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Today, the transition to a more sustainable model of the agro-food system is increasingly impellent, requiring all actors’ commitment. In particular, small and medium agro-food business (SMABs) play a decisive and central role in the food and economies of national and underdeveloped areas. Our study aims to identify, through desk research, the level of commitment and communication to the sustainability of SMABs operating in southern Italy. In this study, we followed the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) approach to implementing such a transition, using their principles as a diagnostic tool to interpret business operations. The data were analysed using two approaches: a regime analysis to assess which FAO principles are commonly followed to make the above transition possible, and an extension of the Abraham and Pingali (2020) framework to describe the commitment of SMABs to the Agenda 2030 goals with respect to the behaviour of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). We found that the SMABs’ behaviours are more oriented towards some FAO principles: those that explain their commitment to improving natural resources and livelihoods, fostering inclusive economic growth, and achieving sustainable development goal 7 of Agenda 2030 than towards others. The contribution of our study lies in providing detailed insights into sustainable actions taken by SMABs while testing the FAO’s principles as a new model to evaluate business operations.
Lucia Briamonte; Raffaella Pergamo; Brunella Arru; Roberto Furesi; Pietro Pulina; Fabio Madau. Sustainability Goals and Firm Behaviours: A Multi-Criteria Approach on Italian Agro-Food Sector. Sustainability 2021, 13, 5589 .
AMA StyleLucia Briamonte, Raffaella Pergamo, Brunella Arru, Roberto Furesi, Pietro Pulina, Fabio Madau. Sustainability Goals and Firm Behaviours: A Multi-Criteria Approach on Italian Agro-Food Sector. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (10):5589.
Chicago/Turabian StyleLucia Briamonte; Raffaella Pergamo; Brunella Arru; Roberto Furesi; Pietro Pulina; Fabio Madau. 2021. "Sustainability Goals and Firm Behaviours: A Multi-Criteria Approach on Italian Agro-Food Sector." Sustainability 13, no. 10: 5589.
The studies focused on the use of insects have outlined numerous reasons for using insects as food and feed as an important method to increase food opportunities for consumers. Insects have been emphasized as a food source with a low environmental impact due to the limited requirement for arable land and water, low ecological cost, and high-quality protein provision. In Europe and Western countries, insect farming is a growing business in which, however, some critical economic aspects must be recognized. The sector needs to be adequately promoted to rationally exploit the huge amount of potential. As such, the aim of this study was to analyze the recent research on economic aspects related to insect farming for feed and food production with the purpose of providing evidence of the critical economic points in this emerging sector. The focus was mainly oriented to understanding how insect farming can foster virtuous circular economic processes, specifically considering economic aspects on the basis of the limited literature currently available and the circular economic principles. A circular business model approach was proposed to address the entire insect-based feed and food supply chain from a circular economic perspective. In our opinion, the findings underline some economic research questions that need to be addressed in the near future, and the conceptual approach can be individualized to help increase cost- and eco-effectiveness from a circular economic perspective.
Fabio A. Madau; Brunella Arru; Roberto Furesi; Pietro Pulina. Insect Farming for Feed and Food Production from a Circular Business Model Perspective. Sustainability 2020, 12, 5418 .
AMA StyleFabio A. Madau, Brunella Arru, Roberto Furesi, Pietro Pulina. Insect Farming for Feed and Food Production from a Circular Business Model Perspective. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (13):5418.
Chicago/Turabian StyleFabio A. Madau; Brunella Arru; Roberto Furesi; Pietro Pulina. 2020. "Insect Farming for Feed and Food Production from a Circular Business Model Perspective." Sustainability 12, no. 13: 5418.
The economic and environmental sustainability of aquaculture depends significantly on the nature and quality of the fish feed used. One of the main criticisms of aquaculture is the need to use significant amounts of fish meal, and other marine protein sources, in such feed. Unfortunately, the availability of the oceanic resources, typically used to produce fish feed, cannot be utilized indefinitely to cover the worldwide feed demand caused by ever-increasing aquaculture production. In light of these considerations, this study estimates how aquaculture farm economic outcomes can change by introducing insect meal into the diet of cultivated fish. Several possible economic effects are simulated, based on various scenarios, with different percentages of insect flour in the feed and varying meal prices using a case study of a specialized off-shore sea bass farm in Italy. The findings indicate that the introduction of insect meal—composed of Tenebrio molitor—would increase feeding costs due to the high market prices of this flour and its less convenient feed conversion ratio than that of fish meal. Therefore, the expected environmental benefits of using this highly promising insect meal in fish feed do not align with the current economic interests of the aquaculture industry. To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate this theme, and it must be noted that our findings cannot be generalized widely because a specific case study was used. Nevertheless, our findings suggest that efforts should be made—at least at the farm level—to find profitable ways to encourage the introduction of this attractive alternative to guarantee both economic and environmental sustainability in the near future.
