1,721,165 research outputs found
The Rural Policy Learning Commons: building rural policy through international comparative analysis
No full textDesigning and implementing policy for rural and northern regions has long been a contentious issue, particularly since the challenges are variable and complex. The remote locations, smaller populations, and place-based identities of these regions create unique challenges when compared with urban centres. While rural regions and urban centres remain interdependent through their labour needs, food production, resource development, energy demands, and pressures of climate change, too often urban-based policy decision-makers ignore or misconstrue rural challenges, conditions, opportunities, and aspirations. In effect, the prosperity of urban centres and the potential of rural and northern regions are reduced by policies insensitive to the social and economic well-being of the latter. This is even more important as the North grows in strategic importance.
Some studies have addressed this tension, yet much more is required to ensure that policy-makers are cognizant of the characteristics of rural and northern places. The Rural Policy Learning Commons (RPLC) is designed to meet this challenge by networking international scholars with policy-makers and citizens in a manner that will nurture future generations of policy analysts and practitioners. We will add to existing research knowledge, increase opportunities for partners to exchange insights, build a cohort of highly qualified policy analysts, mobilize this knowledge to the wider population, and increase our capacity to develop appropriate policy for rural and northern conditions.
Our partnership rests on many years of collaboration among researchers, policy-makers, practitioners, and citizens within the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation (CRRF), the Rural Development Institute (RDI), and the International Comparative Rural Policy Studies program (ICRPS). CRRF has been holding annual conferences and workshops since 1988, initiating research, and engaging with policy-makers regarding the conditions in rural and northern Canada (http://crrf.ca). In concert with CRRF, RDI has been conducting community-focused research, meeting with regional leaders, and publishing rural-relevant materials (http://www.brandonu.ca/rdi/). ICRPS has organized annual two-week Institutes since 2004 – where about 30 graduate students and practitioners meet with about 20 faculty members from 12 trans-Atlantic partner institutions to study the challenges of rural policy and explore options for improvement (http://icrps.org).
The RPLC builds on these activities by adding research, exchanges, institutes, policy fora, distance learning activities, publications, a digital information hub, and social media (e.g. webinars, blogs) to generate new policy insights and strengthen comparative research collaboration among faculty, students, practitioners, and policy-makers. Research and policy activities within the RPLC will be guided by critically examining and advancing comparative policy analyses as applied to pressing rural and northern policy challenges and opportunities such as human capital and migration, natural resource development, governance, and infrastructure and services.
The RPLC incorporates an iterative and cumulative design where lessons learned regarding rural policy insights, methods, design, and implementation are opened to further scrutiny. It integrates academic participants with rural policy practitioners and community stakeholders to exchange expertise and experiences that cross disciplinary, organizational, and sectoral lines. Adopting an “active policy entrepreneurship” approach (Stone 2001) we use collaboration to critically evaluate policy alternatives, expand the tools available to policy-analysts, and prepare policy-makers for a world where rural-urban interdependence is the norm
Who stands to gain? How Moldovans engage with policies promoting the migration-rural development nexus
Full text linkIn Moldova, migration has become a key strategy for diversifying rural households’ livelihoods. The state and international institutions have launched programmes enhancing the migration-rural development nexus by channelling migrants’ remittances into investments in rural areas. Drawing on qualitative data, the paper explores how supra/national policies aimed at ‘making the most of emigration’ are received or rejected by Moldovan farmers. Using a multi-scalar adaptation of the MOA (Motivation, Opportunity, Ability) framework, the contribution illustrates the factors, conditions and processes that influence farmers’ participation in the call for rural change at different scales (micro-individual level; meso-community level; macro-structural level), emphasizing their agency
H2020 REFRESH - Resource Efficient Food and dRink for the Entire Supply cHain
No full textThe overall aim of the REFRESH project is to contribute significantly towards the objective of reducing food waste across the EU by 30% by 2025 (which amounts to between 25 to 40 million tonnes of food not being wasted in 2025, worth tens of billions of Euros a year) and maximizing the value from unavoidable food waste and packaging materials. To achieve this ambitious goal, we will adopt a systemic approach and use cutting edge science to enable action by businesses, consumers and public authorities. A central ambition of the REFRESH project is to develop a ‘Framework for Action’ model that is based on strategic agreements across all stages of the supply chain (backed by Governments), delivered through collaborative working and supported by evidence-based tools to allow targeted, cost effective interventions. Success will support transformation towards a more sustainable and secure EU food system, benefitting Europe’s economy, environment and society
La trappola dell'insostenibilità
No full textOggi il sistema agroalimentare si è trasformato in un modello tecnologico estrattivo di proporzioni gigantesche. E' anche poco efficiente, e scarti e sprechi rappresentano un serio problema ambientale che ha gravi ricadute economiche e sociali. Nella fase agricola vengono generati 13 milioni di tonnellate di scarti, a cui vanno sommati scarti e sprechi generati dall'industria alimentare, 3,7 milioni di tonnellate provenienti dalle lavorazioni vegetali e 9,9 milioni di tonnellate dalle produzioni animali. Occorre ripensare i sistemi produttivi mettendo in discussione come, quanto e da cosa produrre
Sprechi alimentari e spreco energetico
