Simone Blanc

Simone Blanc
Università degli Studi di Torino | UNITO · Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences

Professor

About

125
Publications
28,408
Reads
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852
Citations
Introduction
He carries out his research in the analysis of economic, management and estimation aspects within the agro-forestry supply chains. His research interests are focused in particular on the territorial effects and socio-economic development of the main agro-forestry chains, on the dynamics of rural areas, on innovation and training processes and on sustainable development.
Additional affiliations
April 2020 - March 2023
Università degli Studi di Torino
Position
  • Professor (Assistant)
November 2018 - November 2019
Università degli Studi di Torino
Position
  • PostDoc Position
October 2015 - November 2018
Università degli Studi di Torino
Position
  • PhD Student
Description
  • The valorization of marginal areas by developing integrated economic activities
Education
September 2005 - March 2008
Università degli Studi di Torino
Field of study
  • Soil conservation and forest maintenance of the territory

Publications

Publications (125)
Presentation
The introduction of food by-products into feed may have environmental and economic benefits. We explore the implication of integrating hazelnut skins into different livestock diets.
Article
Full-text available
Society and governance require multinational companies to adopt sustainable behaviour, looking at Corporate Social Responsibility. This study analysed the largest chocolate and cocoa producers in 2021 focusing on their communication strategies. The objective was to identify how these companies communicate their sustainable practices, finding the co...
Article
Full-text available
Food labeling can influence, sometimes facilitate, changes in consumer diets to support environmental sustainability and in response to climate change. However, a significant impediment to this dietary shift may arise from the consumers’ tendency to underestimate the environmental impact of their food choices and from their limited knowledge about...
Article
Full-text available
The wine industry has been witnessing a growth in businesses crafting sustainability-certified wines and in the attention of consumers to sustainability, especially in the United States and Italy. To identify the characteristics of consumers who prefer sustainability-certified wine, this study analysed the relationship between consumers’ demographi...
Book
Full-text available
L'apicoltura italiana sta affrontando sfde economiche e ambientali e combatte il declino delle api causato da malattie, pesticidi e cambiamento climatico. Inoltre, la concorrenza estera esercita pressioni sui prezzi, riducendo la redditività per i produttori locali. Questo studio, condotto da Aspromiele e Università di Torino, fnanziato dall'UE, ana...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
The evolution of rockfall phenomena depends on both rock mass and slope characteristics: variations in cover, morphology or vegetation induced by intense weather events can have huge consequences. Investigating these effects is required to assess the effectiveness of existing protection structures. This study focuses on the Bazena case (Brescia, It...
Article
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Sustainability is one of the main goals of the development policy and is also progressively gaining importance in the wine industry. The peculiar draught wine market is also strongly influenced by it. The current competitive conditions of the sector and the evolution of consumption styles have led to an increasing need for more accurate management...
Article
Full-text available
Payments for ecosystem services are a voluntary market-based instrument to remunerate provider(s) of ecosystem services by those who benefit from them. Our research aimed to create an ex post evaluation framework to identify bottlenecks and elements hindering the success of a solution-driven PES scheme. The framework was applied to a case study to...
Article
This study assesses the declared preferences of a sample of Italian consumers (n=657) towards chocolate, considering their sociodemographic variables, lifestyle and food habits. Firstly, the Best-Worst scaling (BWS) methodology was employed to define the relative importance assigned by consumers to 12 chocolate attributes. Additionally, the Latent...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Forests can effectively mitigate rockfall risk in mountainous contexts, acting as "nature-based solutions" (NBS). However, the use of artificial structures, for example, rockfall barriers, is usually necessary and complementary to ensure continuous and effective protection of specific elements at risk. In this work, we evaluate the forest protectio...
Article
Full-text available
Markets for ecosystem services (MES) can play a key role in the protection of natural capital and the remuneration of sustainable management practices. This study aims to present the state of the art on forestry MES at the international level through a systematic review. The main objectives are (i) to analyse the distribution of actual or potential...
Article
Full-text available
Efficient natural resource management prevents and reduces negative impacts, such as environmental damage, misappropriation of resources, and conflicts; several strategies can be leveraged to conserve, protect, and enhance natural resources. Multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) is useful in providing solutions to addressing decision-choice proble...
