1,721,026 research outputs found
The Eucalyptus Firewood: Understanding Consumers' Behaviour and Motivations
No full textItaly is one of the world’s major importers of firewood, despite the large amount of Italian
eucalyptus plantations that could satisfy part of the country’s internal demand. The demand is
critical for farmers to understand developing market dynamics and people’s willingness to buy a
product is related to several parameters, including different supply methods. This study aimed to
analyse the willingness to consume domestic eucalyptus firewood, and the related motivations of
consumers considering the preferred supply method. Data was collected through a web‐survey and
analysed applying a multilevel regression. In general, the sample showed that attention is paid to
both the type of wood and its origin, and that there is a preference for loose firewood as a supply
method. Our findings suggest that factors such as age, experience, and familiarity with a product,
the supply method, attitude towards novelty, provenience, and energetic density of firewood have
an important role in shaping individual inclination towards consuming domestic eucalyptus
firewood. This implies that the owners of eucalyptus plantations should target mostly young and
detail‐oriented consumers, and should also try to clearly give information regarding the origin of
the product and its technical characteristics
Sustainability assessment of alternative strip clear cutting operations for wood chip production in renaturalization management of pine stands
Full text linkIn Mediterranean regions, afforested areas were planted to ensure the permanence of land cover, and to protect against erosion and to initiate the vegetation processes. For those purposes, pine species were mainly used; however, many of these stands, without silvicultural treatments for over fifty-sixty years, were in a poor state from physical and biological perspective, and therefore, clear-cutting on strips was conducted as silvicultural operation with the aim to eliminate 50% of the pine trees and to favor the affirmation of indigenous broadleaves seedlings. At the same time, the high and increasing demand of the forest based sector for wood biomass related to energy production, needs to be supplied. In a modern and multifunctional forestry, in which society is asking for sustainable forestry and naturalistic forest management, forestry operations should ideally be carried out in a sustainable manner, thus support the concept of sustainable forest management. All these aspects are also related to the innovation in forestry sector for an effective energetic sustainability. Three different forest wood chains were applied in pine plantations, all differing in the extraction system (animal, forestry-fitted farm tractor with winch, and double drum cable yarder). The method of the sustainability impact assessment was used in order to assess potential impacts of these alternative management options, and a set of 12 indicators covering economic, environmental, and social dimensions was analyzed. Further, to support decision makers in taking informed decisions, multi-criteria decision analysis was conducted. Decision makers gave weight towards the indicators natural tree regeneration and soil biological quality to support the achievement of the forest management goal. Results showed that first ranked alternative was case 2, in which extraction was conducted by a tractor with a winch. The main reason for that lies in the fact that this alternative had best performance for 80% of the analyzed criteria
Thinning in coniferous mountain forests, possible use of small-scale cable yarding technology, technical environmental and economic analysis
No full textEnvironmental and Economic Assessment of Castor Oil Supply Chain: A Case Study
No full textAmong the species currently cultivated for industrial vegetable oil production, castor could
be a good candidate for future investments due to the good resistance to pests, tolerance to drought,
and suitability for marginal lands cultivation. In addition, the production of castor oil from Ricinus
generates a large quantity of press cake, husks, and crop residues that, in a framework of bioeconomy,
could be used as by-products for different purposes. Using a case study approach, the work presents
results of the environmental impact assessment and economic feasibility of the production of castor
oil from two different castor hybrids comparing four by-products management scenarios and two
harvesting systems (manual vs. mechanical). Castor hybrid C-856 harvested manually and that
involved only the soil incorporation of press cake obtained by the oil extraction resulted as the most
sustainable. The hybrid C-1030 resulted as more profitable than C-856 when harvested with the
combine harvester. The ratio between gross margin and GWP emissions was applied to calculate
the economic performance (gross margin) per unit of environmental burden. Findings showed that
Sc1B scenario in case of C-856 cultivar hybrid had a better ratio between economic performance and
greenhouse gas (GHG) emitted into the atmosphere (€3.75 per kg CO2eq)
Soil and forest regeneration after different extraction methods in coppice forests
Full text linkCoppice is considered the oldest form of sustainable forest management in the Mediterranean area. Generally, it produces rapidly woody biomass and environmental benefits. This research was implemented through an experimental design based on two steps: analyzing the impact of silvicultural treatment (coppice with standards) and logging on forest soil and tree regeneration. It included the soil and regeneration recovery capacity of forests managed as coppice related to different logging systems and treatments applied over a six-year period. The findings demonstrated that tree species regeneration composition was not affected by silvicultural treatment and only slightly by harvesting system. Instead, the physical, chemical and biological soil features were only marginally affected by the silvicultural treatment applied, but strongly impacted by harvesting operations, with clear differences between the systems. The least damaging harvesting system was TLS (Tree Length System) followed by FTS (Full Tree System) and SWS (Short Wood System) that showed a more intense impact. This trend started only six months after harvesting and continued for more than 36 months post-harvesting in a lesser dynamic. The recovery of coppicing was almost complete 36 months after harvesting, without substantial differences between logging systems. Recovery from logging showed a clear positive trend, but 52 months after harvesting only the TLS area had completely recovered. For FTS and SWS, recovery occurred but was very weak
