scholarly journals PUBLIC FOOD PROCUREMENT – THE SITUATION IN LATVIA

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inita KRIVAŠONOKA ◽  
Andra ZVIRBULE
Keyword(s):  
Local Food ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Food Products ◽  
Income Source ◽  
Environmental Criteria ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Food Procurement ◽  
Other Information ◽  
Local Farmers

One of the most important medium-term tasks in Latvia is the promotion of production and consumption of local food through implementing measures aimed at increasing the market share of food products produced in Latvia in public procurement and consumption. The research aim is to examine the situation of public food procurement in Latvia and assess the changes of local products share in public food procurement. In Latvia, at the end of 2014, in response to Russia's embargo on the Latvian-produced food products and to promote local food consumption in the country was accepted new Regulations. These Regulations prescribe the requirements for public procurement using environmental criteria, and their application, as well as the applicable tender selection criteria for the food supply and catering contracts. This contributed an increase of the quantity of purchases where ZPP criteria were used, thereby also increased the share of local production. The purchase of food from local farmers positively affects local entrepreneurship, while providing a significant income source for the local farmers; in this way, the viability of many small local agricultural holdings is maintained. Research methods used: monographic, descriptive, analysis, synthesis, statistical analysis. The present research was performed based on the statistical data, research papers and other information sources.

OPPORTUNITIES AND BARRIERS FOR LOCAL ENTREPRENEURS TO PARTICIPATE IN PUBLIC FOOD PROCUREMENT IN REZEKNE MUNICIPALITY

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 526-536
Author(s):  
Anda Zvaigzne ◽  
Daina Znotiņa ◽  
Inta Kotāne
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Local Food ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Pilot Survey ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Food Procurement ◽  
Green Public Procurement

In recent years both in the world and in Latvia, food consumption as close to the production site as possible or local food has been increasingly discussed among scientists and the general public. According to a number of authors, the demand for local products increases, and localness is one the most latest trends in the global food market. Local food systems, in which the production, processing, sale and consumption of food products occurs within relatively small distances, make a significant positive effect on the local economy.The paper is based on the implementation results for the research grant "Opportunities for the Green Public Procurement of Food by Municipal Institutions in Rezekne Municipality”. The research aim is to identify the opinions of local entrepreneurs on their opportunities for and barriers to participating in public food procurement in Rezekne municipality.Research methods used: monographic, descriptive, analysis, synthesis, statistical (data grouping, cross-table analysis, averages) and a sociological research method – a pilot survey of local food production, processing and sale enterprises. The pilot survey of entrepreneurs showed that the enterprises which rated their readiness to participate in municipal public procurement tenders as very low and low justified this fact by their inability to supply the required quantity and assortment of products throughout the whole period specified, the lack of knowledge of green public procurement and the short period for paperwork, which could be classified as the lack of motivation for their participation in GPP.The survey questionnaires included a question aiming to identify the enterprises’ ratings of the key barriers to participating in public food procurement. The respondents rated the following barriers at five or as very significant: too low purchase prices on products, an insufficiently broad assortment of the products, an inability to supply the necessary quantity of the products, an inability to ensure regular deliveries of the products and a too long distance to deliver the products. 

scholarly journals LOCAL FOOD PROCUREMENT TENDENCIES IN LATVIA

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 118
Author(s):  
Inita Krivašonoka
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Food ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Agricultural Producers ◽  
Food Purchases ◽  
Total Food ◽  
Food Procurement ◽  
Analysis And Synthesis ◽  
Local Supply ◽  
The One

The OECD has emphasized that regions need to boost their growth by placing local resources and means in circulation in order to benefit from their competitive advantages. It encourages the search and analysis of those regional key factors that are driving development in the regions. Local authorities can boost their region with the use of territorial capital and the promotion of entrepreneurship. One of the ways how to do this is to buy food from local producers. Giving preference to local suppliers, even if it means spending a little more, can actually benefit a region’s finances. When local governments spend their money on locally owned firms, those firms in turn rely on and generate local supply chains, creating an “economic multiplier” effect. Each additional dollar that circulates locally boosts local economic activity, employment and, ultimately, tax revenue. In Latvia, since 2014, attention has been focused on increasing the consumption of local food. Improvements in regulatory enactments have been made, which stipulate that green public procurement criteria should be used in food procurement, where one of the criteria, the supply distance, directly contributes to this aim by giving preference to the local producers. The research aim is to analyze the data of local government food procurements carried out in Latvia from 2010 to 2018 and to evaluate the share of local suppliers in these procurements. The food procurement winners were divided into four groups: agricultural producers, food processing companies, wholesale companies and retail companies. The study evaluates how each group's share in total food purchases varies over the years, and how procurement volumes vary depending on the winner's belonging to the one of the groups previously defined. Such an analysis shows the proportion of local producers in procurement, but does not fully reflect on the volume of local production, as it is not possible to obtain data on the share of production which producer purchased from others to provide the necessary volumes of food, and there is no data on the origin of products supplied by wholesalers. The following research methods were employed to carry out the present research: analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, the monographic method, statistical analysis and the graphic method.

