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Using a generic cheese as an anchor product, in this study consumers' preferences for different EU quality schemes have been investigated. Specifically, the study aims to understand whether “Protected Designation of Origin” (PDO), “Organic” and “Mountain Product” labels are independent or if there are some synergies existing between them, questioning – at the same time – whether this alleged exchange of value plays a positive or negative role in terms of consumers' willingness to pay.

A discrete choice experiment (DCE) was conducted on 600 Italian consumers performing a random parameter logit model. The respondents were representative of the Italian population in terms of age, gender and geographical distribution. Consumers' preferences for the presence of “Organic” and “Mountain product” labels were assessed in the DCE, together with the effect of price, for both PDO and generic cheeses.

Consumers are willing to pay a premium in price for “Organic” and “Mountain Product” per se, for cheese with and without the PDO denomination. Considering the interaction effects, results showed that the combined use of “Organic” and “Mountain Product” labels do not decrease consumers' intention to buy. However, when applied on a PDO product, these attributes generate a lower consumers' willingness to pay in comparison with the generic ones, highlighting a possible overlapping between them.

Despite the abundant literature on EU quality schemes in many food categories, this study represents one of the first attempts to measure the interaction effect between different EU quality schemes.

The purpose of this paper is to use the DuPont expansion to examine those factors underlying differences in (rates of) return on different crop portfolios over space (ten regions) and time (1960‐2004). The paper also estimates the impact of government payments on farmland values through its impact on farm profitability.

Businesses use the DuPont model to analyze the profitability of a business. This model includes three components: net profit margin, asset turnover, and financial leverage (or assets to equity). It is based on the relationships among these three components and is expressed as a product of ratios. For the purposes of the current study, accrued capital gains from (total) returns are excluded to focus on cash returns “cash flow”. Returns from current income are a “cash flow” available in the short run to pay financial obligations. Furthermore, returns from capital gains are not liquid; they are gains in wealth fully captured as capital gains/losses only in the longer term. Following the DuPont approach, the effect of government payments on farm asset values is equal to the sum of the effect of government payments on profit margins plus the effect of government payments on the asset turnover ratio.

The analysis focuses on agricultural profitability in the ten Economic Research Service (ERS) regions. By comparing the components of the DuPont expansion, profitability differences over time are analyzed. The results indicate that one cause of low profitability in the Corn Belt and Mountain regions is a perpetually low profit margin while the evidence for other regions supports lower asset efficiency. Results show that government payments impact the profit margin and affect value of farm assets in particular farmland values but not asset turnover ratio.

The use of DuPont expansion factor in agriculture is original and really helps us to understand the factors driving profitability in agriculture. Another innovation (originality) in this paper is the theoretical model that connects the DuPont expansion factor, government payments and its impact on farmland values.

By examining a case study in Tyrol, Austria, the paper aims to demonstrate the role of farm diversification and the influence of the peasants’ habitus on social-ecological resilience.

Drawing on a field study conducted in two remote villages of the Ötztal valley, Austrian Alps, this study provides insights into the interplay of tourism and farming and its impact on farm resilience. Qualitative narrative interviews, the so-called farm biographies, served to investigate these issues. Interpretations of data are based on qualitative content analysis.

The results highlight that farming and tourism are highly enmeshed in the case study area and that the additional income creates room for manoeuvre for the farms to activate their adaptive capability. At the same time, peasant values guide the farming activities. The farms in this study demonstrate a strong farm resilience that is enabled by farm diversification and rooted in their peasant habitus. This positively affects the social-ecological resilience.

In contrast to other studies, which have mainly applied the concepts of social or community resilience to investigate the resilience and vulnerability of rural areas, this study highlights the resilience of farms in mountain areas.

The competitiveness of the Alpine regions is strongly influenced by environmental constraints and its relationship with the urban network in the valley floor, which cannot be one of pure dependence. This study aims to analyse the health of the Italian Alpine economy through the performance of its capital companies, defined as those operating in the strictly mountainous are-as within the territories covered by the Alpine Convention. The authors compare the performance (2012-2018) of the “inner core” firms with a counterfactual sample of companies from neighbouring territories to delineate the strengths and weaknesses of the Alpine enterprises. The paper addresses policymakers and practitioners who will design the future policies for the high lands, exploiting a vast collaborative planning network.

The study analyses two broad strands of literature on territorial competitiveness. It uses the coarsened exact matching techniques for the selection of a counterfactual sample at the enterprise level. The study follows a policy-oriented design, offering answers to future challenges.

The Alpine region has several different local production systems, with a significant level of heterogeneity among firms that differentiate the top 25% from the rest. The counterfactual analysis carried out does not provide clear evidence of significant differences. Instead, it con-firms strong similarities between the Alpine core and the peri-Alpine belt. It is only in terms of employment growth that the core grows less (with a high statistical significance). Finally, the authors introduce the analysis of sustainable value added (SVA) in the core area and use the “tourism chain” to compare different models. The focus here is on two keywords – rarefied and uncontaminated – that enable the transformation of some typical weaknesses of the “minor (or marginal) mountain” into assets for development, provided that place-based and network policies are activated.

