In recent decades the northwestern part of Germany (Weser-Ems region) has come to focus on intensive pork production. This has led to public outrage about the disposal of biological waste, farmers’ complaints about the high cost of leasing land, soaring risks of animal diseases, and the...

Food companies are increasingly challenged to balance business performance and economic gains with environmental and social performance. Therefore, in 2012, we started a collaborative project on this topic named SCALE (Step Change in Agri-food Logistics Ecosystems). SCALE aims to improve the...

The paper assesses the ability of French wineries to prevail over the crisis of French wine in the years 2000. Corporations are distinguished from co-operatives: Over the 2000-2006 period in spite of sales fluctuations, French wineries did not increase their financial debt level substantially....

This paper investigates the opportunities for farmers to produce for local consumers, based on a case study in the Dutch horticulture sector. Main requirements for the set-up of a local chain of supply chain actors are investigated. Producer requirements are added value, availability of time,...

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...

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...

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...

This study aims to gain insight in quality assurance (QA) activities along China’s dairy chain, to assess the potential of meeting more demanding domestic and foreign consumers. The study reviewed QA literature and QA standards (HACCP, GlobalGAP, and BRC) to formulate indicators for QA. Based...