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Average scoring per function, per stakeholder group. Values of standard deviation are indicated on top of each bar. 100 points were distributed among seven functions.
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![Figure 1. Adaptive cycle. Source: Resilience Alliance [40], originally...](profile/Simone-Severini/publication/338344794/figure/fig1/AS:842961667502081@1577989131941/Adaptive-cycle-Source-Resilience-Alliance-40-originally-from-Holling-and-Gunderson_Q320.jpg)
European agriculture is facing increasing economic, environmental, institutional, and social challenges, from changes in demographic trends to the effects of climate change. In this context of high instability, the agricultural sector in Europe needs to improve its resilience and sustainability. Local assessments and strategies at the farming syste...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... to the participants' scoring, the most important function delivered by the system was "Economic viability" (33 points), followed by "Food production" (25 points) and, with a much lower importance, "Quality of life" (Figure 3). The lowest scores were given to the functions related to public goods, particularly to "Natural resources", "Attractiveness of the area", and "Biodiversity and habitat" (8, 7, and 6 points respectively). ...
Context 2
... also showed the dynamics of the related function "Biodiversity and habitats". Between 2000 and 2007, the organic area had a slightly growing trend, mainly connected to the launching of tenders for organic production ( Figure A3). Between 2007 and 2012, the indicator was generally lower but oscillating, caused by the fact that the RDP started operating and therefore, the organic area depended on funding availability: according to the participants, organic areas in Italy tend to expand at the end of the tenders, when financial resources become available for organic production and farmers can apply for funding. ...
Citations
... Pimbert [41] also distinguishes agricultural product supply by highlighting the inelasticity of demand, the unpredictability and unmanageability of supply, and seasonal variation. Nevertheless, farm consolidation has made only limited strides; substantial numbers of small family farms continue to operate, and numerous large farms that have consolidated a substantial amount of land remain family-owned [55,56]. Family farming has flourished in advanced economies despite the progressive expansion of agri-industrialization over the past century and government policies encouraging agribusiness enterprise [57][58][59]. ...
This research investigated the role of agricultural cooperatives (ACs) in promoting sustainable agriculture and agrifood security, with a particular emphasis on Greece. A cross-sectional survey technique was employed, and data were collected from 400 farmers and professionals either employed by or associated with Greek agricultural cooperatives by administering an online questionnaire. A response rate of 96.5% was achieved. The study findings show that cooperative techniques
bring about a positive shift in agrifood security and sustainable agriculture. Particularly, participants concurred that resource sharing among cooperative members increases farm productiveness and sustainability by 94.2% while improving access to credit and financial support by 91.5%. Moreover, 84.3% agreed that access to up-to-date information enhances the practice of sustainable agriculture,
and 95.1% agreed that collective bargaining through cooperatives increases the prices of agricultural commodities. Regarding the application of advanced technologies in cooperative practices, 96.7% of the participants acknowledged that it improved farm efficiency. The cooperative model demonstrates how agricultural expansion may be achieved by collective bargaining, information sharing, resource
sharing, and technological integration, while also considerably improving agrifood security and sustainability. These findings highlight the crucial importance of cooperatives in increasing the level of agricultural production, ensuring sustainability, and improving agrifood security in Greece.
... Thus, hazelnuts, an important permanent crop, represent a significant source of income for Türkiye and a strategic product in terms of agriculture and export. In addition, it has significant importance to analyze the sustainability of the structure of hazelnut orchards, given the accelerated spread that can result from monocultural agriculture at the regional level [2], [3], [4]. ...
... e., resilience attributes hereafter) to more general characteristics (i.e., resilience principles hereafter) that enable resilience capacities (i.e., robustness, adaptability and transformability) (Meuwissen et al., 2019;Reidsma et al., 2020). Previous research has focused on the relation between resilience attributes and resilience capacities (Nera et al., 2020;Paas et al., 2021a;Reidsma et al., 2020). However, the full sequential structure, including resilience principles, has not been used to operationalise resilience assessments. ...
