Food loss and waste have a negative environmental impact due to the water, land, energy and other natural resources used to produce the wasted food, along with post-consumption disposal costs. Reducing food waste will thus help improve sustainability and decrease the environmental impact of the food system. Using food waste for animal feed is of growing importance in terms of the policies targeted at tackling food waste but the current legal framework in the European Union (EU) strongly restricts the possibility of using food waste for this purpose. The aim of this work is to evaluate the feasibility of innovative measures for feed production in the EU and to identify the best strategies to implement them. First, a technical evaluation of a case study is presented, which is a process developed in the United States for urban food waste transformation into animal feed. Second, there is an analysis of the potential application of this process in the European Union within the current legal framework. The results reveal that the feed product derived from food waste is compliant with EU safety requirements and is nutritionally valuable. This work also suggests that the implementation of this kind of process in the European Union has great potential, provided that food surplus is recovered and treated before it turns into waste and that the different types of food surplus identified are used as feed for the right animal type in accordance with European legislation (i.e., livestock, aquarium fish, pets). On these terms, pet food can be the most concrete strategy for using food waste within the European context. In general, the implementation of feed-from-food measures to reduce food waste in Europe is already possible and does not need to wait for further policy interventions.

Sustainable development is more often considered by media, public opinion, and politicians to be the main goal our society should attempt to pursue in the coming years. To this aim, academic researchers have made sustainability one of the main objects of their studies. This work focuses on environmental sustainability and presents a brief overview of how it is taken into consideration in the agricultural economics field by considering this topic from different perspectives and thus highlighting how this field is gradually broadening its scope to include sustainable development objectives. Our analysis shows that the path towards sustainable development is strongly correlated to the protection of the environment. Therefore, agricultural policies aimed at protecting and preserving the environment, and, more in general, innovation along the agri-food chain, together with consumer attention towards environmental issues, can play an important role in achieving this objective.

The prosperity of Po River Valley’s quality agri-food system depends on the efficiency of its field crops, which are recently facing a crisis evidenced by cultivated areas decreasing and yields stagnating. Several factors, including EU policies and climate variability, impose an improvement in the use of production factors and adapted business models: literature shows how digitalization and Agriculture 4.0 can contribute to addressing these challenges. This paper aims to explore drivers and barriers in the adoption of digitalization among Po River Valley field crop farms, in a dynamic view. Using a case study approach to guarantee adequate consideration of context and conditions, three farms were studied. As one of the main outcomes, several drivers (digital skills, data management practices, and interoperability) that should be at the heart of policies were identified as demands to farmers in exchange for financial contributions, or as “innovation space” offered by EU institutions. Policies should not only focus on supporting mechanical/digital equipment acquisition but also on promoting the evolution of farmers’ human capital. The framework developed paves the way for future research on the degree of farm digitalization in the same/similar territorial contexts: identified drivers of digital transition can be used as a basis for survey questionnaires, as well as tested in their validity.

Background: Urban food production in the developed world has recently been facing the challenge of feeding the world’s cities adequately and on a sustainable basis, and innovative models of food production can help this transition. Nevertheless, this field of research largely focuses on primary food production—so-called urban farming—while the subsequent steps of the food chain have scarcely been investigated. In this context, this study aimed to provide a preliminary evaluation of urban food processing, taking mozzarella cheese production in the city of Milan as a case study. Methods: Five urban farmers participated in a direct survey aiming at identifying how sustainable this specific production chain can be considered. Results: Results demonstrated that the concept of urban food production is really valorized through measures able to enhance the global sustainability of the food production process only in some of the dairy micro- enterprises and that the economic dimension must be considered the variable most critically involved in hampering the global sustainability of this specific food chain. Conclusions: This research suggests the need to disseminate a global governance of urban supply chains and to support local activities, which represent a sensitive and strategic sector.

Italy, with a cultivated area of 218,000 ha, is a European leader of rice production. In particular Lombardy region accounts for 40% of total rice cultivation and the case study in object accounts for 3.2% of Lombardy total rice area (2773 ha). Starting from 2012, through a regional project titled Buono, Sano e Vicino (good, healthy and close), Riso e Rane rural district supported local rice farmers in developing innovation in rice production and promoting an alternative supply chain to increase farmers bargaining power and promote new market strategies. More specifically, the innovation introduced is a new biotech method for variety certification, named DNA controllato (DNA tested). In the first step of the project, the attention was focused on an Italian traditional variety of rice: Carnaroli rice. Thanks to a commercial agreement with one of the most important large retailers in Lombardy, the Riso e Rane rice is offered for sale both in the traditional and wholegrain version. In this context, this work aims to evaluate the determinants of consumer’s quality perception of this product, through a preference study of the commercial rice package. Preliminary results reveal that consumers perceive information about origin, local food-system and tradition more easily than DNA tested certification. In conclusion, this work contributes to evaluate the role of bio economy applications to the food sector and offers new insights for the debate about the relationships between tradition and innovation.