1,357 research outputs found
Resilience of extensive sheep farming systems in Spain: strategies and policy assessment
No full textEuropean extensive sheep farming is undergoing several challenges and negative trends, which are threatening the capacity of sheep systems to generate income and provide public/private goods/services. This is particularly evident in the marginal and rural areas of southern EU, affected by gradual depopulation, abandonment, and transitions to more intensive and specialized sectors. Concerns over the survival of extensive sheep farming are basically due to the wide range of ecosystem services and socio-economic functions delivered by sheep systems, above all in those marginal areas where other productive activities are unfeasible. In order to find new solutions to overcome existing challenges, and anticipate the emerging ones, novel comprehensive and multidisciplinary approaches to assess the farming systems’ capacity to keep delivering their important functions are required. Within this broad scope, in recent years great importance has been attached to the resilience theory and its adaptations to agri-food systems. Most recent advances in resilience research in the EU have provided theoretical and analytical frameworks to assess the resilience of farming systems. Such approaches demonstrate remarkable potential, and worth being applied further. The motivation of the PhD thesis is rooted into the urgent need to identify development trajectories and resilience paths that allow to conserve and boost the role played by extensive sheep farms in marginal areas of Spain, given the particular vulnerability of this sector. Sheep farms, in fact, are affected by several socio-economic, institutional and environmental challenges. Among the others, there is concern about the sharp reduction in lamb meat consumption, and the structural low profitability that is leading to transition to intensive productions, and the lack of workers and young successor willing to enter the sector. The main goal of the thesis, therefore, is to assess the strategies, management patterns, and policies that could potentially promote the capacity of extensive sheep farming systems to keep delivering their unreplaceable functions and services, in spite of the current and future challenges threatening the sector. To this end, the thesis research focuses on the case study of extensive sheep farms of Huesca, Aragón, Northeast Spain, with a minor incursion in the extensive beef farming of Sierra Guadarrama, Central Spain. In order to achieve the main goal, different aspects of extensive sheep farming system need to be investigated. These are addressed by five specific objectives: I) to identify the factors threatening intra-family farm succession and its characterizing phases; II) to identify the resilience attributes and capacities in alternative farm management patterns; III) to quantify the economic performance of alternative production strategies to cope with main economic risks; IV) to identify new ways through which risk management strategies may improve resilience; and V) to assess the impact of different policies on farms’ resilience, and to highlight potential developments in the policy framework. The PhD thesis methodology draws upon the most recent advances in resilience research in Europe, with special regard to the assessment framework provided by the H2020 SURE-Farm project1, within which this thesis was developed. The thesis is based on a comprehensive and multidisciplinary methodology including multiple sources of data, and qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis. The thesis investigation was carried out through four research studies, each targeting the first four research objectives, respectively. The fifth objective overarches the four studies. The first and the second research studies consist of a qualitative content analysis of 28 semi-structured interviews to farmers and their relatives. The third research study is based on an economic risk assessment including a farm profitability model and stochastic simulations, using national accountancy data and information from a survey of 60 farmers in Huesca. The fourth research study consists of a content analysis and coding of qualitative data from a focus group involving eight farming system’s stakeholders in Huesca. The PhD thesis results show that intra-family farm succession follows three key steps: the potentiality of succession, the successor’s willingness to take over, and the effectiveness of succession. The willingness step was found to be the weakest step threatening the farm continuity in the sector, whereas the policy framework seems to be supporting almost exclusively the last step of effectiveness. Along with the farm continuity, sheep farms in the region can follow four alternative development trajectories, namely extensification (more reliance on pasture-based), intensification (more stable-based), re-orientation (reduction of sheep and diversification), and conservation (farms’ structure maintenance based on quality production). All patterns promote adaptability to some extent, but the patterns extensification and conservation