Pasquale Lombardi

A new-institutional framework to explore the trade-off between agriculture, environment and landscape

The focus on sustainability issues in recent years has revived interest in the complex relations between economic development and environmental impact. New characteristics are being attributed to the rural landscape, while agriculture is taking on ever-increasing roles in public intervention policies in land management. This paper lends a further contribution to the wide-ranging discussion on the complex relations between agriculture and conservation of the rural landscape, revisiting the subject in the light of the new context of the multifunctional landscape and heterodox environmental economics. Analysis of both cultural and economic changes suggests the formulation of a new paradigm of sustainable development whose theoretical basis is laid by a multi-objective optimal allocation model. Farming must be remunerated directly by the market with the right combination of intrinsic product quality and attraction capacity thanks to positive externalities and the supply of public goods. This may lead to a reappraisal of whole areas in terms of efficiency and sustainability.

Dinamiche di consumo ed evoluzione degli stili alimentari attraverso l’indagine istat sui consumi delle famiglie

The paper uses the 1973-2009 historical series on domestic food consumption, and analyzes the main changes in the structure of food consumption both at national and regional level. In the first part of the work, it is shown the main changes undergone by domestic food consumption basket relative to the eight main product categories consist of: bread and cereals, dairy products and eggs, meat, fishery and fish farming products, fruit vegetables and potatoes, drinks, coffee sugar and groceries, oils and fats. The evolution of the basket is discussed taking into account the main social and economic factors such as the territorial area, the number of members of the family, type of employment. In the second part of the paper the analysis is developed taking into account the regional data. In this case the objective was to compare the differences in the composition of the basket at the beginning and at the end of the observation period to assess how the specific consumption of the 20 Italian regions have developed. By means of a hierarchical cluster analysis, data from three-year periods 1973-75 and 2007-’09 were compared in an attempt to identify the existence of common evolutionary paths in the composition of spending and lifestyles in food. The analysis at regional level suggests the existence of an evolutionary path generating a a process of convergence of the shares of spending on an unique assortment for all regions. This evidence allows to hypothesize the gradual disappearance of the specific regional life style in foods and the birth of a common and strongly homologated style. Although the type of data used does not allow further consideration to analyze the reasons for this convergence, it seems reasonable to identify the pervasive presence of modern retail and widespread role of the media as the most responsible for this process. Finally it is possible to conclude that the disappearance of regional and specific food habits represent a net loss to the country, at least in terms of culture and.

Supply chain e sostenibilità: il caso del pomodoro San Marzano dop

Food chain sustainability concept has significantly escaleted the scientific debate of agricultural economists. This paper attempts to evaluate the problem of governance looking at sustainability in a specific case study about San Marzano Tomato, through the procedure of assessments known as triangulation. The theoretical basis of our work is the priority and responsibility matrix: the study describes phases of the empirical reasearch conducted to assess the sustainability of a typical food supply chain. San Marzano Tomato is endowed with an origin certification label (pdo), meeting demand within high-value market niches. It is a product symbol of Campania region (Italy), benefiting of several interventions of the public regional operator (genetic resources research, support for the establishment of origin certification, etc.). The proposed methodology provides simple rules to follow the time evolution of a food supply chain, judging feasible solutions to satisfy inter-dimensional requisites of durable development. In the proposed case, the driving role of the government appears as a necessary prerequisite to achieving goals of sustainability.

Il settore del pomodoro trasformato: tendenze di mercato, struttura e quadro istituzionale

Tomatoes and its derivatives historically has a strategic role in the Italian fruit and vegetable sector: the high propensity to exports reduces the structural debts of national agricultural balance while the complexity of the supply chain makes this sector of great relevance not only for agriculture but also for the processing industry with over 180 plants and just under 4,000 people in Italy for the year 2008. Currently, the processed tomatoes chain is characterized by a deep restructuring process affected by the reform of the cmo, and its introduction of the Single Farm Payment and the increasingly fierce competition in price determined by the appearance and progressive statement some international competitors. This paper describes and critically analyze the major changes underway in the sector. In the first part, after a brief description of the main actors at international level, we analyze the performance of the sector at a national level and we propose new scenarios determined by the recent introduction of the cmo reform. In the second part of the work trade flows for the main categories are analyzed in detail. The most important statistical sources, represented by fao and eurostat databases, allow us to assess the performance of our country over more than a decade. In addition to market trends, the trade balances and market shares are describe as well. Concerning the evolution of the sector, it is evident that compared to a stable domestic demand for tomato derivatives, the supply seems strongly affected by climatic conditions and by a certain difficulty in planning the production levels of raw material, these imbalances turn in the repeated crises that characterized the decade just ended, and have accelerated the process of refurbishment and especially the processing industry. This process will continue in coming years and will likely be driven by the effects of fruit and vegetable cmo reform. The analysis of foreign trade flows showed significant increases in domestic demand for fresh tomatoes to the eu and all types of products. The growth in domestic consumption has been particularly important for more technological advanced products such as sauces that in the last eight years have doubled the market. For this product category the most important competitor is the Netherlands that in the future may rely on an advantageous position with further comparative advantages. It is also evident that even in relation to fresh tomatoes Holland has the largest market share and so for Italy it is very important to elaborate a specific policy of diversification both in production and trade to avoid the risk of being marginalized on a market that is destined to undergo new changes in the light of the new regulatory framework. The scenario that emerges from the analysis of market shares describes a situation little or nothing comforting for our Country. This scenario is characterized by significant losses in percentage for all Countries and all considered categories. This is further aggravated by the fact that this performance is associated with a simultaneous consumption growth and an increasing international demand. It is also widely believed that in the near future there will be a drop in the price of processing tomatoes as a result of the elimination of subsidies for processing. This price reduction is expected in Italy more consistent than in other competing countries. This can result in reduced product demand by the industries that will eventually affect the area under tomato.