• Energy Research

Efficient use of agricultural wastes and by-products, basically transforming waste materials into value added products, is considered as pivotal for an effective bioeconomy strategy for the rural development. To this scope, citrus waste management represents a major issue for citrus processors but, at the same time, it embodies a potentially unexploited resource for the rural sustainable development. This study focuses on analyzing the current management of citrus waste in South Italy and identifying the determinants and barriers that may affect an entrepreneur’s choice on the destination of citrus waste. Citrus processors’ preferences about the contract characteristics needed to take part in a co-investment scheme have been investigated. Both analyses are preliminary steps to design an innovative and sustainable citrus by-product supply chain. Results show that the distance between the citrus processors and the citrus by-products plant is one of the main criteria for choosing alternative valorization pathways. Moreover, the required guaranteed capital, the short duration of the contract, and low risk are contract scheme characteristics that improve entrepreneurs’ willingness to co-invest in the development of a citrus waste multifunctional plant.

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.

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.

This study proposes an analysis to evaluate the effects on the future choices of the zootechnical entrepreneur in light of the new indications in the Ministerial Decree of the July 6, 2012 "Execution of Art. 24 of the legislative decree 3 March 2011, no. 28 establishing incentives for the production of electricity from plants of renewable sources other than photovoltaic". Specifically, we will investigate the productive chain of biogas from anaerobic digestion and, in particular, the synergies that can be realized with the swine sector. The main objective is to assess what are the critical and the strength moments for the zootechnical entrepreneur in each stage of the chain, analyzing the opportunities of integration in order to gain an economic advantage in introducing innovative activities of process and transformation of livestock effluents; an economic profit can afford to enable virtuous practices on the part of the entrepreneur, also environmentally correct and able to make more sustainable the activities in the medium-long term.

The increasing micronutrient deficiency within the nutritional habits of the world’s population and the growing need for healthy foods have given rise to the development of biofortified crops. In a context where the consumer’s attention is focused on a healthy lifestyle and respect for the environment, the cultivation of potatoes enriched with selenium offers an undisputed advantage in the pursuit of this twofold objective. The crop has been analyzed through the life-cycle assessment (LCA) methodology in order to highlight the environmental burden generated by selenium (Se) potato cultivation and to compare it with potato in conventional regime. The LCA highlights how the biofortified product is more sustainable than the conventional one, and this not only provides a benefit for the consumer, but also designates a new time for farmers who have the opportunity to implement more environmentally friendly practices.

AbstractA group of over 600 Italian farmers organized as the Italian Biogas Consortium are redesigning their own farming systems to produce food and bioenergy in a nationwide farm‐level movement called Biogasdoneright™. This Feature demonstrates how it is possible to simultaneously increase the economic viability and stability of agriculture by reducing farm input costs and enabling farmers to produce food and fuel more sustainably. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Abstract This study was designed and developed to investigate the bread sector, by addressing the environmental issues associated with the supply chain of ‘ Pagnotta del Dittaino’ , a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) durum wheat bread produced in the central-east area of Sicily. In particular, the study discusses the application of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to highlight the most significant and representative environmental impacts for this bread production system. Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) and Carbon Footprint (CF) were also estimated to address the usage of primary-energy sources and the emissions of GreenHouse Gases (GHGs). Cultivation is the system hotspot, mostly because of the production of urea and diammonium phosphate, and of the agricultural activities. Significant contributions arise from ammonia volatilisation and nitrous oxide emission due to mineral fertilisation, affecting ‘Human health’ and ‘Climate Change’ . ‘ Resources’ were impacted by the non-renewable energy use (natural gas and crude oil) which, in turn, is due to the production and transport of fertilisers and to the agricultural activities. Additionally, the CED-analysis highlighted the important contribution made by the use of biomass energy, as a consequence of the energy sequestered by the plant during growth. CO 2 resulted to be the most relevant and representative GHG in this food system. The study contributes to the subject knowledge and literature, and can be of interest for researchers, LCA practitioners, farmers and producers, policy makers and other stakeholders, and could support the implementation of environmental labels.

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.