• SDSN - Greece
• Open Access close
• Rural Digital Europe close

Abstract This paper proposes a novel concept of territorial fitting for the analysis of the functioning of small farms in broader food, environmental, and socio-economic systems. We elaborate on the framing and definition of territorial fitting (TF) in relation to other concepts, such as territorial and social embeddedness, nested markets and territorial governance. Based on an analysis of empirical manifestations of territorial fitting as found in sample studies of small farms in Latvia, Portugal, and Norway we determine dimensions of territorial fitting such as natural resources, integrated landscape, social ties, and economic ties. Our approach to the identification and articulation of TF is characteristic of exploratory studies that attempt to conceptualise emerging findings. The study suggests that TF works by: (i) improving integration in niche markets and regional food systems; (ii) supporting micro-management of nature and eco-systems; (iii) connecting fields of activity, like agriculture, forestry, rural and environmental services; and (iv) establishing new territorial linkages. We argue that the concept of territorial fitting has the potential for further research on the role of small farms in food systems.

Report on dissemination activities at workshops organised outside the project.

Report on scenarios of future farm and soil management systems

Holding the global increase in temperature caused by climate change well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels, the goal affirmed by the Paris Agreement, is a major societal challenge. Meanwhile, food security is a high-priority area in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which could potentially be adversely affected by stringent climate mitigation. Here we show the potential negative trade-offs between food security and climate mitigation using a multi-model comparison exercise. We find that carelessly designed climate mitigation policies could increase the number of people at risk of hunger by 160 million in 2050. Avoiding these adverse side effects would entail a cost of about 0.18% of global gross domestic product in 2050. It should be noted that direct impacts of climate change on yields were not assessed and that the direct benefits from mitigation in terms of avoided yield losses could be substantial, further reducing the above cost. Although results vary across models and model implementations, the qualitative implications are robust and call for careful design of climate mitigation policies taking into account agriculture and land prices.

This Deliverable presents the result from the application of a policy Delphi and highlights how experts assess the potential of governance contexts that may favour the realisation of legume-supported value chains.

Sustainability is becoming a pivotal guide for driving the governance strategies of value chains. Sustainable policy should have as its objective the perpetuation of production models over time 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 which have impacted on product quality, value chain performance and rural development, modifying the sustainability of the whole production system.

The leaflet described in this project Deliverable highlights key methodology and footprint results for legume food and feed products. It summarises some key findings on legume environmental footprints from an attributional Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) undertaken in WP5. Carbon footprint results are presented for beans, chickpeas, soybean, lupins and peas across the three European biogeographical regions – Atlantic/Boreal, Continental and Mediterranean. Key results for pea-gin, pea protein balls and chickpea pasta are also highlighted as example case studies.

Increased efforts are required to prevent further losses to terrestrial biodiversity and the ecosystem services that it provides1,2. Ambitious targets have been proposed, such as reversing the declining trends in biodiversity3; however, just feeding the growing human population will make this a challenge4. Here we use an ensemble of land-use and biodiversity models to assess whether—and how—humanity can reverse the declines in terrestrial biodiversity caused by habitat conversion, which is a major threat to biodiversity5. We show that immediate efforts, consistent with the broader sustainability agenda but of unprecedented ambition and coordination, could enable the provision of food for the growing human population while reversing the global terrestrial biodiversity trends caused by habitat conversion. If we decide to increase the extent of land under conservation management, restore degraded land and generalize landscape-level conservation planning, biodiversity trends from habitat conversion could become positive by the mid-twenty-first century on average across models (confidence interval, 2042–2061), but this was not the case for all models. Food prices could increase and, on average across models, almost half (confidence interval, 34–50%) of the future biodiversity losses could not be avoided. However, additionally tackling the drivers of land-use change could avoid conflict with affordable food provision and reduces the environmental effects of the food-provision system. Through further sustainable intensification and trade, reduced food waste and more plant-based human diets, more than two thirds of future biodiversity losses are avoided and the biodiversity trends from habitat conversion are reversed by 2050 for almost all of the models. Although limiting further loss will remain challenging in several biodiversity-rich regions, and other threats—such as climate change—must be addressed to truly reverse the declines in biodiversity, our results show that ambitious conservation efforts and food system transformation are central to an effective post-2020 biodiversity strategy. To promote the recovery of the currently declining global trends in terrestrial biodiversity, increases in both the extent of land under conservation management and the sustainability of the global food system from farm to fork are required.