The study focusses on the Italian Alps and could be extended in the future to the other countries participating in the Alpine Convention. It may also be enriched by qualitative analyses of partnerships and sole proprietorships that are not identified by the balance sheet analysis.

The study follows a policy-oriented design, offering possible solutions to future challenges.

The study offers some suggestions on the post-COVID-19 phase. The bottom-up, reluctant and community dimension are possible strengths to face the challenges that are opening up.

The study is one of the very few to carry out a counterfactual analysis of Alpine enterprises. It offers evidence on the strengths and weaknesses of the productive fabric of the high lands and updates the assessment of the health status of Alpine enterprises to accompany future fact-based policies after the COVID pandemic.

Mountains provide more than 40% of global goods and services. The ecosystem services arising from the Hindu Kush-Himalayas (HKH) in the form of water, biodiversity and niche products, hydroelectricity, timber, mineral resources, and recreation are enormous. The HKH region is enriched by a diversity of cultures, ethnic groups, and traditional knowledge systems. Thus, it is a paradox that, in spite of rich natural resources and cultures, poverty is rampant. Additionally, the HKH is a hotspot for climate change impacts, but the region has been identified as a data deficient during the 2007 assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Since then, some progress has been made to fill the data gap, specifically relating to biodiversity, cryosphere, and climate change. This chapter introduces the HKH region and elaborates the need for modeling in the context of dealing with climate change.

This paper aims to focus on the concept of agritourism and how its development and promotion can contribute to the achievement of a number of sustainable development objectives, including those related to reducing inequalities, fighting poverty, sustainable consumption and production and ensuring food security.

Professionals and experts in the fields of agriculture, aquaculture and tourism were interviewed to better understand the challenges of agritourism and how it could contribute to the achievement of sustainable development objectives in mountainous and arid regions.

The results highlight the environmental, economic and social benefits that can be derived from the practice of agritourism and how this can be a distinguishing feature for a country in which conventional tourism is struggling to develop. participation in farm life for various activities is a key element of any agritourism activity. The results also confirmed the various benefits of the practice, both for farmers and tourists and that it contributed directly to the achievement of certain objectives such as poverty alleviation, reduction of inequalities, food security and preservation of water resources.

This research has certain limitations, the first being the fact that it is a qualitative study and the results cannot be extrapolated; second, it only took into account the point of view of a certain category of people, namely, experts and tourism professionals.

New elements were also identified, in particular, concerning certain perceived risks related to the practice of agritourism such as bio-piracy or damage to national heritage, as well as the appropriation and use of ancestral practices for commercial purposes by other countries.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the land utilization in the erosion and landslide vulnerable mountainous region using the Rapid Appraisal for Agricultural Land Utilization (RApALU) model.

A multidimensional RApALU model is used for sustainable agriculture land utilization.

Ecological dimension was less sustainable, whereas socio-economic, socio-cultural, and eco-technological dimensions were comparatively more sustainable. It was found from the analysis that 9 out of 21 attributes have sensitive effect on the sustainability index and status.

One of the implications of this research is that this model could be used to quickly measure the arrangement of an area that is experiencing environmental problems so that the land use planning process could be done more effectively and efficiently. The parameters used in each variable could be chosen by the researchers themselves according to location. As far as known by the researcher, the methods used have not been well integrated, they are still separated, for example, only physical problems, and social problems have not been measured properly. This model is not perfect yet, and it could be developed further because environmental problems are very complex and could be different from one location to another.

RApALU analysis can be used as preliminary analysis to comprehend general and overall description on the status of the sustainability index of land utilization for agriculture in hilly mountainous regions. The study confirmed that RApALU analysis can help determine the status of the sustainability of land utilization in intricate areas. This technique was able to comprehensively identify important factors affecting sustainability status of various dimensions.

The persistence of different farm types in Italian agriculture shows that productivism is not the only possible development path that farms can follow, and that farms can successfully adopt strategies based on diversification rather than standardization of production.The aim of this work is to provide evidence about the diffusion of different diversification and differentiation strategies in Italian agriculture, and to compare the characteristics associated with the targeted groups of farms, as well as their structural and economic evolution over time.The analysis is performed on a panel of data built on the basis of information collected by the Italian FADN over the 2003–2009 period. For the purpose of the analysis we divided the population of Italian commercial farms into a fivefold innovative farm typology based on the extent of diversification and differentiation strategies adopted by farms.The findings show that conventional farms are still by far the largest category within the population of Italian commercial farms, while only 13% of total commercial farms is classified as differentiated and/or diversified. Conventional farms are also the best off in terms of economic results. As for the differentiated and/or diversified farms, their structures are still changing, their profitability is improving and they follow a more sustained income growth path than conventional ones.The analysis highlights that diversification and differentiation are not necessarily a viable solution to the low-income problem faced by many farms. Future research is needed to better understand the relationship between diversification strategies and policies.