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Varietal Change Dominates Adoption of Technology in Spanish Citrus Production

by Maria Dolores de-Miguel, Pedro Caballero and Maria Angeles Fernández-Zamudio

Agronomy 2019, 9(10), 631; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy9100631 - 11 Oct 2019

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 4839

After describing the technology adopted and its influence on production and yield, the importance of varietal change, which is essential to meet demand, is underscored. The choice of a variety by growers depends on the expected price it will fetch along with the commercial and crop characteristics and the quality. Survival of a variety in the marketplace depends on the performance as expected and on the existence of other more competitive varieties. First, in Spanish citrus farming, the navel group predominate, with 41.10% of orange production, in which the main varieties are “Navelina” and “Lanelate.” The group of late white oranges is also important. The mandarin orange group includes clementines and mandarin hybrids; lemons also feature prominently. In sweet oranges, the navel group and late white group has often been renewed with varieties from the same group. In very early clementines varieties, the survival of which is usually short, the supply of new varieties is excessive. Because of its commercial characteristics and harvesting time, the group with the highest expansion possibilities are the mandarin hybrids which are in demand by hypermarkets. In the introduction of varieties, in recent years we have seen varietal clubs being established, with area control of each variety and very strict rules on cultivation and marketing. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Breeding and Production of Citrus)

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14 pages, 968 KB

Open AccessArticle

The Impact of Plant Variety Protection Regulations on the Governance of Agri-Food Value Chains

by Antonella Di Fonzo, Vanessa Nardone, Negin Fathinejad and Carlo Russo

Soc. Sci. 2019, 8(3), 91; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci8030091 - 11 Mar 2019

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 9494

Abstract

More than 25 years after the 1991 reform of the Union for the Protection of New Plant Varieties (UPOV) treaty, the regulation of Plant Variety Protection (PVP) is still controversial. While the incentives to private innovations are unquestionable, concerns have been raised about farmers’ access to resources, the weakening of their bargaining power, their entrepreneurial freedom, and ultimately their welfare. Our paper investigates the effect of PVP regulation on the governance of agri-food value chains (AFVC) with a small-scale survey of kiwi producers in Italy. We found that AFVC trading-protected (club) plant varieties are more likely to exhibit captive governance forms than those trading the free varieties. Nevertheless, the producers of club kiwis achieve higher returns from their investments and bear less risk than others. Because of the high demand for the club fruits, the breeders must give farmers highly profitable contract terms in order to elicit the production and to promote the adoption of the new cultivar. As a consequence, farmers are capturing a share of the value of innovation, even if the breeders have a strong protection. The long-run sustainability of this win-win agreement between breeders and farmers might be jeopardized should the demand for the new varieties fall. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Agrifood Value Chains in Developed and Developing Countries: Issues and Perspectives)

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