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This study considers a retailer and a direct supplier (farmer) facing the strategic decision of whether to interact through a dual channel or to compete by selling different but comparable products. Consumers perceive the supplier's product as being of higher quality (e.g., an organic product as opposed to a conventional product, which is offered by the retailer) and the retailer as offering a superior service experience. In the dual-channel market, the retailer also offers the supplier's product, enabling customers to enjoy both higher quality and superior service. We assume that consumers are heterogeneous in their valuations of service and product quality. We consider the effects of showrooming and find that there are certain showrooming levels at which a retailer chooses to opt out of the dual channel despite that decision being detrimental to both parties. A strategic contract allows the parties to avoid this type of prisoner's dilemma. Our model can serve as a managerial decision tool for retailers and suppliers to evaluate whether it is worthwhile engaging in dual-channel collaboration and to assess the broader effects of showrooming in the markets in which they operate.

Despite many studies in literature demonstrate the environmental sustainability of organic food, a debate is still open in the scientific community on the effect of organic farming on global warming and climate change mitigation. This paper aims to contribute to a more informed debate on the actual contribution to climate change in terms of GHG emissions of organic and conventional agriculture. For this purpose, the production process of an organic vs conventional wholemeal bread locally produced in central Italy by a small-medium bakery enterprise was compared and the carbon footprint (CF) was assessed by means of the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology.We found that the CF of 1 kg of the conventional wholemeal bread was 24% less respect to the same organic bread, with 1,18 and 1,55 kg CO(2)eq respectively. On the contrary, if the CF is assessed per unit of cultivated area (hectare), wheat organic cultivation showed a better performance in terms of GHG emissions than conventional by 60%, with 1,15 and 2,87 Mg CO(2)eq ha(-1) respectively. The higher CF per unit of organic product is due to the lower yield per unit of area cultivated with organic farming and to the consequent attribution to a smaller amount of products of the GHG emissions generated in the field phase of the life cycle. Whereas, the CF per hectare is higher when conventional practices are applied due to the higher use of raw materials (higher seed density, agrochemicals for fertilization and plant protection) respect to the same organic system.Results of the study demonstrate that organic farming for wheat cultivation in Italy is a low-carbon agriculture with a lower contribution to climate change in terms of GHG emissions per hectare respect to the conventional wheat cultivation, although implications of the reduced productivity and the consequent need of more cultivated land should be considered. However, more research is needed to better explore the potential of organic farming and to improve organic food production, optimizing the balance between the use of resources and yields, to ensure sufficient organic food supply at global level.A more comprehensive assessment of the actual GHG emitted in the atmosphere from both organic and conventional agricultural systems can be provided when the CF is assessed per unit of area, in addition to the CF per product unit, especially if also the carbon sink of the agrosystem is included. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Alternative cultivation practices such as organic and integrated farming are generally proposed as a mean to reduce environmental impacts associated with food production and consumption. For the same reason, various schemes of direct sale or distribution of local agricultural products have been increasingly developed as an alternative to large-scale distribution of nationally or globally sourced products. However, for a variety of vegetable crops such as salads and leaves, there is few scientific evidence about the relative environmental performance of alternative farming techniques. Similarly, alternative distribution systems have mainly been investigated only in terms of their energy and climate change performance, and mostly within the debate on domestic/local versus imported/delocalised food supply. In this paper, life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to compare the potential environmental impacts of two agricultural supply chains, with the primary aim of testing the expected benefits of vegetable organic farming and of alternative forms of distribution promoting packaging reduction and a shortened supply chain. Organic and integrated production of endive (Cichorium endivia) in Lombardia (northern Italy) were firstly compared, according to a cradle-to-farm gate approach. The comparison was then extended to the whole supply chain, considering the direct distribution of raw organic endive to local networks of ethical purchasing groups by means of returnable crates, and the large-scale retailing of conventional endive as a ready-to-use product after its industrial cutting, washing and packing. Fourteen environmental and human health impact categories were considered as terms of comparison, along with the cumulative energy demand. Results revealed that none of the examined farming techniques has a better overall environmental profile. In fact, when impacts are expressed per hectare of cultivated area, nearly half impact categories (7/15) are favourable to organic farming, with impact reductions ranging from 13% to 55%. However, organic fertilisation practices are responsible for higher impacts of this cultivation form in terms of acidification (+16%), terrestrial eutrophication (+32%) and non-carcinogenic human toxicity (+127%). Per kg of harvested product, impact categories favourable to organic farming are reduced to five, while six are favourable to integrated farming (which achieves higher yields). Organic farming techniques thus need to be further improved in terms of fertilisation practices and achievable yields in order to achieve a more sustainable production system. Considering the whole supply chain, the direct distribution of the raw organic product loose at the local level is preferable for all impact categories except one, where the impact of the farming stage is dominant and against organic production. This exception however disappears if farming is excluded from the comparison (i.e. only distribution and consumption are considered). Observed reductions in overall supply chain impacts range mostly between 20% and 48% and are mainly enabled by the absence of disposable packaging items and industrial processing.

A method was developed and applied to evaluate the impacts of food production for improving institutional catering in Lombardy (northern Italy) and to outline possible improved scenarios. The research takes into account different crop managements (i.e. organic agriculture and adoption of local products) and different dietary choices able to guaranty the same nutritional contents. The non-renewable energy consumed for the production of foods managed by the institutional catering system is proposed as indicator to compare different policies together with other indicators as productive land and productive cost. A case of study is presented to test the overall method. The outcomes of the work could support a reorientation of both the production and consumption systems. In general, the shift towards local and organic products implies a reduction of the impacts evaluated. Further, the important impacts of beef consumption, in particular in terms of energy and land consumption are demonstrated. The work permits an interesting insight about institutional catering, taking into account not only the single food chains but also the composition of the meals by different food products. An improvement of the tool is in progress in order to properly evaluate the stages of cooking, refrigeration, packaging, energy consumption in catering areas and food waste management. A sensitivity analysis will be carried out for assessing the reliability of the results. Finally, other complex environmental indicators such as carbon footprint or ecological footprint could represent other future interesting developments of the tool.

