During the last few years, the definition of sustainability and the translation of its general principles into practical and operative tasks have come into the foreground of scientific research and political agendas throughout the world. The understanding and the evaluation of the environmental, social and economic performances of complex agricultural food systems is probably the real challenge, and the design of more sustainable alternatives has been recognized as necessary for a correct territorial management. This study’s primary goal is the proposition of an interpretive structure “Sustainable Agri-Food Evaluation Methodology” (SAEMETH), able to guide the evaluation of the sustainability of the various organizational forms of the small-scale agri-food supply chain. As a case study, the methodology was applied to 10 small-scale agri-food systems. The application of SAEMETH, as a monitoring tool based on qualitative indicators that are user-friendly and strongly communicative, demonstrates that it is possible to carry out sustainability evaluations of the small-scale agri-food systems through a long-term approach that is participatory, interdisciplinary and multi-institutional and that integrates a solid theoretical base with an operative framework tested in the field. SAEMETH can, in this way, generate a cyclical process that increases the probability of success in the design of sustainable alternatives and the implementation of projects and initiatives at the local/regional scale.

While the Circular Economy is widely championed by academics, companies, and politicians, its implementation is still an open issue. Its applications reveal a split between theory and practice. This break makes it difficult to pinpoint how coherent practices are with the original concept and how to understand the purpose of the actions and assess the results’ effectiveness. This is immediate when we consider the complexity of food. This paper aims to provide further insight on the applications and spill over of the circular economy into the food system. Through the systemic analysis of case histories, the research evaluates the effects of 40 circular economy actions in their relationship with Sustainable Development Goals, by assessing how they have been able to integrate and balance the economic, social, and environmentally sustainable development’s dimensions into the food system. What emerges is that food can be a fertile ground for the implementation of a circular economy’s principle and could also provide support in understanding its evolution and adjusting its objectives accordingly. Food is strategic and could be a perfect field for testing a new approach to raw material and waste and for the development of a new context of inquiry, defined as “Circular Economy for Food”.

The study aims to propose a systematic and innovative model of purchase intention development that integrates Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) with its main extensions and clarifies the logical status of the variables involved and the structure of the causal path. The TPB is the most useful predictive model of purchase intentions, which can be viewed as the product of various psychological determinants. Previous works have proposed extensions of the TPB model to selectively include knowledge, trust or social norms, but an integrated proposal has not yet been formulated. Based on a survey in four European countries (Germany, Italy, Poland and the UK; N = 1,035), this study tests the process of organic vegetable purchase intention development using a structural equation model (SEM). This comprises part of the measurement of latent variables and part of the analysis of dependency relationships (MLR estimation method). The results show that purchase intention for organic vegetables is primarily dependent on positive moral attitude (PoMA) towards such consumption. The inclusion of PoMA reduces the effect of attitude toward buying organic vegetables, but the effects of social norms, past behaviour and perceived behavioural control remain significant. This study proposes an innovative model to explain purchase intention for organic vegetables that incorporates the key current extensions of the TPB model (knowledge, trust and PoMA) into an integrated causal pathway. Understanding the relationships between the antecedents of purchase intention provides relevant information on “what” needs to be improved and “where” interventions are needed to steer consumers towards organic food.

School gardens are, increasingly, an integral part of projects aiming to promote nutritional education and environmental sustainability in many countries throughout the world. In the late 1950s, FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) and UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund) had already developed projects to improve the dietary intake and behavior through school and community gardens. However, notwithstanding decades of experience, real proof of how these programs contribute to improving sustainability has not been well-documented, and reported findings have mostly been anecdotal. Therefore, it is important to begin a process of collecting and monitoring data to quantify the results and possibly improve their efficiency. This study’s primary goal is to propose an interpretive structure—the “Sustainable Agri-Food Evaluation Methodology-Garden” (SAEMETH-G), that is able to quantifiably guide the sustainability evaluation of various school garden organizational forms. As a case study, the methodology was applied to 15 school gardens located in three regions of Kenya, Africa. This application of SAEMETH-G as an assessment tool based on user-friendly indicators demonstrates that it is possible to carry out sustainability evaluations of school gardens through a participatory and interdisciplinary approach. Thus, the hypothesis that the original SAEMETH operative framework could be tested in gardens has also been confirmed. SAEMETH-G is a promising tool that has the potential to help us understand school gardens’ sustainability better and to use that knowledge in their further development all over the world.

Environmental and Social Sustainability in the Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Supply Chain: A Competitiveness’ Asset | InTechOpen, Published on: 2016-06-30. Authors: Nadia Tecco, Nicole Giuggioli, Vincenzo Girgenti, et