... Some studies have used farmers' perceptions to explore how some farm(er) attributes may individually enhance resilience capacities Bertolozzi-Caredio et al., 2021;Slijper et al., 2022b;Spiegel et al., 2021). Other studies have explored the quantitative relations between attributes and capacities by following participatory assessments (Nera et al., 2020;Paas et al., 2021a;Reidsma et al., 2020). However, the contribution of a large number of farm(er) resilience attributes and principles to resilience capacities is still ambiguous and difficult to assess (Paas et al., 2021a). ...
CONTEXT: Uncertainty surrounds farming systems across Europe and strengthening their resilience lies at the centre of the European policy agenda. Although farming systems´resilience has been widely conceptualised, no consensus has been reached about assessing the contribution of farm and farmer attributes to farmers´perceived resilience by quantitative approaches. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to understand what farm(er) attributes and principles contribute to explain farmers´perceived resilience. Our specific objectives are to: i) develop a conceptual framework composed of attributes, principles and capacities to assess farms’ resilience, including farmer personal resilience as a resilience principle; ii) quantify links between farm attributes and resilience principles with farmers´perceived resilience capacities. METHODS: We developed a framework that includes different farm and farmer attributes grouped into resilience principles. We designed and conducted a structured survey to allow small ruminant farmers in Spain to self-assess their resilience attributes and capacities. We used structural equation modelling to assess to what extent resilience attributes and principles explain perceived robustness, adaptability, transformability capacities and overall resilience. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Farmers´perceived resilience can be explained by several resilience attributes and principles, including farmers’ personal resilience. Some attributes contribute similarly to robustness, adaptability and transformability, while others contribute particularly to each capacity. Farm diversity, tightness of feedbacks and farmers´personal resilience were key for explaining farmers´perceived resilience for small ruminant farming systems in Spain. In particular, farmer optimism, and farms’ ability to respond in different ways to challenges and to overcome difficulties in the past, were the attributes that most influenced resilience perceptions. Our results highlight the importance of farmer personality, in addition to farm characteristics, for understanding farmers’ resilience perceptions. SIGNIFICANCE: This study contributes to the development of quantitative farm resilience assessments by considering multiple farm attributes and also several farmers’ psychological attributes. Our framework provides a list of attributes and principles that can be applied to different farming systems. We provide a specific approach to identify the most relevant attributes and principles that drive perceived resilience in a large set of them that could guide farm and stakeholders’ decision making.
... The expanding cultivation areas emphasize the significance of this crop in the region. However, the expansion of hazelnuts as a local monoculture raises concerns about the sustainability of the system (Nera et al. (2020)), as it may lead to a reduction in biological and cultural diversity and potentially irreversible damage. ...
... The rapid expansion of hazelnuts as a local monoculture has raised valid concerns regarding the sustainability of the system [7,8]. ...
The production of “Nocciola Romana” hazelnuts in the province of Viterbo, Italy, has evolved into a highly efficient and profitable agro-industrial system. Our approach is based on a hierarchical framework utilizing aggregated data from multiple temporal data and sources, offering valuable insights into the spatial, temporal, and phenological distributions of hazelnut crops To achieve our goal, we harnessed the power of Google Earth Engine and utilized collections of satellite images from Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-1. By creating a dense stack of multi-temporal images, we precisely mapped hazelnut groves in the area. During the testing phase of our model pipeline, we achieved an F1-score of 99% by employing a Hierarchical Random Forest algorithm and conducting intensive sampling using high-resolution satellite imagery. Additionally, we employed a clustering process to further characterize the identified areas. Through this clustering process, we unveiled distinct regions exhibiting diverse spatial, spectral, and temporal responses. We successfully delineated the actual extent of hazelnut cultivation, totaling 22,780 hectares, in close accordance with national statistics, which reported 23,900 hectares in total and 21,700 hectares in production for the year 2022. In particular, we identified three distinct geographic distribution patterns of hazelnut orchards in the province of Viterbo, confined within the PDO (Protected Designation of Origin)-designated region. The methodology pursued, using three years of aggregate data and one for SAR with a spectral separation clustering hierarchical approach, has effectively allowed the identification of the specific perennial crop, enabling a deeper characterization of various aspects influenced by diverse environmental configurations and agronomic practices.The accurate mapping and characterization of hazelnut crops open opportunities for implementing precision agriculture strategies, thereby promoting sustainability and maximizing yields in this thriving agro-industrial system.
