Development of an Integrated Methodology for the Management and Assessment of the Impact of Agricultural Policies at a Territorial Level

Author(s):  
Guido Sali ◽  
Claudia Bulgheroni

As a case study, the methodology analyses the impact of the CAP, together with water and nitrogen policies, on the agricultural system of the Lombardy irrigated lowland (Northern Italy). Results show that the introduction of the single payment makes farmers’ more influenced by market trends. Environmental constraints seem to have a larger impact than changes in prices: irrigation constraints stimulate the land allocation to extensive crops, while nitrogen constraints are very sensitive to the number of livestock. The case study illustrates that the methodology proposed can provide a set of scenarios that closely account for the peculiarities of local agricultural systems within a target area. The resulting construction of a geo-referred database is also a useful tool to gather in-depth knowledge of the area.

Agronomy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 799 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renata Kazimierczak ◽  
Dominika Średnicka-Tober ◽  
Ewelina Hallmann ◽  
Klaudia Kopczyńska ◽  
Krystyna Zarzyńska

An organic agricultural system based on natural methods and means of production is an alternative to intensive agriculture. The available research suggests that organic crops, in comparison to the conventional ones, are richer in phenolics and other antioxidants while containing less undesirable pesticide residues and nitrates. The aim of this study was to determine concentrations of polyphenols, lutein, vitamin C, and nitrates in eight potato cultivars (Mazur, Justa, Lawenda, Lech, Tacja, Laskana, Otolia, Magnolia) grown organically and conventionally in a controlled field experiment in Poland. Significant differences between potato tubers of the tested cultivars coming from organic and conventional production were identified for the majority of parameters. Higher concentrations of nitrates and lutein were found in conventional compared to the organic tubers, while organic potatoes were, on average, richer in phenolic compounds. Among the tested cultivars, Magnolia, Otolia, and Laskara were richest in vitamin C and phenolics. Otolia and Laskara also accumulated the highest levels of nitrates. If further confirmed, these observations might be of importance for the producers and consumers, who increasingly search for foods from sustainable and well-controlled agricultural systems.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Salvati ◽  
Marco Zitti ◽  
Rosanna Di Bartolomei ◽  
Luigi Perini

A comprehensive diachronic analysis (1951–2010) of precipitation and temperature regimes has been carried out at the national and regional scale in Italy to investigate the impact of climate aridity on the agricultural system. Trends in climate aridity have been also analysed using UNEP aridity index which is the ratio between rainfall and potential evapotranspiration on a yearly basis. During the examined time period, and particularly in the most recent years, a gradual reduction in rainfall and growing temperatures have been observed which have further widened the gap between precipitation amounts and water demand in agriculture.


Author(s):  
Loredana Di Pietro ◽  
Eleonora Pantano

In recent years, the increase in social network users showed new platforms for collecting data on market trends and products acceptance, as well as for supporting the relationships with clients and adapting firms’ communication strategies. As a consequence, marketers are forced to consider these systems as tool for attracting, maintaining, and managing clients in order to increase the firms’ profitability. This chapter aims at advancing our knowledge on the use of social networks, such as Facebook, as tools for improving Consumer Relationship Management, by focusing on a case study. In particular, the chapter investigates the case study of the Calabrian scenario, characterized by small-sized and family-run firms, which use traditional forms of marketing tools. Due to the ease and fast access to Web-technology-based platforms, these firms are capable of operating in a global perspective, by understanding market trends and quickly adapting their strategies. Hence, the case study of Calabrian industries can represent an interesting case study for analyzing to what extent these technologies can become a new marketing mix element for improving firms’ profitability, for both SMEs and larger firms. In particular, the adoption of Facebook by managers allows advancing our knowledge on the impact of the social networks on their marketing strategies, and on the relationships with clients. The results outline useful issues for researches and practitioners. Furthermore, the research has an interdisciplinary value, involving Psychology, Marketing, and Organizational points of view.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gui-hua Xie ◽  
Lin-ping Wang ◽  
Asif Khan

