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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Agriculture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 January 2023) | Viewed by 10277

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Prof. Dr. Karmen Pažek

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Guest Editor

Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Faculty of Agriculture and Life Science, University of Maribor, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia
Interests: farm management; decision making; support tools; agriculture economics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We invite you to submit your papers to the Special Issue “Management Science in the Context of Sustainability in Agrifood”.

Sustainable agriculture aims to satisfy the present society’s requirements for food while ensuring income stability for farmers without compromising the ability of future generations to use resources. Management in sustainable agriculture on farms as well as at the policy level is therefore complex and deals with decision-making processes with multiple conflicting goals and in most cases is also related to satisfying the needs of multiple stakeholders with different goals. Given the growing complexity and uncertainty in many decisions, agricultural decision makers use quantitative models more and more to support their decision making and planning in sustainable agrifood systems.

The aim of the Special Issue “Management Science in the Context of Sustainability in Agrifood” is to present papers dealing with applications in the areas of agriculture, with special emphasis on agricultural economics and farm management in addition to highlighting the present state and perspectives of theory and in sustainability in agrifood based on management science. Methodological papers and cases studies are also welcome. The Special Issue will focus on the development and application of farm management research methodology, modeling tools, and practice for decision assessment and support in sustainable agrifood systems, the environment, farm management, agribusiness, and related fields. The topics include (but are not limited to):

Optimization (mathematical programming);
Project management;
Simulation;
Modeling and simulation methodologies;
Planning based on a simulation model;
What if analysis;
Multicriteria analysis;
Forecasting;
Multicriteria optimization;
Economic analysis;
Investment analysis;
Risk management.

Prof. Dr. Karmen Pažek
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

sustainability
decision support
agrifood
economics
planning

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 1079 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Applying Integrated Data Envelopment Analysis and Analytic Hierarchy Process to Measuring the Efficiency of Tourist Farms: The Case of Slovenia

by Boris Prevolšek, Maja Borlinič Gačnik and Črtomir Rozman

Sustainability 2023, 15(5), 4314; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15054314 - 28 Feb 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1301

Abstract

This paper examines the efficiency of tourist farms in Slovenia by adopting an approach using a framework of non-parametric programming—Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), combining the two because the DEA analysis by itself does not take into account all attributes, especially qualitative ones. The beforementioned two methods rank the farm tourism units with respect to their efficiency. By using the DEA method, an input- and output-oriented BCC and CCR model were introduced to upgrade the criteria by including the additional non-numerical criteria of the AHP. The results of the models showed that there are possible improvements on all levels of efficiency, as well as on the criteria of the additional offer of tourist farms, which were analyzed in the AHP model with additional criteria. According to the estimated efficiency, the ranking of tourist farms differed according to the two methods. Within the group of farms assessed as efficient by DEA, the AHP model allowed a more accurate ranking. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Management Science in the Context of Sustainability in Agrifood)

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14 pages, 1729 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Determining the Extent of Economical Sustainability of a Case Study Milk Farm in Bosnia and Herzegovina Based on the Real Options Model

by Nemanja Jalić, Črtomir Rozman, Željko Vaško and Karmen Pažek

Sustainability 2022, 14(19), 11993; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141911993 - 22 Sep 2022

Viewed by 1420

Abstract

The aim of this research was to determine a sustainable economic model of a milk farm in Bosnia and Herzegovina through the possibility of reorientation of raw milk production into cheese on-farm processing. All investment costs, annual production costs, production quantities, prices and annual income were collected through an unstructured questionnaire. The case study farm, originally engaged in milk production, reoriented itself to processing milk into several products. A cost–benefit analysis was applied for the 14-year project lifetime, as well as the Black–Scholes and binomial models of real options evaluation for shifting to cheese production in the fourth year of the project. The milk production farm is economically inefficient, and the investment project is unacceptable, resulting in negative net present value under assumed typical production parameters, and the payback period is longer than the project lifetime. The cheese production option value is positive according to the Black–Scholes and binominal models. Both real options models confirmed that processing milk into cheese is sustainable long-term and economically. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Management Science in the Context of Sustainability in Agrifood)