... FoPIA-SURE-Farm I (Nera et al., 2020;Paas et al., 2020;Reidsma et al., 2020a), was conducted in the 10 case studies presented in Table 1 and a case study on dairy farming in Flanders, Belgium. In each case study, one workshop of around six hours was held between November 2018 and March 2019. ...
... Resilience attributes considered were based on Cabell and Oelofse (2012), and adapted in the context of the SURE-Farm project Appendix B). "Infrastructure for innovation" and "Support rural life" were added, and several attributes were split and adapted to make them more specific for farming systems. The list of 22 attributes was however too long to discuss with stakeholders, and therefore only the main 13 were assessed during the FoPIA-SURE-Farm I workshops (Paas et al., 2021a;Nera et al., 2020;. This implied that some attributes specifically emphasized by other authors like Tittonell (2020), including "ecologically self-regulated", "reflective and shared learning", and "builds human capital", were omitted. ...
According to stakeholders, many European farming systems are close to critical thresholds regarding the challenges they face (e.g., droughts, price declines), functions they deliver (e.g., economic viability, biodiversity and habitat) and attributes required for resilience (e.g., social self-organization). To accelerate a transition process towards sustainable and resilient agriculture, this study aimed to identify actor-supported alternative systems across 10 European farming systems, and to identify associated future strategies that contribute to strengthening resilience attributes, using a backcasting approach. This paper synthesizes 1) the participatory identification of desired alternative systems and their expected performance on sustainability and resilience, 2) the participatory identification of strategies to realize those alternative systems, 3) the contribution of identified past and future strategies to 22 resilience attributes, and 4) the compatibility of the status quo and alternative systems with different future scenarios, the Eur-Agri-SSPs. Many identified alternative systems emphasized technology, diversification and organic and/or nature friendly farming, while in some farming systems also a focus on intensification, specialization, better product valorization, collaboration, or creating an attractive countryside could increase sustainability and resilience. Low economic viability limited farming system actors to pay attention to environmental and social functions. Further, most alternative systems were adaptations rather than transformations. Many stakeholders had difficulty to envisage systems without the main products (e.g., starch potato in NL-Arable, sheep in ES-Sheep and hazelnut in IT-Hazelnut), but in few cases transformative systems were designed (e.g. local organic farming in PL-Horticulture and RO-Mixed). Sustainability and resilience can be enhanced when alternative systems and strategies are combined, thereby improving multiple functions and attributes at once. In particular, production and legislation need to be coupled to local and natural capital. Identified alternative systems seem only compatible with Eur-Agri-SSP1 'agriculture on sustainable paths'. This requires policies at EU-level that stimulate macro-level social, institutional, economic, and technological developments that strengthen this scenario. We conclude that to get stakeholders along, incremental adaptation rather than radical transformation should be sought. The identification of alternative systems is only a start for the transition process. Their analysis, along with the strategies identified, need to trigger the involvement of 2 farmers and other 'enabling actors' inside and outside the farming systems to make a change, and where needed, systems can evolve into more transformative systems.
... The area of hazelnut plantations in Ukraine is about 1,000 hectares, and it has been constantly expanding in recent years (taking into account high-level exportability), but the domestic needs are met at the level of 10-15%. Hazelnuts are mainly imported (Nera et al., 2020;Wani et al., 2020;Di Lena et al., 2022). ...
