Agriculture, agrifood system and environmental impacts; multifunctional agriculture. The evolution of agricultural, agrifood and rural development policies.
Principles and tools of agroenvironmental policy. Tax, command and control, compliance, payments.
The agroenvironmental policy in the EU and the international dimension.
Sustainability of local and global food supply chains.
Signaling environmental quality on the market: labels and certifications; organic products, origin products, environment-friendly products. Case studies.
STUDENTS NOT ATTENDING THE COURSE: lecture notes and selected papers can be asked to the teacher (giovanni.belletti@unifi.it).
STUDENTS ATTENDING THE COURSE: lessons slides and other materials distributed by the teacher during the course.
Prerequisites
SUGGESTED prerequisites: basic elements in Microeconomics.
The course takes place in the second semester (March to May). Students who have in their curriculum the examination of 9 credits must contact the teacher.
Type of Assessment
Oral examination, in case preceded by a written questionnaire. Students attending the course: the assessment will be also based on seminars and tutorials.
Course program
1) RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN AGRICULTURE, FOOD AND THE ENVIRONMENT.
Specificities of agricultural production processes; evolution of farming; relationships between agriculture and the environment; agri-environmental indicators. Characteristics of the impacts of farming on the environment: non-point source phenomena, number of agents involved, low level of information, scale and coordination issues.
Multifunctional agriculture: joint production, positive externalities and public goods.
Sustainability in local and global food supply chains.
Case studies.
2) AGRI-ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY.
Environmental implications of the evolution of agricultural, agri-food and rural development policies.
Costs and benefits of the environmental quality. Principles and tools of agri-environmental policy. Policies for the control of negative externalities and for the development of positive externalities: polluter-pays, provider-gets and consumer-pays principles of internalization.
Agri-environmental policy tools: organic farming, protection of biodiversity and traditional farming systems, landscape and hydrogeological protection.
Market mechanisms and remuneration of positive externalities: signaling of environmental attributes, certification systems, organic products, designation of origin, GMO-free products. The management of agri-environmental attributes in food chains, the role of the food industry and supermarkets.