Bibliography

Geographic Indications (GIs) are an internationally recognised form of protection for goods based on their quality or reputation and a fairly recent instrument in Brazilian law. In this context, there is an ongoing discussion in academia regarding the relevance of GIs as a tool to promote the sustainable development of territories. This debate considers that there is a strong connection between a good’s reputation and quality and its traditional and sustainable production practices. This research aims to understand how Brazilian GI regulation of agricultural products protects and encompasses socio-environmental sustainability dimensions, discussing the main gaps and opportunities thereof. For that, from an interdisciplinary perspective, this study provides a small-N qualitative content analysis of 30 Brazilian GIs, identifying their socio-environmental provisions, and debating whether GIs can become a mechanism for greater environmental protection in Brazil.

Geographical Indications (GIs) are widely considered as tools to contribute to sustainability (The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations—FAO, 2009; 2017), if established and well managed. While the literature may not always agree on the positive effects of GIs in all sustainability dimensions (e.g., economic, social, and environmental), there is evidence that engaging GI producers in a sustainability strategy can maximize their contribution to different components of sustainable development. FAO and oriGIn developed the sustainability strategy for GI (SSGI) to support GI producers and their associations so that they could engage in a place-based and participative approach in order to generate concrete progress and results. This paper presents original research for building both a framework and database for the selection and use of relevant sustainability indicators for GIs. A number of SSGI principles have guided the work throughout an iterative process for reviewing, selecting, and improving relevant indicators, while the Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture (SAFA) has provided the structure to align with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other widely used and recognized sustainability frameworks. As a result of this work, a database of 372 robust sustainability indicators that are relevant to GIs have been characterized to facilitate their use by practitioners. The discussion highlights the importance of the place-based approach, and the participative, inclusive process that represents the key to empowerment and the ability to develop alliances. It also focuses on action, and the need to strengthen both internal and external communication.

The strategic guide on Food Quality Schemes (FQS) is a tool for practitioners, policymakers and researchers to explore the links between sustainability and FQS. It was developed by a team of researchers at the University of Parma in collaboration with several academic and non-academic partners, in the context of the 5-year EU Horizon 2020 research project “Strenght2Food”.  The guide presents the findings on an extensive research investigating the positive impacts of FQS linked to good production and consumption practices. Based on the results of 26 benchmarked value chains, involving different FQS (organic, PDO and PGI products) in 14 countries, the guide reports methods, tools and case studies to explore the sustainability performance of FQS. The research identified three main dimensions of public goods linked to FQS production: cultural and heritage preservation; socio-economic; and natural resources. Presenting best practices, recommendations and case studies related to each of these dimensions, the guide represents a unique opportunity of “learning from practice” and strengthening the positive impacts of FQS.

Within the framework of multifunctional conceptualisation, the authors have investigated the level of public goods embedded in Agri-food geographical indication products. Moving from the concept of the local Agri-food system, the generation of public goods is observed both on the value chain and on the territory. Three different dimensions of public goods are considered: Cultural heritage issues, socio-economic themes, and natural resources. To pursue this aim, the FAO-SAFA method is adopted. A single index for the three dimensions is computed in order to provide an easy and quick interpretation of the three dimensions. Preliminary empirical evidence on two case studies suggests different public goods levels embedded in geographical indications, depending on the dimensions analysed. The method proposed aims to be a simple and effective tool to support good practice for policymakers and indicate fields for intervention where indexes show that improvements could be made.

Sustainability is becoming a pivotal guide for driving the governance strategies of value chains. The sustainable policy should have as its objective the perpetuation of production models overtime to maintain its environmental, economic and social dimensions. Therefore, measuring the sustainability of a production system is fundamental to deepening the understanding of ongoing trends, considering the pressure exerted by agricultural policies, market dynamics and innovations introduced in the production system. The purpose of this paper is to present a holistic framework for assessing the sustainability of food quality schemes (FQS), including the role of both stakeholders within the value chain, and the territorial dimension. This paper discusses the use of dimensional indicators and proposes synthetic indexes to provide an overall picture of the evolution of sustainability of a specific production system. Particularly, the evolution of sustainability in the Parmigiano Reggiano Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) production system is evaluated over the period 2000-2018. It is assumed that its evolution is due to the effect of 20 years of innovations that have impacted product quality, value chain performance and rural development, modifying the sustainability of the whole production system.

