Articles

Alternative food shoppers and the “quantity dilemma”: a study on the determinants of their purchases at alternative markets

Despite the increasing interest around alternative food networks and their huge growth in the last decades, they are still considered a complementary source of provision by most customers. Alternative food sho...

Authors: Clara Cicatiello

Consumers’ preference and willingness to pay for enriched snack product traits in Shashamane and Hawassa cities, Ethiopia

This study investigated the consumers’ preference and willingness to pay for enriched snack product traits. Using a choice experiment framework, we generated 8400 observations from a random sample of 700 respo...

Authors: Jemal Ahmed, Tewodros Tefera and Girma T. Kassie

Women in household decision-making and implications for dietary quality in Bhutan

Despite the wide range of literature supporting the linkages between women’s empowerment and food security, it is not examined in social contexts where females historically enjoy equality and even favoritism, ...

Authors: Orkhan Sariyev, Tim K. Loos, Manfred Zeller and Tulsi Gurung

Agricultural and Food Economics: the challenge of sustainability

Authors: Gianluca Brunori, Giacomo Branca, Luigi Cembalo, Marijke D’Haese and Liesbeth Dries

Income and food Engel curves in Rwanda: a household microdata analysis

Food insecurity and malnutrition are still major challenges for large proportions of households in Sub-Saharan Africa. The empirical literature on food demand, however, suggests mixed evidence on the roles of ...

Authors: Aimable Nsabimana, Ranjula Bali Swain, Yves Surry and Jean Chrysostome Ngabitsinze

Measuring consumers’ preferences for craft beer attributes through Best-Worst Scaling

The current paper investigates consumers’ consumption behavior and preferences for craft beer. More specifically, it uncovers consumers’ consumption habits and perception about craft beer, as well as their pre...

Authors: Marco Lerro, Giuseppe Marotta and Concetta Nazzaro

The geography of agriculture participation and food security in a small and a medium-sized city in Ghana

The debate about the contribution of urban agriculture to urban household food security has not considered the possible differential effects by geography of production activities, focusing either on urban hous...

Authors: Hayford Mensah Ayerakwa, Fred Mawunyo Dzanku and Daniel Bruce Sarpong

The impact of production shocks on maize markets in Ethiopia: implications for regional trade and food security

In this article, we demonstrated the dynamic impact of a bumper harvest and drought shocks on the maize market and on the trade regime in Ethiopia. Regional market integration of Ethiopia’s white maize market ...

Authors: Mesay Yami, Ferdi Meyer and Rashid Hassan

Evaluating sectoral effects of agricultural nitrogen pollution reduction policy in Croatia within a CGE framework

Environmental policies are becoming an important part of agricultural policy portfolio in the EU, which is binding on Croatia. This paper seeks to evaluate potential sectoral effects of several nitrogen pollut...

Authors: Ozana Nadoveza Jelić and Jurica Šimurina

Multi-actor approaches to implement cooperative strategies and value chains based on sustainability

This special issue of Agricultural and Food Economics consists of four articles that were part of the scientific programme of the First SIDEA-SIEA Joint Conference, held in Bisceglie in September 2017. The confer...

Authors: Caterina Contini, Giuseppe Marotta and Biancamaria Torquati

Exploring institutional arrangements for local fish product labelling in Tuscany (Italy): a convention theory perspective

Increasing fish consumption along with rising competition in the global seafood market has brought fisheries and aquaculture producers to adopt several differentiation and marketing strategies. Labelling schem...

Authors: Paolo Prosperi, Daniele Vergamini and Fabio Bartolini

Integrated Supply Chain Projects and multifunctional local development: the creation of a Perfume Valley in Tuscany

Marginal rural areas are undergoing major pressures from the effects of globalization, especially when no alternative has been found to conventional extensive agriculture and a lack of investments and vision s...

Authors: Silvia Scaramuzzi, Giovanni Belletti and Paola Biagioni

Consumer stated preferences for dairy products with carbon footprint labels in Italy

Carbon footprint (CF) labels on agri-food products represent one of the most important tools to convey information to consumers about the greenhouse gases emissions associated with their purchase behaviour.

