Due to global climate change and its impact on local weather conditions, decision support systems are becoming more important in agriculture. Such systems allow farmers to adapt more effectively to the complex changes affecting their farms. Marginal production sites must apply new tillage...

The market of local and organic food is still a niche market in the USA, despite its strong growth rates. Both offer consumers an alternative to a globalized anonymous food supply chain. Yet local food and organic food seem to be overlapping and to some degree competing food concepts. While the...

This paper presents the results of a rapid consumer survey undertaken in Uganda. The survey aimed at identifying preferred quality and safety attributes, retail forms and retail outlets for major livestock products and by type of consumers. Results of the survey, combined with nationally...

The EC funded FI-PPP programme is currently elaborating a large set of enabling technologies that shall help to overcome challenges towards a sustainable networked society of tomorrow. This up-front investment can highly facilitate access to such Internet potentials by food chain SMEs....

The abolishment of the milk quota, increasing fluctuation in milk prices and further economic and emotional factors resulted in the so called dairy conflict. The paper focuses specifically on the conflict between the German Farmers’ Association and the Federal Dairy Farmers Association...

In the middle of a great world financial crisis that also affects food security, it is important to characterize the habits of households concerning the buying and wasting food. With this study we intend (1) to uncover the patterns of Portuguese citizens concerning food waste by using a mixed...

Information on production methods (genetic modification (GM) or organic production) and locations (country of origin) are commonly found on food package labels. Both pieces of information may be used as a proxy for food safety and (perceived) quality by consumers. Our study investigates the...

Improvements in the food sector imply enhancements of delivering food which is safe, affordable, readily available, and of the quality and diversity consumers expect. However, prevalent information systems (IS) of companies in the food industry are not ready to support further significant...

Among the members of the European Union (EU), Germany has the largest biogas produc-tion from agricultural sources. However, many other EU member states are creating the necessary conditions for rapid growth in this area. The German Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), which sets payments over a...

Quality assurance and labeling play an important and increasing role in firms’ marketing strategies. In almost all cases, a price incentive has been stressed as the major incentive for firms to participate in such schemes. We argue here that important non-price incentives for participation in...