Communication Strategies on Palm Oil Sustainability: Agri-Food Chain Actors Use of Social Media Twitter?

From production to consumption, palm oil is a global food chain facing various sustainability dimensions. The study focuses on Twitter social media communication strategy of world agri-food chain actors on sustainability of palm oil. The study focused on a content analysis of twitter messages of palm oil producers, agri-food manufacturers and retailers. Preliminary results show that palm oil producers aim at promoting public opinion’s positive image of palm oil. Food manufacturers and retailers instead limit their communication on reacting to consumers’ solicitations, such as questions, doubts or complaints on palm oil use

Value Sharing and Food System Dynamics for Milk, Tomato, and Cereals Food Chains

The aim of the paper is to analyse value sharing and food system dynamics of milk, tomato, and cereals food chains, so to explore the agro‐food enterprises capacity to be competitive and sustainable. The paper is based on the functionalist approach of Malassis and the notion of the system of the General Systems Theory. The methodology is aimed at creating a consolidated financial statement for each food chain so to re‐create the chain value and identify how this is shared among the different food chain stages. The analysis is carried out on primary and secondary data: around 2400 financial statements concerning 480 enterprises from 2003 to 2007 and stakeholders’ interviews. Results show that value is usually created in the processing and distribution stages, to the detriment of the primary sector, and that the retail managing practices tend to impose damaging structural changes on farms whose profitability is at times becoming sustainable only thanks to European subsidies. To conclude, there is evidence of inadequate definition of strategic and network alliance along the chain. Competitiveness is still a concept achieved by single food chain stages against others and food chain internal competition entails a declining sustainability of small farms and enterprises.food chain, value system, economic performance, potato, fruit, cheese., Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Industrial Organization, Risk and Uncertainty,

Using Information from Mid Term Evaluations of RDP for the Multicriteria Analysis of Agri-environmental Schemes

This paper discusses how environmental indicators and multicriteria methodologies can support the ex post evaluation of Agri-Environmental Schemes. The paper is based on information from the Mid term evaluation of the Rural Development Programmes and develops around an example that compares Ireland and Emilia-Romagna. The results show that the application of Agri-Environmental Schemes only partially achieves to local objectives, and the way in which the Agri-Environmental Schemes are implemented can be reasonably improved. However, the tentative analysis emphasizes the scarcity of quantitative data that can be related to effectiveness, the lack of predetermined quantitatively defined target levels of objectives and the difficulty to assess the relative importance of different evaluation criteria. Clearly, the ability to properly evaluate the results depends not only on the amount of information gathered, but also on the formalisation of a clear evaluation framework at the design stage of schemes.agri-environmental schemes, mid term evaluation, multifunctional agriculture, indicators, multicriteria analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q1, Q18, Q2,

Data on the potential of nutrition-information apps from a consumer behaviour perspective

This paper presents data on the influence of the use of a nutrition-information app (Edo) on healthy eating. The methodology adopted included a baseline (t0) and a follow-up online questionnaire (t1). The first survey was sent to 7000 consumers who had already downloaded the app. This survey collected data on users\u2019 perceived healthiness of their own diet, food purchasing habits, sociodemographic information, concern for appearance, perception of the Health Belief Model constructs, and objective and perceived healthy food knowledge. The follow-up survey (t1) was sent to the respondents who had used the app for 12 weeks. It collected data on app satisfaction, recommended additional app features, consumers\u2019 perception on the Health Belief Model constructs, and consumers\u2019 objective and perceived healthy food knowledge. Data elaboration included two factor analyses elaboration, one for t0 data and one for t1 data. The aim was the identification of constructs as latent factors of the data. The value of each construct was calculated and compared between t0 and t1. The data presented in this article can help the replication of studies about similar apps and enhance the cooperation among app developers, consumer behaviour scientists, nutritionists and marketing experts for apps development. For conclusion and interpretation of data, the original article can be consulted (DOI:10.1016/j.foodres.2019.108766)

Dynamics of Food Value Chains: Resilience, Fairness and Sustainability

© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Food chains and value system: the case of potato, fruit, and cheese

The aim of the paper is to analyse patterns of value system sharing along food chains, so to explore the agro-food enterprises capacity to be competitive and sustainable. The research focused on three food chains: potato, fruit, and Grana cheese of Emilia Romagna region. The paper adopts the value system approach. The methodology is aimed at creating a consolidated financial statement for each food chain so to re-create the chain operating profit and identify how this is shared among the different food chain stages. The analysis is carried out on 189 enterprises for the potato chain, 187 for the fruit chain and 203 for the cheese chain. The number of enterprises was invariable over the 5 year 2003-2007, leading to some 2,900 financial statement analysis. The chains analysed show differences. In the potato and fruit chains 35% of value is created by distribution, whereas in cheese chain only 13.6%. Over the five years value decreases 5% in fruit and potato and 9% in cheese. The lack of adequate strategic food chain partnership allows an increasing retail market power over the whole chain at the expenses of the primary sector entailing a declining sustainability for all chain actors.food chain, value system, profitability, potato, fruit, cheese, Agricultural and Food Policy,