Global climate change provide the emergence of new opportunities for the introduction of new crops into horticultural production in the areas of insufficient precipitation. In addition to the economic aspect, it is also of interest to the biologists of the development of this plant in a qualitatively new environment.The paper considers the variability of the main traits of plant morphometry, yield for four varieties of hazelnuts in order to identify the most promising forms for cultivating in the northern part of the Steppe of Ukraine characterized by an insufficient precipitation and harsh winters. Recent milder winter conditions and a certain balance in summer droughts have made the required horticultural production possible, thereby increasing the production of hazelnuts and addressing the dietary problems of people in terms of supply of necessary vitamins and micronutrient element from hazelnuts. Promising varieties for the production plantations have been specified, the mechanisms for the yield formation have been studied. Key traits of morphometry have been identified that condition the success of a variety under insufficient humidity. These were such traits as crown volume, leaf surface area, shell thickness, average weight of one nut, weight of dry nuts, yield, kernel yield. It has been established that the yield formation on account of large, well-shaped nuts is best in terms of yield. Some aspects of yield formation and the possibility of combining different varieties, especially when more intensive growing methods are applied, are of additional interest. High variability significantly prevents the modeling of traits, for example, such as yield per tree, from being significant in terms of the formation of high yield. Semi-intensive pruning of hazelnut bushes shows its suitability for use in modern garden plantings. Variety Barselonskiy showed extremely high variability for many key parameters, which may indicate insufficient stability of this variety from a genetic point of view and the presence of a fairly significant number of hidden biotypes, which is additionally negative for cultivation in modern semi-intensive and intensive technologies. Climate change makes it possible to continue to significantly expand the area under hazelnuts due to the previously considered unfavourable southern subzones of the Forest-Steppe and the Steppe zone of Ukraine. Such new and previously unnoticed effects have been noted as fruiting in the first year in production crops, the formation of up to 5–6 inflorescences for each nut-bearing branch in the second or third year. For further investigations, it is planned to analyze the nutritional qualities of the obtained products, in terms of the composition by microelements and the presence of biologically-active substances, to trace the dynamics of the accumulation of heavy metals and the potentially associated risks.
... Recently, the production of hazelnuts has attracted attention due to the growing demand of the product from confectionery companies and, at the same time, to the increase in the economic performance of hazelnut farming systems. As a result, there has been an intensification of the world surface area of hazelnut trees, from 607,427 hectares in 2010 to more than one million hectares in 2019 [1][2][3]. ...
... At the international level, Turkey is the main producer of hazelnuts, with a global production exceeding 70%, whereas Italy is the second-world producer, both in terms of production volumes and cultivated area [1,2,23,24]. Highly specialized areas of hazelnut production in Italy are located in Piedmont, Lazio, Campania, and Sicily, which have favorable environmental and socio-economic conditions [1,25]. ...
... At the international level, Turkey is the main producer of hazelnuts, with a global production exceeding 70%, whereas Italy is the second-world producer, both in terms of production volumes and cultivated area [1,2,23,24]. Highly specialized areas of hazelnut production in Italy are located in Piedmont, Lazio, Campania, and Sicily, which have favorable environmental and socio-economic conditions [1,25]. The province of Viterbo ranks first in the production of hazelnuts, representing an average of 30% of national production [2]. ...
Specialized agricultural systems may have a strong environmental impact, thus affecting the sustainability of production. The aim of this study is to evaluate the overall environmental impact of the hazelnut production, focusing on the main Italian production area, which is located in the province of Viterbo (central Italy). The theoretical approach adopted in this study refers to the paradigm of ecological economics, recalling the concept of strong sustainability through the conservation of natural capital and its non-replacement with economic capital. This environmental sustainability of farming systems is assessed through the ecological balance (EB) tool by comparing the availability and use of natural capital in each farm scenario. This allows to understand the extent of the load generated on the environment by the different farm’s typologies, as well as the impact on the entire territory where hazelnut cultivation is predominant. For the assessment, local typical farm scenarios are assessed through a Delphi consultation of a panel of experts, thus characterizing the cultivation techniques most frequently adopted in the area. Three typologies of representative farms emerge, which mainly differ for cultivation method and dimension. Cultivation methods associated with the larger farms (both conventional and organic) generate a positive contribution to EB, whereas small farms (conventional) have a negative EB due to the high utilization of inputs. However, the positive balance of the large farms compensates for the negative balance of the small ones. This determines a total positive environmental balance of the specialized production area of Viterbo, equal to 9412 gha. This means that hazelnut farming at a territorial level is sustainable thanks to specific farm managements, which can be promoted by policy-makers.
