Food Policy Modelling

Goat farming is an important production sector of Greece, as it contributes to the family economy in rural areas. Despite the importance of the goat industry, this sector has experienced economic difficulties due to poor management and increased production costs; as a result, the sector presents reduced efficiency and low competitiveness. This study investigates the factors affecting the inter-organizational relationships in the goat industry in Greece and assesses the influence that the financial and non-financial factors have on the financial performance of these firms. To identify the factors determining farmers’ economic performance, a structural equation model was used. Research hypotheses describe the effects between inter-organizational relationships in correlation to gross revenue. The model hypothesizes that gross revenue is predicted by labour in hours, loans, feed in kg, fixed capital expenditures, education level and the age of the farmers. Data were gathered from a questionnaire administered via a direct survey to goat farmers in the Greek regions of Thessaloniki and Larisa. The sample consisted of 272 farms and the survey took place during 2020. Results point out the direct and indirect contributions that these factors have on gross revenue, and by extension, to the productivity and profitability of the goat industry.

Biophysical conditions for crop production in Hungary are generally considered to be good. However, extreme weather events, water shortage during the growing season, climate adaptation and, in particular, deterioration of soils pose increasing environmental challenges to farmers. The deterioration of soils is an outstanding environmental challenge in Hungary; therefore adopting soil conservation farming practices is considered as a first step for market-oriented arable farming systems towards transition to agro-ecological farming systems. We mapped stakeholders and assessed the context of information, material and knowledge flows, as well as the practice and policy aspects of soil conservation farming. As a result of the multi-actor platform stakeholder engagements, steps have been taken to collect views on the barriers and needs for change to promote the transition of soil conservation farming practices. Innovative policy design changes to existing rural development measures have the potential to successfully promote transitions to soil conservation farming if accompanied by measures of research and advisory development, raising public awareness and demand for crops produced this way. Environmental and climatic expectations are likely to increase in the next cycle of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy; hence, the topic of soil conservation farming is justified to be a priority and requires getting prepared for the development of appropriate interventions in the national CAP Strategic Plan.

Several economic analyses confirm that the development of a national economy is historically linked to the success of domestic production and the skills of local producers to compete effectively on international markets while maintaining a significant level of sustainability for their resources. The objective of this study is to analyse the competitive performance of the sheep meat sector of selected Mediterranean countries (France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey and Slovenia) for the period 2005–2019, and to define the related sustainability performance concept (at the environmental, social and economic level) in order to recommend priorities and orientations for policymakers and researchers towards further improvement of the sector. The sheep meat sector was chosen as the topic of this study due to its traditional role in these Mediterranean countries and the importance of its consumption. The competitiveness analysis was carried out by assessing trade indices (EMS, IMS, RCA, RMA, RTA, NEI and GL). The results indicate that a satisfactory competitive performance can be observed in Spain and Greece, which were found to be extensively export-oriented in the sector. France is characterized by negative dynamics of competitiveness even if it has a high export value. The rest of the countries show comparative disadvantages with weak trade indices.

The main focus of this paper is to demonstrate empirically that country of origin perceptions have an impact on actual agricultural trade volume. Moreover, a second aim is to compare these effects on agricultural trade volume with effects on the non-agricultural sectors (manufacture, machinery and transportation equipment as well as the chemicals sector). The study empirically tests these relationships using a bilateral measure of reputation as a determinant of export volume, utilizing one of the most successful models in the literature of international economics, the structural gravity model of international trade. Countries’ reputation measures are derived from a global survey, in which respondents in 20 countries rate the reputation for products and people of 50 other countries. As the results indicate, a better country reputation for products and people is associated with increased agricultural trade volume. It is worth noting that the effects of a country’s image concerning its products are minor in the agricultural sector in comparison with the three other investigated sectors.

Food is subject to many dangers throughout the supply chain. Any failure can have a substantial impact on food safety. Moreover, economically driven corruptions result in new vulnerabilities almost daily. Traceability responds to these issues but fails in reacting to every specific situation and accommodating the demands of all parties implicated. Consequently, this study provides a unique strategy to assure consumers about food safety while at the same time reinforcing all the supply chain actors. The suggested solution is unique, incorporating an innovative integrated Decision Support System (DSS) based on Internet-of-Things (IoT)-enabled sensor technologies and data analytics. It also employs a holistic approach covering the food supply chain end-to-end to consider all the stakeholders, beginning from the consumers, via retailers, traders and manufacturers, up to the producers. The proposed approach includes an assessment step, securing an economic, environmental and social impact. These elements ensure a novel and applicable traceability system that guarantees food safety for the end-user while enhancing the triple-bottom-line sustainability of the supply chain actors.

The agricultural sector plays a unique and strategic role in a country’s economic development, and thus in policymaking, not only because of its vitality as a food supply sector but also because of its interconnection and linkages with various activities in the food industries’ supply chain. As digitalization makes its way into the agri-food sector, new technologies provide the conditions for increasing agricultural output and efficiently dealing with some of the world’s most serious issues, such as population increase, climate change, and the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, we will investigate the extent to which digitalization issues are integrated into related European Union (EU) policies, such as the Green Deal and the Farm to Fork Strategy under the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which will enter into force in 2023, using the Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS) approach, given the agricultural sector’s unique characteristics. In other words, the paper intends to highlight specific parameters of the AIS, focusing on relevant initiatives undertaken by an involved actor of major special weight, namely the EU, for the purposes of digitalization of the agricultural sector.

This research aims to assess British and Russian tourists’ consumer attitudes and preferences concerning Cretan cuisine as a driving force for selecting Crete for vacations, evaluating at the same time the overall gastronomic experience. For this purpose, we clarified crucial factors leading to the aforementioned final choice. Taking into consideration relative previous studies, a bilingual three-part questionnaire was created (British and Russian), and distributed to 249 respondents, of whom 126 were British, and 123 were Russian tourists. The vast majority of Russian and British tourists were satisfied with the island’s overall gastronomic experience. More specifically, the most significant factor, extracted from the Principal Component Analysis (PCA), for selecting Crete as a final destination for vacation, was the Cretan cuisine. British tourists are more willing to experience it and visit local restaurants. However, Russian visitors had a better knowledge of Cretan cuisine and gastronomy issues and were more ready to order a dish they had never tried before. Russian tourists expressed their intention to adopt Cretan foodstuff and recipes in their homeland and revisit Crete in the near future. This is not the case for the British at the same intention level. The educational level of the respondents is significantly interrelated with the importance of Cretan cuisine and an alternative gateway to get in touch with the traditions and culture of the island. Finally, it is evident that Russians emphasize the aforementioned issues more than the British.

The main topic of our paper is consumer preferences towards local food products of women’s cooperatives. Using the best-worst scale technique, we elicit the relative importance consumers attach to attributes of local food products from women’s cooperatives. Recognizing that consumers are not homogeneous, a latent class mixture model is employed to allow preferences to vary across different consumer segments. With data from 300 consumers, we find that the most important attributes of local agricultural products are quality, the handmade process and support for women’s cooperatives. Yet, our mixture model results indicate a four-cluster solution. Quality is the most critical attribute for approximately 80% of the respondents, indicating the significance of the quality attribute for both homogeneous and heterogeneous consumer preferences.