mainly contribute to robustness to reinforce the original farms’ structure, whereas the patterns re-orientation and intensification lead to transformations. There is clear distinction among resilience attributes determining transformative patterns like intensification and re-orientation, and those favouring the conservation or re-adjustment of traditional extensive management. The policy framework appears to drastically favour the transition towards more intensive or different productions. Across the four farm trajectories, two main supply- and demand-oriented strategies seem promising: the increase of sheep prolificacy, and the use of protected geographical identification labels. The thesis findings highlight that feeding costs are the major source of risk, and that increased prolificacy has the greatest potential to mitigate this risk. In contrast, the quality labelling strategy shows scant performance, and appears to be more vulnerable to price variability. The multi-stakeholder focus group indicated four main strategies to enhance resilience in the sector, i.e. 1) improving investment, financing capacity and insurance; 2) promoting lamb meat consumption (including bargaining power in value chain); 3) value extensive livestock contribution to environmental conservation and population retention; and 4) training and knowledge transfer. The stakeholders suggested manifold options to improve these strategies, which can be grouped into three main avenues: cooperation & marketing, the knowledge system, and the policy & financial tools. This PhD thesis research provides a comprehensive and multifaceted analysis of the extensive sheep farming system dynamics in Huesca, and the different aspects that determine its resilience capacity, thus proving the efficacy of this resilience assessment approach. In addition, the thesis hints at ideas for future research in the case study area, mainly regarding the generational renewal and developments in the policy framework, as well as about the comparison with and generalization over other farming systems’ resilience assessments. ----------RESUMEN---------- La ganadería ovina extensiva europea está atravesando tiempos en los que vive varios desafíos y tendencias negativas que amenazan la capacidad de los sistemas de ovino extensivo para generar ingresos y proporcionar bienes y servicios públicos / privados. Esto es particularmente evidente en aquellas zonas marginales y rurales del sur de la UE, afectadas por procesos graduales de despoblación, abandono y transiciones hacia sectores más intensivos y especializados. Las preocupaciones sobre la supervivencia de la ganadería extensiva de ovinos se deben básicamente a la amplia gama de servicios ecosistémicos y funciones socioeconómicas que brindan los sistemas de ovino, sobre todo en aquellas áreas marginales donde otras actividades productivas son inviables. Con el fin de encontrar nuevas soluciones para superar los desafíos existentes y anticipar los emergentes, se requieren enfoques novedosos, integrales y multidisciplinares para evaluar la capacidad de los sistemas agrícolas para seguir cumpliendo sus importantes funciones. En este ámbito, en los últimos años se ha otorgado gran importancia a la teoría de la resiliencia y sus adaptaciones a los sistemas agroalimentarios. Los avances más recientes en la investigación de la resiliencia en la UE han proporcionado marcos teóricos y analíticos para evaluar la resiliencia de los sistemas agrícolas. Estos enfoques demuestran un potencial notable de lograr hallazgos útiles, por lo que merecen ser aplicados. La motivación de la tesis radica en la urgente necesidad de identificar trayectorias de desarrollo y caminos de resiliencia que permitan conservar e impulsar el papel que juegan las explotaciones extensivas de ovino en zonas marginales de España, dada la especial vulnerabilidad de este sector. El sector ovino, de hecho, se ve afectado por varios desafíos socioeconómicos, institucionales y ambientales. Entre otros, preocupa la fuerte reducción del consumo de carne de cordero, y la baja rentabilidad estructural que está llevando a la transición a producciones intensivas, y la falta de trabajadores y jóvenes sucesores dispuestos a ingresar al sector. El objetivo principal de la tesis, por lo tanto, es evaluar las estrategias, modelos de manejo y políticas que promuevan la capacidad de los sistemas de ganadería extensiva de ovino para seguir entregando sus funciones y servicios insustituibles, a pesar de los desafíos actuales y futuros que amenazan al sector. Para ello, la investigación de la tesis se centra en el estudio de caso de las explotaciones extensivas de ovino de Huesca, Aragón, noreste de España, con una pequeña incursión en la ganadería extensiva de vacuno de Sierra Guadarrama, en el Sistema Central. Para lograr el objetivo principal, es necesario investigar diferentes aspectos del sistema extensivo de cría de ovejas. Estos son abordados en cinco objetivos específicos: I) identificar los factores que amenazan la sucesión intrafamiliar y sus fases características; II) identificar los atributos y capacidades de resiliencia en modelos alternativos de gestión agrícola; III) cuantificar