Agricultural waste is a huge pool of untapped biomass resources that may even represent economic and environmental burdens. They can be converted into bioenergy and bio-based products by cascading conversion processes, within circular economy, and should be considered residual resources. Major challenges are discussed from a transdisciplinary perspective, focused on Europe situation. Environmental and economic consequences of agricultural residue management chains are difficult to assess due to their complexity, seasonality and regionality. Designing multi-criteria decision support tools, applicable at an early-stage of research, is discussed. Improvement of Anaerobic Digestion (AD), one of the most mature conversion technologies, is discussed from a technological point of view and waste feedstock geographical and seasonal variations. Using agricultural residual resources for producing high-value chemicals is a considerable challenge analysed here, taking into account innovative eco-efficient and cost-effective cascading conversion processes (bio-refinery concept). Moreover, the promotion of agricultural residuesbased business is discussed through industrial ecology, to promote synergy, on a local basis, between different agricultural and industrial value chains. Finally, to facilitate a holistic approach and optimise materials and knowledge flows KEY WORDS Agriculture; waste; eco-design; biogas; bio-based materials; circular economy CONTACT Nathalie Gontard nathalie.gontard@inra.fr UMR 1208 IATE Agro-Polymer Engineering and Emerging Technologies,

We conducted two qualitative surveys to identify whether food miles, defined as the distance that foodstuff travels between the production location and the consumption marketplace, matter for French consumers. First, two focus groups with 'conventional' consumers show that distance is a multidimensional concept, both positively and negatively perceived, and that most consumers are not concerned by food miles and their subsequent environmental impact. Second, 10 face-to-face interviews with consumers of locally grown organic food demonstrate that these consumers purchase local food for other reasons than reducing 'food miles' and buy imported organic food in spite of increased food miles. We shed light on this situation using theoretical concepts from economics and psychology. Some implications for policymakers and marketers are stressed. Defining 'food miles'To measure the environmental effects of agricultural and food production and consumption, the analysis must take into account

A new approach for the design of electronic beam steering arrays with reactive parasitic elements is introduced. The method is demonstrated at the example of a circular array formed by capacitively tuned monopoles. The related capacitances are determined straightforwardly and without any need for optimization techniques. The resulting beams are rotatable and maintain their gain and beamwidth within tight margins. Comparisons with NEC2 verify the pattern calculation.

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Derrière une idée apparemment simple et séduisante, les kilomètres alimentaires sont au centre de questions complexes aux enjeux multiples. Nous mettons en évidence qu’au delà des promesses, les difficultés liées à l’opérationnalisation d’un tel concept sont considérables et posent des dilemmes cruciaux par rapport à l’organisation des filières agro-alimentaires. Nous soulignons également certains risques de dérives liés à l’utilisation de la notion avec des effets ambigus en termes de bien-être social.

This paper estimates the foodmiles (embedded distances) and transport-related carbon emissions of 27 Food Quality Scheme (FQS) products – Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), Protected Geographical Indications (PGI) and organic – and their reference products. It goes further than the existing literature by adopting a value chain perspective, instead of the traditional consumer perspective, and focusing on FQS products. The same methodology is applied across all the case studies. The article specifically investigates the determinants of differences between FQS and their references. FQS products travel significantly shorter distances (−30%) and generate significantly lower transport-related emissions (−23%) than conventional food products. The differences are even greater for vegetal and organic products. The relationship between distance and transport-related emissions is not exactly proportional and highlights the importance of transport modes and logistics, in particular for exports and imports. Finally, we stress the importance of the spatial distribution of the different stages in the value chains (e.g. production, processing). PDO technical specifications delimit a geographical area for production and processing, thereby limiting distances and transport-related emissions compared to conventional food products, but also compared to other types of FQS.

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