Impatto economico di tecniche alternative nei processi produttivi olivicoli in Toscana

After analysing market and structural features of olive-growing in Tuscany, this study reports management models, with particular reference to harvesting, and assesses their economic efficiency and sustainability. Key factors for profitable management are yield per tree and per hectare and the amount of labour needed for pruning and harvesting. A viable olive-growing industry can develop provided farms invest in new, highly-productive orchards or rejuvenate old ones, and introduce mechanization in the different cultural practices quality

La valutazione dell'agricoltura biologica: un modello aziendale economico-ambientale

Sempre più la PAC pone il problema di favorire lo sviluppo di un settore agricolo realmente multifunzionale, sostenibile e competitivo. Il lavoro presentato fornisce un contributo metodologico per facilitare la valutazione in termini monetari della compensazione da attribuire, agli agricoltori con produzioni di tipo biologico, per i servizi ambientali, al fine di assicurare loro il mantenimento della competitività. La ricerca ha posto a confronto, attraverso l’uso di un modello di Programmazione Lineare Parametrica, due simulazioni relative ai sistemi di produzione “convenzionale” e “biologico” in una azienda con allevamento di bovini da latte. Si è studiato l’andamento dei costi marginali dei servizi ambientali in funzione del decremento dell’impatto ambientale degli inquinanti azotati, del consumo di energia e dell’erosione del suolo

Rural Identities and Globalisation

Authors examine different perception of agriculture in the economic theory. Due to the widening of the set of the cinsumers’ needs there has been a differentiation in two limit types of rural setting: mass production andintegrated specialties. The latter is typical of territories with high environmental and landscape value, and suitable for quality production. A comparison with the concepts of agro-industrial and rural districts leads the Authors to define Rural local systems characterized by a set of productive activities, strongly linked to the valorisation and reproduction of renewable natural and historical resources, which offer a basket of goods and services able to satisfy a wide cluster of needs. The demand for integrated specialties creates a network of relationships between urban and rural areas characterized by a strong identity. The concept of territorial identity is then discussed. A restoration, through new forms, of an intimate relationship between city and countryside may allow the survival of identities in a global market, but raises some questions as well.Sustainable Development, Local Identity, Local Rural System, Agro-Industrial District, Rural District,