Preprint
Full-text available
Payments for Ecosystem Services are a voluntary market-based instrument to remunerate provider(s) of ecosystem services by those who benefit from them. Our research aimed to create an ex-post evaluation framework to identify bottlenecks and elements hindering the success of a solution-driven PES scheme. The framework was applied to a case study to...
Preprint
Full-text available
Efficient natural resource management prevents and reduces negative impacts, such as environmental damage, misappropriation of resources, and conflicts; several strategies can be leveraged to conserve, protect, and enhance natural resources. Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) is helpful in providing solutions to addressing decision-choice prob...
Article
Full-text available
Emerging new purchasing behaviors have been reflected in the sales trends of dairy products, mainly in cow milk consumption. This study aimed to investigate the preferences of milk purchasers toward different product attributes, by considering both individuals’ socio-demographic characteristics (SD) and milk purchasing habits (PH) as independent va...
Article
The adoption of nature-based solutions, such as forests, is playing an increasingly important role in risk analysis and related decision-making. However, decision-makers struggle to put a value on the services provided by these solutions, as there is no reference market, and are thus faced with several challenges, which relate to the choice of the...
Article
Full-text available
This study analysed the main aspects of the communication of local beekeepers on their websites, to identify the most popular elements and to check whether companies communicate differently. A Web Content Analysis of all textual material on Piedmontese beekeeping websites was carried out, taking into consideration all variables such as domain autho...
Article
Full-text available
Social media data reveal patterns of knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours of users on a range of topics. This study analysed 4398 tweets gathered between 17 January 2022 and 3 February 2022 related to ecosystem services, using the keyword and hashtag “ecosystem services”. The Microsoft Excel plugin, NodeXL was used for social and semantic network a...
Article
Full-text available
Honey production is currently experiencing a great deal of media attention, with many positive attributes of this hive product emerging. The purpose of the study is to investigate consumer preference and what key information informs people’s purchase of honey. This study is based on consumer surveys and experimental evaluation. First of all, the re...
Article
L’apicoltura rappresenta per l’Italia un settore di nicchia, che riveste tuttavia una certa importanza dal punto di vista economico, con una produzione nel 2021 di circa 13.100 tonnellate di miele per un valore di 136 milioni di euro (Osservatorio Nazionale Miele, 2022). Il settore sta però affrontando un periodo travagliato, sia a causa dei cam...
Article
Full-text available
In the field of fuels generated from renewable resources, woody biomasses have found fertile ground for labelling. Indeed, several certification schemes have been developed, covering not only the sustainability of forest management, but also the chain of custody, allowing the traceability of products at different stages, from production to purchase...
Article
The specialty milk market in Italy has shown positive trends in recent years. Companies, from small producers to market leaders, continue to invest in differentiating their product lines, increasingly orienting their production choices towards specialties linked to sustainability and health benefits. This trend not only meets the needs of consumers...
Article
Full-text available
Forest Ecosystem Services (FES) are widely recognised by the society nowadays. However, no study in the literature has analysed a ranking of FES after the pandemic. This paper investigated civil society’s perception and knowledge toward these services; in addition, the presence of attitudinal or behavioural patterns regarding individual’s preferenc...
Article
The use of biofuels has proven to be fundamental in decreasing the impact of human activities on the environment and also in contributing to a more sustainable development. Wooden biomasses have historically been used for heating purposes and are still being used worldwide. The valorisation of wood products goes through certifications, in particula...
Article
Full-text available
Wood has traditionally been used to make sports equipment and playing surfaces. While its use is outdated in several sports, in many others, wood remains well-established or even the material of choice, e.g., to make basketball floors or table tennis rackets. This study aims at evaluating the main drivers of web-based communication of wooden sport...
Poster
The research represents one of the first concrete cases of blockchain in the forestry nursery market and the preliminary results show the advantages of traceability, in guaranteeing security, product quality, transparency and liability. In addition, anticipating the maturity phase when this technology will be used on a mass scale, it will be import...
Poster
Full-text available
The primary aim of market segmentation is to identify relevant groups of consumers that can be addressed efficiently by marketing or advertising campaigns (Müllensiefen et al., 2018). The chocolate market is a multidimensional environment in which emotional, hedonic, health, ethical, sustainable and traditional aspects are all identifiable in a uni...