Authors: Maurizio Canavari and Silvia Coderoni

Does training location matter? Evidence from a randomized field experiment in Rural Indonesia

Informal network helps disseminate agricultural knowledge in the rural area where formal extension is lacking. However, how the interplay between formal training and informal network promotes technology adopti...

Authors: Ayu Pratiwi and Aya Suzuki

A combined framework for the life cycle assessment and costing of food waste prevention and valorization: an application to school canteens

About one third of global edible food is lost or wasted along the supply chain, causing the wastage of embedded natural and economic resources. Life cycle methodologies can be applied to identify sustainable a...

Authors: Fabio De Menna, Jennifer Davis, Karin Östergren, Nicole Unger, Marion Loubiere and Matteo Vittuari

Coping with food and nutrition insecurity in Zimbabwe: does household head gender matter?

On the basis of a large-scale nationally representative sample of household data from five pooled cross-section surveys conducted by the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC), this study assesse...

Authors: Terrence Kairiza and George D. Kembo

Effects of the Income Stabilization Tool on farm income level, variability and concentration in Italian agriculture

This paper provides an ex ante assessment of the effects of the Income Stabilization Tool (IST), a new risk management tool proposed in the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union. We investigate the ...

Authors: Simone Severini, Giuliano Di Tommaso and Robert Finger

Sustainable intensification of beef production in Colombia—Chances for product differentiation and price premiums

To promote the adoption of more sustainable cattle production systems in Colombia (mainly silvopastoral systems with improved forages), some sector stakeholders have proposed the development of differentiated,...

Authors: Andrés Charry, Manuel Narjes, Karen Enciso, Michael Peters and Stefan Burkart

Analyzing Alternative Food Networks sustainability in Italy: a proposal for an assessment framework

The aim of the paper is to evaluate the sustainability of Alternative Food Networks in Italy through the construction of a composite indicator, the Global Sustainability Index. The index is able to provide dec...

Authors: Luigi Mastronardi, Davide Marino, Vincenzo Giaccio, Agostino Giannelli, Margherita Palmieri and Giampiero Mazzocchi

How alternative food networks work in a metropolitan area? An analysis of Solidarity Purchase Groups in Northern Italy

Our paper focuses on Solidarity Purchase Group (SPG) participants located in a highly urbanized area, with the aim to investigate the main motivations underlining their participation in a SPG and provide a cha...

Authors: Lucia Baldi, Danilo Bertoni, Giuseppina Migliore and Massimo Peri

Farm level allocative efficiency of rice production in Gulu and Amuru districts, Northern Uganda

Smallholder farming, predominant in Uganda, is characterized by low productivity for most crops including rice which is gaining prominence as both a food and income crop. The low productivity is mostly attribu...

Authors: Daniel Micheal Okello, Jackline Bonabana-Wabbi and Basil Mugonola

Rubber world price transmission to Ivorian producer prices: an analysis in the presence of structural breaks

This article analyzes the link between world prices and producer prices of rubber in Côte d’Ivoire. Using monthly data from 2006 to 2016, we gave special attention to structural breaks in the data and asymmetr...

Authors: Mélanie Ahoba and Frédéric Gaspart

Heterogeneous seed access and information exposure: implications for the adoption of drought-tolerant maize varieties in Uganda

Frequent droughts in sub-Saharan Africa imply water stress for rainfed agriculture and, ultimately, food insecurity, underlining the region’s vulnerability to climate change. Yet, in the maize-growing areas, f...

Authors: Franklin Simtowe, Paswel Marenya, Emily Amondo, Mosisa Worku, Dil Bahadur Rahut and Olaf Erenstein

Performance, behaviour and organization of maize trading in Malawi

Industry structure and social capital could affect traders, market performance and distribution of economic resources such as food. This study assesses the effect of industry structure and social capital on tr...

Authors: Henry Kankwamba and Lukas Kornher

Sustainability perspectives in agricultural economics research and policy agenda

The agricultural sector both needs to reduce its impacts and adapt its food production system to cope with environmental constraints and climate changes. This special issue includes three selected papers prese...

Authors: Bernardo Corrado de Gennaro and Maria Bonaventura Forleo

How to assess future agricultural performance under climate change? A case-study on the Veneto region

In this paper, we have constructed and tested a simple methodology for assessing and predicting climate change effects on agricultural yields. The methodology follows two steps. First, we econometrically estim...

