Pathways for the amplification of agroecology in African sustainable urban agriculture

A growing awareness that highly intensified agricultural systems have made a substantial worldwide contribution to the worsening of the resilience capacity of natural ecosystems has, over the last twenty years, brought general attention to agroecological management models. This aspect is even more evident in industrial agriculture, which is based on the use of multiple chemical products derived from non-natural synthesis. In more developed countries, a new idea of ecology linked to agricultural production has been increasingly developed and, for this reason, there has been a greater diffusion of differentiated agricultural models taking into consideration the environmental impact of production choices and policies addressed to the conservation of natural resources. In urban agricultural production, it is even more important to adopt resilient production models that, in addition to developing responsible production paths and allowing a positive connection with the needs of consumers, guarantees reasonable and positive behaviors respecting the environment in which most of the urban population lives; in other words, the implementation of goal 12 of the sustainable development goals (SDG #12 Responsible Production and Consumption) of the United Nations. In this work, we report some case studies inspired by the activities carried out by the Slow Food Association in Africa and demonstrate the importance of agroecological models in small-scale agricultural systems, related to the development of school and community gardens in small urban areas of different African countries, as a tool for integrating agricultural activities aimed at social resilience and the conservation of ecosystems

Civil society’s perception of forest ecosystem services. A case study in the Western Alps

Forest Ecosystem Services (FES) are widely recognised by the society nowadays. However, no study in the literature has analysed a ranking of FES after the pandemic. This paper investigated civil society’s perception and knowledge toward these services; in addition, the presence of attitudinal or behavioural patterns regarding individual’s preference, was assessed. A choice experiment was conducted using the Best-Worst Scaling (BWS) method on a sample of 479 individuals intercepted in the Argentera Valley, in the Western Italian Alps. Results, showed a strong interest in biodiversity, aesthetic landscape quality and psychophysical health and a lower interest in provisioning services. Based on the individual preferences, civil society was clustered into five groups for FES, named “Hedonistic,” “Individualist with cultural and health interests,” “Sensitive to regulatory and utilitarian functions,” “Climate change sensitive” and “Livelihood and hedonistic wellbeing.” In general, there was a growing appreciation by civil society for the intangible services offered by the forest, driven by modern lifestyles and an interest in learning more about the provided services. Based on these elements, we believe that similar research should be extended to other mountain contexts to validate the results or to find new insights, and that it is now necessary to study how to involve civil society in decision-making processes of forest planning and management at a local level

Mechanized Blueberry Harvesting: Preliminary Results in the Italian Context

This study reports some preliminary results on mechanical blueberry harvesting for the fresh market of cv. Cargo® in the Piedmont region (northwest Italy). The investigated area is one of the most productive areas of Italy, which specializes in fresh blueberry production. The automatization of harvesting operations could represent a competitive advantage for the area’s blueberry supply chain but could limit the quality of fresh-picked berries. A prototype machine and a commercial harvester (Easy Harvester®) were compared with manual picking, considering the harvesting efficiency, labor productivity, harvesting cost and farm rentability. In this context, the labor cost for manual harvesting exceeds EUR 2.00 per kg of saleable product. The prototype allowed a 39% cost reduction, and the Easy Harvester® reduced it by about half. Nevertheless, these positive performances do not consider the reduction in the net sale price of EUR 0.40 due to the selection costs in the warehouse. In this study, we highlight that the transition to mechanical harvesting requires the transformation of several farming and packhouse operations, such as new crop varieties, field configurations and cultivation techniques. However, a possible technical improvement of the Easy Harvester® could represent an opportunity for Italian farms in the planning of berry production and marketing, involving all of the supply chain actors. Further research on the use of mechanization in the sector must continue and be supported

Sustainability for Food Consumers: Which Perception?

A sustainable future for the community is one of the objectives established by the European Union Agenda 2030. Furthermore, sustainable consumption has been identified as one of the possible trajectories for sustainable development. It is for this reason that food production, distribution and consumption ways cannot be overlooked for sustainability achievement, as well as the consumer’s related perception. In this research the Best–Worst scaling methodology was adopted to explore the priorities declared by a sample of 801 consumers among 12 different sustainability definitions selected from the scientific literature. The choice experiment was carried out through face-to-face interviews during two food and wine events closely related to the sustainability theme in the food sector. The respondents considered as sustainability priority definition the “preservation of natural resources”, followed by “decent working conditions” and “accessibility for everyone to healthy and safe food”. Moreover, 5 consumer’s clusters were identified according to the priorities assigned to the different sustainability definitions, as well as to individuals socio-demographic characteristics. The description of the priorities assigned by the clusters to the different sustainability definitions have also been described as guidelines for consumer attitudes towards the different sustainability dimensions (environmental, social, economic and governance)