Understanding regional variation in the use of local food in public catering

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanna Kujala ◽  
Outi Hakala ◽  
Leena Viitaharju
Keyword(s):  
Computable General Equilibrium ◽  
Regional Variation ◽  
Regional Differences ◽  
Local Food ◽  
Qualitative Comparative Analysis ◽  
Food Products ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Food Procurement ◽  
Public Catering ◽  
Food Share

PurposeThe main aim of this study is to identify the factors that can affect regional differences in the procurement of local food in public catering. Understanding how some regions procure more local food products than others could help promote the use of local food in public catering. Regions with a lower share of local food can learn from regions that have a higher local food share.Design/methodology/approachThe studied phenomenon is complex; therefore, we used several approaches to identify the share of local food procurement and the reasons behind the regional differences. The study gathered survey data and used fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), a computable general equilibrium model and several data sources.FindingsThe share of local food within the total food procurement varies markedly between regions. The highest local food shares can be linked to a combination of three factors: sufficient and suitable supply, adequate organisational conditions and a political atmosphere that encourages the use of local food. In addition to limited political incentives, poor supply or inadequate organisational conditions effectively characterise why some regions use very few local food products. Hence, a move towards using more local food in public catering requires political decision makers, food producers and procurement personnel to demonstrate a common will and take cohesive action.Originality/valueBy examining regional variation, the results of this study offer a new perspective on the use of local food in public catering.

IDENTIFICATION AND PROJECTION OF THE QUANTITY OF FOOD TO BE SUPPLIED TO MUNICIPAL INSTITUTION STUDENTS/ CUSTOMERS IN REZEKNE MUNICIPALITY

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 516-525
Author(s):  
Anda Zvaigzne ◽  
Inta Kotāne ◽  
Aļona Klodāne ◽  
Andrejs Jackaničs
Keyword(s):  
Local Food ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Local Area ◽  
Small Enterprises ◽  
Food Research ◽  
Local Product ◽  
Green Public Procurement ◽  
Food Market ◽  
Product Sales

Regardless of food market globalisation, in recent years a topical matter has been food consumption as close to the production site as possible or local food. Research studies conducted in the world and in Latvia too show that the introduction of green public procurement contributes to the development of a local area and directly promotes and ensures increases in local product sales, thereby stimulating the purchase of local food to supply customers and students of municipal institutions with food. The authors believe that a timely examination of the situation and a projection of the required amount of food for customers/students of municipal institutions are essential prerequisites for local enterprises in Rezekne municipality to plan and develop their businesses. The paper is based on the implementation results of the research grant "Opportunities for the Green Public Procurement of Food by Municipal Institutions in Rezekne Municipality”. The research aim is to identify and project the quantity of food to be supplied to municipal institution customers/students in Rezekne municipality. The research results indicate that the demand for food to be supplied through public procurement by Rezekne municipality municipal institutions might remain the same in the nearest future. Holding public food procurement tenders in future, the local authorities of Rezekne municipality have to split any large amount of procured food into smaller ones, thus giving an opportunity for local small enterprises to participate in the tenders. Research methods used: monographic, descriptive, analysis, synthesis, data grouping, statistical analysis and a sociological method – a survey of municipality/parish administration representatives.

scholarly journals DIRECT SALE AS ONE OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL FORMS OF LOCAL FOOD SYSTEMS. THE SPATIAL CONCENTRATION OF DIRECT SALE ENTITIES IN POLAND

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ola Bareja-Wawryszuk ◽  
Tomasz Pajewski
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Patterns ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Local Food ◽  
Food Products ◽  
Local Food Systems ◽  
Spatial Concentration ◽  
Food Sector ◽  
Direct Selling ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Clustering Patterns

Direct selling is one of the most common local activities in the agri-food sector. Contemporary trends in the production and consumption of food indicate a duality of food systems, in which the concept of industrialization of the agri-food sector is simultaneously developing together with a concept of local food systems. In this article, it was noticed that the direct sale of agri-food products is in a line with the contemporary trends in the agri-food sector, and that it is important to analyze its spatial patterns. Taking into account the spatial concentration of direct selling entities, it has been proved that their distribution is random and does not show clustering patterns.