Poster
Full-text available
Negli ultimi decenni è aumentata l'attenzione alla gestione dei rischi naturali in ambiente montano, a causa dei frequenti eventi, in un contesto antropizzato e soggetto al cambiamento climatico. FOREST ASSESSMENT TOOLBOX uno strumento di supporto decisionale per la riduzione del rischio derivante da pericoli naturali nello Spazio Alpino Il Forest...
Poster
Full-text available
Valutazione delle funzionalità del Forest Assessment Tool (FAT): un caso studio applicativo Il FAT è uno strumento di supporto decisionale, disponibile gratuitamente online, realizzato nell'ambito del progetto europeo INTERREG Spazio Alpino "GreenRisk4Alps". I risultati ottenuti possono essere confrontati tra loro al fine di indirizzare enti o indi...
Article
Full-text available
Background: This research investigates the web-based communication and promotion strategies applied by a sample of selected chocolatiers in Piedmont, a region in the northwest of Italy known for its ancient chocolate-making tradition. Methods: the AGIL scheme was used (A-adaptation, which evaluates the persuasive approach; G-goal achievement, which...
Article
Purpose As is well known, there are several aspects that characterise honey consumption and the reasons for purchasing it. Despite this, little attention has been paid to the drivers that move consumers towards the use of honey for its health benefits and therapeutic properties. The aim of this study is to define which drivers move the consumption...
Article
Full-text available
Forest certifications aim to promote sustainable forest management through the certification of forest products derived from forests managed according to a set of guidelines. However, managing a forest following the sustainability benchmarks indicated by the different certification systems has a higher cost than non-certified forests. This cost dif...
Article
Il progetto GreenRisk4ALPs, finanziato dal fondo europeo INTERREG Spazio Alpino, ha sviluppato uno strumento di supporto decisionale utile a tecnici, decisori politici, amministratori pubblici e comunità locali nella gestione dei rischi naturali. Si tratta del Forest Assessment Toolbox (FAT) che consente di valutare il livello di rischio e sviluppa...
Article
Il castagno, prima specie forestale per superficie occupata in Piemonte, risulta ancora scarsamente valorizzato nonostante la sua spiccata multifunzionalità. Partendo da un'analisi del contesto e della filiera, vengono presentate alcune strategie di valorizzazione in linea con gli Obiettivi di Sviluppo Sostenibile proposti dall'Agenda 2030 dell'ONU...
Technical Report
Il progetto pilota CastagnoPiù dedicato alla filiera foresta-legno del castagno piemontese ha riguardato in particolare gli ambiti collinari e pedemontani interessati dalla presenza di boschi di questa specie. Purtroppo, ad oggi i boschi di castagno piemontesi sono per lo più caratterizzati da un cronico deprezzamento della loro funzionalità produt...
Article
Purpose In Italy, the craft beer (CB) market has undergone a trend of exponential growth in recent years, showing, at the same time, differences among different geographical areas. This research aimed to define the consumer preferences towards different CB attributes by involving a sample of individuals from Piedmont (from North-West Italy). Furthe...
Article
This paper analyses the preferences and emotional connotations of Italian consumers towards different chocolate types and assesses which label information consumers take into consideration during the purchasing process. A survey was conducted to collect data from 390 respondents from two different Italian chocolate production regions (Sicily and Pi...
Poster
Forest certification schemes, such as FSC and PEFC, are voluntary tools that aim to ensure compliance with sustainable forest management standards. The ability to trace a forest product through the entire supply chain has been possible for some time with the implementation of automatic identification systems. The research presents an economic metho...
Presentation
In recent years in mountain areas, natural hazards such as rockfalls, avalanches and mudflows, triggered by ongoing climate change have increased in both frequency and magnitude. Hazards that, accompanied by increasing demographic pressure, socio-economic and land-use changes, especially in the Alpine region, have called for a greater need for huma...
Article
Purpose This study aims to examine the importance that different intrinsic and extrinsic attributes represent for young Italian consumers of honey, analysing how these aspects influence the quality perceived during consumption. In addition, demographic and lifestyle aspects have been considered as possible discriminants influencing millennial gener...
Article
In recent years, honey consumption has attracted an increasing interest among consumers, due to its beneficial properties for health and to the multiplicity of its use. Given the high importance that consumers ascribe to the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) label, considered as one of the most relevant attributes for agro-food consumers, this...
