Premessa; I prodotti agricoli di qualità

A ricardian analysis of the impact of climate change on permanent crops in a mediterranean region

This is the first study which explores the impact of climate change in Sicily, a small Mediterranean region of Southern Europe. According to research, Mediterranean area has shown large climate shifts in the last century and it has been identified as one of the most prominent “Hot-Spots” in future climate change projections. Since agriculture is an economic activity which strongly depends on climate setting and is particularly responsive to climate changes, it is important to understand how such changes may affect agricultural profitability in the Mediterranean region. The aim of the present study is to assess the expected impact of climate change on permanent crops cultivated in Sicilian r…

Is there sustainable entrepreneurship in the wine industry? Exploring Sicilian wineries participating in the SOStain program

Abstract Global climate change and the accelerating depletion of natural resources have contributed to increase discussions about the role of private enterprises in reversing negative environmental trends. Rather than focusing on profit maximization, policy makers and consumers pressure groups expect firms to meet a triple-bottom line of economic, environmental and social value creation. Hence sustainable entrepreneurship has received recently increasing interest as a phenomenon and a research topic. More recently, the concept of sustainability has been taken seriously in the Italian wine industry. The organizational challenge for entrepreneurship is to better integrate social and environme…

Sustainability initiatives and experiences in the Sicilian wine industry

The Italian wine sector shows an increasing interest towards sustainability issues. As a result, a wide number of programs and initiatives concerning environmental, social and economic sustainability has been developed in recent years. The aim of this manuscript is to describe the adaptation of the Sicilian wine sector to the new scenario of sustainable productions. To this purpose a direct survey of 5 Sicilian wineries involved in two different sustainability programs, SOStain and Magis, was carried out. The findings of the study reveal that the sustainability path undertaken by the wineries analyzed has led to management awareness that company activities can ensure social and human benefi…

IL MERIDIONE NEL FLOROVIVAISMO HA UN RUOLO DI PRIMO ATTORE

LA DELIMITAZIONE SECONDO I PRODOTTI DI QUALITA'

An exploratory study of sustainable rural tourism in Sicily

Recently, a significant interest was noticed around rural tourism, and particularly agritourism, which represents the main specific application. Rural tourism is a sustainable tourism, since the valorisation and conservation of environmental and territorial resources where economic activity is carried out are its main features. From the official statistical data, it appears clear that this activity, widely spread in Italy, may provide a significant financial support both to agricultural firms and to the whole sector of tourism, and thus allows redistributing touristic flows from coastal towards inland areas. The main aims of the paper are both to analyse the agritourist supply in Sicily com…

Sustainable tourisme in the rural areas of a southern Italian region

In the last few years, a significant interest has been observed about all the possible ways rural tourism is carried out, but especially concerning agritourism, which represents the main specific application. Rural tourism is a form of sustainable tourism since its pillar is constituted by both valorisation and conservation of the environmental and territorial situation where economic activity is carried out in tune with identity and culture of local communities. From the official statistical data, it brings out the fact that this economic activity, widely spread in the Italian territory, may provide a significant financial support both to agricultural firms and to the whole economic sector…

Aspetti produttivi, strutturali e commerciali del florovivaismo in Italia e nelle regioni del Mezzogiorno

IL GIACIMENTO ORIENTALE

The dynamics of Italian competitive positioning in the Mediterranean Bluefin tuna industry

The bluefin tuna or Thunnus thynnus is one of the widely recognised fish species since ancient times. Italy is the most important players in the international arena, however, the introduction of a system of total allowable catches and other measures established by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, has deeply changed the competitive positioning of Italy. The aim of this study is to perform an analysis of the comparative advantage of Italy by using the relative trade advantage index. Findings reveal that Italy has gained a competitive advantage in the Maltese market and has suffered a loss of the historical competitive advantage in the Japanese one. Results …

