Special Issue "Sustainable Agricultural Economy and Marketing Management"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Agriculture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2022.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Claudio Bellia
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agricultural, Food and Environment (Di3A), Section of Agri-Food Economics, University of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy
Interests: economy and agricultural policy; economy of agricultural markets; marketing management and agribusiness; economy of the agro-food system
Dr. Marzia Ingrassia
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences, University of Palermo, 90100 Palermo, Italy
Interests: agricultural economics; food products marketing; wine marketing; wine tourism; experiential marketing; multivariate statistical analysis and sampling studies on consumers; focus groups; food product quality and consumer perception, consumer behavior
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Dr. Vera Teresa Foti
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agricultural, Food and Environment (Di3A), Section of Agri-Food Economics, University of Catania, 95124 Catania CT, Italy
Interests: marketing of agri-food products; policies of protection and valorization of quality agri-food products; agro biodiversity; social agriculture; rural development policies
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The aim of the special issue is to develop knowledge and common innovative solutions for Sustainable Agricultural Economy and Marketing Management.

In a global pandemic and economic emergency caused by Covid-19, it is certainly important to do research and talk about sustainable agriculture.

The term sustainable agriculture has been given many definitions, many of which seem to agree in defining sustainability as a characteristic of the performance of agricultural systems as a whole, rather than trying to define sustainable agricultural practices, methods or enterprises.

Although sustainable agriculture is a difficult term to define operationally, it also includes the practice of low-input agricultural production technologies.

Recalling that sustainable agriculture includes the sustainability of agricultural production and agricultural marketing, the sustainability of the rural economy, ecological and environmental sustainability within agricultural systems and the sustainability of rural society.

Limited consideration was given to marketing as a means to improve the overall sustainability of agriculture.

Agricultural marketing could generate gains in both production and wages throughout the economy, drive up agricultural producer prices, and reduce consumer food prices.

However, there is still limited marketing information given to farmers that is relatively useful to help them in their quest for sustainability. Much of the marketing information that has been provided focuses, only on added value, as strategies for increasing profits rather than improving the overall sustainability of food systems.

This special issue is designed following a markedly interdisciplinary logic and focuses on the theme of sustainability, trying to explain the economics of agricultural marketing and sustainable development, also emphasizing the importance and objectives of agricultural marketing.

It intercepts experts in the field of corporate sustainability management, declined in its characterizing dimensions of economic-financial, social, environmental, governance and sustainability policies.

This special issue includes contributions that present both conceptual frameworks, systematic reviews of the literature, and empirical results.

The following list of topics is by no means exhaustive; they are simply suggestions for scientific investigation.

Sustainable Agro-food studies, Agricultural systems, Agricultural politics, Agricultural economics, Agricultural policy, Agro-industrial chains, Behavioural economics, Business economics, Marketing management, Psychology, Educational quality, Research quality assessment, Research strategy, Capacity building, Agribusiness, Agricultural development, Food tourism, Business administration, Strategic management, Development economics, etc.

The papers are going to be valued based on their originality and the coherence with the objective of the Special Issue with the purpose to collect the contributions on an actual topic that will contribute in the future to the sustainability of agricultural economics, and marketing management systems and to activate an interdisciplinary comparison internationally.

Dr. Claudio Bellia
Dr. Marzia Ingrassia
Prof. Dr. Vera Teresa Foti
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainable agricultural
  • agricultural marketing
  • marketing of agri-food products
  • quality and consumer acceptance of agro-food products
  • economy and agricultural policy
  • economy of agricultural markets
  • marketing management and agribusiness
  • economy of the agro-food system
  • policies of protection and valorization of quality agri-food products
  • experiential marketing and sensory marketing
  • behavior and preferences of consumers of agro-food products
  • food policy economics
  • economics of food consumption

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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Article
Measuring the Economic Performance of Small Ruminant Farms Using Balanced Scorecard and Importance-Performance Analysis: A European Case Study
Sustainability 2021, 13(6), 3321; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13063321 - 17 Mar 2021
Viewed by 761
Abstract
Given the increasing complexity of the agro-food sector, the analysis of financial performance alone may not be sufficient to assess the economic sustainability of farmers. This paper presents a practical method to measure the performance of farm businesses by combining the Balanced Scorecard [...] Read more.
Given the increasing complexity of the agro-food sector, the analysis of financial performance alone may not be sufficient to assess the economic sustainability of farmers. This paper presents a practical method to measure the performance of farm businesses by combining the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) theoretical framework and Importance–Performance Analysis (IPA). The proposed model of Business Performance Indicators (BPI) measurement allows identification and validation of the indicators that consistently measure the latent dimension of the BSC framework while allowing identification Buin of the BPI areas where farm businesses need to concentrate their efforts to assure economic sustainability. The method was applied to small ruminant farm businesses across Europe through visits and interviews. The case study application showed that the model could help measure the performance of small farms while allowing detection of the areas of fragility and intervention. The case study results showed that finance and internal business management were the most relevant farmers’ weaknesses, alongside low priority given to innovation. In conclusion, to prevent the potential long-term decline of the sector, the study provided evidence for policy changes to support the farmers’ innovation potential and a higher level of integration in the supply chain. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agricultural Economy and Marketing Management)
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Review

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Review
Local Food Campaign in a Globalization Context: A Systematic Review
Sustainability 2021, 13(13), 7487; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13137487 - 05 Jul 2021
Viewed by 452
Abstract
As a basic commodity, food has undergone thorough globalization, with the global food market totaling 1392 billion USD in 2019. Despite such a great amount of global food trade, the idea of favouring the consumption of local food, or local food campaigns, has [...] Read more.
As a basic commodity, food has undergone thorough globalization, with the global food market totaling 1392 billion USD in 2019. Despite such a great amount of global food trade, the idea of favouring the consumption of local food, or local food campaigns, has won ever growing attention and advocacy in recent years as an effort to enhance social and environmental sustainability. This systematic review study draws wisdom from the extant literature and provides critical thinking on how local food differs from non-local food and whether the two are more antagonistic or more complementary. Results suggest that although the term “local food” has hardly been clearly defined, it is possible to accommodate different opinions in a set of common constructs in Eriksen’s “three domains of proximity”. Regarding the strengths of local food, researchers agree more on its strong personal connection, distinctive culture, and high quality, but less on its supporting local economy, reduced energy consumption, and environmental friendliness. Meanwhile, local food has its current weaknesses in terms of higher price and unsuccessful information communication; however, these are not without solutions. Overall, while food localization and globalization differ in purpose, they can well co-exist, promote collaboration rather than confrontation, and together accelerate the sustainable growth of the food market. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agricultural Economy and Marketing Management)
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