Non compliance in organic certification: determinants for Italy

Organic certification is based on controls on operators, and verify if they are compliant with respect to organic regulations. Control procedures are a transaction cost that affect organic farming relative competiveness. Here we propose an analysis aiming at increasing the efficiency in the individuation of key risk factors in the organic certification process. The study refers to Italian organic farmers and represents an attempt to implement a risk based inspection scheme based on a statistical approach

Effectiveness of organic certification: a study on an italian organic certificator's data.

The aim of this paper is to implemnt risk-based models for the inspection procedures in the organic certification. particularly, the aim is to analyse the the relationship between the type of sanction a farm receives, and the farm's structure and productions, aiming at the definition of potential risk factors

Trattamenti di rifinitura di acque reflue ai fini del riutilizzo.

I bioreattori a membrana MBR rappresentano una delle principali varianti al sistema a fanghi attivi di depurazione per le acque civili e industriali:MBR è in particolare una soluzione che unisce compattezza, semplicità di gestione e permette di eliminare la sedimentazione finale dei reflui ottenuti. La sperimentazione è stata condotta presso l'Impianto di depurazione Aquarno nel Comune di Santa Croce sull'Arno(PI),utilizzando un impianto pilota MBR (Membrane Bioreactor)a membrane immerse per il trattamento di un refluo di tipo civile. La sperimentazione ha seguito lo start-up e la messa a regime, studiando i parametri più idonei per il funzionamento. Le acque depurate, ottenute dal processo sono state analizzate e caratterizzate mediante prove di laboratorio,sia per verificare il corretto funzionamento della tecnologia oggetto di studio,sia per valutare la possibilità di un loro riutilizzo all'interno del ciclo conciario.Il confronto è stato fatto eseguendo parallelamente i cicli conciari sia con acqua di rete che con acqua trattata MBR

Quantum Measurement Cooling

Invasiveness of quantum measurements is a genuinely quantum mechanical feature that is not necessarily detrimental: Here we show how quantum measurements can be used to fuel a cooling engine. We illustrate quantum measurement cooling (QMC) by means of a prototypical two-stroke two-qubit engine which interacts with a measurement apparatus and two heat reservoirs at different temperatures. We show that feedback control is not necessary for operation while entanglement must be present in the measurement projectors. We quantify the probability that QMC occurs when the measurement basis is chosen randomly, and find that it can be very large as compared to the probability of extracting energy (heat engine operation), while remaining always smaller than the most useless operation, namely dumping heat in both baths. These results show that QMC can be very robust to experimental noise. A possible low-temperature solid-state implementation that integrates circuit QED technology with circuit quantum thermodynamics technology is presented.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figure

Una Rete Bayesiana per migliorare l’efficienza della fase di ispezione del processo di certificazione biologica

Organic certification costs represent an important competitive disadvantage for organic farming. A proportion of the higher costs of organic products may result from the costs of certification along the entire supply chain. A reduction of such transaction costs provides a basis for a general increase in organic farms competitiveness. In this paper we present a model based on Bayesian Networks (BN) for the support of certification bodies in the phase of inspection planning. BNs are probabilistic models with a graphical interface, representing a network of a set of interconnected random variables, and provide a basis for influence diagrams based on conditional probabilities computations. The model implements a BN approach using risk factors – such as crop rotation, farm size, etc. – that are expected to influence risk of infraction. The model analyses the joint effects of different factors on the farmers’ probability of non-compliance. The study exploits a dataset based on data from Istituto Mediterraneo di Certificazione (IMC) for 2007. The main results concern the development of the network showing the main factors influencing the probability of non compliance, and a simulation run on different structural factors aiming to discriminate between farm types different risks of non compliance

The State of Organic Seed in Europe

This booklet will present the information collected through research of the LIVESEED project in order to shed light on the actual situation of organic seed use in Europe. In particular, it will focus on the following questions: 1. How does the farmer know what varieties are available as organic seed? How do organic seed databases work in different EU countries and how could they be improved? 2. How much non-organic seed or planting material is used in EU organic farming? How many derogations are granted in different EU Member States and Switzerland? 3. Which are the factors encouraging or discouraging farmers to use organic seed? Which farm and farmer characteristics influence adoption of organic seed? How can organic plant breeding contribute to 100% organic seed use? 4. How has the organic seed market developed in the last years? According to seed suppliers` perspective, what factors hamper the further development of the organic seed sector? To answer these questions, researchers in the LIVESEED project applied integrated research tools and methodologies: a comparative review of the different databases on organic seed in 28 EU countries; an integrated analysis of national derogation reports to measure the current use of nonorganic seed in Europe; a survey among farmers, to understand their perspective on the use of organic seed; and finally a survey among seed suppliers to evaluate trends in the offer of organic seed on the market. A quantitative model was used to estimate the potential demand for organic seed in Europe on the basis of the data collected

Modelling risk-based inspections in EU organic certification: data requirements and analysis tools

A Risk Based Inspection (RBI) scheme is a planning tool used to develop the optimum plan for the execution of inspection activities. Organic certification system could benefit from the implementation of RBIs in terms of higher effectiveness, i.e. trustability, and lower transaction costs for organic operators. Data from certification bodies provide basic information about non-compliances and structural aspects of organic operators. Here we propose a methodological approach to risk analysis modelling, based on discrete choice models and Bayesian networks, both aiming at the identification of key risk factor in the organic certification process in the European Union

IMPROVING FOOD QUALITY FOR THE ORGANIC POULTRY MEAT SECTOR: A QUALITY FUNCTION DEPLOYMENT APPROACH

The paper presents results from an Italian study on the development of the food quality for poultry meat into the organic sector, using the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) technique. Results show that among the visual characteristics of poultry meat consumers assign greater importance to attributes strictly related to the animal welfare issue. Price and product appearance (colour and fat presence) come as second. To meet these needs, producers can effectively operate along the supply chain by acting on: housing type, genotype lines and stocking density (animal concentration/mq). Information about these issues (labelling) should also be provided to the consumers