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Retail food waste represents a minor fraction of the total amount of food waste produced along the food supply chain (tenfold lower than the quantity of food disposed of by consumers at home). However, the role of retailers is crucial in shaping both the behavior of upstream food chain actors and the preferences of consumers. This paper studies the causes of food waste in retail stores and discusses potential mitigating actions based on the results of nine focus groups held in 2017 with 67 foods category managers. Participants used sticky notes to outline both the causes of in-store food waste and potential actions to address it. Sticky notes reporting 228 causes and 124 actions were collected during the study. Data were analyzed across thematic macro-categories and linked to the responsibility of supply chain actors, including managers at all store management levels. Results revealed that food category managers consider in-store operations (which include their actions and those of their subordinates) to be most responsible for retail food waste. However, when it comes to proposing actions against food waste, they believe that store managers are mainly responsible for the implementation of waste reduction actions. This study suggests that food category managers are key actors to involve in the fight against retail food waste. Greater effort should also be put towards informing and encouraging store managers to take action against food waste in supermarkets.

The objective of the paper is to understand the process of designing a multistakeholder partnership in the adoption of sustainable innovations in value chains. More specifically, the focus is on the design of feasible types of horizontal agreements and contractual formulas to be implemented in the agri-food supply chain in order to introduce sustainable agricultural practices. To this purpose, the Barilla Sustainable Farming initiative, which is currently in the first phase of designing an MSP, is used as a case study.

Peri-urban agriculture is exposed to multiple pressures, which push to diversification and multifunctionality. However, the urban-rural link develops in different ways according to the features of the territories. A very interesting case is that of mountain areas, where the proportion among urban and rural domain is very skewed towards the latter and, at the same time, farms face major environmental problems that in most cases jeopardize their competitiveness in the mainstream market. Alternative food chains may play a key role in these contexts, especially for their ability to put farms in touch with the demand of consumers living in the urban areas located in the valley. In this paper we study the case of Trentino, an Italian Alpine region where alternative food chains are quickly developing, by comparing the development of alternative markets in this context with other Italian peri-urban areas. The mountain environment makes it very difficult for farms to standardize their products according to the requirement of the large retailers. Through alternative food chains, the typicality of products and the savoir faire of the farmers -representing the two main factors of products' added value -are endorsed and more easily communicated to the market. Data from a survey conducted on short food chain consumers show that they are inherently more careful to these particular cues of the products, as a result of a lifestyle that makes them more attached to identity and origins, as well as being more proud of their territory. These evidences confirm that in the Trentino area, for its structural and cultural traits, alternative food markets are meaningful for the survival and development of the local agricultural sector.

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Innovation is a key issue in the discussion about the links between agriculture, food production and sustainability. Indeed, the creation, adoption and exploitation of innovations can interact with all three dimensions of sustainability – environment, society and economy. Despite the increasing support for innovation practices in the agrifood sector from institutions and public policies, innovation in this sector has spread quite slowly. Indeed, the diffusion of innovations strongly depends on the social, institutional and productive system behind the technological/structural features of the farms. The analysis of the drivers underpinning the innovation diffusion dynamics in agriculture is therefore a very interesting topic for studies in this domain. This paper aims to provide a map of the diffusion of innovations in the Italian agricultural sector, highlighting differences and territorial specificities. We try to explain the drivers and factors influencing such specificities, drawing from data on the agricultural sector as well as information on the institutional and regulatory framework. Data on the diffusion of product, process, organizational and marketing innovations in agriculture have been gathered for the 110 Italian provinces, drawing from the 2010 Agricultural Census survey. Maps of the diffusion of the different types of innovations have then been constructed and analysed. Results show that the diffusion of the different innovation types is not uniform within the country. Some are typical to specific areas where productive or market opportunities occur. Others are not territorial-specific but are linked to the features of the single farms. The influence of the regulatory context also seems to play a significant role. By analysing the local expenditure in rural development intervention, we analyses how the synergies among the productive and institutional systems may act as a driver for innovation diffusion in agriculture.

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