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The authors investigate the contributions of social capital (SC) dimensions (bridging, bonding and linking) in crowdfunding campaigns by comparing the dynamics of agri-food businesses with those of two other sectors – cultural and technological.

The authors develop linear regressions on a proprietary data set of 5,290 projects launched on the Italian platform “Produzionidalbasso.com”, from 2014 to 2020.

The authors’ findings suggest that combining the three social capital dimensions (bridging, bonding and linking) has a more substantial overall effect on the number of backers involved in agri-food projects than in cultural and technological projects. Agri-food entrepreneurs effectively mobilize all resources embedded in the SC dimensions and therefore create the conditions to develop new ties that financially support the project.

Agri-food entrepreneurs may benefit from those results improving their funding strategies. Therefore, agri-food entrepreneurs can explore and exploit the instruments available on the CFD platform – video and rewards associated with the campaign – gaining more benefit from the backers involved compared with other project categories.

The study proposes a broader perspective regarding SC that encompasses the proponent, the company and the campaign with three different types of ties: bonding, bridging and linking. These SC dimensions can differently shape diverse sectors and this eclectic configuration can differentiate the effects of SC in crowdfunding campaigns. This study pinpoints how crowdfunding determinants change, based on project categories.

This work aims to investigate the current financial structure of Italian agri-food micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to understand how MSMEs face innovation challenges, which are also required to support sustainable development.

To reach the goal, an empirical longitudinal analysis is performed on a sample of Italian agri-food firms. In detail, to highlight the changes in the use of financial sources between 2013 and 2019, a descriptive ratio analysis is carried out on the data extracted by the AIDA database. In addition, statistical analyses were performed, including t-tests and U Mann–Whitney. Finally, a fixed-effects model is created to analyse the panel data. To ensure homogeneity, the sub-sectors of production and transformation are separately considered.

The financial structure analysis shows an increase in the equity percentage in the funding sources, attributable to an attempt to compensate for the reduction of banks' funding. However, even though this change has not compromised firms' profitability, the undercapitalisation of companies is still present. Therefore, more equity investments are required to support the innovation process.

The value of the present research is to highlight the choice of using new alternative financing sources instead of traditional banks' credit to implement sustainable and innovative development Italian agri-food sector (AFS). This choice is forced by reducing finance from banks and other financial institutions because of the credit crunch. This issue is even more relevant, considering that MSMEs have structural financial problems but have to fulfil the mission of pursuing innovation in the same way as large companies. Therefore, this paper expands the literature on agri-food, delving into an issue typical of MSMEs and combining agri-food with the need for innovation.

This paper aims to evaluate the impact of the subsidies established by Measure 123 of the Rural Development Policy on the productivity of a sample of agri-food and forestry companies in the region of Asturias over the period 2006-2009.

The authors estimate a stochastic frontier function which allows subsidies to be considered as affecting both the level of technical efficiency and technical progress.

The results show that while subsidies have a positive effect on the technical progress of companies in the agri-food industry, for the forestry industry, the effect materializes as an improvement in technical efficiency. Additionally, other factors affecting either, technical progress and technical efficiency were identified.

This study adopts a model that allows the separate identification of the effect of subsidies on the level of efficiency, on the one hand, and on the technical progress, on the other.

Although not yet fully defined, natural wine represents a sector that has gained the widespread attention of final consumers and, therefore, also of the restaurant world, because of its promise of sustainability. The objective of this paper is to understand Italian haute cuisine's interest in natural wine, with the aim of analysing what qualifies this product as sustainable.

After introducing a theoretical framework based on the concept of natural wine, a brief paragraph is dedicated to consumer preferences; subsequently, the analysis focusses on a questionnaire given to restaurateurs to determine the impact that natural wine has had in the Italian context. The results try to identify the importance that restaurateurs give to the characteristics of natural wine and their propensity for using such wine in their own businesses.

The analysis, conducted on a sample of medium-high range restaurants, highlights their strong interest in natural wine, as a result of the final consumers' attitude towards wine with characteristics attributable to sustainability. The positive perception by restaurateurs is similar across Italy, both geographically and in terms of the size of the restaurant.

