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The aim of this study is to provide an insight into the potential impact of the ETS-II opt-in on businesses in the primary agriculture and fishing industries. The key research question is what the costs of the ETS-II opt-in will be for primary production businesses. The impact on arable and livestock farming may be limited, with fossil fuel costs making up a small part of total costs. For greenhouse horticulture and fishery, an opt-in will have much more profound consequences and could lead to business closures and the decommissioning of vessels. This study had a short lead time, which makes it impossible to definitively state how many businesses or vessels might be affected. The study took a straightforward approach, performing an analysis based on a literature review and drawing on expert consultation when necessary., Het doel van dit onderzoek is om inzicht te geven in de mogelijke gevolgen voor bedrijven in de primaire landbouw- en visserijsectoren van de ETS-II opt-in. De kernvraag is wat de kosten zullen zijn voor primaire bedrijven van de ETS-II opt-in. De gevolgen voor de akkerbouw en veehouderij kunnen beperkt zijn, de kosten voor fossiele brandstoffen maken een beperkt deel uit van de totale kosten. Een opt-in heeft voor de glastuinbouw en de visserij veel ingrijpender gevolgen en kan leiden tot het sluiten van bedrijven en het uit de vaart nemen van schepen. Op basis van dit onderzoek is niet zonder meer aan te geven om hoeveel bedrijven of schepen het zou kunnen gaan. De doorlooptijd voor dit onderzoek was kort. Daarom is de aanpak eenvoudig gehouden: analyse vond plaats op basis van literatuurstudie en indien nodig het raadplegen van experts.

Food supply chains are constantly challenged by food safety hazards entering the chain. The ability of the supply chain to provide safe food within a reasonable time after such a food safety threat or shock can be investigated with the concept of resilience using food safety as an indicator. Resilience is then defined as the food safety performance deviation due to the shock and takes both the severity of the shock as well as the time to fully recover or reach a new equilibrium into account. This study developed a stochastic simulation model to evaluate the resilience of the Dutch pork supply chain to dioxin contamination in the feed. The resilience of the supply chain as well as the potential costs associated with the contamination are compared between several monitoring strategies with the aim to determine the optimal control points for dioxin monitoring. Model results show that collecting and analyzing samples at more than one control point along the pork supply chain, in particular at feed mills and fat melting facilities, resulted in the highest resilience and the lowest costs after a shock. This model and these results can be used by public and private decision makers to make proactive and informed decisions on the monitoring strategies to control dioxins in the pork supply chain that result in optimal resilience to a dioxin crises.

Salmonella spp. control in pork supply chains has always been a challenging issue and insufficient control can lead to high social and economic consequences. Conventional risk management and risk management approaches and models are not sufficient to address potential food safety shocks caused by Salmonella spp., as they mainly focus on assessing measures to reduce Salmonella spp. risks instead of developing the resilience capability (e.g., flexibility to adapt to sudden changes in the risks). Our study is the first that incorporated the resilience concept to the quantitative modeling of Salmonella spp. spread in the pork supply chain. The objective of this study was to explore the resilience performance of the pork supply chain under different food safety shocks caused by Salmonella spp., and to investigate the effectiveness of interventions on reducing the impact of these shocks on the resilience performance of the chain. Scenario analysis indicated that the effectiveness of the investigated resilience strategies or interventions depended on the risk profile (i.e., default, minimum, maximum level of Salmonella spp. contamination) of the pork supply chain. For pork supply chains with minimum and default risk profiles, more attention should be paid to increasing resilience of pigs towards Salmonella spp. infection. For supply chains with maximum risk profile, the focus should be on improving the performance of the slaughterhouse, such as careful evisceration, logistic slaughtering. To conclude, enhancing resilience performance of the pork supply chain can contribute to a safe pork supply.

Introduction: Foodborne diseases (FBD) are a significant problem in low- and middle-income countries, especially in Africa. Country-specific estimates of the economic costs related to FBD caused by different hazards in different food products can inform decision makers about this problem’s magnitude. This aids policy makers in prioritising actions to mitigate risks and prevent illness. Although estimates exist for many high-income countries, they are lacking for African countries. Methods: This study estimates economic cost in Burkina Faso and Ethiopia related to FBD caused by non-typhoidal Salmonella enterica (NTS), Campylobacter spp. (CAMP) and enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) in all foods, chicken meat and tomatoes. The World Health Organization’s estimates of FBD burden, updated from 2010 to 2017, were used as a basis. Economic cost estimates were the sum of estimates of willingness-to-pay (WTP) to reduce risk of death and of pain and suffering, and lost productivity. WTP was based on value of statistical life (VSL) and value of statistical life year (VSLY), extrapolated from USA data. We used sensitivity options to account for uncertainty in these values. Results: Mean economic costs related to FBD caused by NTS, CAMP and ETEC in 2017 were estimated at 391 million constant 2017 international dollars in Burkina Faso and 723 million in Ethiopia. These represent 3.0% of gross national income in Burkina Faso and 0.9% in Ethiopia. Lost productivity contributed 70%, WTP to reduce risk of death 30%, and WTP to reduce risk of pain and suffering 1-2%. NTS caused the highest costs, followed by ETEC and CAMP. Chicken meat caused 9-12 times higher costs than tomatoes. Children under five years (14.6-17.1% of populations) bore 20-75% of the costs. Due to uncertainty in disease burden and economic data, costs could be four times higher than mean estimates. Discussion: Policies to control FBD likely result in substantial benefits, especially efforts aiming at this stud

