Export Opportunities in French Organic Market

The market for organic products is growing in France. This offer opportunities for Dutch exports. Exports already exists, but is still limited. In a study considered whether and how their Dutch suppliers access to the French market can increase

Kansen en belemmeringen in duurzame ketenvorming; Primair bedrijf in ketens?

In agricultural chains in the Netherlands, there are many initiatives to produce more sustainably. However, the growth of these chains is proceeding more slowly than is socially desirable. On the basis of nine case studies of niche products, this study attempts to provide an insight into where the obstacles to the growth of such chains lie. In addition, we examine the role of the chain parties and others (for example, the government) in removing these obstacles. In de Nederlandse landbouw zijn diverse initiatieven om in ketenverband duur& zamer te produceren. Echter, de groei van deze ketens is minder snel dan maatschappelijk gewenst is. Dit onderzoek wil op basis van negen cases van ni& cheproducten inzichtelijk maken waar de groeibelemmeringen in deze ketens zitten. Ook wordt ingegaan op de rol van de ketenpartijen en anderen (bijvoor& beeld de overheid) bij het oplossen van deze belemmeringen.Chains Dutch Agriculture, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management,

Beleidsinstrumenten voor energie-neutrale en klimaatvriendelijke agrosectoren : zoektocht naar de optimale instrumentenmix

Greenhouse horticulture, dairy farming and intensive livestock farming have access to policy and otherinstruments that help these sectors move closer to their energy and climate objectives. However, whilesome objectives for 2020 are close to being achieved, others are more remote. This applies in particularto the production of renewable energy and the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions in the dairysector, as well as the production of renewable energy using co-fermentation and the reduction of CO2emissions in intensive livestock farming. Education, economic incentives and regulations and legislationrepresent the major instruments used. Horticulture uses more specific instruments tailored to the natureof the sector, while livestock farming largely favours generic instruments. Regular reviews are carriedout to assess whether the instruments still incentivise the appropriate behaviour and do not fundinnovations that are already out of date or do not contribute to long-term objectives. A point forattention, however, is the limited number of tools – or limited support – for business owners to movecloser to their climate and energy objectives. This is in spite of the need for business owners to have aperspective for action. Alongside this, current communication and knowledge transfer appear toconcentrate on business owners who are actively working toward these objectives, even though more‘passive’ business owners should also be involved in developments---In de glastuinbouw, melkveehouderij en intensieve veehouderij zijn beleids- en andere instrumenteningezet om energie- en klimaatdoelstellingen te halen. De doelen voor 2020 zijn nog niet allemaalgehaald en zijn soms ook niet binnen handbereik. Dit geldt met name voor productie van duurzameenergie en reductie van broeikasgassen in de melkveehouderij en voor productie van duurzameenergie door co-vergisting en reductie van CO2-emissie in de intensieve veehouderij. Educatie,economische incentives en wet- en regelgeving zijn de belangrijkste instrumenten. De glastuinbouwgebruikt meer specifieke tuinbouwgerichte instrumenten, terwijl de veehouderij vooral generiekeinstrumenten inzet. Regelmatig wordt herzien of de instrumenten nog wel het juiste gedragondersteunen en niet inzetten op innovaties die al achterhaald zijn of niet bijdragen aan lange termijndoelen. Een aandachtspunt is dat het aantal tools of handvatten om ondernemers te helpen klimaatenenergiedoelstellingen na te streven nog beperkt is terwijl juist handelingsperspectief belangrijk isvoor ondernemers. Daarnaast lijkt communicatie en kennisoverdracht nu nog vooral gericht te zijn opondernemers die actief een bijdrage willen leveren, terwijl ook andere, meer passieve ondernemersmeegenomen moeten worden in de ontwikkelingen

Monitoring of prices and margins in EU food supply chains

Unfair trading practices and other imperfections of food supply chains have been continuously discussed at EU and Member State level in recent years. Consequently, both the EU and many Member States have started operating price and margin monitoring systems in order to obtain a better insight into developments of prices, costs and profits along food supply chains. This study provides an inventory of the characteristics of food price and margin monitoring systems at EU and Member State level, in international organisations, the OECD and other countries. A typology of the existing monitoring approaches has been developed based on their quantitative in-detail evaluation. This is accompanied by a review of scientific literature empirically assessing asymmetric vertical price transmission along EU food supply chains. We have identified gaps in these existing methodologies and available datasets. Based on this comprehensive evaluation of the state of the art, three alternative food price and margin monitoring approaches have been proposed. The existing and alternative monitoring approaches have been ranked according to their cost efficiency. The practical use and value of two of these alternatives is illustrated by applying them to the supply chains of dairy, pig meat and apples in Bulgaria, France, Poland and the Netherlands.JRC.D.4-Economics of Agricultur

Food system resilience : ontology development and impossible trinities

Background: Given the polysemy of the concept resilience, is it possible to have a unified conceptualisation of food system resilience? This paper provides a multidisciplinary evaluation of the literature to identify common themes that prevail in food system resilience debates and the challenges to reach a unified conceptualisation. The aim is to provide insights into some of the main issues and tensions that we identified during our research which will then allow academics and policymakers to identify the most significant themes and topics for discussion in the debate. While we only focus on one application of resilience, namely, food system resilience during extreme events, we believe that our approach and findings could be integrated and applied to other areas of resilience, as well. Results: Our ontological exploration shows that ‘resilience’ is a rich concept that has an important bearing on many themes and topics in the domain of food systems. This makes it highly relevant to develop and apply the concept of ‘food system resilience’. The application of the concept in research and practice, however, faces many challenges that are rooted in ontological and epistemological differences among different disciplines and practices. While posing serious challenges in interdisciplinary collaboration and communication, these challenges also foster new research opportunities as knowledge gaps are discovered. We propose that there is a need to critically investigate the social, environmental, and economic trade-offs implied in policy strategies towards resilience at various levels of food systems and among different actors or groups of actors. Conclusion: Interdisciplinary communication between different fields can be difficult and divisive. The ambition to unify the theory may be counterproductive in addressing practical problems that often require multidisciplinary collaboration. The challenge is to identify context-specific challenges and policy options using the ‘resilience lens’ and translating the concept into measurable indicators. Our research identifies some of these challenges and aims to provide a way to improve dialogue between different actors, through discussions about tensions and issues within their research. The ontological differences and debates are unlikely to be resolved anytime soon, nor should it be a priority to resolve these differences. A pragmatic case-specific approach can be adopted to address the problem while considering ontological differences. Our research will provide food system resilience researchers with some guidance about challenges in their research, as well as those working on developing ontologies