Sustainability Theory: A Review of Key Ideas for Sustainability and green procurement context

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-135
Author(s):  
Inese Pelsa ◽  
Inese Pelsa ◽  
Signa Balina
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Environmental Criteria ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Environment And Development ◽  
Sustainability Theory

Sustainability and sustainable development have become important concepts and goals across science and society. Sustainability, connected to desirable long-term conditions, is an inherently applied in public sector, public procurements. Every year the European Union (EU) Member States collectively spend around 14% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on public procurement. In Latvia, public procurement accounts for 17% of GDP. The review of the new public procurement directives and their transposition process in Latvia plans to show new opportunities for green public procurement (GPP) application: the contracting authority will be able to reject, for example, an abnormally low bid, include environmental management system requirements in the selection criteria, use life cycle costing criteria, etc. GPP is the systematic integration of environmental criteria into all activities related to the procurement of goods or services, from the identification of needs, the development of appropriate specifications and evaluation procedures, to the monitoring of the results achieved. The aim of the work is to analyse sustainability theory and explore the application of GPP to improve the quality of GPP through sustainability. With a view to increasing sustainable consumption over the last 25 years, several initiatives have been developed. The United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development developed the Concept of Sustainable Development "Our Common Future (1987)", that was widely used in the context of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Sustainable development concept was defined at the international event in 1995 in Oslo "use of goods and services that respond to basic needs and bring a better quality of life, while minimizing the use of natural resources, toxic materials and emissions of waste and pollutants over the life cycle, so as not to jeopardize the needs of future generations" (Giulio, Fischer, et al., 2014). The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) made "green growth" its 2011 slogan (Lorek, Spangenberg, 2014). The green economy became a pillar of major European and international strategies: most notably in the Europe 2020 strategy adopted in 2010 by the EU to drive sustainable growth, and in the Rio+20 outcome. The incentive to use GPP is based on the fact that in many countries public sector spending amounts to a significant part of the economy, and that this purchasing power can be used to influence production and consumption to achieve desired reductions on environmental impact (Lundberg, S., Marklund, P.O., Strömbäck, E., Sundstrom, D., 2015). When public authorities go green, they make an invaluable contribution to environmental protection and sustainable development, setting a trend that often convinces other to follow suit (Day, 2005). The practice amounts to significant expenditure, excluding utilities and defence, across Europe, comprising 13% of European GDP in 2015 (Commission, 2016). In the last decade, the use of environmental criteria in public tenders has been increasing defusing (Testa, F., Iraldo, F., Frey, M., Daddi, T., 2016). The implementation of GPP is covering new sector in recent years, identifying new practices (Cheng, W., Apolloni, A., D'Amato, A., Zhu, Q., 2018). The challenges that the European municipalities face on a path towards sustainability were outlined, along with the undertaking of sustainable procurement and the active promoton of sustainable production and consumption, particularly, eco- labelled, organic, ethical and fair-trade products (Belgica, P.B., Jose, B.C.M., 2016). Keywords: sustainability, green procurement, sustainable theory

scholarly journals Sensory Descriptor Analysis of Whisky Lexicons through the Use of Deep Learning

Foods ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 1633
Author(s):  
Chreston Miller ◽  
Leah Hamilton ◽  
Jacob Lahne
Keyword(s):  
Deep Learning ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Food Products ◽  
Training Dataset ◽  
Test Accuracy ◽  
Language Structure ◽  
Deep Learning Model ◽  
Descriptor Analysis ◽  
Descriptive Language

This paper is concerned with extracting relevant terms from a text corpus on whisk(e)y. “Relevant” terms are usually contextually defined in their domain of use. Arguably, every domain has a specialized vocabulary used for describing things. For example, the field of Sensory Science, a sub-field of Food Science, investigates human responses to food products and differentiates “descriptive” terms for flavors from “ordinary”, non-descriptive language. Within the field, descriptors are generated through Descriptive Analysis, a method wherein a human panel of experts tastes multiple food products and defines descriptors. This process is both time-consuming and expensive. However, one could leverage existing data to identify and build a flavor language automatically. For example, there are thousands of professional and semi-professional reviews of whisk(e)y published on the internet, providing abundant descriptors interspersed with non-descriptive language. The aim, then, is to be able to automatically identify descriptive terms in unstructured reviews for later use in product flavor characterization. We created two systems to perform this task. The first is an interactive visual tool that can be used to tag examples of descriptive terms from thousands of whisky reviews. This creates a training dataset that we use to perform transfer learning using GloVe word embeddings and a Long Short-Term Memory deep learning model architecture. The result is a model that can accurately identify descriptors within a corpus of whisky review texts with a train/test accuracy of 99% and precision, recall, and F1-scores of 0.99. We tested for overfitting by comparing the training and validation loss for divergence. Our results show that the language structure for descriptive terms can be programmatically learned.

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