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10 pages, 898 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessment of Concept between Rural Development Challenges and Local Food Systems: A Combination between Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis and Econometric Modelling Approach

by Jernej Prišenk and Jernej Turk

Sustainability 2022, 14(6), 3477; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14063477 - 16 Mar 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1972

Abstract

This study investigates the influence of social, economic, and environmental impacts on the promotion and marketing systems of local food products from mountain areas in Slovenia. These impacts were assessed using an econometric modelling approach. Two econometric models were developed (one for production and one for marketing). The case studies of local food products were selected from Slovenian mountain regions, most of which were from less-favored areas (LFAs). A majority of the selected food commodities were of high quality, with or without protected designations. Data collection was carried out via interviews. Due to production limitation on mountain areas in Slovenia and other constraints in LFAs, the socio-economic and environmental impacts on success of production and marketing systems need to be clarified. These relations present a potential impact on the wider socio-economic development in the region. The empirical results, obtained using an econometric modelling approach, clearly show the importance of encouraging the socio-economic and environmental impacts in ensuring the marketing and production potentials of local food products. The result express good relationships, and cooperation between the actors in the food supply chains contributing to a successful marketing system and production system of local food products (small, average, large) is dependent on the available local labour in mountain rural areas. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Management Science in the Context of Sustainability in Agrifood)

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15 pages, 1236 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Does Backward Integration Improve Food Safety of the Tea Industry in China in the Post-COVID-19 Era?

by Huashu Wang, Zhenyi Li and H. Holly Wang

Sustainability 2022, 14(4), 2323; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14042323 - 18 Feb 2022

Viewed by 2183

Abstract

China is the largest tea producer in the world; however, tea quality and safety issues have caught broad attention due to pesticide overuse in the growing stage. In order to control the quality and safety of their raw inputs, tea-processing firms in China are expanding their own plantations. Does this backward integration (BI) improve the food safety performance of the tea firms in China? Based on the transaction cost theory, we empirically investigate the effect of tea firms’ BI on their food safety performances, using data from 246 tea firms collected via an online survey in 2021. Controlling the basic background situation and firms’ characteristics, the empirical regression results, when controlling for the self-selection bias, support the hypothesis that BI can improve the food safety performance of the tea industry when it reaches the effective integration level, specifically, 80% or higher. Other factors include that the private brand and asset share of the plantation would also help reduce the firms’ food safety problems. Therefore, the government may consider supporting firms’ BI in the development of tea plantations through one-time subsidies and/or land and labor coordination, so as to improve the food safety situation and industry efficiency. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Management Science in the Context of Sustainability in Agrifood)

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11 pages, 286 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Which Consumer Perceptions Should Be Used in Food Waste Reduction Campaigns: Food Security, Food Safety or Environmental Concerns?

by Na Hao, Yi Zhang, Huashu Wang and H. Holly Wang

Sustainability 2022, 14(4), 2010; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14042010 - 10 Feb 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2667

Abstract

Consumer food waste linked to restaurants and canteens has been a long-standing serious problem in China, which hungers for an effective solution. Although government and media have launched campaigns against food waste, limited information on consumer perceptions is provided in helping to guide campaign programs. The influence of perception associated with low food waste is lacking, along with targeting campaigns based on these perceptions. This research aims to fill this gap. The purpose of this paper is to identify consumption perceptions about food waste in the Chinese urban restaurant sector, so that they can be used in social marketing to promote food waste reduction behaviors. Employing Probit models using survey data collected, we found that food security and environmental perceptions are associated with low food waste. Campaigns directed toward reducing food waste should target raising awareness of food security alert and environmental concerns that are more generally appealing to altruistic spirits. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Management Science in the Context of Sustainability in Agrifood)

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