Search results for " farms"

Long-term changes in business models in inland and mountainous areas for the promotion of sustainable food systems

2022

For the management of inland and mountainous areas to be economically viable, business activities in these environments must provide sufficient income for the local population without jeopardising the interests of future generations. In purely economic terms, the management of these areas requires that the production of such goods and services that constitute utility flows for an ecosystem and its local population be economically viable. This management must be able to provide an income for the local population; it cannot only support the costs inevitably incurred for the conservation and production of goods and services provided by the activities that take place in the mountain area. This …

STRATEGY TO INCREASE THE FARM COMPETITIVENESS

2014

Italy’s wine-growing production structure is highly pulverized. So, for many wine-growing farms loweri ng the production cost represents the only way of gain ing a competitive advantage. Production at average unit costs lower than competitors allows to improve prof itability. Among farming operations, winter pruning and tying of productive vine-branches require a high hu man labor. For this reason the paper presents the r esults of research conducted on a sample of Sicilian wine- producing farms in order to study the cost-effectiv eness to make the pruning and the subsequent ligation of productive branches with tools that facilitate the work. The economic analysis, after the determination o…

The ATLAS Data Acquisition and High Level Trigger system

2016

Journal of Instrumentation 11(06), P06008 (2016). doi:10.1088/1748-0221/11/06/P06008

ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF AQUACULTURE INVESTMENTS UNDER CONDITIONS OF RISK AND UNCERTAINTY IN THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA

2014

This study aims to analyze, from a technical and ec onomic point of view, the choice between alternative investments in aquaculture under condit ions of risk and uncertainty. In particular, a comparative analysis has been conducted between an inshore and an offshore farm producing European sea bass in the Mediterranean Sea. The app lied model refers to the theory of subjective probability, assigning a different probability to e xpected incomes during the investment period. Resul ts show an economic convenience of inshore with respect to offshore farming.

Elektrownie wiatrowe jako źródła konfliktów w krajobrazie

2014

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF PROCESS INNOVATIONS IN THE MANAGEMENT OF OLIVE FARMS

2014

Within a business enterprise, process innovations l ead to reduced production costs and to increased profit margins. In this study, we shall examine an olive farm that operates in a perfectly competitive market that has introduced a process innovation so as to contain labour costs and therefore production costs. So, the paper aimed at comparing economic co mpetitiveness of an olive farm that introduced mechanical olive pickers (process innovation) for h arvest respect to manual harvest. In the case under scrutiny, for the same price, the reduced productio n cost determined a shift from a situation of being at a loss to one of profit for the business. Economic analysis showed that introducti…

Explorative study of multifunctional agriculture in a Sicilian inland area

2016

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…

The Diversification of Sicilian Farms: A Way to Sustainable Rural Development

2021

Rural areas still suffer from a lack of sustainable development, and the diversification of farms may be a step in the right direction. The paper provides a detailed picture of the diversification of Sicilian farms into tourism services. Specifically, we propose a simple indicator of localization intensity of agritourism farms and explore their spatial distribution at municipality level. Our study highlights that Sicilian farms rarely diversify into tourism services, despite being situated in attractive areas. That said, some significant spatial clusters of municipalities where agritourism farms are highly concentrated do emerge from the study.

Warming temperatures and ectoparasitic sea lice impair internal organs in juvenile Atlantic salmon

2021

As a consequence of climate change and open net-pen salmon farming, wild Atlantic salmon Salmo salar are increasingly likely to encounter elevated temperatures and parasite abundances during their early marine migration. Such stressors can compromise fitness by diminishing liver energy stores and impairing cardiac muscle. To assess whether temperature and infestation by salmon lice Lepeophtheirus salmonis are important correlates of liver energy stores and cardiac muscle performance in juvenile salmon, we experimentally infested fish at 3 abundances of louse infestation (zero, low, and high) and 5 temperatures (10, 13, 16, 19, and 22°C). At the end of the experiment (i.e. when sea lice reac…

Financial Measures for Supporting Wind Power Systems in Europe: A Comparison between Green Tags and Feed’in Tariffs

2008

Distributed Generation demonstrates to be able to significantly influence the electric power system, bringing considerable benefits to the quality of service and improving the energetic efficiency of the distribution network. In particular, in the last few years, Distributed Generation from renewable energy sources is considerably increased thanks to the many support policies promoted worldwide with the aim of facing the environmental issue and the problem of the permanent rise of prices of the fossil energy. In this contest, after a brief review on the financing strategies carried out in Europe in the last decade for promoting the recourse to renewable energy, the paper presents a comparis…