Food System Dynamics (E-Journals)
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Analysis of Trade Patterns and Duration: Evidence from Food Industry in the OECD countries
Full text linkThis study conducts Kaplan-Meier survival estimates on food trade patterns among the OECD countries and explores whether different survival conditions exist in different t rade patterns of food sub-industries. By applying the extended Cox proportional hazard model, this study examines the effects of consumption on the survival rate for horizontal intra-industry trade pattern at the SITC four-digits level. Our findings show an important policy implication that the stability of horizontal intra-industry trade on the survival duration is driven by consumption in food industry among the OECD countries. Therefore, we suggest that policies should encourage the support of the horizontal intra-industry trade within the food industry to avoid unstable durations of trade in the global supply chain caused by the severe employment adjustments associated with traditional comparative advantage
Food Value Chain Coordination in Practice: European and Australian Case Studies of the Creation of Chain Good Innovations
Full text linkFood value chain businesses form alliances with horizontal and/or vertical partners to take collective action to either overcome or ameliorate chain failure, or to take advantage of new opportunities available due to innovations in products or processes. The desired outcomes from the collective action would no t be possible to achieve if these businesses acted independently. While such alliances and collaborations may take many forms, depending on the degree of commitment, the kind of governance and infrastructure linkages, they can often be thought of as “clubs ” for the purpose of economic analysis. Several different types of clubs can be identified, thus the path to collective action chosen by clubs may vary according to existing capabilities and the scope for collaboration, particularly in relation to the potential for value-creating innovation. The result of the collective action is the provision of a chain good or service, which usually leads to greater and more valuable chain coordination. By collectively identifying, funding and acting to capture positive externalities associated with innovation, businesses in many parts of a food value chain can widen opportunities to increase whole-of-chain surplus as well as private profits. In this paper five mini-case studies are presented to demonstrate the breadth of past collective actions undertaken by businesses in food value chains, two in Europe and three in Australia. These are the Euro Pool System, and Global Standards certification in Europe and globally, as well as Meat Standards Australia, an Australian beef organic producer alliance (OBE Organic®), and the supply of food to households during Covid-19 lockdown in Australia. Each case study yields insights into the rationale of how businesses in different food value chains in different countries have acted as a club to use their joint resources to internalise positive innovation and coordination externalities
Children nutrition in the Mediterranean basin: A comparative case study between Spain and Greece
Full text linkThe present study evaluates students' consumption habits for fruits, vegetables and meat, identifying the main factors influencing parents’ choices on these products for their children's nutrition. Additionally, it was assessed whether these factors are influenced by their socio-economic profiles. Based on literature review findings and following the Health Belief Model and Theory of Planned Behaviour rationale, a questionnaire was designed and distributed to a total sample of n=329 parents in Greece (n=197) and Spain (n=132). The major finding reveals that, fruit and vegetable consumption is considered as low in both countries, compared with the minimum recommended quantities. More specifically, it appears that only 24% of children in both countries consume fruits on a daily basis, while more than 1/3 of the total sample states that their children consume fruits on a frequency of less than 3 times a week. Their responses about vegetables verify that only 6.5% of children include vegetables in their meals more than 5 times a week, while more than 80% declared that their children eat vegetables less than 3 times a week. The comparison between them showed increased fruit consumption from the Spanish side. Meat consumption exceeds the upper limits of adequate frequencies, with the responses from parents in both countries to indicate that its consumption may in some cases exceeds nutritionists' recommendations. Pork and chicken are more preferable by Greek and Spanish children, which they are consumed at least once a week, verifying previous surveys on the same topic.Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to identify the most significant factors influencing parents' attitudes about the aforementioned food groups they purchase for their children. According to overall sample results, place of origin and the food safety measures taken, are the most crucial factor affecting parents’ choices. Degree of convenience and ease-to-consume (in terms of time and money) are forming the second factor. Social pressure from friends and family for the supply of these foods, nutritional value and health benefits, are additional factors influencing parents’ choices. Samples from each country have been analysed separately, reaching to the same factors for both countries. However, the order of importance follows a different order, showing that the country of origin of the respondents formulates the order in which factors appear. Socioeconomic characteristics have been assessed too, in order to verify statistically significant differences between different factors. Number of children, parents’ educational level, family income and financial support from relatives should be taken into consideration for parents’ final decisions. These results can be utilized so as to clarify parents purchasing attitudes, depending on their demographics, and propose a unique marketing plan focusing on supporting the promotion of healthy nutritional habits to the upcoming European citizens
Agribusiness Management Characterization and Performance of the Value Chain in the Production of the “Concha Prieta”
Full text linkThe Anadara tuberculosa in Ecuador called "Concha Prieta", is a bivalve mollusk that is obtained manually on theshores of the American Pacific Ocean, from northern Peru to southern Mexico. This artisanal business economicallyand socially benefits thousands of fishing families but also contributes significantly to the preservation of themangrove swamp, one of the main ecosystems that produce blue carbon. The objective of this research was tocharacterize the management of agribusiness and the performance of the Anadara tuberculosa value chain. It wasconcluded that despite the low levels of agribusiness management, the performance of the value chain reaches anintermediate level, mainly due to the relevant characteristics of the Concha Prieta, the high demand in theEcuadorian market and in neighboring countries
A Systems Approach to Institutional Diffusion in Taiwan’s Food Traceability System
Full text linkA food traceability system is an institution that aims to reduce information asymmetry among producers, retailers, and consumers through public disclosure of information about the origin, production, and sales of agriproducts. System effectiveness depends on the changes that result from diffusion. In this study, we use Taiwan’s traceable agricultural products system to integrate mental models of multiple stakeholders to simulate interactions among institutional quality, adopter profitability, profit distribution, and institutional diffusion from a system dynamics perspective. It thus provides a framework for institutional diffusion and change and elucidates the process of institutional diffusion for the causal relations among many critical factors
Regulations, Value Chains and Food Standards in Developing Countries: Panel Data Evidence from India
Full text linkRapid growth in dairy consumption and food scandals in India in the 2000s increased awareness of food safety issues among consumers and policymakers. This led to the introduction of new standards. However, there is little information about how they affected farm-level activities and whether value chains played any role. Our paper addresses these questions using a two-round panel survey of dairy farms in Punjab and Andhra Pradesh. We find significant improvements in adoption of farm-level hygienic practices, especially in Punjab. Value chain innovations do not play a significant role in stimulating safety and quality improvements among dairy smallholders in India
Exploring the Social-symbolic Meaning of Eating Habits in the Czech Republic and Ukraine
Full text linkThe purpose of this study is to empirically assess whether the social-symbolic meaning of eating habits is constructed within cultures. The analysis is based on the sociological approaches of Bourdieu´s theory. To answer the question, data from an on-line survey (n=319; carried out in the Czech and Ukraine) are compared using multi-sample measurement model. Results indicate the effect of social structures on individual perceptions and practices through habitus. The differences rely on the revitalization of local food, food arts, and market in Czechia. These findings have several marketing and advertising implications
Design of a System for Information Transfer to Reduce Administrative Burdens in the Agrifood Sector
Full text linkAgricultural policies are widening the scope to contribute to environmental objectives, such as the Green Deal, Paris Climate Agreement and sustainable development goals. This leads to new monitoring and data needs. To fulfil these data needs, it is crucial to explore the opportunities and limitations of new technologies. This paper analyses the information flows within the agricultural sector and its potential to contribute to future information needs.Farmers act within a network of commercial and governmental organisations. The information exchange with these organisations could increasingly occur through digital means, but in reality, there is still a lot of data transfer on paper or in PDF format. This implies information loss. Digital information flows provide a wealth of information