Beyond the ecosystem benefits of diversification through wheat–pea intercropping, this review analyzes the barriers and levers to its adoption and diffusion. The present review shows that structuring the value chain around the products of this innovative cropping system faces a set of technical (i.e., varietal selection, phytosanitary issue control, crop management sequence, collection management, and storage), economic (i.e., cost, price, market opportunities, and contracting), and public policy (i.e., subsidies for ecosystem services provided by intercropping) obstacles that contribute to its slow adoption and dissemination in Europe. However, the value chain resulting from the wheat–pea intercropping system has levers to be exploited at all levels, particularly in terms of its competitive advantages, ecosystem benefits, and superior product quality. The results of this review help to identify priorities that actors of the value chain can address to better focus their efforts on significant problems and solutions that can accelerate the adoption and dissemination of this agroecological system.

Formal written land leasing contracts offer an alternative to land purchase for those farmers wishing to expand their land area and provide greater security relative to informal short-term rental agreements and are particularly important for beginning farmers with resources insufficient to purchase land. Formal land leasing contracts vary in terms of their duration, but there is limited understanding about the determinants of contract duration in developed countries. In this research, we use econometric techniques and transaction level data to explore the determinants of duration for agricultural land lease contracts for two regions in Ireland. Under the transaction cost economics approach, the research explores the role of legal status, price and non-price conditions in influencing the contract duration. Results indicate that the legal status of the tenant is a significant factor in influencing the duration. Provisions such as break clauses appear positively related to duration and confirm the theoretical expectation that long-term contracts create a demand for processes that enable adaptation over the course of long-term exchange.

This paper focuses on the barriers and levers to the adoption of Wheat–Pea intercropping systems. More precisely, we define a hierarchy of the main barriers and levers to adoption using the Relative Importance Index (RII) method. This method allows comparison of incentives, negative (brakes) and positive (levers), for adoption at two levels of the value chain, i.e., the farmer and the co-operative level. For this comparison, we conducted two surveys: one on 71 Belgian farmers and the other on 19 French co-operatives. Our results show that the barriers of high importance for the farmers are both internal and external, while the co-operatives consider only internal barriers. That is, the farmers mainly focus on external (market access and public subsidies) and internal (lack of technical advice and extension, as well as collection and storage problems) obstacles to evaluate the intercropping system. For the co-operatives, the most important barriers are related to the sorting and storage of the mixture (internal barriers). Regarding levers, farmers and co-operatives converge on the importance of almost the same external levers, e.g., building new value chains through contracts and labeling, specific extension services for farmers and logistical support for co-operatives.

Cette étude montre comment la perception de la qualité des produits laitiers par le consommateur peut influencer la structure de la filière laitière. L’étude est basée sur une enquête de 318 consommateurs de la région de Souk Ahras, située au nord-est de l’Algérie. Les auteurs mettent en évidence la relation entre, d’un côté, le comportement sélectif des consommateurs et la gestion de la qualité, de l’autre côté le maintien de certaines pratiques informelles encastrées dans la transformation artisanale et industrielle. La capacité relative des consommateurs à percevoir l’information sur les attributs de la qualité est à l’origine des controverses qui caractérisent leur rationalité d’achat. Le recours des uns ou des autres à la confiance et à la réputation pour réduire ces coûts de mesure suit aussi un schéma controversé.

By mobilizing the socio-technical approach to innovation and semi-directive survey of 31 stakeholders, this paper analyzes the value chains that ensure the valorization of apricot pit by-products and the dynamics of their actors. Beyond the technical knowledge on the recovery of apricot by-products and their potential uses, this paper shows a multitude of strategies but also challenges that are barriers to this innovative sector development. It also highlights some of the drivers that these value chains can rely on for their further development. The results of this work show real economic opportunities that are available to operators in these sectors depending on the nature of the by-product but also the market targeted by them. It also shows that the diffusion of these innovations must be better coordinated on the market. To do so, the socio-economic and environmental interests related to the valorization of apricot pit by-products must be highlighted.

Cette étude met en lumière l’impact de l’innovation sur l’orientation-marché et les performances d’une coopérative de valorisation des coproduits du figuier de barbarie en Algérie. Alors que la question des performances de l’entreprenariat collectif a été largement débattue, elle l’a été beaucoup moins pour des coopératives innovantes. Dans ce travail, nous mettons l’accent sur les performances de ce modèle d’entreprenariat fondé sur la réappropriation d’innovations techniques. Dans ce sens, notre analyse cherche à étendre la recherche empirique antérieure sur les performances des coopératives agricoles en introduisant l’orientation vers le marché et une évaluation plus globale des performances socioéconomiques des coopératives innovantes comme Nopaltec. Nos résultats portant sur les « autres » performances – rôle dans l’appropriation collective et la diffusion de l’innovation, structuration de la filière, fonctions socio-politique et territoriale de la coopérative – plaident pour une lecture élargie des performances des structures coopératives agricoles.