Institutional Embeddedness in Organic Farming Systems

 The aim of this contribution is to put some evidence on the influence of external factors in the farm decision making, often crucial in leading technical and commercial development and in fostering the expression of social and environmental sensitivity. This paper explores the concept of "embeddedness" focusing on the institutional domain that should affect market strategies. By studying the market orientation of 53 organic farms selected in two Italian regions (Emilia Romagna and Marches), the relation between regional origins and business strategies were analysed with the purpose to indirectly assess the role of institutions in promoting the development of Alternative Food Networks

the milk supply chain in italy s umbria region environmental and economic sustainability

This article aims to investigate the environmental and economic sustainability of five dairy farms in the Umbria Region (Italy). The study also provides an assessment of aggregate sustainability, which is less investigated with reference to cattle milk both globally and in Italy, through the analysis of the relationship between economic and environmental performance. Primary data were collected through a direct survey carried out in 2014. The environmental assessment was conducted with a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) "cradle to farm gate" approach, while the economic dimension was evaluated by determining the direct and indirect costs related to the factors involved in the production process. A correlation analysis and a linear regression were performed in order to study the relationship between the carbon footprint (CF) and operating income. The average operating income amounted to 0.03 Euro/L of milk. The CF values of the five companies are contained within a variation range comprised between 0.90 and 1.76 kg CO 2 eq/L of milk. The existence of an inverse relationship between the CF of milk and operating income confirms the hypothesis regarding the possibility of implementing strategies aimed at improving performance in both investigated dimensions at the same time, thus increasing the aggregate sustainability

Adaptation of non-technical skills behavioural markers for delivery room simulation

Background: Simulation in healthcare has proved to be a useful method in improving skills and increasing the safety of clinical operations. The debriefing session, after the simulated scenario, is the core of the simulation, since it allows participants to integrate the experience with the theoretical frameworks and the procedural guidelines. There is consistent evidence for the relevance of non-technical skills (NTS) for the safe and efficient accomplishment of operations. However, the observation, assessment and feedback on these skills is particularly complex, because the process needs expert observers and the feedback is often provided in judgmental and ineffective ways. The aim of this study was therefore to develop and test a set of observation and rating forms for the NTS behavioural markers of multi-professional teams involved in delivery room emergency simulations (MINTS-DR, Multi-professional Inventory for Non-Technical Skills in the Delivery Room). Methods: The MINTS-DR was developed by adapting the existing tools and, when needed, by designing new tools according to the literature. We followed a bottom-up process accompanied by interviews and co-design between practitioners and psychology experts. The forms were specific for anaesthetists, gynaecologists, nurses/midwives, assistants, plus a global team assessment tool. We administered the tools in five editions of a simulation training course that involved 48 practitioners. Ratings on usability and usefulness were collected. Results: The mean ratings of the usability and usefulness of the tools were not statistically different to or higher than 4 on a 5-point rating scale. In either case no significant differences were found across professional categories. Conclusion: The MINTS-DR is quick and easy to administer. It is judged to be a useful asset in maximising the learning experience that is provided by the simulation

The economic and environmental sustainability of extra virgin olive oil supply chains: An analysis based on food miles and value chains

Following the growing trend towards globalisation of the agrifood system over the last few years, a number of scientific publications with different aims and methodological approaches have addressed the issue of the progressive link loss between the place of consumption and production of food. In part, thescientific debate has focused on the various agri-food production commercial outlets, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of both the dominant models like mass market retail, as well as emerging models like solidarity purchasing groups The present study can be classified as concerning the sustainability of agri-food supply chains. It compares five different extra virgin olive oil (evoo) supply chains in terms of the distance between the agricultural producer and end consumer, from both an economic perspective (the number of intermediaries) and a geographical one (production and consumption places). The examined aspects are 1) all the supply chain segments in which value is added to what will be the final food product purchased by the consumer, with a focus on trade and the transport cost estimated in relation to food miles; 2) the environmental impact of transport along the entire supply chain up to the distribution of evoo to the final consumer; and 3) the trade-offs between the environmental impact and economic results.The results obtained confirm some existing general evidence in the literature, such as the greater enhancement of agricultural products through short supply chains, and they emphasize as combining the value chain results with the environmental impact based on FMs, no real trade-offs, but rather trends, emerge

Institutional Embeddedness in Organic Farming Systems

The aim of this contribution is to put some evidence on the influence of external factors in the farm decision making, often crucial in leading technical and commercial development and in fostering the expression of social and environmental sensitivity. This paper explores the concept of “embeddedness” focusing on the institutional domain that should affect market strategies. By studying the market orientation of 53 organic farms selected in two Italian regions (Emilia Romagna and Marches), the relation between regional origins and business strategies were analysed with the purpose to indirectly assess the role of institutions in promoting the development of Alternative Food Networks

An integrated sustainability score based on agro-ecological and socioeconomic indicators. A case study of stockless organic farming in Italy

The purpose of our research is to develop an integrated sustainability score (ISS) choosing the farm level as system\u2019s boundaries and developing a methodology, based on a geometric mean algorithm, which is negatively affected by the internal imbalance of the agroecosystem. The first step is to identify and calculate the indicators of systems and sub-systems to assess the agro-ecological and socioeconomic dimensions of sustainability. The second step is the selection, weighting and integration of indicators that permit the calculation of the ISS ranging from 0 to 1. The farm sustainability score is categorized into three levels: weak, intermediate and strong. This methodology has been verified on a stockless organic farming system case study of 12 farms in Italy. Results show that most of the farms reached intermediate levels of sustainability but there are significant differences on ISS scores within the study group. Agro-ecological and socioeconomic dimension play a different role in highlighting the coexistence of different models of sustainability. A further development of the present methodology should include an in-depth analysis of the social dimension of sustainability and integrate an assessment procedure to formulate improved management practices that will help farmers to find win-win solutions that decrease the contrast between environmental and economic sustainability

Economic, Environmental, and Animal Welfare Performance on Livestock Farms: Conceptual Model and Application to Some Case Studies in Italy

The aim of this paper is to propose a multi-attribute hierarchical evaluation model for the evaluation of the aggregate sustainability of livestock farms integrating the economic, environmental, and social aspects. This approach uses an aggregation criterion based on the geometric mean to assess a farm’s current level of sustainability. Sustainability was measured through the use of indicators including carbon footprint, farm income, and animal welfare. Secondly, based on the relationships between the sustainability aspects, the effects of improvement measures on all the indicators were estimated. This paper presents eight livestock case studies from Italy, analyzed in 2014. The results show intermediate values for the aggregate index of sustainability for most of the farms. The index mainly depends on the estimated values of the sustainability indicators related to the economic and environmental aspects. Lower values of animal welfare sustainability are quantified. The introduction of improvement measures in relation to the preparation of the soil had positive effects, both in terms of emissions and animal welfare. The increase of available space per Livestock Unit (LU) resulted in the greatest positive effect on animal welfare, among all the other actions analyzed