for policy evaluation and monitoring and have the potential to reduce transaction costs. Combining data from different sources (open data like earth observation data, data from on-farm sensor networks, accountancy data like invoices and data from food chain platforms) concerning a single farm is an even bigger challenge than the transfer from paper to digital. Based on these observations a list of requirements for a future solution for information transfer is defined.Based on these requirements, this paper presents the design of a System for Information Transfer to Reduce Administrative burdens (SITRA) to combine data from different sources and give farmers control who can access these data. SITRA will address farmers’ needs to reduce the growing administrative burden placed on them by governments and the food chain sustainability and food safety schemes, especially if data would be stored in a digital farm locker and a farmer could voluntary give his consent through an authorisation mechanism to share specific data with his business partners, paying agency, statistical organisation and Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN, an EU monitoring system for the Common Agricultural Policy). A platform that provides such data lockers could also provide benchmark facilities and a tool for common (open source) maintenance of coding systems.The paper proposes some follow-up activities to test this design. As a pilot, organic farmers that participate in the Dutch Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) will be recruited to co-develop and test the design principles of the system. Given trust issues around data management, the design of the governance and business model of the system are key issues in the follow-up. This group is chosen as organic certification and FADN are the most data-intensive monitoring and evaluation tools in the CAP. The Farm to Fork communication proposes to enlarge the organic sector to 25% of the agricultural area. A new organic control regulation, based on a risk assessment approach is about to be implemented. The Farm to Fork communication also proposes to link the FADN much more with the Farm Advisory System and to extend it to a Farm Sustainability Data Network
Analysing purchasing behaviour: A consumer segmentation of fresh-meat shoppers in Germany
Full text linkNegative effects of heavy meat consumption have been critically discussed in politics, the public and science for a long time. As there is heterogeneity in consumer behaviour, targeted measures regarding behaviour management can hardly be implemented on the basis of an average consumption levels but should take into account different consumer segments. Therefore, this study performs a segmentation and characterisation of fresh-meat-shoppers based on household panel data provided by the GfK. A cluster analysis was performed based on the average per capita monthly purchasing shares of five different meat types. A multinomial logistic regression was used to characterize the different segments regarding sociodemographic aspects, people’s attitudes towards food and meat shopping, total purchasing intensity and different shopping locations. The authors found a four-cluster solution, identifying a segment of poultry lovers (24 %), a segment of beef, lamb & speciality purchasers (17 %), a segment of mixed product eaters (15 %) and a segment of pork buyers (45 %). Households assigned to the largest cluster of “pork buyers” have an above-average monthly meat purchase while being price-sensitive. Future policy instruments such as meat tax could address this buyer segment in particular, and probably decrease overall meat purchases. However, it should not be neglected that “beef, lamb & speciality purchasers” also have an above-average monthly meat purchase, causing particularly negative environmental effects. As this buyer segment has a rather high income and reports to be less price sensitive, it might be a challenge to influence their purchasing behaviour by taxing meat products
Willingness to pay for urban agriculture in Oslo
Full text linkUrban agriculture is increasingly recognized as an important sustainable pathway for climate change adaptation and mitigation, for building more resilient cities, and for citizens’ health. Urban agriculture systems appear in many forms – both commercial and non-commercial. The value of the services derived from urban agriculture, e.g. enhanced food security, air quality, water regulation, and high level of biodiversity, is often difficult to quantify to inform policymakers and the general public in their decision making. We perform a contingent valuation survey regarding four different types of urban agriculture in Oslo. The citizens of Oslo are asked about their attitudes and willingness to pay for non-commercial and commercial urban agriculture. The non-commercial agriculture consists of urban community gardens for the citizens and urban gardens for work training, education and kindergartens. On the other hand, the commercial urban agriculture consists of aquaponics and vertical production. Results show that the citizens of Oslo are willing to increase their tax payments to contribute to further development of urban farming in Oslo