The aim of this chapter is to describe how the interactions between different models of local agri-food production systems can produce synergies that are able to meet new agri-food system challenges and consumer expectations. In particular, the short food supply chain (SFSC) of a product bearing a geographical indication (GI) and its relationship with a localized agri-food system (LAFS) is analyzed. The chapter consists of two parts. The first part presents the theoretical framework underpinning the relationships and synergies between LAFS and SFSCs. The second part presents a case study of Parmigiano-Reggiano (PR) cheese and explores the synergies between an SFSC of this cheese and the LAFS in which such an SFSC is embedded. SFSCs can be a model which meets the requirements of consumers while giving producers a sizable share of added value. However, the SFSC model is based on the specific nature of the product, the social environment and the organization of the supply chain.

Considering the features of GIs and organic production, Deliverable 5.2 analyses the relationship between Public Goods (PGs) and Food Quality Schemes (FQS). The deliverable evaluates the impacts of the cases study described in Deliverable 5.1 in terms of their contribution to rural development and territorial cohesion given by the capacity to generate positive externalities and hence PGs. The analysis focuses on: contribution to local economies, generation of environmental, social, cultural externalities; contribution of different governance mechanisms to ensure the valorisation of producers’ know-how and local resources; social cohesion in terms of creation of social capital and social networks.

La question de l’évaluation ex ante de l’impact des IG, qui se pose dans de nombreux projets de développement, est complexe. La nécessaire capacité de mobilisation et d’action collective des acteurs économiques peut être évaluée, mais la concurrence des filières conventionnelles et le cumul d’objectifs au sein des IG peuvent la réduire. Des processus d’innovation sont conjointement nécessaires et assurés par une tension permanente entre gouvernance sectorielle et gouvernance territoriale, induisant une multiplicité de trajectoires d’évolution. Many development projects try to assess ex ante the Geographical Indications’ impact which is a complex challenge. The economic actors’ involvement and collective action capacity is determining and may be estimated, but the competition with conventional supply chains and stakes’ multiplication within GI projects can reduce it. Innovation processes are jointly needed and allowed by a permanent tension between sectorial and territorial governances, leading to a multiplicity of evolution trajectories.

The purpose of this volume is to present a broad-based critical analysis of the relationship between the agri-food sector and the socio-economic environment when local agri-food production systems are connecter with global markets. The local dimension of agri-food systems is considered assuming that all the variables related to agri-food production are closely connected and dependent on local production systems. In this perspective Local Agri-Food Systems (LAFS also become the focus of the analysis in order to evaluate the level of sustainability and policy requirements. Whether LAFS produce, transform or simply consume food, there are big implications for the socio-economic environment and socio-economic sustainability. The volume examines the interrelation between LAFS and agri-socio-economic aspects from two main points of view. It, therefore, consists of two parts: theoretical analysis of the different models at the basis of LAFS and empirical evidence of the role played by LAFS on local and global markets.

The objectives of this guide are: 1. to explain what origin-linked quality and the GI concept are; 2. to raise awareness regarding the potential of origin-linked products for rural development and conditions for sustainability; 3. to facilitate implementation of GI processes at local level by providing tools and a concrete methodology. Based on multidisciplinary research and empirical evidence from all over the world, this guide is intended for practitioners, rural development specialists from the public or private sectors, representatives of value chains, policy makers, rural community leaders and trainers. It is intended more particularly for those involved in the development of agricultural and food systems who have an interest in promoting and preserving local food products and resources (traditions, know-how and natural resources) within a perspective of rural development. The role of these facilitators is of paramount importance in helping local stakeholders to become aware of the potential of originlinked products, organize themselves and carry out collective actions, understand the importance of appropriate rules and pilot the GI system towards economic, sociocultural and environmental sustainability. This practical guide avoids prescriptive or normative solutions, instead offering an approach that provides step-by-step answers to the main questions facing development actors seeking to identify, define and protect products of origin-linked quality through the adoption of various measures allowing their sustainable development.

Increasing competition on the production cost side resulting from an increasingly open market, together with changes to the EU agricultural policy, which de facto decouples the granting of aid from the realisation of specific productions, leads companies to look for new ways to compete. The text aims to briefly show the protection tools that the EU has made available to businesses by listing the significant costs and benefits of PDO and PGI quality systems.