el potencial económico de estrategias de producción alternativas para hacer frente a los principales riesgos económicos; IV) identificar nuevas formas a través de las cuales las estrategias de gestión de riesgos pueden mejorar la resiliencia; y V) evaluar el impacto de las diferentes políticas en la resiliencia de las explotaciones y destacar los posibles desarrollos en el marco de políticas. La metodología de la tesis se basa en los avances más recientes en la teoría de la resiliencia en Europa, con especial atención al marco de evaluación proporcionado por el proyecto SURE- Farm2, en el marco del cual se desarrolló esta tesis. La tesis se basa en una metodología integral y multidisciplinar que incluye múltiples fuentes de datos y métodos de análisis cualitativos y cuantitativos. La investigación de la tesis se llevó a cabo a través de cuatro estudios de investigación, cada uno de los cuales se centró en los primeros cuatro objetivos de investigación, respectivamente. El quinto objetivo es transversal a los cuatro estudios. El primero y el segundo estudio de investigación consiste en un análisis de contenido cualitativo de 28 entrevistas semiestructuradas a agricultores y sus familiares. El tercer estudio de investigación se basa en una evaluación de riesgo económico que incluye un modelo de rentabilidad agrícola y simulaciones estocásticas, utilizando datos de la Red contable de explotaciones nacionales e información de una encuesta a 60 agricultores en Huesca. El cuarto estudio de investigación consiste en un análisis de contenido y codificación de datos cualitativos de un grupo focal que involucra a ocho actores o grupos de interés del sistema agrícola en Huesca. Los resultados de la tesis muestran que la sucesión agrícola intrafamiliar sigue tres pasos clave: la potencialidad de la sucesión, la voluntad del sucesor de asumir el control y la eficacia de la sucesión. Se descubrió que el paso de disposición es el paso más débil, amenazando la continuidad agrícola en el sector, mientras que el marco de política parece apoyar casi exclusivamente el último paso de eficacia. Junto con la continuidad de la granja, las granjas de ovejas en la región pueden seguir cuatro trayectorias de desarrollo alternativas, a saber, extensificación (más dependencia de los pastos), intensificación (incremento en carga ganadera), reorientación (reducción de ovejas y diversificación) y conservación (mantenimiento de la estructura de las granjas basado en una producción de calidad). Todos los patrones estimulan la adaptabilidad hasta cierto punto, pero los patrones de extensión y conservación contribuyen principalmente a la robustez para reforzar la estructura de las granjas originales, mientras que los patrones de reorientación e intensificación conducen a transformaciones. Existe una clara distinción entre los atributos de resiliencia que determinan patrones transformadores como la intensificación y reorientación, y los que favorecen la conservación o reajuste del manejo extensivo tradicional. El marco de políticas parece favorecer drásticamente la transición hacia producciones más intensivas o diferentes. En las cuatro trayectorias de las granjas, dos estrategias principales orientadas a la oferta y la demanda parecen prometedoras: el aumento de la prolificidad de ovejas y el uso de sellos de identificación geográfica protegidas. Los hallazgos de la tesis sugieren que los costes de alimentación son la principal fuente de riesgo y que una mayor prolificidad tiene el mayor potencial para mitigar este riesgo. Por el contrario, la estrategia de etiquetado con sellos de calidad muestra un rendimiento escaso y parece ser más vulnerable a la variabilidad de precios. El grupo de enfoque de múltiples actores permitió destacar cuatro estrategias principales para mejorar la resiliencia en el sector: 1) aumentar la inversión, la capacidad de financiamiento y los seguros; 2) promover el consumo de carne de cordero (incluido el poder de negociación en la cadena de valor); 3) valorar la contribución de la ganadería extensiva a la conservación del medio ambiente y la fijación de la población; y 4) formación y transferencia de conocimientos. Los actores sugirieron múltiples opciones para mejorar estas estrategias, que se pueden agrupar en tres vías principales: la cooperación y marketing, el sistema de conocimiento y las herramientas políticas y financieras. Esta tesis proporciona un análisis integral y multifacético de la dinámica del sistema de ganadería extensiva ovina en Huesca, y los diferentes aspectos que determinan su capacidad de resiliencia, demostrando así la eficacia de este enfoque de evaluación de la resiliencia. Además, la tesis sugiere ideas para futuras investigaciones en el área de estudio de caso, principalmente sobre el relevo generacional y los desarrollos en el marco de políticas, así como sobre la comparación y generalización sobre las evaluaciones de resiliencia de otros sistemas agrícolas
CETA AND ITALIAN AGRI-FOOD PRODUCTS: AN ANALYSIS ON COMPARED ADVANTAGES OF THE MAIN ITALIAN AGRI-FOOD SECTORS