Authors: Laura Onofri, Federica Bianchin and Vasco Boatto

Partnering for sustainability in agri-food supply chains: the case of Barilla Sustainable Farming in the Po Valley

The objective of the paper is to understand the process of designing a multi-stakeholder partnership in the adoption of sustainable innovations in value chains. More specifically, the focus is on the design of...

Authors: Barbara Pancino, Emanuele Blasi, Anne Rappoldt, Stefano Pascucci, Luca Ruini and Cesare Ronchi

Environmentally sustainable versus aesthetic values motivating millennials’ preferences for wine purchasing: evidence from an experimental analysis in Italy

The interest in wine produced in an environmentally friendly manner is increasing in the global market among both consumers and producers. Moreover, numerous labelling and certification systems have been intro...

Authors: Gianluigi Gallenti, Stefania Troiano, Francesco Marangon, Paolo Bogoni, Barbara Campisi and Marta Cosmina

The impact of environmental uncertainty on the performance of the rice supply chain in the Ayeyarwaddy Region, Myanmar

In this paper, we study the relationship between environmental uncertainty and performance in the rice supply chain in the Ayeyarwaddy Region, Myanmar. Efficiency is one of the important performance indicators...

Authors: Thuzar Linn and Broos Maenhout

Does the future of a farm depend on its neighbourhood? Evidence on intra-family succession among fruit and vegetable farms in Italy

The transfer of farm activity over time occurs through different pathways, among which the more frequent is intra-family farm succession. Thus, better information on farm succession determinants is crucial for...

Authors: Daniele Cavicchioli, Danilo Bertoni, Dario Gianfranco Frisio and Roberto Pretolani

Correcting for sample selection in stochastic frontier analysis: insights from rice farmers in Northern Ghana

This study employs stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) correcting for sample selection bias, to determine technical efficiency (TE) and technology gap using cross-sectional data collected from 543 rice farmers ...

Authors: Shaibu Baanni Azumah, Samuel Arkoh Donkoh and Joseph Agebase Awuni

Farm/crop portfolio simulations under variable risk: a case study from Italy

Important sources of risk in agriculture are yield and price fluctuations caused by unpredictable and uncontrollable events, inducing income volatility and adding considerable complexity to farmers’ decisions....

Authors: Franco Rosa, Mario Taverna, Federico Nassivera and Luca Iseppi

The spread of no-till in conservation agriculture systems in Italy: indications for rural development policy-making

No-tillage is a farming system aiming at minimizing soil disturbance associated with the cultivation of arable crops. This technique, together with the practices of continuous soil cover and of crop rotation, ...

Authors: Danilo Marandola, Angelo Belliggiano, Luca Romagnoli and Corrado Ievoli

Evolving consumer trends for whey protein sports supplements: the Heckman ordered probit estimation

Despite the fast-rising popularity of whey protein sports supplements over recent years, there has been little research to investigate the driving forces behind the consumer choices. Using a consumer dataset c...

Authors: Cian Keogh, Chenguang Li and Zhifeng Gao

Analysis of households food insecurity and its coping mechanisms in Western Ethiopia

This study analyzed households’ food insecurity and its determinants along with the coping mechanisms opted against food insecurity and shortage in Assosa zone, western Ethiopia. The study used a primary data ...

Authors: Seid Sani and Biruk Kemaw

Labeling food safety attributes: to inform or not to inform?

We examine the impact of food labels that make unsupported claims of food safety and labels that provide information to support such claims on consumer choices and examine consumers’ willingness to pay for bee...

Authors: Kofi Britwum and Amalia Yiannaka

Shocks in food availability and intra-household resources allocation: evidence on children nutrition outcomes in Ethiopia

This paper examines the intra-gender nutrition outcome both with and without the presence of household level shock using Living Standards Measurement Study-Integrated Survey (LSMS) panel data in Ethiopia. We u...

Authors: Gebremeskel Berhane Tesfay and Babatunde Abidoye

Determinants of the competitiveness of smallholder African indigenous vegetable farmers in high-value agro-food chains in Kenya: A multivariate probit regression analysis

Smallholder farmers are excluded from efficient and effective participation in high-value agro-food market chains due to major competitiveness constraints and several market failures along these chains. The pu...