The originality of the work is the focus on the world of restaurants. To date, the literature on natural wine remains embryonic and always refers to the final consumer. This research is the first step in a broader study that will involve a greater number of restaurants, extending beyond Italy to all of Europe, with the aim of understanding the real development potential of natural wine.

This study analyses the literature on artificial intelligence (AI) and its implications for the agri-food sector. This research aims to identify the current research streams, main methodologies used, findings and results delivered, gaps and future research directions.

This study relies on 69 published contributions in the field of AI in the agri-food sector. It begins with a bibliographic coupling to map and identify the current research streams and proceeds with a systematic literature review to examine the main topics and examine the main contributions.

Six clusters were identified: (1) AI adoption and benefits, (2) AI for efficiency and productivity, (3) AI for logistics and supply chain management, (4) AI for supporting decision making process for firms and consumers, (5) AI for risk mitigation and (6) AI marketing aspects. Then, the authors propose an interpretive framework composed of three main dimensions: (1) the two sides of AI: the “hard” side concerns the technology development and application while the “soft” side regards stakeholders' acceptance of the latter; (2) level of analysis: firm and inter-firm; (3) the impact of AI on value chain activities in the agri-food sector.

This study provides interpretive insights into the extant literature on AI in the agri-food sector, paving the way for future research and inspiring practitioners of different AI approaches in a traditionally low-tech sector.

In order to meet the increasingly demanding needs of international markets, quality and food safety systems have become widespread among companies in the agri-food sector. This has led to a transformation of the agri-food sector that has also been detrimental for companies seeking to adopt such standards. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to define the determining factors that affect the process of adopting quality and food safety standards in agri–food companies, from the implementation of standards in company quality management systems to the process of certification of these standards.

To this end, a literature review is carried out in which the motivations, benefits, barriers and contingency factors are identified, analyzing and delimiting the scope and contribution of each of them to the company’s quality management.

The results show that the most important benefits and motivations are access to new markets and compliance with legislation, while the most important barrier is the high cost of adopting QFS systems within the company. Finally, the most relevant contingency factor when adopting these systems is the size of the company. Furthermore, the analysis shows that the results are closely interrelated. In conclusion, the consideration of the determinants identified in the paper contributes to a better implementation of agri-food quality and safety standards by companies.

This paper combines an analysis of the determining factors for the adoption of quality systems in the agri-food industry with the identification of contingency factors that, despite their importance throughout the process, are scarcely analysed in the rest of the literature. Finally, the work points out future lines of research that are still underexplored, such as the relationship between quality assurance and financial development; the role of contingency factors in the process of adopting these systems and the analysis of HACCP systems in the agri-food sector.

All firms' business models are based on their interdependencies with other parties in their ecosystems. The Internet of Things (IoT) is beginning to fundamentally disrupt the agri-food industry, forcing the ecosystem to change. When an ecosystem is transforming, the interdependencies among its actors can create friction. Technology providers and core actors should consider these interdependencies as they update their strategies for value creation and capture. The purpose of the present research is to consider what it might take for agri-food firms to capitalize on these interdependencies by moving from traditional business models to business models based on collaboration and open innovation.

The present paper draws on data from four online focus groups that we created to discuss how to co-create the business models agri-food firms need in a constantly changing environment. The paper presents an application of phenomenon-driven research (PDR), an engaged methodology. The study method enables novel pathways to develop and implement innovative solutions. This study draws on the interaction of theory and practice and involves multiple stakeholders with varying roles in the agri-food ecosystem.

The authors found that any open innovation setup in agri-food needs to constantly reconfigure itself to balance the needs of farmers and the needs of the market. This interplay can only support the IoT-enabled ecosystem if continuous interaction and negotiation occur among various stakeholders of the food system. When the farmers' needs and the market's needs are aligned, the space for developing a collaborative and open business model is prepared.

The insights gained from this study inspire action and commitment to common goals when developing collaboration-based business models (CBMs). The paper offers insights for players in the agri-food industry who are considering CBMs in the course of digital transformation.