No full textAt the age of second-generation agreements, the European Union is going to achieve a number of new trade deals, as well as others country, first of all the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement treated with Canada. A significant part of the debating about CETA is focused on the real need or not to reach new deal and add more liberalization, in particular regarding the Agri-food goods. EU, and above all Italy, can boast a number of excellent export Agri-food processed product, such as wine, cheese and pasta; at the same time, Italy has a need of primary goods, like wheat. Revealed Competitive Advantage is an indicator of the importance of a specific product and, specifically, it’s used to identify the advantage or disadvantage of a trade flow. Some of the main Italian products exported in Canada have been analysed, just like the main imported product from Canada, the wheat; as opposed to EU-28 import of Durum wheat, the other trades have showed a comparative advantage in trade. Finally, in three cases, Italy proves greater advantages in respect with the EU.</jats:p
CETA and Italian Agri-food products: an analysis on compared advantages of the main Italian Agri-food sectors
No full textPuslapiai nurodyti pagal pataisytą leidinįAt the age of second-generation agreements, the European Union is going to achieve a number of new trade deals, as well as others country, first of all the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement treated with Canada. A significant part of the debating about Ceta is focused on the real need or not to reach new deal and add more liberalization, in particular regarding the Agri-food goods. EU, and above all Italy, can boast a number of excellent export Agri-food processed product, such as wine, cheese and pasta; at the same time, Italy has a need of primary goods, like wheat. Revealed Competitive Advantage is an indicator of the importance of a specific product and, specifically, it’s used to identify the advantage or disvantage of a trade flow. Some of the main Italian products exported in Canada have been analyzed, just like the main imported product from Canada, the wheat; as opposed to EU-28 import of Durum wheat, the other trades have showed a comparative advantage in trade. Finally, in three cases, Italy proves greater advantages in respect with the EU.Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas / Vytautas Magnus UniversityŽemės ūkio akademija / Agriculture Academ
Farmers’ learning preferences and risk management choices
No full textPurpose: The relation between farmers’ learning preferences and risk management (RM) decision-making remains largely unexplored. We assess whether and how different learning preferences, notably learning by doing, from other farmers and through social media, influence farmers’ RM choices. Design/Methodology/Approach: Based on a survey of 320 farmers in Spain and the UK, we employed Poisson models with instrument variables to assess the effect of learning preferences on the level of diversification of RM portfolios, and Multivariate Probit Regressions to assess the effect on single strategies. Findings: We found that all learning preferences are significantly correlated to RM choice, with learning through social media and from peers leading to more diversified RM portfolios and learning by doing leading to less diversified ones. Moreover, the results show that each learning preference affects different specific RM strategies. Practical implications: Policies could leverage informal learning channels, especially learning through social media and from others that tend to more diversified RM portfolios. Yet, our results are limited in that other (formal) learning modalities that might play a relevant role were not accounted for in the analysis. Theoretical implications: The learning factor should be formalised and accounted for in theoretical frameworks modelling RM decision-making. Originality: The paper proposes theoretical advances to encompass the learning factor into RM decision-making frameworks and provides the first empirical evidence of the interaction between the three learning preferences and RM behaviour
Farmers’ learning preferences and risk management choices
Full text linkUnderstanding how farmers learn and how this influences their decisions is still a key question in research, especially in the context of increasing challenges and uncertainties. We explore whether and how different learning preferences, notably learning by doing, from other farmers and through social media, influence farmers’ risk management (RM) choices. Based on a survey of farmers in Spain and the UK, we employed multivariate probit regressions and Poisson models with instrument variables. We found that all learning preferences are significantly correlated to RM choice, with learning through social media and from peers leading to more strategies adopted by the farmer, and learning by doing leading to fewer strategies. The results, however, show that each learning preference affects different specific RM strategies. Our findings suggest that policymakers should consider leveraging informal learning networks to improve farmers’ RM, whereas policy incentives might be designed to formalize and promote social media use (also by existing extension services) to boost the adoption of RM strategies