Brunella Arru; Roberto Furesi; Laura Gasco; Fabio Madau; Pietro Pulina. The Introduction of Insect Meal into Fish Diet: The First Economic Analysis on European Sea Bass Farming. Sustainability 2019, 11, 1697 .
AMA StyleBrunella Arru, Roberto Furesi, Laura Gasco, Fabio Madau, Pietro Pulina. The Introduction of Insect Meal into Fish Diet: The First Economic Analysis on European Sea Bass Farming. Sustainability. 2019; 11 (6):1697.
Chicago/Turabian StyleBrunella Arru; Roberto Furesi; Laura Gasco; Fabio Madau; Pietro Pulina. 2019. "The Introduction of Insect Meal into Fish Diet: The First Economic Analysis on European Sea Bass Farming." Sustainability 11, no. 6: 1697.
Recreational functions are among the most important practices to improve farmers’ income and to promote sustainability in the rural territories. Two crucial issues are the ability to rationally allocate farm resources and the ability to efficiently produce different sorts of food and non-food goods. Possible cost savings due to the co-presence of different activities can generate positive effects in the creation of value by agritourist farmers. This paper aims to investigate technical efficiency related to agritourism and recreational functions in Sardinia. Based on a sample of 37 farms and using a data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach, we aim to estimate the technical efficiency of double attitude processes, such as those that characterise agritourism practices. Our findings suggest that efficiency can improve if technical inputs are adequately used; however, the scale appears to be close enough to optimal. Furthermore, we estimated that the margins for improving the efficiency are larger for recreational services and that technical factors contribute to efficiency with a different magnitude. Furthermore, we estimated whether agricultural and non-agricultural resources are efficiently allocated. To our knowledge, this is one of the first attempts in Europe at using an efficiency analysis in agritourism.
Brunella Arru; Roberto Furesi; Fabio A. Madau; Pietro Pulina. Recreational Services Provision and Farm Diversification: A Technical Efficiency Analysis on Italian Agritourism. Agriculture 2019, 9, 42 .
AMA StyleBrunella Arru, Roberto Furesi, Fabio A. Madau, Pietro Pulina. Recreational Services Provision and Farm Diversification: A Technical Efficiency Analysis on Italian Agritourism. Agriculture. 2019; 9 (2):42.
Chicago/Turabian StyleBrunella Arru; Roberto Furesi; Fabio A. Madau; Pietro Pulina. 2019. "Recreational Services Provision and Farm Diversification: A Technical Efficiency Analysis on Italian Agritourism." Agriculture 9, no. 2: 42.
Mediterranean fisheries are characterized by differentiated fishing systems implemented by companies of different sizes and types. On the other hand, small scale fishing is the most important characteristic when one tries to find the main differences with oceanic fisheries. Small-sized family fishing firms play an important role in several local communities and economies, where the globalization of the competitive arena is perceived as one of the worst threats to their survival. One of the organizational solutions adopted by small scale fishing firms in order to face the changing institutional as well as marketing environment is cooperation. Economic performances in fishery have been predominantly determined by adopting vessels as decision-making units. This means that a lack of information exists with reference to fishing companies or cooperatives. This study aims to estimate the economic performances of Sardinian fishing cooperatives by surveying a sample of 104 firms. The research has been carried by first assessing firms’ profitability by applying a balance sheet analysis; then, sector technical was estimated as well as scale efficiency. High technical and scale efficiency and substantial technological homogeneity between big and small cooperatives were found. Some policy implications deriving from these findings are discussed in the concluding remarks.
Fabio A. Madau; Roberto Furesi; Pietro Pulina. The technical efficiency in Sardinian fisheries cooperatives. Marine Policy 2018, 95, 111 -116.
AMA StyleFabio A. Madau, Roberto Furesi, Pietro Pulina. The technical efficiency in Sardinian fisheries cooperatives. Marine Policy. 2018; 95 ():111-116.
Chicago/Turabian StyleFabio A. Madau; Roberto Furesi; Pietro Pulina. 2018. "The technical efficiency in Sardinian fisheries cooperatives." Marine Policy 95, no. : 111-116.