No full textLO SPRECO NEL SETTORE AGROALIMENTARE IN ITALIA, AGROINDUSTRIA COMPRESA, INDUCE UNO SPRECO DI ENERGIA PARI A QUELLA NECESSARIA A RISCALDARE PER UN ANNO 730.000 ABITAZIONI DI CLASSE A. SISTEMI AGROALIMENTARI VIRTUOSI AVREBBERO UN RUOLO IMPORTANTE PER UN UTILIZZO PIÙ SOSTENIBILE ED EFFICIENTE DELL’ENERGIA
FP7 - FUSIONS - Food Use for Social Innovation by Optimising Waste Prevention Strategies
No full textFUSIONS (Food Use for Social Innovation by Optimising waste prevention Strategies) will contribute to achieving a Resource Efficient Europe by significantly reducing food waste. It will achieve this through a comprehensive and experienced European partnership covering all key actors across the food supply chain, including regulatory, business, NGOs and knowledge institutes, all with strong links to consumer organisations. FUSIONS will establish a tiered European multi-stakeholder Platform to generate a shared vision and strategy to prevent food loss and reduce food waste across the supply chain through social innovation: new ideas (products, services and models) that simultaneously meet social needs (more effectively than alternatives) and create new social relationships or collaborations. The overall aim of the project is to contribute significantly to the harmonisation of food waste monitoring, feasibility of social innovative measures for optimised food use in the food chain and the development of a Common Food Waste Policy for EU27. Utilising the policy and behavioural change recommendations from the delivery of the key objectives, the FUSIONS European multi-stakeholder platform will enable, encourage, engage and support key actors across Europe in delivering a 50% reduction in food waste and a 20% reduction in the food chains resource inputs by 2020
The role of migration in post-soviet communities: the changing structure of rural livelihoods in Moldova
Full text linkThe nexus between migration and differentiation of livelihood strategies in sending countries is a widely investigated topic. However, this nexus has been often approached from narrow perspectives, highlighting the impact of migration only on limited elements of households’ livelihood strategies, typically related to the economic impact of remittances. This research presents a multi-level analysis of the migration-livelihood differentiation nexus, adopting the Republic of Moldova as a case study. Starting from two sets of original quantitative and qualitative data, a model-based cluster analysis allowed to identify 8 typologies of farmers
with distinctive livelihood and income generation strategies. Then, a logistic regression model was developed to assess the impacts of demographic, economic, and social characteristics of rural households on the adoption of different livelihood choices. Finally, results from cluster analysis and logistic regression were integrated and discussed through qualitative data collected with interviews and focus groups conducted in Moldova between
September 2020 and December 2022. Results shows that the impact of migration in the livelihood strategies
adopted by Moldovan smallholders is multifaceted, ranging from the prevalent role of pure subsistence to the limited role of incentive for investing in higher added value activities, both in and off farm. Finally, out-migration represents a fundamental part of the livelihood strategy to cope with the multifaceted challenges experienced daily by rural households
Does packaging matter? Energy consumption of pre-packed salads
No full textPurpose – Packed salads are popular in many countries of the world. The purpose of this paper is to assess the energy footprint of these products from farm gate to retail gate, compared with unpacked produces distributed by retailers and farmers’ markets in Italy. Design/methodology/approach – Life cycle assessment served as methodological background, even if the analysis was focused on direct and indirect energy consumption. Three supply chains were analysed: packed (P-S) and unpacked (U-S) sold in supermarkets, and unpacked produce sold locally (U-L). Energy inputs were accounted for processing, packaging, refrigeration, transport, and distribution. Data were collected from available literature and from interviews with key experts in the transformation, packaging, and retail sectors. Energy inputs were computed for 1 kg of finished edible product (kgp). Findings – Packed salads require an elevated energy input ranging from 16 to 37 MJ kgp−1. Input energy is mostly required for packaging and refrigeration. By comparison, the U-L chain requires about one tenth of the energy (1.8-2.6 MJ.kgp−1), but local sold produces attain the best performance with only 0.6-1.2 MJ.kgp−1, since they do not need processing, refrigeration, and disposable packages. Packed products mainly rely on the availability of cheap fossil fuels and all the sector has significantly suffered after the oil shock of 2008. Increasing energy costs may lead the price of the commodity out of the market. Originality/value – The paper addresses the subject of energy consumption in a popular sector of processed food to which at present little attention has been paid in the domain of food research. © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Energy input in conventional and organic paddy rice production in Missouri and Italy: A comparative case study
No full textThe expected decline in availability of fossil fuels over the next several decades, either because of resource depletion or because of limits on carbon emissions, is leading to a keen interest in finding more sustainable energy sources. For this reason, it is useful to assess the energy footprint of alternative agricultural systems for crops and animal production and to identify potential transition scenarios to systems largely based on renewable energy. The present work aims to assess for the first time a comparative analysis of energy inputs in rice production systems in Southern Europe (Piemonte, Italy) and in North America (Missouri, USA). A total of twelve rice farms, either conventional or organic, were selected, collecting detailed data on direct (fuel and electricity) and indirect (machinery, fertilizers, pesticides, and seeds) energy inputs. While energy input of conventional farms ranged from 3.5 to 7 MJ/kg paddy rice, organic farming could reduce inputs by more than 50% with only 8% yield decrease. A significant reduction in fuel or electricity use can be achieved also with no till and surface irrigation. The use of renewable energy sources, as already practiced by some farms, could more than cover their electrical energy requirements
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