Perspettiva ridotta a perfezione: Glimpses of Daniele Barbaro’s Perspective Theory
No full textThis contribution is intended to identify some textual elements, apparently
secondary in Daniele Barbaro’s treatise on perspective, which either foreshadow
unprecedented developments in the discipline of representation or have
constituted complex critical nodes in the field of perspective. The first of these
is introduced in part V: anamorphosis (though never so called by the author, since
the term was not yet in use), suggesting a quick method to deform any flat image
by means of shadows. Finally, the author mentions two other ‘eccentric’ elements
of interest for the future developments of perspective that originated in Daniele
Barbaro’s text: an optical-projective device first introduced by Giovanni Battista
Vimercato, later developed by Jean François Niceron in his Thaumaturgus
opticus (1646), and the camera obscura
INTRUSION AND PRESENCE OF THE AUTHOR IN SAMUEL BECKETT’S “THE UNNAMABLE” AND B. S. JOHNSON’S “ALBERT ANGELO”
No full textThis article explores the intricate relationship between B.S. Johnson’s novel “Albert Angelo” and Beckett’s “The Unnamable”, both dealing with the issue of the possible presence of the author in his own text. The point of departure for such comparison is Johnson’s incorporation, as an epigraph, of a passage taken from Beckett’s novel. Such passage, intended rather literally by the British author, is employed as a justification not only for the central device at the heart of his novel, but also in support of a larger aesthetic project which will characterise a great part of his oeuvre – which famously stresses the importance of ‘truth’, as opposed to fabulation, and the necessity of the author’s direct presence in his texts. This contribution, in particular, tries to reconstruct the history of Johnson’s involvement with Beckett’s work, demonstrating how Johnson has in fact distorted the master’s message – perhaps intentionally – in order to produce a rather different model of literature, despite moving from very similar premises
Recensione di Daniele Vecchiato: Versi per dopodomani. Percorsi di lettura nell’opera di Durs Grünbein
No full textDaniele Vecchiato offers a clear excursus on the reception of Durs Grünbein. This is the first study in Italy about this famous contemporary author that was also influenced greatly by Italian culture and literature
Daniele Barbaro and the Foundation of the Botanical Garden for the University of Padua
No full textWhen in the Renaissance the Venetian authorities decided to establish the Botanical Garden at the University of Padua in order to carry out experimental studies directly on plants, they entrusted Daniele Barbaro with the role of administrative supervisor. This essay, by comparing the Garden as built with documentary information and historical records, advances the hypothesis of a role not exclusively focused on economic aspects but also on considerations of design. Although information is scarce, the author reasonably speculates that Daniele Barbaro, probably assisted by other scholars and botanical experts, may have conceived the Hortus Sphaericus of Padua, an original design that was never completed
Economic risk assessment of the quality labels and productive efficiency strategies in Spanish extensive sheep farms
No full textCONTEXT
The socio-economic decline of extensive sheep farming caused by its low profitability in southern European Union (EU) regions threatens marginal depopulated rural areas' survival. In the face of new future institutional and climate challenges, there appears to be an urgent need for strategies to improve economic performance.
OBJECTIVE
This paper aims to evaluate the economic performance and risk of two alternative demand-oriented and productive efficiency strategies: i) protected geographical indication certification, and ii) increased ewe reproduction prolificacy.
Method
Based on regional farm records and price data and a survey of 54 local farmers, we formulated a stochastic gross margin model to simulate and analyze four strategic scenarios (baseline, quality labelling, productive efficiency, and joint strategies) under two specific stressors, namely decreased lamb prices and increased feeding costs.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS
We found that feeding costs constitute the main risk factor, whereas price instability has less influence. Our findings highlight improvements in performance under a quality scenario, albeit with higher vulnerability to price variability with respect to the baseline scenario. In contrast, the productive efficiency scenario performs much better in terms of average gross margin and reduced vulnerability to feeding costs, albeit with a larger variation for the expected outcomes.
SIGNIFICANCE
The paper casts light on the vulnerability of the quality label under price risk, and suggests the potential for the joint implementation of both quality production and productive efficiency strategies, which could compensate for their respective weaknesses
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