This research offers a theoretical model to measure the impact of social media usage on social capital in the agricultural system of China. Furthermore, this research also investigates the relationship between agricultural policies related to entrepreneurship training and social media usage. A total of 589 questionnaires were distributed in the training courses of Fujian Agricultural Vocational Technology College, and, Fuzhou, Quanzhou, Jianning, and Liancheng counties and cities in Fujian during winter and summer vacations to target new vocational farmers. The results show that social use, hedonic use, and cognitive use of social media significantly impacted both bridging and bonding social capital. Furthermore, the results of the study suggest that entrepreneurs who have participated in the training have significantly higher levels of social use and cognitive use than those who have not been trained. The findings of this paper have implications for the digital transformation by agricultural entrepreneurs in recognition of the role of sustainable education and learning in entrepreneurial activities and the utilization of social and cognitive functions of social media to acquire and accumulate social capital and provide support for sustainable agriculture and rural development. Furthermore, the concepts of sustainability-driven agriculture in the digital transformational framework were also studied and it was indicated that transformed agriculture can effectively deal with the present challenges.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberta Perico ◽  
Paolo Frattini ◽  
Marco Celesti ◽  
Roberto Colombo ◽  
Giovanni Battista Crosta

<p>The recognized evidence of global warming demands assessment of the present and future water cycle in Europe and worldwide. Recently, evidence of modified hydrological regime in the Alps under climate change has been documented. In particular, several studies (e.g. Bocchiola, 2014; Soncini et al. 2016) indicated an increase in hydrological flows in autumn and winter in response to snowfall trading with intense rainfall, shorter snow cover during winter, as well as decreased flows during dry spring and summer and large shrinking of glaciers at high altitude. However, according to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, it is still necessary to deepen our understanding of the impact of climate change and land use on groundwater recharge and levels in the alpine catchment areas (Cochand et al. 2019).</p><p>For this purpose, a water balance of the last three hydrogeological years (March 2017 - March 2020) was carried out on the Valtellina catchment (northern Italy, Central Italian Alps). This basin is a perfect case study for its wide unconfined aquifer in the floodplain, which makes it highly sensitive to this type of change. Moreover, the management of the water resource is of considerable importance, being crucial in a wide range of sectors (tourism, irrigation, domestic use, energy and industry).</p><p>Due to the extensive and diversified study area (26,000 km<sup>2</sup>) and the low ground data density (7 meteorological stations, 4 surface-water monitoring points, and 9 groundwater monitoring points), the water balance terms were estimated by exploiting and combining Earth Observation data products with ground data, also taking into account the geological and geomorphological characteristics of the basin. In particular, the evapotranspiration and the snow cover were provided, by MOD16A2 (MODIS/Terra Evapotranspiration 8-Day Level-4 Global 500m SIN Grid) and MOD10A2 (MODIS/Terra Snow Cover 8-Day L3 Global 500m SIN Grid, Version 6) satellite data, respectively.</p><p>As a result, the groundwater storage of a wet hydrogeological year compared with the groundwater storage of a dry hydrogeological year allowed analysing the sensitivity of groundwater resources to climate change.</p><p> </p><p>Bocchiola, D.: Long term (1921–2011) Hydrological regime of Alpine catchments in Northern Italy. Advances in Water Resources, 70, 51-64, 2014.</p><p>Cochand, M., Christe, P., Ornstein, P., & Hunkeler, D.: Groundwater storage in high alpine catchments and its contribution to streamflow. Water Resources Research, 55(4), 2613-2630, 2019.</p><p>Soncini, A., Bocchiola, D., Confortola, G., Minora, U., Vuillermoz, E., Salerno, F., Viviano, G., Shrestha, D., Senese, A., Smiraglia, C. and Diolaiuti, G.A.: Future hydrological regimes and glacier cover in the Everest region: The case study of the upper Dudh Koshi basin. Science of the Total Environment, 565, 1084-1101, 2016.</p>


Author(s):  
Loredana Di Pietro ◽  
Eleonora Pantano

In recent years, the increase in social network users showed new platforms for collecting data on market trends and products acceptance, as well as for supporting the relationships with clients and adapting firms’ communication strategies. As a consequence, marketers are forced to consider these systems as tool for attracting, maintaining, and managing clients in order to increase the firms’ profitability. This chapter aims at advancing our knowledge on the use of social networks, such as Facebook, as tools for improving Consumer Relationship Management, by focusing on a case study. In particular, the chapter investigates the case study of the Calabrian scenario, characterized by small-sized and family-run firms, which use traditional forms of marketing tools. Due to the ease and fast access to Web-technology-based platforms, these firms are capable of operating in a global perspective, by understanding market trends and quickly adapting their strategies. Hence, the case study of Calabrian industries can represent an interesting case study for analyzing to what extent these technologies can become a new marketing mix element for improving firms’ profitability, for both SMEs and larger firms. In particular, the adoption of Facebook by managers allows advancing our knowledge on the impact of the social networks on their marketing strategies, and on the relationships with clients. The results outline useful issues for researches and practitioners. Furthermore, the research has an interdisciplinary value, involving Psychology, Marketing, and Organizational points of view.


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