segment demands products with distinctive attributes of higher quality and safety standards, more varieties and sustainability, supported by marketing mix strategies to set up higher prices and better margins according with customers’ preferences. A growing importance in consumers’ preferences are the combination of nutritional, health and environmental attributes that must be properly communicated with ad hoc messages describing the product’s claim. To test the consumers’ awareness about healthy claim and willingness to accept these enhanced food products, an explorative SEM analysis is conducted with a questionnaire. The results suggest that the consumer is in favor of the health and environmental care, nevertheless it is opportune to examine in deeper the causes (health claim, technology and environmental impact, communication, culture and others) to convince the consumers to adopt these functional product. The first part of the research is dedicated to analyze the innovations and demonstrate the scientific evidence of the health claims of the modified sunflower oil, describing the role of PUFA (Poly-unsaturated fatty acids).  It is discussed the metabolic pathway of the eico-esanoid EPA and DHA generated from modified sunflower oil, responsible of benefic effects on the human metabolism. The second part is dedicated to the inference about the consumers’ acceptance of this functional sunflower oil using SEM model. It is our conviction that this procedure will open new perspectives of food innovation in creation of nutrition and healthy food  to satisfy the growing population in the world.

MCDM approach for planning a sustainable livestock enterprise

Beside the livestock activity provides excellent nutritional ingredients for the human diet, growing conflict among stakeholders are caused by the sharing of the property rights about the environment. Traditionally livestock management was focused on profit maximization related to scale economies, however an increasing number of stakeholders are concerned about the negative side effect of environmental externalities and solicit to adopt sustainable technologies to curb the natural resource depletion, soil and water pollution, gaseous emissions and others. Purpose of this paper is to introduce a revisited multi-criteria decision making approach based on solid theoretical fundaments to produce sustainable solutions to achieve economic, social and environmental objectives

Innovative Local Development Initiatives in the Eastern Alps: Forest Therapy, Land Consolidation Associations and Mountaineering Villages

Since the 19th century, Italy’s mountain regions have suffered from depopulation and land abandonment. How can we counter this phenomenon? Here, we present three cases of innovative and participatory approaches implemented in the Eastern Alps of Friuli Venezia Giulia. Forest therapy is a new approach to medical therapy based on the beneficial effects on the human health of frequenting forests. It also has the potential to provide space for local economic initiatives, e.g., hospitality services. Land consolidation associations were created in France to collectively restore the productivity of fragmented and abandoned farmland. They can evolve into long-term planning for the conservation of landed wealth and the valorization of territories. Finally, Mountaineering villages have the potential to develop a more sustainable form of tourism by fostering a sense of responsibility for the natural and cultural heritage of the European Alps, in accordance with the Alpine onvention. These initiatives share the involvement of local actors in the definition of local development strategies, the capability of enhancing endogenous resources and increasing the environmental value of places, the importance of offering qualified and organized services, and the ability to support the local socioeconomic system. The adoption of innovative and participatory approaches such as these has the potential to revert depopulation and economic depression trends in mountain areas

REVEALING GHOST BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS CLIENTS THROUGH GOSH’S MODEL. A CHALLENGE FOR EU LEISURE AND ENTERTAINMENT ACTIVITIES

The concept of intermediate market trade contacts (ITC) have been developed as transactional capital resource measured by business-to-business purchases or sales. In the framework of the resource-based view, only valuable, rare, inimitable and non-substitutable firm's resources might be considered as a source of sustained competitive advantage. Supplydriven Ghosh's model has been applied to Eurostat symmetric input-output tables of 23 EU countries. A strong and direct relationship between market horizontal multiplier for productive use and indirect ITC frequency has been found for recreational, cultural and sporting activities. Consequently, valuable and distinct hidden-client purchases could be used as a resource favoring firm development, innovation and territorial integration strategies

BUSINESS TO BUSINESS NETWORKS IN THE WASTE RECYCLING INDUSTRY

The high living standards achieved by 500 Million people in the European Union generates up to 3 Billion tonnes of waste every year and require innovative forms of recycling. This study aims to analyze the \u201cSewage and refuse disposal and sanitation\u201d industry (Waste) as a producer of services able to break down its negative externalities and transform them into an asset flow for competitive advantage. By adopting the Eurostat Input- Output (I-O) table database and applying the Natural Resource Based View (NRBV) as conceptual lens, the top-12 \u201cvaluable\u201d ITCs have been made clear for EU-27 countries (2000-2007). Furthermore, by using the Ghosh I-O model, both direct and indirect (hidden) forward linkages have been enlightened. Finally, the Lorenz curve and the Gini indices have highlighted the concentration and rarity of the Intermediate Trade Contacts (ITC). Results here obtained allow public and private decision makers to increase their own awareness about the hidden potentials of specific Waste intermediate markets, identifying new markets and potential partners, managing their intermediate market-portfolio and setting-up strategic partnerships for both product and process innovation purposes

LOMBARDY AND VENETO BIOCULTURAL FINGERPRINT: A DRIVING FORCE FOR TOURISM AND RESIDENTIAL ATTRACTION

The approach to the territory’s biocultural fingerprint can be very important when it comes to studying uniformities and differences among different regions. By examining the code of the attributes and the features, it is therefore possible to determine the landscapecultural uniformities which can create a common project for tourism and residential attraction. The differences underline emergencies of a cultural, natural, agricultural, and wine-gastronomic nature which are capable not only of rendering a territory identifiable but also of presenting it to integrated tourist packages and residential perspectives. The objective of this research is to verify the competitive ability which can enhance the potentialities of ‘territorial capital’. This comparative study amongst the fingerprints of the Lombardy and Veneto regions uses a model which can appraise the tourism and residential attraction determining the attributes’ code characterizing homogeneous sets of municipalities