Fabio Boncinelli

Territory, environment, and healthiness in traditional food choices: insights into consumer heterogeneity

Traditional foods are facing new market challenges tied to current trends in food habits and their determinants, such as the decline of domestic food preparation, the increased demand for convenience foods, the increasing importance of industrial food production, and the evolution of regulations on food safety. In this context our study aims at improving the knowledge of consumer segments in traditional foods market in order to develop better marketing strategies. The preferences for different credence attributes are investigated applying a latent class choice model to the extra-virgin olive oil market in Italy. Results show the existence of a marked heterogeneity of preferences, which determines the presence of both vertical and horizontal differentiation of the product.

Spatial analysis of the participation in agri-environment measures for organic farming

Support for organic farming is a key strategy of rural development policies in several countries. This paper studied the spatial pattern of participation in agro-environmnetal policy the policies designing to foster diffusion of organic farming. The ultimate goal is to investigate the impact of local factors for improving the policy targeting. Indicators of spatial association and a spatial econometrics model were performed for the analysis. The results show regional agglomeration effects of the rate of participants to the measures adopted to promote organic farming. In addition, a spatial relation among the farms that obtain public support is found, highlighting that the diffusion of participation is driven mainly by imitation process and external economies of scale.

Why Do We Buy Traditional Foods

ABSTRACT Consumer behavior toward traditional specialties varies according to the cultural context of consumption. It thus becomes crucial to develop marketing strategies that target segments with different levels of familiarity with food. Our article purposes to analyze the purchase drivers of traditional foods known to consumers because of their reiterated consumption. The importance of the product’s attributes, the purchasing motivations, and the information channels are studied by applying the CUB model, which utilizes a probabilistic structure that simulates the individual’s psychological mechanism in adopting a choice of preference. The case study is that of extra-virgin olive oil in Italy, where this product is a fundamental element of the culinary tradition. The results show that in the ambit of traditional specialties, in contexts of elevated familiarity, the traditional information channels of marketing are less effective and call for strategies based on a more direct connection between consumer and producer.

The italian agricultural household's income: estimates and analysis

This paper looks at the income of Italian agricultural households estimated at the micro-level with EU-SILC (statistics on income and living conditions) data for the period 2004-2008. The aim of this work is to test the hypothesis that agricultural households are still a disadvantaged group in terms of income gap and to select additional sub-categories with implication for income policy.

Cost analysis on water resource: the case study of plant nursery in Pistoia (Italy)

Questo articolo esamina le relazioni tra gli aspetti economici relativi alla gestione delle risorse idriche nel florovivaismo nella Provincia di Pistoia e la loro gestione sostenibile. L’obiettivo e di analizzare nel dettaglio gli investimenti necessari e la struttura dei costi d’irrigazione con tecniche a risparmio idrico crescente. L’utilita di questa ricerca e data dalla conoscenza dei costi aziendali dell’uso dell’acqua e dai benefici ambientali associati a un intervento pubblico a favore del risparmio idrico nel florovivaismo.

Economic Impact of Regulation on Sustainable Irrigation Schemes: a Case Study on a Plant Nursery

In agriculture, water is a fundamental but increasingly scarce resource that requires careful use. The goal of fostering water-savings could be achieved with a regulation that imposes more efficient irrigation systems. This might represent the only policy option when water withdrawals cannot be controlled and when the operational context does not allow filling the information asymmetry between policy makers and farmers with metering systems, quotas, or market rights. The regulation could involve higher costs for farmers. However, it could represent an opportunity to increase farm revenues if consumers are willing to pay a higher price for goods produced according to an ecological standard. Knowledge of the costs and possible benefits is relevant because it would enable us to understand the potential cost allocation among stakeholders according to how the policy is designed. The results of this study indicate that the management cost of a sustainable irrigation system could be at most 48% greater than that of a wasteful, traditional system. However, the higher costs of the regulation could be compensated for because consumers are willing to pay 6.8% more for less intensive water-use agricultural products. Therefore, a regulation associated with the promotion of hypothetical water-saving label can be the best strategy to irrigation efficiency in agriculture.

The recreational value of forests under different management systems

Forest degradation is a severe threat to the provision of ecosystem services, such as timber production, biodiversity and hydrogeological protection. Forest abandonment is one of the main causes of forest degradation in Mediterranean areas where the low value-added of forest activities affects economic sustainability. This issue requires urgent restoration actions which must be supported by cost–benefit analysis that comprises all forestry activities that generate income, including the recreational ones. In effect, while the impact of forest management systems on timber production is well studied, the impact of recreational values is not. The present article intends to demonstrate that different forms of forest management result in a differing willingness to pay (WTP) for maintaining the recreational use of forests. We collected 248 questionnaires from respondents who confirmed their WTP for the maintenance of the recreational function of forests under three management systems: coppice, active conversion to high forest, and the natural evolution of forests. Moreover, we tested the influence of certain socio-demographic variables on individual WTP. Users elicited a high preference for conversion to high forest, while natural evolution was the least preferred management system. Moreover, males and users with higher levels of education had a greater WTP for conversion to the high forest approach.