I VIVAI ORTICOLI E FRUTTICOLI

Il comparto vivaistico in Italia riveste un ruolo fondamentale per le diverse filiere dell’agroalimentare, collocandosi a monte del sistema produttivo, ne rappresenta un momento strategico; la qualità e le caratteristiche delle produzioni finali dipendono, in larga misura, da quelle possedute dal materiale di base utilizzato per la propagazione. In Sicilia, come nel resto del paese, l’attività vivaistica cerca di rispondere alle esigenze ed alle peculiarità della produzione agricola regionale, fondata principalmente sui comparti agrumicolo, olivicolo, ortofrutticolo e vitivinicolo. Tali comparti produttivi, tuttavia, non sono sempre sostenuti efficacemente dal vivaismo regionale che si pres…

Development and management of winemaking sustainability: an explorative survey in Sicily

Sustainability is reshaping the global wine industry. This paper provides a fact-finding contribution to the knowledge on how the Sicilian winegrowing sector is facing the challenge of the new scenario of sustainable productions. To reach this goal we carried out an explorative analysis of those Sicilian wineries involved in 2 important sustainability programs in the Italian wine sector, Magis and SOStain, aimed at improve the implementation of sustainable viticulture and wine production. The results of our research concerning 5 wineries in Sicily reveal that adopting sustainable productive methods has lead in general to good technical and financial results by improving their business effic…

Web site quality: an empirical study of the flower and plant firms in the Convergence objective Regions in Italy

In the last few years the growing diffusion of ICTs has been playing a crucial role in the developmental process of the economic, social and cultural fabric, by deeply affecting organization size of firms. The present research, which is set in the framework of “Business to Consumer” relationships, plans to analyze web marketing strategies adopted by flowers and ornamentals firms of Italian Convergence Regions. In particular, the study aims to analyze the websites factors that are able to draw the consumers’ attention and to influence their decisions, as well as the number of attributes which determine as a whole the “quality” of a website. The knowledge of these aspects is extremely useful …

Analisi della ruralità in una regione ad obiettivo Convergenza: il caso studio della Sicilia

Le moderne consommateur de vin: enquete dans la ville de Palerme

Negli ultimi anni, i cambiamenti dei valori individuali e della società hanno contribuito a modificare i modelli di consumo in generale; così, l’evoluzione del consumo e del comportamento del consumatore obbediscono ad un insieme di nuove realtà socioeconomiche. Il moderno consumatore assume sempre più comportamenti complessi; è più esigente, critico, selettivo, mira ad affermare la propria personalità e presta sempre maggiore attenzione alla qualità, alla genuinità, alla sanità, alla freschezza dei prodotti, oltre che alla varietà e diversificazione dei tempi, modi, luoghi e beni di consumo. Con lo sviluppo economico e sociale, cambia anche il ruolo dell’alimentazione divenendo più comples…

The recreational value of botanic garden events: A case study of the Zagara plant fair in Palermo, Italy

Botanic gardens are defined by their mission to maintain living plant collections for scientific research, conservation, display and education. This mission represents the potential ecosystem services that botanic gardens aim to produce, with display and education specifically regarding recreational ecosystem services (RES). Visitors must directly experience botanic gardens to transform these potential RES into real benefits, yet the public may not be interested in studying plants during their leisure time. Thus, botanic gardens turn to events to attract visitors. The objective of this study is to estimate the RES benefits created by a botanic garden event and profile the visitors that it b…

Aspetti economici del vivaismo agrumicolo ornamentale siciliano

La selta del biologico tra crisi economica e crisi alimentare: il caso del mercato di Palermo

Abstract A partire dalla seconda metà del 2008 la crisi finanziaria che ha colpito l’economia mondiale, ha determinato la stagnazione dei consumi alimentari e un cambiamento nel comportamento di acquisto dei consumatori. La preoccupazione per il futuro e la riduzione del reddito disponibile, che limita la capacità di acquisto delle famiglie, hanno determinato variazioni sulla spesa alimentare in relazione sia ai quantitativi che alla composizione del paniere. Alla preoccupazione per la crisi economica, si accompagna quella per la contaminazione dei cibi causata dal susseguirsi nel tempo di numerosi scandali alimentari (mucca pazza, influenza aviaria, melamina nel latte cinese, formaggi cont…

