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Circular bioeconomy represents a recent political vision expected to contribute in tackling the main challenges faced when sustainable industrial transition trajectories are to be implemented. Coordination and interdependence among actors are crucial steps for value creation when developing new sustainable supply chains. Current study is based on a choice experiment devised with contract design theory applied to a specific supply chain in which a circular bioeconomy strategy is implemented. It investigates the propensity of Sicilian millers to participate in a novel supply chain in which feedstuff is produced by processing a by-product, namely olive cake. Furthermore, millers contract attributes’ preferences are analysed. The results from two econometric models reveal that 71% of the interviewed entrepreneurs would participate in the proposed supply chain while the propensity to participate is positively related with firm size and millers’ attitudes but decreases if millers experienced previous investments or have previously participated in cooperatives. Moreover, respondents prefer shorter length of contract, with a minimum guarantee price, with a renegotiation option, and without the obligation of a minimum volume of product to be supplied. Contract agreements, when contract characteristics are designed ad hoc, are proved to be effective tools for circular bioeconomy supply-chain development.

In recent decades, European policy has targeted specific measures towards SMEs. The recently concluded Horizon 2020 Programme, under the Europe 2020 Strategy, has provided economic support to stimulate competitiveness and boost the economy of member states by focusing on innovation. The SME Instrument, through a structure of multiple calls, constituted the vehicle for SMEs to access the funds made available by the European Union with disruptive innovation proposals. The initial structure of the SME Instrument, developed in phases and along the lines of the US Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Programme, was afterwards simplified in the design of its successor, the EIC Accelerator Pilot. The success of the above mentioned economic instruments led the European institutions to develop a new instrument, the EIC Accelerator, supported by the current Horizon Europe programme. After outlining the main features of this transition and the novelties introduced, this paper aims to ascertain the extent to which SMEs in the agri-food sector in Italy have had the ability and opportunity to intercept funds by measuring participation in the SME Instrument. Furthermore, it intends to verify which type of firms in the agri-food sector, divided into agricultural and industrial enterprises, intercepted more of the examined funds, and which organisational phase, productive or commercial, the enterprises have been oriented towards, also giving relevancy to the specific objects of the winning projects.

Around the world, interest is growing in the circular economy in response to the current unsustainable model of production and consumption based on increased use and depletion of resources. This paper provides a review of the academic literature on the circular economy in agri-food systems, with the aims of understanding its main characteristics and perspectives, and summarizing and discussing the literature in this field. This review provides a deeper understanding of the opportunities provided by the circular economy as a solution to the current need to reduce the environmental impacts of business-as-usual economic systems and the state of the art of the circular economy in the academic debate. The results are discussed based on the chosen topic-core investigated in this review: business model and organization management, food loss and waste along the supply chain, analytical tools for the circular economy, stakeholder acceptance of the circular economy, and mitigation strategies and political approach. The findings show the need for the implementation of cleaner production models and consequent increases in stakeholder responsibilities and awareness, from both producers and consumers, as well as the need for the implementation of suitable policies and tools.

This review aims to assess consumer choices of sustainable fish products, considering a number of attributes that have been considered in the academic literature on this topic. In order to examine the effectiveness of sustainable labels, the research question was focused on the relation between sustainable fish labels and consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP). The findings showed how, overall, consumers have positive perceptions regarding sustainable fish products and show a willingness to pay a premium price for the attribute of sustainability. According to the results, the country of origin attribute was found to be the most important attribute in relation to consumer choice. The results indicated a high WTP for local fish products, relative to imported alternatives. Consumers prefer wild-caught fish for its perceived quality, better safety and health aspects, and taste perception than the farm-raised option. As for animal welfare, the results show that consumers are willing to pay a moderate premium price for products that have an improved fish welfare or those that avoid by-catch, such as products with eco-labels like “turtle safe”. With regard to organic labels, the studies identified a positive organic price premium for fish products. However, organic labels do not play a major role in consumer choice, when compared with other attributes.

Pest control in pasta processing industries is considered to be one of the activities that can have the greatest impact on the environment. However, the adoption of techniques with a lower environmental impact can result in increased production costs that may discourage their adoption by firms, if not adequately compensated by corresponding increase in revenue. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the economic feasibility of High Heat Treatments, a physical method for pest control in industrial plants that produce pasta in Sicily (Italy). A Benefit-Cost Analysis has been conducted in which the costs refer to the implementation of the High Heat Treatments and the benefits were estimated in terms of the potential increase in the pasta factory's turnover. Increases in turnover derive from the impact of a hypothetical eco-friendly mark, based on the consumer's Willingness To Pay for pasta produced by a production process that reduces environmental impact. The results of the Benefit-Cost Analysis have demonstrated that the premium price that consumers recognise for pasta produced with eco-friendly techniques could ensure an increase in turnover of firms making High Heat Treatments economically feasible for the pasta-making industry. Furthermore, this paper could be a guideline for future research towards an integration of non-hypothetical open-ended choice experiment and the economic analysis tool within Benefit-Cost Analysis.

Several studies have been conducted on organic wine consumption, but no specific study has yet fully explored how the set of attributes explored by existing research affects the additional price for organic wine. To fill this gap, the objective of this paper was to examine whether and to what extent consumers are inclined to pay for buying organic wine and what are the attributes that significantly influence the additional price of organic wine compared to conventional one. With this aim, a quantitative study over a representative sample of wine consumers in Sicily (Italy) was carried out. Results allowed to observe that consumers attached greater importance to personal motivations such as environmental protection, distinctness and curiosity as well as to explicit label information such as brand renown and local production. In addition, male gender and income are positively correlated to the willingness to pay an additional price for organic wine. Our results have important implications for the actors involved in the wine sector as the adoption of marketing practices explicitly related to the label and motivations attributes can lead to value augmentation of organic wine that could increase consumers’ valuation for it.

Nowadays, most Italian biogas produces electricity even though recent political incentives are promoting biomethane from biogas by “upgrading” it. The aim of this paper is to focus on the regulatory framework for producing biomethane from new or already-existent anaerobic digestion plants. The complexity and lack of knowledge of the regulations on biofuel production and of anaerobic digested biomethane from waste and by-products create difficulties of both interpretation and application. Consequently, the aim of this paper is to analyze the regulations for producing biomethane, underline the critical issues and opportunities, and evaluate whether an electrical plant built in the last 10 years in Italy can really be converted to a biomethane plant, thereby lengthening its lifespan. Three case studies were considered to look more closely into applying Italian biomethane incentives and to simulate the types of incentivization in agriculture with examples based on certain fuel types typical of a standard biomethane plant of 500 standard cubic meter per hour. All the considered cases put in evidence that biomethane is a further opportunity for development with a high level of efficiency for all biogas producers, especially for many biogas plants whose incentivization period is about to finish.