Authors: Evans Ngenoh, Barnabas K. Kurgat, Hillary K. Bett, Sindu W. Kebede and Wolfgang Bokelmann

Improving diffusion in agriculture: an agent-based model to find the predictors for efficient early adopters

Proven that the adoption rate of a new product is influenced by the network characteristics of the early adopters, the aim of this paper is to find the network features of the early adopters associated with hi...

Authors: Angela Barbuto, Antonio Lopolito and Fabio Gaetano Santeramo

Assessing parental traits affecting children’s food habits: an analysis of the determinants of responsible consumption

Over the last decades, economic, social, and environmental changes have profoundly affected citizen-consumer’s lifestyle and food habits. Current food habits encourage people either to eat more outside home or...

Authors: Concetta Nazzaro, Marco Lerro and Giuseppe Marotta

Joint ownership by farmers and investors in the agri-food industry: an exploratory study of the limited cooperative association

Since the 1990s, producers of farm commodities have been attempting to enter value-added agri-food sectors by means of joint ownership of hybrid cooperatives. New generation cooperatives, characterized by subs...

Authors: Jasper Grashuis

Welfare and food security response of animal feed and water resource scarcity in Northern Ethiopia

The scarcity of grazing and water for an animal has a negative effect on household welfare and food security either by affecting livestock production directly, affecting crop or off-farm income due to labor re...

Authors: Muuz Hadush

Consumers’ willingness to pay for natural food: evidence from an artefactual field experiment

Among foods with credence attributes, food with “natural” components have received in the last years particular attention by consumers. This study applies the BDM incentive compatible mechanism to explore youn...

Authors: Giuseppina Migliore, Massimiliano Borrello, Alessia Lombardi and Giorgio Schifani

Factors affecting adoption of improved sorghum varieties in Tanzania under information and capital constraints

Low adoption of agricultural technology is among the main reasons for low farm productivity and high incidence of poverty and food insecurity in sub-Saharan countries including Tanzania. In this study, we exam...

Authors: Aloyce R Kaliba, Kizito Mazvimavi, Theresia L Gregory, Frida M Mgonja and Mary Mgonja

Does mobile phone technology reduce agricultural price distortions? Evidence from cocoa and coffee industries

Agricultural price distortion which is the discrepancy between world market price of agricultural produce and price received by farmers as a result of market interventions by governments, either through subsid...

Authors: Aimable Nsabimana and Franklin Amuakwa-Mensah

The CAP 2013 reform of direct payments: redistributive effects and impacts on farm income concentration in Italy

The Common Agricultural Policy has traditionally provided support to farm incomes via direct payments under the Single Payment Scheme. This article analyzes whether the reform of the SPS will decrease the conc...

Authors: Stefano Ciliberti and Angelo Frascarelli

Assessing post-harvest labor shortages, wages, and welfare

For horticultural commodities, labor is necessary for post-harvest activities such as management, marketing, packing, and distribution. We create a model with pre- and post-harvest tasks and transportation net...

Authors: Andrew J. Cassey, Kwanyoung Lee, Jeremy Sage and Peter R. Tozer

Factors affecting purchasing process of digestate: evidence from an economic experiment on Sicilian farmers’ willingness to pay

In this study, we evaluate from the perspective of the theory of commitment costs if the level of farmer understanding about digestate attributes could influence the willingness to pay (WTP) for it. For this p...

Authors: Gioacchino Pappalardo, Roberta Selvaggi, Salvatore Bracco, Gaetano Chinnici and Biagio Pecorino

Interaction between buyer power in agricultural procurement and seller power in food retailing, and optimal allocation of anti-trust efforts

In order to take appropriate and effective actions against anticompetitive behaviors in the agricultural sector, it is essential to understand the interaction between buyer power in agricultural procurement an...

Authors: Tian Xia and Brian Sancewich

Promoting ecosystem-friendly irrigation farm management practices for sustainable livelihoods in Africa: the Ghanaian experience

The contribution of farming to food security, nutrition, employment and poverty alleviation in Africa cannot be overemphasised. This paper analysed the effects of adopting ecosystem-based farm management pract...

Authors: Caesar Agula, Mamudu Abunga Akudugu, Franklin Nantui Mabe and Saa Dittoh