EuroChoices最新文献

{"title":"European Countries have Reduced Antimicrobial Use (AMU) in Livestock but Have They Also Replaced and Rethought AMU? A Qualitative Approach\u0000 Les pays européens ont réduit l'utilisation des antimicrobiens (AMU) dans l’élevage, mais ont-ils également remplacé et repensé cet usage ? Une approche qualitative\u0000 Europäische Länder haben den Einsatz antimikrobieller Mittel (AMU) in der Nutztierhaltung reduziert, aber haben sie AMU auch ersetzt und überdacht? Ein qualitativer Ansatz","authors":"Fanny Baudoin,&nbsp;Erwin Wauters","doi":"10.1111/1746-692X.12437","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1746-692X.12437","url":null,"abstract":"<p>As part of the transition to more sustainable agriculture, it has been observed that changes leading to low-to-moderate sustainability, including optimisation and substitution of production processes, are often preferred to more radical changes leading to deep sustainability, i.e. redesigning production processes. In this light, we sought to explore whether this was also the case for antimicrobial use in farm animal production, which has changed over the past decade in an effort to decrease the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in humans and animals. To explore this, a qualitative approach was used to 1) identify interventions in 12 animal production sectors across 9 European countries, 2) characterise them, and 3) estimate their potential to contribute to the ‘reduce’, ‘replace’ and ‘rethink’ approaches by stimulating the adoption of behaviours related to these strategies. Our findings revealed that while some interventions were identified to potentially contribute solely to one or two of the approaches, the majority were deemed capable of contributing to all three. However, for these interventions, our data suggest that their actual impact, as implemented, was confined to the ‘reduce’ and ‘replace’ approaches, an observation for which we put forward several hypotheses. In addition, policy implications are drawn.</p>","PeriodicalId":44823,"journal":{"name":"EuroChoices","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1746-692X.12437","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142430362","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The 2030 Veterinary Antimicrobial Sales Reduction Target in Europe: Where Are We?\u0000 L'objectif de réduction des ventes d'antimicrobiens vétérinaires en Europe d'ici 2030 : où en sommes-nous ?\u0000 Das Umsatzreduktionsziel für veterinärmedizinische antimikrobielle Mittel bis 2030 in Europa: Wo stehen wir?","authors":"Massimo Canali,&nbsp;Maurizio Aragrande,&nbsp;Caetano Luiz Beber","doi":"10.1111/1746-692X.12444","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1746-692X.12444","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;In 2020, the European Commission's Farm-to-Fork Strategy set the target of reducing sales of veterinary antimicrobials in the European Union (EU) by 50 per cent by 2030, compared to 2018 levels (European Commission, &lt;span&gt;2020a&lt;/span&gt;, &lt;span&gt;2020b&lt;/span&gt;). The initiative, aimed at combating antimicrobial resistance (AMR), connects various aspects of the EU health, environmental, agricultural and food policies. This process started in 2001 with the first Community Strategy against AMR, leading to the European ban on the use of antibiotics as growth promoters on farmed animals in 2006, and subsequently developed with the Action Plans against AMR of 2011 and 2017. In 2023, the EU Member States’ governments reaffirmed their intent to step up the EU actions against AMR.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The European Medicines Agency (EMA) calculates the sales of veterinary antimicrobials relative to the animal population of European farms in terms of Population Correction Units (PCUs). This indicator considers the total population of each farmed animal species multiplied by the estimated average liveweight when treated with antibiotics (EMA, &lt;span&gt;2023&lt;/span&gt;). The European 2030 target is computed as the total milligrams of antimicrobial active ingredients sold in the EU per kg PCU. According to the EMA, the EU-27 veterinary antibiotic sales decreased from 185.9 mg of active ingredients per kg PCU in 2010 to 84.8 mg/kg PCU in 2022 (Figure 1).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This result was achieved in three stages. During the first stage (2010–2014), the decrease in sales was gradual, averaging 1.8 per cent per year. The second stage (2015–2017) saw a much faster decline, with an average annual drop of 10.9 per cent. In the last phase (2018–2022), the decrease slowed to an average of 6.6 per cent per year (EMA, &lt;span&gt;2023&lt;/span&gt;). Thus, after the first launch period, the MS sales declined rapidly for three years and finally entered a phase of slower decrease, where further marginal gains seem less easy to achieve. The EU target requires that sales of veterinary antimicrobials in the EU should decrease to 59.2 mg/kg PCU (down from 118.4 mg/kg in 2018), i.e. an average annual decrease of 4.4 per cent between 2023 and 2030, which might be feasible given the current trend in the EU-27.