Economic and Environmental Assessment of Two Different Rain Water Harvesting Systems for Agriculture
No full textIncreasing aridity and subsequent water scarcity are currently among the major problems
of agriculture. Rainwater harvesting could represent a way to tackle this issue, and, as a consequence,
scientific research has been more and more focused on such topic. On the other hand, few scientific
studies related to economic and environmental assessment of rainwater harvesting systems in
agriculture are available. The present study carried out an economic and environmental analysis
of two different systems for rainwater harvesting: a typical pond and an innovative flexible water
storage system (FWSS). The environmental and economic performance of the systems was compared
using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) methodologies, referring to a
functional unit (FU) of 1 m3 of storable water. The FWSS showed better environmental end economic
performance than the pond system, resulting with both lower environmental impacts (17.04 g per m3
CO2 vs 28.2 g per m3 CO2
) and lower costs (16.94 € per m3 vs 20.41 € per m3
). Moreover, the pond
system was more impactful than the FWSS for all the 17 categories investigated. Therefore, the FWSS
can be a suitable solution for water harvesting in agriculture sector, showing interesting features
for farmers
An Italian Explorative Study of Willingness to Pay for a New Functional Pasta Featuring <i>Opuntia ficus indica</i>
No full textOpuntia ficus indica is a source of vitamins and minerals, and recently, it has been used as ingredient to make a new functional pasta. Italy produces the highest amount of pasta in the world and it is also the second-highest producer of opuntia globally. This study sought to identify the consumer willingness to pay for pasta featuring Opuntia ficus indica and to understand what factors influence their choice. This study is the first in food research to analyze consumers’ willingness to pay for a new functional pasta featuring Opuntia ficus indica. Data were collected by using a web-based survey; the sample was composed of 342 consumers and an ordered logistic regression model was applied. The findings showed that the educational and higher income levels of respondents play important roles in the willingness to pay for functional pasta. Moreover, the healthy and nutritional features of functional pasta together with the respondents’ willingness to eat it, their curiosity towards this new food and their need to get more information about functional pasta should improve consumers’ willingness to pay for it. The findings should be useful for firms to draw marketing strategies considering the positive consumers’ attitude toward the use of Opuntia ficus indica in pasta production
Assessing the Performance of a Subsurface Water Retention System (SWRS) Prototype: First Evaluation of Work Productivity and Costs
No full textThe potential to use Subsurface Water Retention Systems (SWRSs) to combat desertification and improve agriculture in arid and semiarid areas has already been investigated and proved promising. Nevertheless, a lack of specific machinery has prevented this technology from demonstrating its effectiveness on vast areas. In the present study, a specific prototype is presented along with the results obtained from a preliminary study conducted to assess effectiveness, performance and associated cost. During the test, the machinery permitted the construction of a SWRS 100 cm belowground using a 140 kW tractor. The effective field capacity (EFC) averaged at 0.19 ha h−1 whilst total cost was estimated to be as high as 4800.00 € ha−1. However, 93% of the cost was associated with the purchase cost of the removable impermeable film. A removal operation was also investigated using a 42 kW excavator for evaluating the EFC and cost which averaged at 0.2 ha h−1 and 655.79 € ha−1, respectively
Italian Consumer Preferences for Eucalyptus Honey: An Exploratory Study
No full textThe growing concern for environmental issues has underlined the need to promote sustainable consumption and production. Taking into consideration the three pillars of sustainability, honey should be seen as an important food from a sustainability perspective. Among honey varieties, the eucalyptus one is becoming increasingly popular with people for its aroma and the plant’s therapeutic properties. However, the beekeeping sector in Italy does not yet have sufficient knowledge and understanding of consumer needs with a view to increasing earnings. This paper aimed to analyze the drivers that make people pick eucalyptus honey and tries to investigate which extrinsic and intrinsic quality attributes affect consumer behavior. Data came from an online survey of 403 Italian honey consumers. An ordered Probit model was applied. The results show that consumers consider the taste, viscosity, therapeutic properties, brand reputation, variety, geographical indication, Italian origin, and organic certification of honey as the most important factors that drive the consumption of eucalyptus honey. The findings of the study should help the beekeepers and provide them with the right tools of communication, such as quality or sustainability labeling, thereby increasing their competitiveness
- …