Value Sharing and Food System Dynamics for Milk, Tomato, and Cereals food Chains

The aim of the paper is to analyse value sharing and food system dynamics of milk, tomato, and cereals food chains, so to explore the agro-food enterprises capacity to be competitive and sustainable. The paper is based on the functionalist approach of Malassis and the notion of the system of the General Systems Theory. The methodology is aimed at creating a consolidated financial statement for each food chain so to re-create the chain value and identify how this is shared among the different food chain stages. The analysis is carried out on primary and secondary data: around 2400 financial statements concerning 480 enterprises from 2003 to 2007 and stakeholders’ interviews. Results show that value is usually created in the processing and distribution stages, to the detriment of the primary sector, and that the retail managing practices tend to impose damaging structural changes on farms whose profitability is at times becoming sustainable only thanks to European subsidies. To conclude, there is evidence of inadequate definition of strategic and network alliance along the chain. Competitiveness is still a concept achieved by single food chain stages against others and food chain internal competition entails a declining sustainability of small farms and enterprises

Identifying food policy coherence in Italian regional policies: The case of Emilia-Romagna

Achieving a coherent set of food-related policies is a challenge for policymakers worldwide, as food matters are addressed at more than one level of governance and across several policy domains. Policies in different domains can sustain each other by sharing the same objectives and actions or they can hinder each other, resulting in different levels of coherence. Focusing on the case study of the region Emilia-Romagna (Italy), the present research aims to answer the following research questions: to what extent is food mentioned in regional policies? Are the food-related objectives of Emilia-Romagna policies coherent with each other? Mixed methods were used in three subsequent research steps. Step 1 consisted of collating an inventory of regional policies where food is present. In Step 2, identified policies were analysed with quantitative content analysis, to examine their ob- jectives, degree of targeting, which food supply chain step they focus on, and which policy instrument type they plan to use. Step 3 aimed to assess the coherence of the identified food-related policies’ objectives among each other through expert interviews, analysed with thematic coding. Overall, regional policies reached a good degree of coherence around the common intention of making Emilia-Romagna thrive economically. However, some level of incoherence is present, as a systematic process that lowers incoherence in policymaking is not in place yet. Therefore, implementing the use of a Policy Coherence Matrix as a standardised practice for policy approval is recommended to coordinate food-related policies

Value Sharing and Food System Dynamics for Milk, Tomato, and Cereals Food Chains

The aim of the paper is to analyse value sharing and food system dynamics of milk, tomato, and cereals food chains, so to explore the agrofood enterprises capacity to be competitive and sustainable. The paper is based on the functionalist approach of Malassis and the notion of the system of the General Systems Theory. The methodology is aimed at creating a consolidated financial statement for each food chain so to recreate the chain value and identify how this is shared among the different food chain stages. The analysis is carried out on primary and secondary data: around 2400 financial statements concerning 480 enterprises from 2003 to 2007 and stakeholders’ interviews. Results show that value is usually created in the processing and distribution stages, to the detriment of the primary sector, and that the retail managing practices tend to impose damaging structural changes on farms whose profitability is at times becoming sustainable only thanks to European subsidies. To conclude, there is evidence of inadequate definition of strategic and network alliance along the chain. Competitiveness is still a concept achieved by single food chain stages against others and food chain internal competition entails a declining sustainability of small farms and enterprises

Value Sharing and Food System Dynamics for Milk, Tomato, and Cereals Food Chains

The aim of the paper is to analyse value sharing and food system dynamics of milk, tomato, and cereals food chains, so to explore the agrofood enterprises capacity to be competitive and sustainable. The paper is based on the functionalist approach of Malassis and the notion of the system of the General Systems Theory. The methodology is aimed at creating a consolidated financial statement for each food chain so to recreate the chain value and identify how this is shared among the different food chain stages. The analysis is carried out on primary and secondary data: around 2400 financial statements concerning 480 enterprises from 2003 to 2007 and stakeholders’ interviews. Results show that value is usually created in the processing and distribution stages, to the detriment of the primary sector, and that the retail managing practices tend to impose damaging structural changes on farms whose profitability is at times becoming sustainable only thanks to European subsidies. To conclude, there is evidence of inadequate definition of strategic and network alliance along the chain. Competitiveness is still a concept achieved by single food chain stages against others and food chain internal competition entails a declining sustainability of small farms and enterprises