Approaches for reducing wastes in the agricultural sector. An analysis of Millennials’ willingness to buy food with upcycled ingredients

Upcycled ingredients are one of the most significant current trends in the food industry aimed to tackle the challenge of solid food loss reduction. This study investigates the potential market among Millennial consumers for products enriched with upcycled ingredients in Italy. We surveyed a sample of 317 Italian Millennial consumers, using a web-based survey. 62% of respondents declared to be informed about the existence of food made from upcycled ingredients and 53% declared to be willing to buy this novel food. Also, 69% of respondents think that food enriched with upcycled ingredients can bring environmental benefits, while only 40% believe that it can bring health benefits. Using a logit model to analyse consumer preferences, we found that food neophobia and food technology neophobia negatively impact on the likelihood of being willing to buy food produced with upcycled ingredients. Also, consumers who give high importance to food certification are less likely to be willing to buy upcycled foods. Contrariwise, reading labels and believing that upcycled foods are healthier or more environmentally friendly positively impacts on the willingness of Millennial consumers to buy these foods. Results for the sample analysed eventually suggest that giving right information to consumers about the environmental and health characteristics of the products, through clear labelling, could increase their market uptake thus helping to reduce food loss and contributing to reaching circular economy objectives in the agricultural sector

Key policy questions for ex-ante impact assessment of European agricultural and rural policies

Policies in the agricultural and rural sectors are of key importance in shaping their sustainable development. These policies are changing from market-based policies to policies that aim to influence farmers' decision-making. Thus, the scientific literature supporting evidence-based policy-making must develop models that simulate individual decision-making (IDM) by farmers. This study aims to understand key policy objectives, related policy questions and benchmark scenarios relevant to the European agricultural sector to define the research agenda for a suite of IDM models. This research goal has been addressed following a five-step process that involved different research tools and heterogeneous actors, including key stakeholders. Results suggest that environmental policy objectives are the most relevant for European agriculture in the coming decades. Thus, the scenario modelling exercise should focus mainly on the agri-environmental policies' impacts while properly considering the potential trade-offs between economic and environmental objectives

The territorial dimension of environmental sustainability in Italy along the urban–rural continuum

Single territories contribute in different ways to the transition towards a more environmentally sustainable development (SD), according to their structural features. This study returns a multi-dimensional picture of the territorial divides of environmental sustainability across Italy, analysing how it correlates with rurality, with a focus on the urban–rural continuum. Italy represents an interesting case study because of its peculiar territorial urban–rural structure. We first assess the environmental sustainability targets across Italian NUTS 3 regions and their capital cities using two composite sustainability indexes, by referring to both standard values (i.e. conforming to legislation) and optimum values (i.e. desired values). Then, we investigate the relationship between environmental sustainability and rurality. Results suggest that a positive link between the two exists, being stronger at city level. Among major policy implications, the environmental dimensions of territorial cohesion should be integrated more strongly in key European policies to reach a more balanced SD

CAP payments and agricultural GHG emissions in Italy. A farm-level assessment

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is an important external driver of European agricultural production. Nowadays and in its envisioned future structure post-2020, the CAP has among its major objectives tackling climate change, for what concerns both adaptation and mitigation strategies. However, little is known about the link between past CAP reforms and agricultural greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. This paper investigates the possible role played by the Fischler Reform (FR) on the agricultural GHG emissions at the farm level. The FR represents a major CAP reform for which data availability allows an ex-post analysis about its actual impacts. The empirical analysis concerns a balanced panel of 6542 Italian Farm Accountancy Data Network observed over years the 2003–2007. Multinomial Logit models are estimated in sequence to express how the farm-level production choices, and the respective emissions, vary over time also in response to CAP expenditure. Results suggest that CAP expenditure had a role in the evolution of the farm-level emissions, though the direction of this effect may differ across farms and deserves further investigation

L’agricoltura e le foreste italiane nel quadro delle politiche di riduzione delle emissioni di gas serra: aggiornamenti normativi e questioni aperte

L\u2019articolo propone alcune riflessioni sulle implicazioni della nuova normativa climatica comunitaria per il settore agricolo e forestale. Dopo aver presentato il quadro normativo, vengono esposte alcune problematiche da affrontare tra cui la complessa governance del sistema e il ruolo della futura Pac

Agriculture and climate-friendly development: Global perspectives of financing

As the relationships among physical, economic and social elements concerning agriculture and climate change are very complex, the strategies to address this issue must be accompanied by an integrated approach to development, mitigation and adaptation policies. This approach can be defined as "climate compatible development", a strategy that minimizes the harm caused by climate impacts, while maximizing the many human development opportunities presented by a low emissions and more resilient future. However, financial flows for climate compatible development, are too weak, despite flows of climate finance to developing countries represent the principal way to reconcile equity with effectiveness and efficiency in dealing with the climate problem. The future of climate finance include both the creation of new funding sources and the improvement and upgrading of existing ones, but are based on the recognition of the sector's role in mitigating and its unique vulnerability to climate change. Copyright © FrancoAngeli

The impacts of environmental and climate targets on agriculture: Policy options in Italy

This study is aimed at proposing a model to assess the economic private costs for farms deriving from the implementation of some of the environmental targets set by the European Farm to Fork strategy and the objective of a carbon-neutral agricultural sector, by also evaluating the synergies and trade-offs between environmental objectives. An agro-economic supply model, based on mathematical programming and microdata from the Farm Accountancy Data Network, is used. The model is applied to Italian agriculture as a case study. Results show losses in added value, higher level of resource efficiency and synergies among different targets. Policy implications include exploiting the synergies and accompanying the transition with measures aimed at compensating the most impacted sectors