Monumental trees and their existence value: the case study of an Italian natural park

The paper deals with the evaluation of the existence value of monumental trees in a protected area. Financial resources to be destined for protection interventions have been decreasing more and more, with a high risk of losing this natural heritage. A Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) survey was carried out among the Madonie Park (Sicily, Italy) resident households to evaluate the existence value of monumental trees of the nature trail named "Piano Sempria-Piano Pomo", represented by a population of "Giant hollies" and by 7 other individual trees. These are the main results of the CVM survey: the overall response rate was 40%, individual average WTPs ( Willingness To Pay ) were €12.37 for t…

La filiera agrumi

La compatibilità ambientale per la realizzazione di imboschimenti nel Mezzogiorno

Analisi territoriale della ruralità.

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…

A financial feasibility study of an aquaponic system in a Mediterranean urban context

Abstract Aquaponics is largely recognized as a solution for sustainable food production as it follows a biomimetic natural system and the circular economy principles, allowing large food productivity on nonagricultural land, and at the same time strongly reducing inputs and waste. In this study, we collected technical, economic and production data from a pilot aquaponic plant producing lettuce (Lactuca sativa) and Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) realized in an urban context in Sicily (Southern Italy), very suitable area for aquaponic production in relation to the Mediterranean climate. Through the determination of Net return and Break Even Point, analysing on one side the items which c…

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…

Conservazione del Catasto nella recente normativa nazionale

Valore della funzione ricreativa per aree protette siciliane

The valutation of public goods, such as environmental resouces, often cheracterized by a high degree of multifunctionality, is an issue of great interest to local decision mackers, who have therefore the opportunity of improving planning and programming tools in relation to protection, use regulation and exploitation of natural resources. In this paper some results are briefly reporter about two direct surveys carried out in two important Natural Oriented Reserve in Sicily. The main aim of the study is to support in the process of territorial planning providing them with visitors' profiles, with the findings of a Customer Satisfaction Analysis and with the economic value concerning the tour…

New development opportunities for the craft brewing segment: the case study of a micro-malthouse

In Italy in the past few years, the number of small breweries penetrating the craft beer sector has grown exponentially. Craft producers intend to give a strong added value and a local character to their production in different ways. One of these is the use of malt derived from small batches of local cereals and pseudo cereals. The aim of this study is the assessment of investment profitability, through a cost-benefit analysis (CBA), for a compact and a modular micro-malting plant in Sicily (Southern Italy). The CBA for a micro-malthouse was carried out considering both installation and operating costs. Net present value (NPV), discounted benefit-cost ratio (DBCR) and internal rate of retur…

Poca attività d'impresa nelle op ortofrutticole siciliane

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…

THE SUCCESS FACTORS OF A SICILIAN MARKET-ORIENTED WINE COOPERATIVE

Wine cooperatives have a long tradition in Sicily, as well as in Italy and in Europe. The objective of this paper is to reconstruct the general framework of the Sicilian wine cooperatives that still account for nearly 80% of the regional wine grapes production. In this context we examine the productive, organizational and commercial strategies of a case study: Cantine Settesoli. Founded in Menfi (Western Sicily, Italy) in 1958 on the initiative of a group of wine grape-growers, the Cantine Settesoli has developed over the decades and now represents the major bottled wine cooperative in Sicily, whose 2,135 members own 5% of Sicilian vineyards. With its four wine-making plants, a volume of gr…

AN ORDERED PROBIT MODEL FOR THE ANALYSIS OF OVERALL CUSTOMER SATISFACTION (OCS) REGARDING ORGANIC-FOOD COMSUMPTION

Organic-food consumers and some related issues were investigated in the city of Palermo. Consumers were asked to express their global satisfaction regarding consumption of organic food, as well as some other personal information. A survey was conducted from the four main retail outlets specialized in organic-food by interviewing nearly 200 customers. The data were used to analyse the overall satisfaction of the local organic-food consumer. Furthermore, a “discrete choice” model was run by using the overall customer satisfaction (OCS) derived from the consumption of organic food as a dependent variable. A set of other variables were used as regressors. Model outputs identified the key determ…

La fruizione delle Riserve naturali in Sicilia: il caso delle Riserve Naturali Orientate dello Zingaro e del Bosco della Ficuzza