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Using the same criteria, the European Commission set individual targets for each EU country, aiming for a 50 per cent reduction of sales per kg PCU in 2030 from the respective 2018 levels (European Commission, &lt;span&gt;2020b&lt;/span&gt;). Figure 2 shows the average annual percentage reduction in sales of active ingredients per kg PCU required in each country in 2023–2030 to reach its target (orange bars) and the average annual variation achieved in 2018–2022 (blue bars). The difference between the two values can provide information to assess the likelihood of each country achieving its goal. The parameters used for the analysis are described in the Figure 2 caption. Considering the main EU consumer countries of veterinary ant","PeriodicalId":44823,"journal":{"name":"EuroChoices","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1746-692X.12444","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142430360","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The EU Deforestation Regulation","authors":"Christopher L. Gilbert","doi":"10.1111/1746-692x.12436","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1746-692x.12436","url":null,"abstract":"SummaryThe EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) will introduce stringent due diligence requirements on the sale of seven major agricultural commodities in the EU with the objective of limiting deforestation in the producing countries. The greatest impact is likely to be in cocoa and coffee where the EU, and Europe more widely, are responsible for a large share of world consumption; and possibly also in palm oil which has seen substantial deforestation. Commodity supply chains are complex. In particular, crops produced by smallholder farmers are aggregated into larger packets prior to export. Tracking the deforestation status of these aggregated packets will be a major and potentially costly undertaking. This will result in the restructuring of supply chains, favouring large farms over smallholdings and international trading companies over nationally‐based exporters. These developments are seen by some producing country governments as imperialistic. EUDR‐compliant supplies will earn a premium and this will raise the prices faced by European consumers. Producers who are able to comply will benefit from the premium but will bear the compliance cost. Overall, there will be a net pecuniary loss. Benefits to deforestation will only emerge as new planting takes place and will depend on whether other consuming countries introduce similar legislation. I estimate that, despite the reduction in deforestation embodied in EU imports, the overall impact on deforestation will be minor but with high associated compliance costs.","PeriodicalId":44823,"journal":{"name":"EuroChoices","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142259753","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How to Assess Digitisation Impacts on the Food Industry: The Dutch Case of Microdata Collection for Firms’ Sustainability","authors":"Tobias Dalhaus, Jan‐Philip Uhlemann, Mariska van der Voort, John Bonestroo, David Zilberman, Thomas Reardon","doi":"10.1111/1746-692x.12439","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1746-692x.12439","url":null,"abstract":"SummaryDigital innovations can increase resilience and sustainability of food businesses due to for instance increasing efficiency, reducing pollution or improving transparency about production conditions. However, much of the research on this topic has been done at the primary production level, i.e. on technology impacts on farms, or remains at an <jats:italic>ex‐ante</jats:italic> case study level when looking at digital technology impacts in downstream food businesses. Therefore, <jats:italic>ex‐post</jats:italic> impacts of digital technologies after their adoption are largely unknown.We here argue that this knowledge gap arises from the fact that we lack single company data (i.e. micro‐data) on the adoption of digital technologies in food businesses. Only with this information can actual impacts of these technologies be assessed using causal inference methods. As a way forward, we highlight a unique dataset of digital technology adoption among Dutch downstream food businesses that is available for research purposes. We show that digital technologies already have a considerable market penetration in the Netherlands. Therefore, we urge the scientific community and governmental statistical offices to collect and make available similar data globally and make use of the already existing data. Such impact assessments will inform and accelerate the transition towards more sustainable and resilient food value chains.","PeriodicalId":44823,"journal":{"name":"EuroChoices","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142207916","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Vikings have landed – Denmark's decision to tax livestock emissions as a ‘game changer’","authors":"David Blandford","doi":"10.1111/1746-692x.12440","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1746-692x.12440","url":null,"abstract":"SummaryFrom 2030, Denmark will impose a carbon tax on livestock emissions as part of a package of measures to address climate change mitigation and adaptation in agriculture. The Danish scheme is particularly noteworthy in being designed with the cooperation of farmers, as well as industry and environmental groups. Revenue generated from the tax will be used to help finance adaptation components of the package. Although