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In traditional wine region such as Tuscany (Italy), the wine production is perceived by several industry players as weak and fragmented because it is mainly controlled by small and medium-sized wineries that have limited market power compared to large companies and distributors. We hypothesise that this problem was influenced -in a period of strong market growth -by producers' choices that underestimated the impact of several external forces (competition, changes in demand and regulation) and promoted strategies without considering their combination with key context-specific, physical, structural and socio-cultural regional factors. The study investigates the origin of these marketing strategies confronted with the contested fragmentation, exploring both current and future trends in Tuscany. The objective is to provide a better understanding on how the combinations between these factors and firm's activities define regional settings in which the different strategies are developed and how these settings can be used to promote more effective and calibrated strategies towards greater economic sustainability of the sector. The focus is to understand the nature and the dynamic of interlinkages between the adoption of differentiation strategies based on quality and the diversification of marketing channels and their regional and local determinants. We adopt a mixed quantitative and qualitative research approach composed of an analytical framework, an econometric analysis and producer's interviews. A mixed method enables to describe regional factors that impact investment in firm resources and quality choices and then determine alternative marketing strategies among Tuscan wineries. First, the method provides a conceptual framework to understand the interlinkages between producers' strategies and local and regional determinants. Then, the winery decision-making process is modelled through a two-by-two differentiation strategy model that represents the wineries' decision towards the adoption of PDO/PGI appellation or organic certification in relation with the choice of distribution channels. Through the reciprocal of the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI-1) -calculated on alternative marketing strategieswe verified the extent of diversification of sale channels under the different quality choices (i.e. PDO/PGI and organic or without them). Then, the determinants of the choice of distribution channels were quantified by applying censored regression model and the results were elaborated and discussed in the light of 32 producers' interviews. The main trend highlights the fragmentation of wine production that has been determined by the differentiation model adopted by the regional producers. The results confirm a great divide in strategies between those producing quality wines and those who do not: on the one hand being mainly involved in PDO/PGI or organic certification positively affects the choice of multiple distribution channels; on the other hand, those who are not involved in quality labels have concentrated their prod...

Agri-environmental schemes (AESs) constitute one of the main agricultural policy instruments that address environmental objectives in the Common Agricultural Policy. However, in spite of a 20-year application window and large budgetary shares allocated by EU member states, several studies demonstrate lower-than-expected environmental impacts. The reasons for poor environmental outcomes are the lack of targeting, low participation rates, spatial heterogeneity, and information asymmetry between farmers and public administrators. This study comprehensively analyses the determinants of AES adoption while highlighting patterns of the spatial agglomeration of participation in organic and integrated production. For this, we combine the results of farm-level adoption analysis with a spatial analysis of the participation rate. The results show that both micro- and meso-level characteristics strongly impact AES participation. In fact, farm and household structure, quality of extension services, and territorial conditions all significantly affect AES adoption.

Lack of public funding and environmental deterioration are promoting the search for innovative mechanisms enabling to boost farmers’ provision of agri-environmental climate public goods. This work aims to contribute to the current debate by highlighting the role of innovative contractual solutions through a systematic review of more than 60 articles. The review analyses the potential of result-based and collective contracts as innovative solutions compared to action-based instruments, which are those currently most used. The design of innovative contracts and other mechanisms, e.g., auction and screening contracts, can reduce the policy failures due to asymmetric information. The paper emphasises the trade-off between an accurate design of agri-environmental schemes and the related administrative burden, highlighting the need for a better understanding of the role of mechanisms design into the policy cycle. Some new instruments were not analysed in the review, due to the scarcity of literature, and there is the need of more case studies providing information on the effectiveness of instruments when implemented in different contexts. We fill the gap in empirical evidence through a SWOT analysis that evaluates the effectiveness and acceptability of innovative instruments for policy purposes.

European small‐scale fisheries are confronted with several challenges, notably a decrease in the number of people engaged in capture fishing, growing competition from less expensive extra‐European Union markets, rising operational costs, strict regulations and the depletion of fishing stocks. Many small‐scale fishers must adapt to change to maintain or increase their income using different business strategies. In this respect, we argue that new and diversified institutional arrangements combined with building social capital can help reach long‐term economic sustainability for small‐scale fisheries businesses, as well as the social‐ecological resilience of coastal areas. In order to understand and analyse the multiplicity of strategies applied by small‐scale fishers–including expansion towards non–productivist activities, this article examines the role of new institutional arrangements based on small‐scale, traditional, quality‐orientated, multifunctional business strategies and non‐fishing activities. Using a case‐study approach, we analyse–in three different European fishery contexts (Greece, Italy and the UK)–how the interplay between building adaptive arrangements and the creation of social capital in selected small‐scale fisheries provides relevant prerequisites for resilience.