The Euro-Mediterranean Free-trade Area and the Competitiveness of italian Agriculture

Explorative study of multifunctional agriculture in a Sicilian inland area

The study investigates the agricultural multifunctional activities carried out in a Sicilian typical rural area, the motivations for entrepreneurial choices and the overall level of satisfaction. An exploratory survey was therefore carried out on a selected group of 13 farms localized in 3 Sicilian provinces, with the goal to identify strengths and weaknesses of their multifunctional activities. From the farm survey, several positive results came to light, among which a wide variety of services and activities, an increase in farm workforce and a high level in communication and Internet services. On the other hand, some criticalities emerged in the transition process, such as heavy delays in…

Il grano duro nello scenario internazionale e nazionale

Le erboristerie e la natura dei rapporti commerciali con gli operatori di mercato

The The Land Cadastre in Italy and some fiscal implications: a case study

The Land Cadastre, as an inventory of all relevant real estate in a territory, and most importantly, as a national tax system is, or at least should be, the protago-nist of fiscal, social and civil implications affecting the Italian context. According to unitary farmland incomes, the last revision dates back to 1978-1979, a period that no longer reflects the country’s current socioeconomic situation and does not consider the changes the land market has undergone over the years. Through the analysis of 183 purchases and sales of agricultural land in two districts in western Sicily, this research aims at verifying the adequacy or inadequacy of the current cadastral tariffs. Based on the price…

Il consumatore di prodotti biologici: primi risultati di un'indagine diretta nei negozi specializzati della città di Palermo

Regressione multipla e previsione del valore nel mercato fondiario

Sustainable tourism 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…

Un’applicazione del metodo delle preferenze visive per la valutazione non-monetaria del paesaggio forestale in un’area del Parco delle Madonie

Stima della disponibilità a pagare per la salvaguardia di un'area protetta siciliana dagli incendi boschivi

Forest fires are a major concern in the Mediterranean regions and decision-makers devote large financial resources of the overall public forestry expenditure to their management. The research aims to provide an empirical contribution to the knowledge about the economic benefits deriving from fire protection of forest ecosystems. A case study is presented where we measured the TEV of reducing fire hazards to a cork-oak forest localised in a Sicilian protected area, using a dichotomous choice question in a Contingent Valuation Study. The magnitudes of the annual aggregate WTP estimates obtained range from € 32,745 to € 42,953, corrispondent to € 712 and € 934 per hectare, in order to protect …

Monetary Valuations of Monumental Trees and Other Natural Resources between Demand for Conservation and Recent Requirements for Outdoor Activities: Some Case Studies in the Madonie and Nebrodi Regional Parks of Sicily

The focus of this paper is on the valuation of the benefits that local communities living in protected areas may perceive with regard to some specific natural resources, and in particular to Monumental Trees. The current economic crisis which involves countries at world level, leads to think that in the near future the financial resources to be destined for interventions in favour of these environmental goods will be more and more scarce, with the result that most monumental trees will not be protected and this natural heritage will be totally degraded and therefore lost to local communities. Three Sicilian case studies were investigated, two concerning the Madonie Regional Natural Park, an…

La competitivitŕ del comparto florovivaistico del Mezzogiorno d'Italia sul mercato internazionale

The international competitiveness of flowers and ornamental plant sector of the Italian "Mezzogiorno" area - In the last few years the Italian flower and ornamental plant sector has been characterized by a significant dynamicity, becoming one of the most important sectors of the Italian agricultural system. In terms of competitiveness, however, the above sector has faced several market crises due to the globalization process which has brought about an increasing supply of flower and ornamentals in the world market. In a national context, Mezzogiorno is an important area in terms of production source for flowers and ornamental plants, in relation to both extremely favourable climatic conditi…

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

Consumers of flowers and ornamental plants: an eploratory survey in the Italian «Mezzogiorno» regions

This paper aims to provide further knowledge of purchase and consumption behaviours with regard to flowers and ornamental plants in the regions of Italian «Mezzogiorno», as an acknowledgement of the centrality of final demand in the chain process. The knowledge of consumption process is fundamental either to the firm – in order to improve commercial strategies – or to competition authorities – with the purpose of implementing more effective policies. From the analysis carried out it emerges that flowers and ornamental plants consumption in the «Mezzogiorno» regions is characterised by a high penetration index and – just with regard to some commodities – by a low purchase frequency. Purchase…