Article
Full-text available
The global honey market has witnessed constant growth over recent decades, especially in Asian regions. In recent years, the increase in export flows of this product throughout the world has raised the issue of the lack of international import standards and regulations, making trade susceptible to variables that are not only economic, but also soci...
Article
Full-text available
L’importanza attribuita dai consumatori alla sostenibilità è divenuta nel tempo un aspetto rilevante nella scelta dei prodotti. Le imprese possono scegliere certificazioni volontarie per comunicare ai consumatori informazioni relative all’origine, ai trattamenti e al tracciamento delle materie prime. Le certificazioni sono quindi mediatrici di info...
Article
This research has assessed what large retail chains actually do, in terms of assortment depth and size of conventional cow milk, by comparing different retail formats and two metropolitan cities (Milan and Turin). The differences in the composition of the assortment were determined considering the milk categories according to their brand, origin, p...
Article
Full-text available
The dairy sector accounts for a large share of all European agricultural production, at the same time however, it is one of the most ascribed sector contributors to the environmental impact of agriculture, particularly for greenhouse gas emissions. Simultaneously, it is a strategic sector for the economy but generates increasing debate in the commu...
Article
Fresh-cut salads are ready-to-eat foodstuffs with a growing market share and increasingly popular with consumers. However, a significant part of public opinion considers that bagged salad production processes have an effect on sustainability. In parallel, fresh-cut salads producers implement high resources and innovation strategies to improve the p...
Article
Craft beer is an authentic product characterised by unique sensory features that distinguish it from industrially produced beers. The typical consumer also closely associates craft beers with the concept of traditional products, also in terms of consumption habits and the manner in which they are packaged. In this research, 482 beer consumers were...
Research Proposal
Full-text available
Healthy forests offer very useful services to the territory against natural risks, promote the increase of plant and animal biodiversity and contribute to the beauty of the landscape. Quantifying these benefits from an economic point of view is our task: we provide tools for policy makers and technicians for proper risk management, especially in mo...
Article
Currently the cow milk market is characterised by a decrease in consumption and sales, for both fresh and long-life products. In addition to the negative consumer perception towards milk, linked to, for example, its potential perceived negative effects on human health, at Italian level, this product is overlooked on the market in terms of communica...
Article
Full-text available
The chestnut tree has characterised the social history of the Italian hills and mountains. However, in recent years, this resource has been abandoned because of the change in socio-economic needs. The aim of this study is twofold: (i) To give an overview of this resource, assessing the strengths-weaknesses-opportunities-threats of the chestnut tree...
Article
Full-text available
The modern consumer is now more attentive towards animal welfare practices and this represents an important factor when purchasing meat, whereby ethical, sociological and economic implications are evaluated. In addition, the socio-demographic characteristics of consumers evidence different sensitivities with regard to selection patterns and consump...
Book
Full-text available
The protection of populations, settlements and economic activities in the Alpine region plays a major role and mountain forests, if properly managed, offer an effective protection service that complements engineering solutions. Many studies have been conducted to quantify the importance and dynamics of the protective function performed by forests,...
Technical Report
Full-text available
Attività svolta nell’ambito del progetto Informa Plus WP 4 –VALORIZZAZIONE DELLE IMPRESE FORESTALI PROFESSIONALI 4.1 Istituzione di un Albo delle imprese e degli operatori forestali professionali a livello transfrontaliero
Technical Report
Full-text available
In this deliverable has been formalized, in template form, the outputs obtained and the critical analysis coming from the feedback of the ASFORESEE test in each case study.
Article
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Parole chiave: Crediti di carbonio, gestione forestale, analisi di scenario, modelli di accrescimento forestale, servizi ecosistemici Confronto fra modelli di gestione forestale tradizionale e carbon oriented in ambito alpino This paper compares the traditional vs carbon-oriented forest management of two coniferous stands in the Alpine environment...
Article
Full-text available
The consumption pattern of salami has been subjected to relatively widespread attention by academician, but few studies concerning the health implications of salami consumption have been published. Since additives and product origins represent important attributes for salami, the objective of this paper is twofold: (i) to explore the role of two ad...
Article
Full-text available
Gravitational hazards, such as rockfall, constitute a major risk in mountainous areas, threatening dwellers, goods, and infrastructures, and ultimately posing a challenge to their development. Ecosystem-based solutions for Disaster Risk Reduction (Eco-DRR), such as protection forests, can play a significant role in mitigating these risks by integra...