Implementation of the Water Framework Directive in Italy: state of the art and selected research issues

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) was implemented rather late in Italy. The actual implementation took place in 2006 with decree 152/2006 but the Directive was not completely effective until the beginning of 2009, when law 13/2009 provided for the implementation of river basin plans by basin authorities. The objective of this paper is to describe the implementation of the WFD in Italy and to discuss selected policy and research issues. The paper begins with an introduction highlighting the specificities of Italy in terms of water management. With regard to implementation, the general administrative setting, as well as the interpretation of WFD categories related to economic evaluations will be illustrated. Two major issues of particularly high relevance in the present debate are then discussed: a) the evaluation of environmental and resource costs; and b) water regulation in agriculture.Department of Agricultural Economics and Engineering, University of Bologna (Italy). Department of Statistics, University of Bologna (Italy)

Determinants of farm size expansion among EU farmers

This paper aims to identify the determinants of the intention to expand farm size under two different policy scenarios 1) baseline, that implies the current Health Check policy, and 2) a NO-CAP scenario, providing a full removing of all CAP payments. Results highlight that farm/farmer and household characteristics such as age, amount of SFP and land size are determinants of farm size expansion under baseline scenario. Otherwise, under NO-CAP scenario, farm specialisation and organisational variables became significant in explaining the farm size expansion

Accounting for multiple impacts of the Common agricultural policies in rural areas: an analysis using a Bayesian networks approach

In evaluating the potential effects of the reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy, a particularly challenging issue is the representation of the complexity of rural systems either in a static or dynamic framework. In this paper we use Bayesian networks, to the best knowledge of the authors, basically ignored by the literature on rural development. The objective of this paper is to discuss the potential use of Bayesian Networks tools to represent the multiple determinants and impacts of the Common Agricultural Policies in rural areas across Europe. The analysis shows the potential use of BNs in terms of representation of the multiple linkages between different components of rural areas and farming systems, though its use as a simulation tool still requires further improvements

Determinants of farm size expansion among EU farmers

This paper aims to identify the determinants of the intention to expand farm size under two different policy scenarios 1) baseline, that implies the current Health Check policy, and 2) a NO-CAP scenario, providing a full removing of all CAP payments. Results highlight that farm/farmer and household characteristics such as age, amount of SFP and land size are determinants of farm size expansion under baseline scenario. Otherwise, under NO-CAP scenario, farm specialisation and organisational variables became significant in explaining the farm size expansion

Identifying and explaining farms typologies based on strategic reaction to policy

In most studies, single policy reaction variables are explained through a number of personal, family or structural variables. The objective of this paper is to identify consistent \u201cstrategic change profiles\u201d across EU farm (-households), based on stated intentions of change under different policy scenarios. The analysis is carried out using a multinomial logit model (MNL) over a sample of over 2000 farms. Qualitative (contract and chain-based) expansion strategies are better explained than exit and quantitative expansion strategies. The single farm payment amount, labour and living on farm are the most relevant and consistent explanatory variables

Assessing the sustainability of agri-food systems through Bayesian Networks applications: an exploratory study

Sustainability in the agro-food sector appears as a particularly complex issue due to the articulation of the sector structure, while several policies affect sustainability through interacting with this complex set of variables. Most studies analyse sustainability under the perspective of one or few individual indicators or determinants. However, there is a clear need for more holistic tools able to take into account the interconnections among the different components of the system. The objective of this paper is to discuss the potential use of Bayesian Networks tools to represent the connections between the different sustainability issues in the agri-food systems, by providing an empirical application based on a case study in Emilia Romagna. A Bayesian network has been built on the data obtained by a survey of 300 farms, focusing on the connections between networking choices and sustainability indicators. This experience shows that this tool can be helpful in representing complex relationship in the agro-food chain, taking into account a mix of information derived from survey data. However, ways of fully exploiting inputs from economic theory and from known technical relationships in association with this tool should be further investigated in order to provide more reliable and policy relevant simulations

The effects of the Common Agricultural Policy on exit strategies and land re-allocation

This paper investigates how farm-households would dispose of farms following a decision by the farm-household to exit from farming, and in particular when a decision is made to sell the land The paper builds on data from a survey of stated intentions carried out in 9 EU countries at the beginning of 2009, using a probit Heckman model, where the model is applied to explain stated intentions to sell land in the case of farm-households that have decided to exit from farming activities, under two extreme Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) scenarios. The numbers of farm households opting to exit from agriculture increases sharply under the scenario characterised by the removal of the CAP. The statistically significant determinants are mostly consistent with previous studies, but show different behaviour when comparing the exit decision with the willingness to sell the farm. The outcomes of this study seem to deliver a clear policy message reinforcing the notion that the current CAP payments are important for staying in/exiting farming activities, but the land reallocation process clearly requires more targeted instruments. At the same time, greater attention should be paid to mechanisms of land rent or alternative land tenure solutions

A choice experiments approach towards evaluating household perception of environmental and resource costs attached to water scarcity

Sustainable water management, in the last years, has become a major issue in Europe. The Water Framework Directive (WFD) introduces economic concepts in water management, including the need to take into account of the full cost in water-related decisions. Even in countries like Italy were the WFD has not been implemented yet, these principles have become an important reference for water management decisions. However, the application of full cost concepts requires the development of techniques for the evaluation of such costs. The objective of this paper is to test the suitability of choice experiments for the estimation of environmental and resource costs and benefits (ERCB) in the context of the application of the WFD. We restrict our attention to environmental effects due to water abstraction from surface water bodies and to non market values attached to water allocation to specific productive sectors. The results of the paper show that households give a relevant WTP for leaving more water in the environment and to guarantee energy sector, while they show no interest in guaranteeing water availability to agriculture and industry sectors. The experience (more than the results) shows the importance of implementation details in determining the outcome of these evaluation techniques

Implementation of the Water Framework Directive in Italy: state of the art and selected research issues

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) was implemented rather late in Italy. The actual implementation took place in 2006 with decree 152/2006 but the Directive was not completely effective until the beginning of 2009, when law 13/2009 provided for the implementation of river basin plans by basin authorities. The objective of this paper is to describe the implementation of the WFD in Italy and to discuss selected policy and research issues. The paper begins with an introduction highlighting the specificities of Italy in terms of water management.. With regard to implementation, the general administrative setting, as well as the interpretation of WFD categories related to economic evaluations will be illustrated. Two major issues of particularly high relevance in the present debate are then discussed: a) the evaluation of environmental and resource costs; and b) water regulation in agriculture

Spatial patterns of change in agriculture and the role of the Common Agricultural Policy

The objective of this paper is to identify and analyse the role of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in affecting the spatial location of agricultural activities in an area of Northern Italy. The analysis is based on survey information (300 observations) regarding stated intentions of farm-households in two CAP scenarios, treated through statistical analysis intended to identify the potential determinants of different farm reactions, and using explicit spatial information (altitude, LFA, agrarian regions). Altogether, the study demonstrates the relevance of explicitly addressing the differentiated spatial effect of the CAP on different dimensions of agricultural activities. However, the work also highlights the limitations of the location-based representation of the spatial dimension compared with both non-spatial variables and more \u201cfunctional\u201d spatial variables