Organic farming pursues sustainable agricultural development and improves the sustainability of food systems. Hence, policy makers and researchers around the world tried to develop it focusing on some factors and large areas. However, organic farmlands have been recently decreasing in some countries. The goal of this study is to determine the best strategies for development of organic farming based on comprehensive factors affecting organic farming, considering the interdependence among them under the uncertainty in the decision-making environment with a focus on Iran’s Khorasan Razavi province, a country suffering from a decrease in organic farmland. In this study, Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis, fuzzy theory, and Analytic Network Process (ANP) method were utilized. Based on interview with 20 organic farming experts and the SWOT analysis, 28 factors affecting organic farming were identified and nine possible strategies for organic farming development were defined. The results of fuzzy and ANP methods indicated that developing consumers’ awareness programs is the best strategy with the priority of 0.276, followed by creating a competitive market for organic products, and planning to teach the principles of organic farming with the priority of 0.262 and 0.230, respectively. The findings provide guidelines for decision makers involved in organic farming development.

The consumption of organic food has increased dramatically in recent years in response to consumers’ concerns with issues related to health, well-being and the environment. However, further increases are restricted by a number of barriers, one of the most important of which is information. Using the Reasoned Action Approach (RAA), this study is the first to examine the role of product specific information (labelling) to understand the gap between consumer attitude and behavioural intention to purchase organic food products. Based on responses from 1,052 New Zealand consumers, analysis using structural equation modelling demonstrates that labelling plays an important role within the perceived behavioural control dimension of the RAA, as well as directly on attitudes, in influencing behavioural intention. The more that respondents agree that labelling is actionable, the more positive their attitude and sense of control, and hence intention and (self-reported) behaviour. These findings suggest that by improving labelling systems to include more actionable information, such as the health, environmental and societal benefits of products, consumers perceived behavioural control can be increased to strengthen intentions to purchase organic products.

The change from conventional to organic foods has been found to have benefits for environmental sustainability and for consumers’ health. Although a market for organic fresh produce has been found to exist in South Africa, consumption levels are low and there is incomplete understanding of the barriers to organic consumption. In this qualitative research interviews were conducted with participants who were aware of organic products but were not regular consumers of organic products. Snowball sampling was used to recruit participants to the study to better understand barriers to organic purchases. Qualitative data obtained from interviews was transcribed and thematic analysis conducted. Generally, participants appeared to be concerned about the environment, however, their concern for the environment does not lead to organic consumption. Furthermore, participants had positive attitudes toward organic products, are not influenced by friends and family but are deterred by issues such as price, availability and labelling of organic products. The recommendations include initiatives that will assist marketers with communicating organic benefits to consumers thereby explaining the reasons for higher prices and leading to consumer trust. Creative communication strategies present an opportunity to overcome barriers to consumption.

Sourcing organic food products from global green supply chains (GGSCs) spreads across country borders and interacting among a wide spectrum of intermediary stakeholders, which adds complexity and incentivises profit-seeking stakeholders to engage in food adulteration. This phenomenon is frequently observed among green and organic products with credence attributes that are difficult to authenticate in both the prior- and post-purchase stages in both developed and developing countries. The case study that we investigate is a small-sized supermarket chain operator in Hong Kong, with an increasingly expanding range of organic food products. Whilst there is a proven set of hybrid multi-criterion decision making (MCDM) methods and model that have been implemented successfully in Australia, unfortunately, unable to assure total success in optimizing the selection of organic food suppliers when applying to this supermarket chain in Hong Kong. Even the obvious solution of certification and product labeling is not sufficient to solve this organic food credibility problem. Our study proposes a newly discovered criterion as postulated by the game theoretic framework, offering a more optimal and authentic solution to the organic food authentication problem. Apart from adopting the mixed strategy of random monitoring, fines should be imposed to penalise dishonest suppliers, instead of awarding bonuses to suppliers operating with integrity. An even better solution is to institutionalise these control mechanisms by the governing authorities with continuous monitoring and imposition of penalties.

Organic products are often appreciated by the consumers as being more environmentally friendly and sustainable compared to their conventional counterparts. However, in the case of aquaculture, scientific information regarding environmental impacts and costs of conventional and organic farming systems is scarce. Scientific methods able to measure the sustainability of production systems are of great relevance to identify best management practices and ensure consumers the sustainability of the production process of aquaculture products. The objective of this study was to compare organic and conventional marine shrimp farms located in Guaraira Lagoon, Brazil, using emergy analysis. The principle of emergy analysis is to express all costs of a process or product in solar energy units (sej), making it possible to compare systems with different inputs, outputs and environmental impacts. Emergy accounting was used at this study to integrate ecological and human dimensions of conventional and organic marine shrimp farms systems located at Brazilian northeast in order to better discuss and understand the multiple dimensions of the sustainability in such systems. The results showed several emergy indicators in favor of organic farming system: the renewability indicator, the emergy yield ratio indicator and the emergy investment ratio indicator. Both systems (organic and conventional) showed large flows of concentrated non-renewable emergy. Further improvements of the organic system are needed to increase the efficiency and to ensure its economic sustainability.