... Italy is the second largest hazelnut producer in the world, and the Viterbo province (Central Italy) ranks first in hazelnut production with 48,400 tons [1,2]. Currently, hazelnut groves cover 43% of this province's agricultural area; they are mainly organised as monocultures with an increasing trend towards high-density large plantations [2]. ...
... Italy is the second largest hazelnut producer in the world, and the Viterbo province (Central Italy) ranks first in hazelnut production with 48,400 tons [1,2]. Currently, hazelnut groves cover 43% of this province's agricultural area; they are mainly organised as monocultures with an increasing trend towards high-density large plantations [2]. Therefore, Italy plays a relevant role in the supply of high-quality hazelnuts, the demand for which is soaring under the needs of the confectionery industry [2]. ...
... Currently, hazelnut groves cover 43% of this province's agricultural area; they are mainly organised as monocultures with an increasing trend towards high-density large plantations [2]. Therefore, Italy plays a relevant role in the supply of high-quality hazelnuts, the demand for which is soaring under the needs of the confectionery industry [2]. This drive toward intensive production systems is coupled with increased adoption of irrigation and mechanical harvesting [3]. ...
The increase in high-density hazelnut (Corylus avellana) areas drives the interest in practices of precision management. This work addressed soil apparent electrical conductivity (ECa), RGB aerial (UAV) images, proximal sensing, and field scouting in delineating and validating management zones (MZs) in a 2.96 ha hazelnut grove in Italy. ECa data were fitted to a semi-variogram, interpolated (simple kriging), and clustered, resulting in two MZs that were subjected to soil analysis. RGB imagery was used to extract tree canopies from the soil background and determine two vegetation indices (VIs) of general crop status: the Visible Atmospherically Resistant Index (VARI) and the Normalized Green-Red Difference Index (NGRDI). Then, plant growth parameters were manually assessed (tree height, crown size, etc.) and a proximal VI, the Canopy Index (CI), was determined with the MECS-VINE® vertical multisensor. MZ1 was characterized by lower ECa values than MZ2. This was associated with a lower clay content (9% vs. 21% in MZ1 vs. MZ2) and organic matter content (1.03% vs. 1.51% in MZ1 vs. MZ2), indicating lower soil fertility in MZ1 vs. MZ2. Additionally, hazelnut trees had significantly smaller canopies (1.42 vs. 1.94 m2 tree−1) and slightly lower values of VARI, NGRDI, and CI in MZ1 vs. MZ2. In conclusion, our approach used ECa to identify homogeneous field areas, which showed differences in soil properties influencing tree growth. This is the premise for differential hazelnut management in view of better efficiency and sustainability in the use of crop inputs.
... Agricultural government financial support reflects the government's ability to self-adjust its financial support for agriculture. By providing this support, the government is able to create opportunities for employment, increase food production, and promote sustainable development (Nera et al. 2020). ② AFAI. ...
Under the scenario of the complex external environment and internal structural changes in agricultural development, exploring the synergistic relationship between agricultural green efficiency (AGE) and agricultural economic resilience (AER) can offer a new path for fostering sustainable regional agricultural development. This paper fills the research gap in the interaction between efficiency and resilience in agriculture. We explore the synergistic mechanism of the two based on the perspective of sustainable development, providing a reference for constructing a synergistic theoretical system of AGE and AER. Moreover, we apply the Haken model to the field of the agricultural economy and scientifically evaluate the level of AGE and AER synergy in Northeast China from 2010 to 2020. Finally, we analyze the influencing factors of AGE and AER synergy in Northeast China from three dimensions: economic, social, and natural. The results show that AER is dominant in the AGE-AER synergistic system. The synergy level of AGE and AER in Northeast China is mainly in the higher and advanced synergy stages, with obvious spatio-temporal differences and insufficient inter-regional radiation effects. Social factors are the main factors of spatial differentiation of AGE and AER synergy.
