“SOCIAL AGRICULTURE”: A PATTERN BETWEEN FARM INNOVATION, SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND MULTIFUNCTIONALITY

Rural context and agricultural process are assuming growing credibility as a mean to promote well being and social inclusion in the population as a whole. Fattoria solidale del Circeo” constitutes one of the many examples of social agriculture that have risen in the recent years in Italy. Differently from the general case, it is a large farm which is moving from a conventional an intensive farming system to another model, without abandoning its entrepreneurial nature. Even if it is not easy to assign a theoretic paradigm, it could be useful both in order to understand it and to give correct instruments to policy makers. So we can try to put the Fattoria Solidale del Circeo’s experience in a theoretic context. It seems to us that at least three different models can be applied: the well-established Schumpeterian model of innovation; the Corporate Social Responsibility, the Multifunctionality of agriculture.Social agriculture, Innovation, Corporate Social Responsibility, Multifunctionality of Agriculture, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Labor and Human Capital,

Selective and efficient quantum process tomography in arbitrary finite dimension

The characterization of quantum processes is a key tool in quantum information processing tasks for several reasons: on one hand, it allows one to acknowledge errors in the implementations of quantum algorithms; on the other, it allows one to characterize unknown processes occurring in nature. Bendersky, Pastawski, and Paz [A. Bendersky, F. Pastawski, and J. P. Paz, Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 190403 (2008)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.100.190403; Phys. Rev. A 80, 032116 (2009)PLRAAN1050-294710.1103/PhysRevA.80.032116] introduced a method to selectively and efficiently measure any given coefficient from the matrix description of a quantum channel. However, this method heavily relies on the construction of maximal sets of mutually unbiased bases (MUBs), which are known to exist only when the dimension of the Hilbert space is the power of a prime number. In this article, we lift the requirement on the dimension by presenting two variations of the method that work on arbitrary finite dimensions: one uses tensor products of maximal sets of MUBs, and the other uses a dimensional cutoff of a higher prime power dimension.Fil: Perito, Ignacio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Roncaglia, Augusto Jose. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Bendersky, Ariel Martin. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias de la Computación. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias de la Computación; Argentin

Our products are safe (don't tell anyone!). Why don't supermarkets advertise their private food safety standards?

Large retail chains have spent considerable resources to promote production protocols and traceability across the supply chain, aiming at increasing food safety. Yet, the majority of consumers are unaware of these private food safety standards (PFSS) and retailers are not informing them. This behavior denotes a pooling paradox: supermarkets spend a large amount of money for food safety and yet they forget to inform consumers. The result is a pooling equilibrium where consumers cannot discriminate among high quality and low quality products and supermarkets give up the potential price premium. This paper provides an economic explanation for the paradox using a contract-theory model. We found that PFSS implementation may be rational even if consumers have no willingness to pay for safety, because the standard can be used as a tool to solve asymmetric information along the supply chain. Using the PFSS, supermarkets can achieve a separating equilibrium where opportunistic suppliers have no incentive to accept the contract. Even if consumers exhibit a limited (but strictly positive) willingness to pay for safety, advertising may be profit-reducing. If the expected price margin is high enough, supermarkets have incentive to supply both certified and uncertified products. In this case, we show that, if consumers perceive undifferentiated products as “reasonably safe”, supermarkets may maximize profits by pooling the goods and selling them as undifferentiated. This result is not driven by advertising costs, as we derive it assuming free advertising.Agribusiness, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

EU Preferential Partners in Search of New Policy Strategies for Agriculture: The Case of Citrus Sector in Trinidad and Tobago

The paper assesses the competitive position of T&T's citrus industry and explains the declining productivity. It covers supply chain and agricultural trade policy issues and involves assembling two Policy Analysis Matrices, either with full cost of production or excluding establishment costs. Domestic and trade policy support shows significant for the sector. Production is internationally competitive, or possesses comparative advantage, only if costs of establishment are excluded. These results suggest that free trade agreements under the FTAA and the ACP-EU would work against the planting of new orchards and reinforce the decline of the sector.competitiveness, policy analysis matrix, agricultural trade policy, citrus industry, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q12, Q13, F13,

Strategic behaviour of Italian fruit and vegetables importers from South Mediterranean Countries faced with food safety standards

The aim of this study was to analyse the heterogeneity of Italian specialized importers in Southern Mediterranean Countries. We analysed a national representative sample and defined a profile of companies according to the safety of fruit and vegetable im- ports, organization of chain by suppliers and clients and efforts in safety controls. We showed that the type of supply chain affects the importers’ strategies encouraging them to implement stricter standards, such as private standards, with respect to pub- lic law in order to meet customer needs and provide a sufficient degree of differentia- tion. These strategies, however, are not always aimed at obtaining a price premium, but are taken above all to ensure the maintenance of the reputation of the companies towards the most demanding customers and stabilize its market share