Andamento dei valori fondiari in Italia ed in Sicilia

The present study has two aims, to provide a further contribute to the literature on land market, and to highlight the possible relationships between some macroeconomic factors affecting the land values trend in Italy and in Sicily. The data obtainable from the available information sources in the field were collected and processed. More in detail, in the first part of the paper a reference scenario is described through the presentation of the general features of agricultural land market, relying upon the specific scientific literature. Hereinafter, some time series at national and Sicilian level were built by using average agricultural land values, inflation rates and agricultural value ad…

An integrated analysis of land market in an inland area of Sicily

In this study a land market analysis of the 22,000 hectares covered by Corleone town area for the 2007-2012 period was carried out. Data on 372 sales agreements concerning agricultural and building land were directly collected from notaries' offices. Over 50% of land sales concerned land areas below 0.50 hectares, whereas just 1% of the overall land sold was larger than 10 hectares. Nearly 75% of sample observations were represented by land sales smaller than 1 hectare. The average land area per purchase was just over 1 hectare. The overall money exchanged in the whole period amounted to nearly 6 million euro, with an average price per sale equal to 16,339.45 (sic), and an average unitary p…

Caratteristiche del consumatore della GDO in Italia e percezione dei rischi alimentari: il caso della carne

Economic and structural aspects of vitiviniculture in Sicily

World wine market is among the most dynamic in the agro-food sector and in the last few years it has undergone deep changes concerning production, consumption and trade. The growing presence of new wine-producing countries and the reform of the vitivinicultural Common Market Organization (CMO) have strongly contributed to the changes occurred in this sector. Accounting for 49% of world wine supply, Italy, France and Spain are the three main wine producers in the world. Italian situation is characterised by few wine-producing regions which altogether represent the major part of cultivated areas and wine production. In this scenario Sicily, according to 2004 ISTAT data, is the Italian region …

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…

La competitività del comparto florovivaistico del Mezzogiorno d'Italia sul mercato internazionale

Summary The international competitiveness of flowers and ornamental plant sector of the Italian “Mezzogiorno” area In the last few years the Italian flower and ornamental plant sector has been characterized by a significant dynamicity, becoming one of the most important sectors of the Italian agricultural system. In terms of competitiveness, however, the above sector has faced several market crises due to the globalization process which has brought about an increasing supply of flower and ornamentals in the world market. In a national context, Mezzogiorno is an important area in terms of production source for flowers and ornamental plants, in relation to both extremely favourable climatic c…

L'evoluzione del mercato fondiario in Sicilia

The role of information and communication technologies and logistics organization in the economic performance of Sicilian fruit and vegetable enterprises

Through a direct survey conducted on a sample of firms operating in the Sicilian fruit and vegetable sector, the present study provides an empirical evidence on the degree of diffusion of ICTs as well as on relationships with the regional distribution system. To pursue this goal, a multiple regression analysis model was implemented to identify which factors affect more the economic results of fruit and vegetable enterprises. The main results of the analysis indicate that firms using specific software for accounting, warehousing, payment and sales orders and contracts, are more likely to obtain higher economic performances under the “coeteris paribus” condition, as well as firms which are eq…

Il consumatore di prodotti biologici e la percezione dei rischi legati al consumo di carne: primi risultati di un’indagine a livello nazionale.

Le imprese florovivaistiche in Sicilia: analisi di alcuni casi studio

Formati di domanda nella valutazione contingente

Il mercato florovivaistico nella città di Palermo

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…

The land values trend in Sicily (1992-2010)

The present study aims to analyse the land market trend with particular reference to the main typologies of crop in Sicily (1992-2010). More specifically, after examining the trend in agricultural land average prices, both in current and constant terms, the dynamic formulation of Shift and Share Analysis (DSSA) was carried out, in order to check the growth gap between the average prices in the Sicilian provinces and the correspondent regional ones over the period, and trying to identify its causes also on the basis of the relationship between land values and the agro-food markets dynamics in the investigated period. The analysis of average land values shows a positive trend in current terms…