the size of the tax is not large, it will have important implications. It increases pressure for a unified EU policy response to the use of carbon taxes for agriculture. Future policy fragmentation may increase tensions among Members over potential ‘carbon leakage’ through the free movement of agricultural products in the single market; not just through imports from third countries. The Danish action opens the door to the commercialisation of ‘green credentials’ for well‐known Danish brands of livestock products. This could have implications for the competitive position of other important suppliers of such products. Without a shared collective response to internalising the costs of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, it will be difficult for the EU to chart a harmonious path to achieving its ambitious climate goals for 2030 and beyond.","PeriodicalId":44823,"journal":{"name":"EuroChoices","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142207914","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Agri‐environmental Schemes Require Improved Design for Better Outcomes","authors":"Chi Nguyen, Uwe Latacz‐Lohmann, Nick Hanley","doi":"10.1111/1746-692x.12441","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1746-692x.12441","url":null,"abstract":"SummaryAdvocacy for a shift from an individual farm‐level to a landscape‐level approach in agri‐environmental policy is a focal point in the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy. Such a shift aims to address spatial mismatches between ecological processes and targeted environmental outcomes, and to harness potential ecological gains from spatial coordination. However, there remains limited understanding of how to design effective mechanisms aimed at encouraging coordination among landholders. Do landscape configurations influence the effectiveness of coordination mechanisms? This article aims to assess the effectiveness of alternative coordination mechanisms incorporated in the design of a conservation auction across alternative landscape configurations, that is, in terms of the spatial relationship between some measure of environmental benefit – such as wild bird species diversity – and the profitability of farmland. These mechanisms include landholder‐to‐landholder communication, disclosure of spatial environmental scoring rules, and the Agglomeration Bonus. We used lab experiments to evaluate these options. Our results suggest that there is no panacea for promoting landscape‐level environmental outcomes. Communication proves capable of significantly facilitating coordination, whilst information disclosure policies can serve as an effective coordination mechanism in multiple landscape types. By contrast, the Agglomeration Bonus was only found to effectively promote coordination in a positively correlated landscape type. It leads to lower cost‐effectiveness in all landscape types.","PeriodicalId":44823,"journal":{"name":"EuroChoices","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142226538","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Neither Healthy nor Safe: Insufficient Regulation of Occupational Health and Safety for Migrant Farmworkers in Europe","authors":"Juan Castillo‐Rojas‐Marcos, Yoan Molinero‐Gerbeau","doi":"10.1111/1746-692x.12432","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1746-692x.12432","url":null,"abstract":"SummaryOccupational safety and health (OSH) began to be regulated at the EU level with the OSH Framework Directive in 1989. Since then, many other legal acts and policies have followed, enriching the complex European set of legal tools and protections on work‐related health and safety. However, they all share the same approach: only eventualities happening to workers in the workplace, during working hours and/or caused by their work tasks can potentially be designated as an OSH impact; andtherefore be legally problematised and tackled. This paper argues that such an approach is insufficient for a sector like European agriculture, whose workforce is increasingly composed of migrant labourers. As scientific evidence reveals, migrant farmworkers face another whole set of severe health and safety risks directly linked to their jobs, which nonetheless would not fit in the traditional definition of OSH. From deficient and substandard accommodation to isolation and lack of access to vital services, these people's jobs potientially expose them to potent health stressors. The sector urgently needs a new and more ambitious conception of OSH to develop legislation and/or policies adapted to the needs of all its workers, including migrants.","PeriodicalId":44823,"journal":{"name":"EuroChoices","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141781804","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Consumer Prices in German Food E‐Retailing: the Impact of the Value Added Tax Cut in 2020","authors":"Johann Scharnhop, Jens‐Peter Loy","doi":"10.1111/1746-692x.12435","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1746-692x.12435","url":null,"abstract":"SummaryIn July 2020, the German government reduced the VAT rate for six months in order to stimulate private consumption and support the economy, which had been weakened by the Covid‐19 pandemic. It was crucial for the success of the tax cut that retailers passed it on to consumers by reducing retail prices. This article applies a