Riccardo Testa

Entrepreneurial strategies of Etna wine farms

Viticulture, as well as agriculture in general, performs an environmental and landscaping function and it encourages rural development through the creation of income and job opportunities in the areas where wine is produced. The wine sector, in fact, is of great social and economic importance within the Sicilian agriculture and food industry, because of the job opportunities it provides and due to Sicilian pedoclimatic peculiarities, variety of grape wines cultivars and production process. The present study aims at assessing the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises that cultivate wine grapes in the Etna area. In particular, it has been examined a sample of wine farms that produce Etna wine controlled designation of origin (DOC), a product with high value added, in order to assess their strategies adopted to compete in an increasingly wide and globalised market.

The Market Reorientation of Farms: The Case of Olive Growing in the Nebrodi Area

In addition to safeguarding the landscape, olive growing makes a unique contribution to protecting the environment and the agricultural ecosystem. Olive growing in mountainous and hilly areas is severely constrained by structural limitations. Rural tourism can be a potential strategy to increase the competitiveness of olive-growing activities. After an initial analysis of the relationship between landscape, tourism, and olive growing, this study focused on olive growing in the Nebrodi area. In particular, we examined two case studies of olive farms to analyze the related production costs and market positioning strategies.

LA FILIERA CORTA: UNA POSSIBILE STRATEGIA PER MIGLIORARE LA COMPETITIVITÀ DELL’AZIENDA AGRARIA

The paper aims to determine the possible competitive advantage for farms thatadopt a short supply-chain strategy. In particular, by carriying out an analysis of asample of fruit and vegetable farms, we wanted to find out how the business relatesto the market and the reasons that induced the entrepreneur to move into a shortsupply-chain set up. The study was prompted by the wish to determine, empirically,the economic benefits arising from the adoption of the short supply chain. In fact,there is a vast literature on the economic benefits produced by the short supply chainsuch as the demand stability due to customer loyalty and the ability to influencedirectly the price through the reduction of production costs, especially oftransportation and packaging ones. In addition, the farmer may obtain greaterremuneration of production factors, re-appropriating a portion of the value thatusually gets eaten up during the various stages of the supply chain system, thusbecoming price-maker (Saccomandi, 1999). In particular, we focused our analysis ondetermining the net income of the entrepreneur who decides to pursue a shortsupply-chain strategy by comparing it, using the same parameters, with farms wherethere is not a short supply chain. From this empirical analysis it emerges that theshort supply-chain cannot be the only way to sell farm products, as it absorbs only apart of production. Nevertheless, it enables the entrepreneur the recoup a greaterproportion of production costs.

Aspetti economici e commerciali dell’arancia di Ribera

The Sicily is the first region for orange cultivation in Italy. This sector, throughout the ages, has been characterized by a decrease of the invested areas and by a reduction of the fresh product’s demand; in the meantime, the competitiveness of the new producer countries is increased for a better commercial organization and for lower production costs. The aim of the paper is to improve the knowledge of orange cultivation in Ribera area, in the province of Agrigento (Sicily). It is carried out a microeconomic analysis on a sample of 20 farms to determine profitability of orange cultivation by means of various economic indicators (production costs, profits, net incomes). The business survey has regarded 30 plants, distinguished by the two principal variety of the area: Brasiliano and Naveline. The cropping techniques generally adopted in the farm sample are characterized by high manual labour inputs. This doesn’t depend by the variety, but it’s due to a low mechanization degree of the plants and to a different businessman management. Microeconomic analysis has showed similar average values of the production costs among the two variety. The profit average value, whereas, has resulted more elevated in the Naveline plants than Brasiliano ones, because of the high value of the Gross Saleable Product of Naveline oranges. The net incomes values, finally, are resulted higher in the direct management plants. With regard to commercial aspects, the most part of the farm product has been destined to the national market through some commercialization centres located in the Ribera area.

Growth and sustainability of agricultural systems: the case of Sicilian wine-growing farms

The Sicilian wine-growing sector is characterised by the presence on the one hand of many small enterprises that limit their activity to the first stage of the supply chain (field production) and on the other of few enterprises that adopt a strategy of total vertical integration, from the production to the sale of wine. The first group of enterprises operates in a competitive market and in many cases with marginal revenues that are lower than marginal costs, leading entrepreneurs to abandon the activity of grape production. The second group operates in an oligopolistic market and it is able to compete in an international market. Findings reveal that competitive advantage could be achieved lowering the production costs, so as to arrive on the market with a lower cost with respect to competitors. This strategy is particularly suitable for all those small Sicilian enterprises that operate in a competitive market and that limit their activity to the production phase.

PROFITABILITY OF SMALL LOQUAT FARMS IN SICILY

The northern Sicilian coastline, known for its favorable soil and climatic conditions, represents the main production area in Italy for loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.). Over the years, the absence of process innovation and appropriate marketing strategies caused a gradual decline of loquat cultivation. This study estimates the profitability of some representative Sicilian farms that grow loquat in the area of Trabia (Palermo Province), where this crop is important for the local economy. The results highlighted a productive scenario characterized by high production costs, where only a family farm that supplies much of its own labor can survive.