Roberto Furesi

Contractual Choice and Food Safety Strategy: Some Empirical Findings in Italian Poultry Sector

Abstract Analysis of contract choice is related here to the contracting nature of hybrid governance structures. First, recent research results on the organization of food safety supply are summarized and some remarks about contracting are proposed, providing the theoretical premises of the study. The approach of empirical analysis is concerned with transactions between farmers and processors in Italian poultry supply chains. The contract arrangement is classified as a hybrid structure, and growers’ preferences regarding contract terms are analysed by a choice experiment. Final remarks take into account the role of contract attributes in ensuring the degree of food safety, and give a tentative organizational explanation of the degree of safety supplied. Potential lines of future research are mentioned.

Sustainability of Dairy Sheep Production in Pasture Lands: A Case Study Approach to Integrate Economic and Environmental Perspectives

Sheep farming plays a large role in some specific economies, maintains strong links with natural resources, and produces multiple functions in rural areas. Its sustainability has to deal with different purposes. This study aims to assess economic and environmental sustainability of extensive dairy sheep farming in Sardinia. A case study approach was adopted in order to directly collect farm data and to integrate assessments on more dimensions of sustainability. We found that farm is not profitable without support of public financial aids. Furthermore, production of nitrogen is under the normative limit and greenhouses gas emission intensity, allocated with economic criteria, was equal to 2,3 and 16,1 kg of CO2eq emitted per kg of produced milk and meat, respectively. Empirical evidences suggest the need to better take into account environmental externalities and into the farmer’s choices. A public financial support system expressively based on minimizing environmental externalities might force farmers to incentive eco-sustainable production and guarantee them profitability.