The production of food from animals poses societal concern about the welfare of these animals in Western countries and increasingly also in economically developing countries. Animals and people may experience disutility from animal suffering, which can be seen as an external cost that is not (fully) included in the cost of production. Thus, consumers will consume too much of the good from an aggregate utilitarian perspective. A potential way to solve this issue is by including these external costs in the production costs. The aim of this paper was to provide a method that can be used to estimate the external costs of animal welfare (AW) of animals kept at farm level. The external costs were calculated by means of a cost function. This cost function shows the relationship between the AW score and costs of AW measures at farm level. The AW scores were calculated from principle scores of the Welfare Quality® Protocol. The method was applied to three case studies, namely dairy cattle production in Germany, pig production in the Netherlands, and broiler production in the Netherlands. The results indicate that the external costs of AW of dairy cattle systems ranged from 0.02 to 0.10 euro/kg milk, those of pig production systems from 1.00 to 1.36 euro/kg live weight and those of broiler production systems from 3.67 to 4.52 euro/kg live weight. The empirical application showed that the method was effective in estimating external animal costs. The insights obtained from the application of our method can support decision making in the development and adoption of more AW friendly production systems.

The present study aims to contribute to the body of knowledge on HRD in small businesses by providing a detailed investigation of the role that owner-managers play in enabling social learning and performance in small firms. The investigation focusses particularly on the specific relationships of the social-interdependence orientation and social competence of owner-managers with their social learning behaviour, as well as with the performance of their small-businesses within the pig-production sector in the Republic of Korea. A survey was conducted amongst nearly 200 Korean owner-managers of pig farms. The results indicate that social interdependence orientations and social competencies have a significant relationship with social learning behaviour. Self-promotion and a cooperative orientation are especially important, with self-promotion taking precedence for social learning behaviour of a more ‘internal’ nature, and a cooperative attitude being more important social learning behaviour of a more ‘external’ nature. Social competence and social interdependence did not have a significant relationship with performance, but social learning behaviour did. The results further highlight the importance of individual social characteristics to social learning behaviour occurring outside highly structured educational settings, in addition to demonstrating that the competence and attitudes required are determined by the type of interaction partner.

Background: Globally, foodborne diseases result in a significant disease burden with low- and middle-income countries disproportionately affected. Estimates of healthcare costs related to foodborne disease can aid decision makers to take action to mitigate risks and prevent illness. However, only limited data on the African continent are available, especially related to more severe sequelae. We provide estimates of direct and indirect (non)-medical costs of patients with diarrhoea, Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), and invasive non-typhoidal salmonellosis (iNTS) in three healthcare facilities in Gondar, Ethiopia. Methods: We used healthcare data from patient records, interviews with family caregivers and 2020 healthcare resource unit costs. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed. For diarrhoea, differences in mean and median transformed costs between healthcare facilities and etiologies (Campylobacter spp., enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, non-typhoidal Salmonella enterica) were analysed with ANOVA and chi squared tests. Contribution of healthcare facility, dehydration severity, sex, age and living area to transformed costs was identified with linear regression. Results are in 2020 USD per patient. To extrapolate to national level, 2017 national incidence estimates were used. Results: Mean direct medical costs were 8.96 USD for diarrhoea (health centre 6.50 USD, specialised hospital 9.53 USD, private clinic 10.56 USD), 267.70 USD for GBS, and 47.79 USD for iNTS. Differences in costs between diarrhoea patients were mainly associated with healthcare facility. Most costs did not differ between etiologies. Total costs of a diarrhoea patient in the specialised hospital were 67 USD, or 8% of gross national income per capita. For direct medical plus transport costs of a GBS and iNTS patient in the specialised hospital, this was 33% and 8%, respectively. Of the 83.9 million USD estimated national non-typhoidal Salmonella enterica related cost, 12.2% was due to iNTS, a