Agrumicoltura bio, manca il mercato

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…

Lo scenario economico dell'agricoltura siciliana

Situazione attuale e prospettive della domanda nel comparto delle officinali in Sicilia

Prezzi in ripresa per il grano duro italiano

THE COMPETITIVENESS OF THE ITALIAN FLOWER AND ORNAMENTAL PLANT SECTOR

Italian flowers and ornamental plants sector has been playing a remarkable role within the agricultural sector both in productive and employment terms. As regards the competitiveness, over the last few years, Italy has been confronted with a growing flowers supply at world level and with recurring market crises, sharpened also by an inadequate Common Market Organization which has not issued an adequate legislation giving financial guarantees to the sector operators. Nevertheless, the empirical analysis carried out on the Italian competitiveness in the flowers and plant sector has shown, in the comparison between 1994-1995 and 2004-2005, an apparent improvement of the comparative advantage t…

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…

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

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…

L'Amministrazione del Catasto italiano. Il processo di decentramento delle funzioni catastali.

The present study aims to reconstruct the decentralization process of the cadastral functions to town municipalities to date and to trace out the future prospects of cadastral management in Italy. Besides organizational structure, functions and informative patrimony of the Land Agency, the national regulatory framework and the operational steps of decentralization were here investigated. In the meantime, after over ten years from its start, cadastral decentralization has partially lost its original importance in physical terms, either to citizens or to public institutions, due to the strong speed-up given by the National Land Agency to the use of Internet and data communications, which allo…

‘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…

Il premium-price associato al vino siciliano prodotto con uve biologiche: un'analisi attraverso l'approccio edonimetrico

In this paper, the implicit prices of some quality attributes concerning the Sicilian wines assessed in an Italian wine specialised Guide are estimated, and in particular the effect of the indication in the label of the certified organic wine on its price. The results obtained indicate that wine rating, wine type and denomination of origin, are the main market determinants of Sicilian wines, while the wine made from organic-certified grapes and other attributes are not significantly correlated with wine price.

Quality Determinants and Effect of Therapeutic Properties in Honey Consumption. An Exploratory Study on Italian Consumers

Nowadays, more and more consumers show a growing interest in healthy food products that may help to maintain or improve human health, such as honey. Honey has always represented a fundamental component of traditional medicine in many world cultures. However, only thanks to several studies carried out in the last years, its use is considered as an alternative and complementary medicine, namely apitherapy. In this way, honey is recognized increasingly by consumers not only as a natural alternative to refined sugar but as healthy food, as shown by determining an increase of its consumption worldwide. This study aims to explore the consumers&rsquo

L’utilizzo della regressione multipla nelle indagini estimative condotte in mercati fondiari attivi: il caso studio di oliveti e vigneti in un territorio siciliano

The present study aims to provide a further contribution to the knowledge about the mechanism of price formation concerning olive orchards and vineyards in a land market of south-west Sicily. Firstly the main characteristics of a sample concerning 42 land properties recently sold in Partanna territory were surveyed and afterwards their relationships between the most relevant among them and the correspondent market prices (both total and unitary sales prices) were investigated through the Multiple Regression Analysis. Finally some propositive remarks were formulated in order to create and successively keep up to date a database of land market prices, necessary tool to improve the quality lev…

Comparison between Willingness-to-Pay expressed by a panel of forestry experts and by a sample of non-expert respondents in a pilot survey conducted for a Contingent Valuation Study

This work deals with an empirical analysis aiming to check the possibility to substitute a panel of forestry experts for a sample of non-expert respondents in a pilot survey for a CVM study. This methodology in the case study has focussed on the estimate of the economic value associated with the reduction in wood fire risk in a protected area of southern Sicily. The experiment consisted in carrying out two surveys by means of the same questionnaire with an open-ended elicitation question for WTP’s. The first survey was addressed to a sample of 227 “non-expert” respondents, whereas in the second one 15 forest technicians working in Sicily were interviewed in their quality of experts in fores…

The retail sector of organic food products: an analysis of Overall Customer Satisfaction and supply chain management in the main specialised retail outlets in Palermo