I COMPARTI PRODUTTIVI

Le imprese florovivaistiche in Sicilia: analisi di alcuni casi studio

LA COLTIVAZIONE DI PIANTE OFFICINALI IN ITALIA E IN SICILIA: PRODUZIONE E MERCATO

Methodological approaches to the valuation of forest ecosystem services: An overview of recent international research trends

Forests represent the most important source of ecosystem services (ES) on a global level both for the production of goods and for the provision of services and externalities, nevertheless scientific research in the economic field is lacking. Currently the number of documents relating to ES is 16 673, of which only 1 379 concern the forestry sector. The aim of this study is to provide an overview of scientific research trends in the field of economic evaluation of forest ecosystem services (FES). To this end, an on-line bibliographic survey was carried out on the main scientific search engines, which made it possible to quantify the works and at the same time to detect the main evaluation me…

CONCLUSIONI

Aspetti produttivi e commerciali del comparto floro-ornamentale in Sicilia

IL GIACIMENTO CENTRALE

Analysis of the interventions aimed to help land property reorganization in the rural territory of Sicily over the 2001-2009 period

Italian farming system has always been characterized by structural problems such as the small size of farms and the land property fragmentation. In order to remedy this pathological situation, ISMEA was commissioned to act as an intermediary between sellers and buyers and as an underwriter of compliance of the rules provided for by in force law. The objective of the present study is to analyse the effects of regulatory interventions aimed to help land property reorganization in Sicily - State Aid System no. 110/2001 and Community Tools - in order to reconstruct a general framework and to understand the actual extent and the respective effectiveness of these actions. On the whole 190 purchas…

I GIACIMENTI AGROALIMENTARI DELLA SICILIA

The competitive development of flowers and ornamentals firms through the use of web-marketing strategies: a survey in the convergence objective regions in Italy

The growth of ICT, and in particular the integrated use of internet within firm marketing strategies, has brought about deep changes at both sector and firm level. Firm processes have been drastically modified in their communication and promotional aspects. In particular, firmcustomer relationships are changing and therefore internet represents a preferential means, not only for transferring the firm image in the global communication, but above all in order to build a dialogue and a continuous interaction which contribute to consumers’ fidelization. This empirical research proposal is to be considered in the framework of “Business to Consumer” relationships and is addressed to the flowers a…

I VIVAI MISTI

The competitive development of flowers and ornamental firms through the use of web-marketing strategies: a survey in the convergence objective regions in Italy

Agricultural quality products for territorial evaluation and tourism development in Sicily: the Pantelleria case

The Agri-Food system is determined and conditioned by the effects of great phenomena, strictly related to territorial, environmental, social, political and economical aspects. Thus, agriculture has to carry out complex roles within the multi-functionality framework throughout production of healthy products, safeguard and protection of environment and territory, preservation and safeguard of bio-diversity, and by supplying goods and services to public, integrating with industry and agrifood distribution. Within such scenery, developed Countries, and in particular those of the EU, carry out strategies in order to adjust to new agrifood market conditions, and to respond to citizens-consumers i…

Cooperation in Rural Areas as a Local System Development Opportunity

The development of rural areas requires the adoption of technology innovation and market approach strategies without departing from the specific features of local production systems, such as agricultural practices and the wealth of knowledge of operators. It is even better the exploitation of these resources to characterize the competitive positioning of territorial systems. In this framework, the cooperative Rinascita, which works in an internal rural area of Sicily region (Southern Italy), represents an attempt to maintain agricultural activities, traditions and rural culture as well as to promote and contribute to the development of the area by giving value to and promoting, a typical lo…

‘Green’ Wine through a Responsible and Efficient Production: A Case Study of a Sustainable Sicilian Wine Producer

Abstract Sustainability is progressively gaining importance in the winegrowing sector. Implementing this concept implies environmental soundness, social equity and economic feasibility. A proliferation of initiatives to develop the sustainable production of wine started officially in Italy since the year 2010. The objective of this paper is to illustrate the reshaping of Sicilian winegrowing according to the ‘Triple bottom line’ approach to sustainability. By analyzing the case-study of the Tasca d’Almerita firm, pilot farm of various national projects in wine-sustainability, we found that adopting sustainable operative, organizational and competitive strategies has lead to a well-managed a…