Het onderzoeksprogramma NL Next Level Mest Verwaarden betreft een samenwerking tussen Agrifirm, Darling Ingredients International, De Heus Voeders, VanDrie Group, FrieslandCampina en ForFarmers, samen met Wageningen University & Research en het Nederlands Centrum Mestverwaarding (NCM) en het ministerie van LNV. Het onderzoeksprogramma richt zich op het verwaarden van mest in de vorm van marktwaardige, duurzame bemestingsproducten. Om inzicht te krijgen in de producten, technieken en hoeveelheden waarmee mest in de keten maximaal kan worden verwaard, is de inzet van het ketenmodel MERIT noodzakelijk. Het MERIT-model (Model for Economically Robust InvestmenT decisions /Model voor Economisch Robuuste Investeringsbesluiten) is ontwikkeld door Wageningen Economic Research om inzicht te krijgen in de economische haalbaarheid en robuustheid van investeringen in een nieuwe technologie of businesscase bij grote onzekerheden rond de prijzen en kwaliteit van grondstoffen en eindproducten. Om het model te kunnen inzetten, is de input geactualiseerd voor de nieuwste inzichten wat betreft kostprijzen en de stand van de techniek. Deze notitie betreft dus feitelijk een actualisatie van de uitgangspunten en input coëfficiënten zoals beschreven in Van Wagenberg et al. (2019).

Transporting fresh tomatoes from farmer to retailer in Nigeria in plastic crates instead of raffia baskets can substantially decrease post-harvest losses both in quantity and in quality. We apply the Value Chain Laboratory (VC-Lab) method to analyse the importance for the long-term acceptance of these plastic crates of trust in other chain actors, risk attitudes and social norms of chain actors, a price bonus for transporting tomatoes in crates, the costs and lifespan of crates, and who should invest in crates. The price a farmer receives from a wholesaler, risk attitudes of the actors, and social norms were the most important drivers for the long-term use of crates., Door in Nigeria verse tomaten van boer tot retail te transporteren in plastic kratten in plaats van in traditionele rieten manden kunnen naoogstverliezen worden verminderd, zowel in kwantiteit als in kwaliteit. Met de Value Chain Laboratory-methode (VC-Lab) analyseren we het belang van vertrouwen tussen ketenpartijen, de risicohouding en sociale normen van de ketenactoren, een prijsbonus voor vervoer met kratten, de kosten en levensduur van kratten, en wie er investeert in kratten voor de acceptatie op lange termijn van deze plastic kratten. De prijs die een boer van de groothandel ontvangt, de risicohouding van de actoren en je houden aan de sociale norm waren de belangrijkste drijfveren voor het gebruik van plastic kratten op lange termijn.

Development projects on interventions to reduce postharvest losses (PHL) are often implemented largely independently of the specific context and without sufficient adaptation to the needs of people who are supposed to use them. An approach is needed for the design and implementation of specific, locally owned interventions in development projects. Our approach is based on Participatory Development and includes Living Lab and World Cafés. We applied the approach in a case study on reducing PHL in tomato value chains in Nigeria. The approach consists of nine steps. After scoping the sector, selected value chain stakeholders (case: farmers, transporters, traders, retailers) were gathered in Living Lab workshops. In the workshop, participants analyzed the product, information, and monetary flows in their own value chain, identified causes for PHL, and selected potential interventions to reduce these (case: plastic crates instead of raffia baskets to transport tomatoes). Selected interventions were implemented, tested, and monitored in pilot projects with the workshop participants. This was followed by an evaluation workshop. At the end of the case study, 89% of participants bought crates to keep using them in their value chain. Our approach resulted in context-specific, locally owned interventions to reduce PHL in the case study on tomato value chains in Nigeria. Its application in other countries, commodities, or interventions is needed to determine the effectiveness of the approach in a broader scope.

Non-PR, IFPRI1; 2 Promoting Healthy Diets and Nutrition for all; CRP4; UNFSS, MTID; A4NH, CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH), Malnutrition in all its forms is a major challenge everywhere in the world, and particularly in low and middle income countries. To reduce malnutrition, innovations in food systems are needed to both provide sufficient options for consumers to obtain diets with adequate nutritional value, and to help consumers make conscious and unconscious choices to choose healthier diets. A potential solution to this challenge is food systems innovations designed to lead to healthier diets. In this paper, we lay out a multidisciplinary framework for both identifying and analyzing innovations in food systems that can lead to improvements in the choices available to consumers and their diets from a health perspective. The framework identifies entry points for the design of potential food systems innovations, highlighting potential synergies, feedback, and tradeoffs within the food system. The paper concludes by providing examples of potential innovations and describes future research that can be developed to support the role of food systems in providing healthier diets.

Wageningen Economic Research conducted a study on the potential consequences of a free trade agreement between Mexico and the EU. The Dutch government is concerned that giving access to products from countries with a lower level of animal welfare could undermine the EU welfare standard. This study shows that production costs are lower in Mexico compared to the EU in all three sectors investigated: egg production, poultry meat and pig meat. In egg production in particular, the welfare standard in Mexico is far below the EU standard. Nevertheless, it is concluded that for all products (eggs, egg products, poultry meat and pig meat) in a free trade situation no large amount of imports from Mexico can be expected.

These study responses to two main research questions: What model can we use to measure or estimate the sustainability of long-distance transport of meat/carcass vs. transport of meat? What is the outcome of the model if applied in two cases: transport of spent hens for slaughter from the Netherlands to Poland, and transport of lambs for slaughter from Hungary to Italy?