fixed effects estimation model to analyse the price effects of the VAT reduction in grocery e‐retailing. It uses price data collected directly from the websites for major food categories of four food e‐retailers, Bringmeister, MyTime, Real and Rewe. The tax reduction overall was largely passed on to consumers by price reductions. However, the pass‐through rates, i.e. the extent to which the tax rate change was translated into lower prices, varied among the stores, ranging from 16 to 134 per cent, with the highest rate being for Bringmeister. The pass‐through rate for Rewe was 84 per cent. Also, the timing of the pass‐through varies. The highly divergent pass‐through rates were below the expectations of politicians and the announcements made in advance by food retailers, suggesting some strategic pricing within and between stores. For future VAT reduction initiatives, the results of this study and consumers' reactions to price changes should be considered in more detail in order to complete the assessment of the effectiveness of such measures.","PeriodicalId":44823,"journal":{"name":"EuroChoices","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141781807","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Citizens’ Willingness to Pay for Sustainable Innovations: Evidence from Six European Union Member States","authors":"Yan Jin, Riccardo Borgia, Bouali Guesmi, Djamel Rahmani, Noah Larvoe, Stefano Targetti, Davide Viaggi, José María Gil","doi":"10.1111/1746-692x.12433","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1746-692x.12433","url":null,"abstract":"SummaryInnovations in the agri‐food industry targeting the strengthening of sustainability have recently increased their emphasis on compliance with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In the H2020 CO‐FRESH project, seven sustainable innovations have been implemented by seven local farms and companies in six EU Member States using diversified formats, including a smart irrigation system, reutilising water in processing, and sensors for precisely applying fertilisers. Previous studies have predominantly focused on sustainable innovations in one Member State but not at a pan‐European level. In this study, we adopted a choice experiment to assess citizens’ Willingness‐To‐Pay (WTP) for public goods associated with sustainable innovations in Europe. The common attributes derived from different innovations enable a cross‐country comparison of the WTP of citizens living near innovation sites for carbon emissions, biodiversity and local employment. The results indicate European citizens’ different WTP for public goods and significant regional heterogeneity of socio‐demographics among citizen clusters. A successful agricultural transition must be socially inclusive. This study has policy implications for various stakeholders in the agri‐food value chain as well as policymakers when deciding on optimally allocating resources or implementing policy incentives to enhance sustainability and avoid ‘one‐size‐fits‐all’ applications, considering the heterogeneity in Europe.","PeriodicalId":44823,"journal":{"name":"EuroChoices","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141613925","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Innovation in the Farm Office for Smart Sustainability Reporting","authors":"Krijn J. Poppe, Hans C.J. Vrolijk, Marcel A.P.M. van Asseldonk","doi":"10.1111/1746-692x.12427","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1746-692x.12427","url":null,"abstract":"SummaryFarms face an increasing administrative burden due to the push for a more sustainable agri‐food system. Farms are required to demonstrate compliance with various sustainability schemes, and this trend is expected to intensify with a more performance‐based CAP and new directives and regulations. The need for smart data reporting is emphasised, with a focus on minimising the administrative burden, creating useful systems and indicators for farm management, and ensuring auditability.We advocate smart reporting as a solution and innovation in the farm office. The integration of data from Farm Management Information Systems (FMIS) with sustainability indicators is proposed in order to streamline the reporting process. The importance of using technology, such as e‐invoicing and robotic accounting, is highlighted to monitor and report crucial performance data. The integration of FMIS and Farm Financial Accounting (FFA) is proposed as a solution to enhance auditability and reduce manual input. The potential benefits of fully digital invoices and delivery notes to further streamline data exchange are proposed. Additionally, the paper discusses the role of central databases in the dairy sector.Policy implications for governments in promoting data‐intensive relationships with farmers are identified. They build upon previous policy measures that involved accounting within farms and the digital exchange of data.The paper concludes by emphasising the importance of supporting innovation in the farm office to unlock the full potential of technologies like blockchain, big data analysis, artificial intelligence and sustainability management.","PeriodicalId":44823,"journal":{"name":"EuroChoices","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-05-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140926556","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}