1,720,973 research outputs found
The impact of the Single Farm Payments on the expenditure on fertilizers and crop protection inputs: a comparative study of the Italian agriculture
No full textThe Mid Term Review (MTR) of the European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in 2003 sped up the process of policy
reforms toward decoupled payments in order to urge agricultural production to respond to market signals. However, since
the elimination of coupled subsidies could produce a shift in commodity relative prices and decoupled payments could
generate ‘‘coupled’’ effects on production, it remains questionable how Single Farm Payment (SFP) alters agricultural
intensification. Therefore, through a comparative statistical analysis applied on Italian FADN regional data, this article aims
at evaluating whether the MTR had positive impacts on the aggregate expenditure on fertilizers and crop protection inputs.
From the results, it is observed that the expansion of profitable crops like vegetables, flowers, and vineyards, along with the
receipt of SFP increased the expenditure of fertilizers and crop protection inputs. Such findings suggest that the MTR has
been so far effective in terms of aligning agricultural production to markets’ signals, but with the unintended consequence of
higher intensification. We deduce that farmers may allocate higher proportions of SFP to purchase fertilizers and crop
protection inputs whenever the opportunity for higher profits is found in those cropping activities requiring a higher
intensive use of production’ factors. The results indirectly highlight the need to improve the environmental crosscompliance
controls and to allocate more CAP funds to agro-environmental measures in order to create the right incentive
to farmers for reducing input use and mitigating agricultural intensification
Impatto degli investimenti in R&S sull’agricoltura europea
No full textLa crescita della produzione agricola a livello mondiale è stata spinta dall’adozione di innovazioni generate dai risultati della ricerca. A partire da Griliches (1958), gli economisti hanno cercato di capire in che modo il settore ricerca e sviluppo (R&S) contribuisce all’evoluzione della produttività del settore agricolo, con lo scopo finale di stimare la redditività degli investimenti pubblici in ricerca. A livello globale, nonostante diversi studi riportino tassi di rendimento (Tdr) degli investimenti in R&S in agricoltura molto elevati (Alston et al., 2000; Hurley et al., 2014), si assiste, nelle ultime decadi, ad una riduzione generalizzata nella spesa in R&S (Pardey et al., 2006; Piesse et al. 2010).
In questo quadro generale, tuttavia, i contributi in letteratura non riescono ancora a chiarire né a definire la dinamica delle ricadute degli investimenti in R&S sulla performance dell’agricoltura Europea, soprattutto se si tenta di esplorare il tema a livello di Paese membro. Tale limitazione è dovuta alla inapplicabilità al contesto europeo delle metodologie analitiche ritenute in letteratura maggiormente efficaci nello studio degli impatti della ricerca, le quali richiedono serie storiche di almeno 50 anni e dati affidabili (Alston et al., 2000).
Il presente articolo si pone l’obiettivo di studiare i dati disponibili su spesa in R&S e produttività agricola, a livello di Stato membro, al fine di selezionare elementi informativi (dati) utili alla definizione e allo studio della produttività della ricerca europea in agricoltura
Adapting to climate change: the social perception of voluntary water transfers in the Italian context
No full textClimate change is expected to increase the frequency of water
scarcity and drought events in Italy. To respond to these challenges, water
management in agriculture require major reforms involving broad public
participation. In this paper, we empirically analyse the social perception of
climate change and the social acceptability of potential policy reforms of water
management in the Italian context. The results show the interviewees’
awareness of climate change phenomena and a common consensus on the need
to improve efficiency in water management. Furthermore, a positive attitude
toward engagement in water exchange mechanisms emerged along with a
preference for farm-to-farm and agriculture-private exchanges. Normative and
ethical inertias represent the main obstacles for the social acceptability of water
markets. Research is needed to address the interactions between social
acceptability, economic viability and the implementability of the proposed
instruments
The circular economy and agriculture: new opportunities for re-using Phosphorus as fertilizer
Full text linkThe increasing demand of phosphorus (P) worldwide is posing important challenges on the market stability of fertilizers. Extracting more P would not guarantee high P quality and low prices. Globally, only the European Commission, in a recent document about the Circular Economy strategy, has begun to address the challenge of the dependence on phosphate rock. Based on a simple circular economy theoretical framework, this paper proposes an impact analysis of the use of recycled P as a substitute of chemical P fertilizers. Two new technologies applied to retrofit existing wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) are considered: Moving-Bed Bio-Reactors and Struvite Crystallization Modules. The analyses indicate that the introduction of these technologies prove to be economically sustainable for specific levels of inhabitant equivalent (IE) and that the profitability of struvite, as a substitute of chemical P, increases with increasing levels of P fertilizer prices and for increasing sizes of WWTPs
Water Management and Institutional Adaptation Strategies in the Irrigation Sector: Two Experiences in Emilia-Romagna
No full textClimate change is putting pressure on economic sectors, especially agriculture, because of the increase of extreme events, like water scarcity and droughts, that call for impellent adaptation strategies in water management oriented toward the lining of water demand up to future water availability. The EU institutions have worked intensely in recent years for defining a policy guidance on the quantitative management of water resources to complement the Water Framework Directive. The outcome is a Blueprint for the safeguard of water resources which stresses, inter alia, the necessity of implementing in the recent future measures that induce a more rational use of water resources such to reduce the inefficiencies and to improve the allocation mechanisms by fostering, whenever possible, the equalization between water needs and economic values of water use. The chapter proposes the study of two experiences of irrigation water management in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna whose outcomes thoroughly reflect the achievement of the recent policy objectives. The first is the case of the irrigation district Tarabina, in which a change in the tariff system from area-based to volume-based has yielded a more equitable distribution of water and related costs among users along with a remarkable reduction in water use. The second is the experience of the institution of voluntary irrigation boards for the management of small water harvesting catchments and related infrastructures whose governance is inspired by use efficiency criteria, with an opening toward the allocation mechanism of water transfers. A polyhedric approach for the management of water resources in the light of climate change is essential for the correct analysis of current issues and for the implementation of suited adaptation strategies that reflect the potentialities of governance improvements in line with the recommendations provided by the EU institutions
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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