Unusual levels of agricultural product waste are becoming one of the issues and dangers that human societies face in their efforts to achieve food security. Therefore, reducing agricultural product ...waste is one of the main strategies for the optimal use of production resources and support food security. In this study, a multilevel Bayesian technique was used to examine the characteristics of customers and the effects of marketing mix on the waste of selected agricultural products—a subgroup of fruits and vegetables in Mashhad, Iran. Based on this, 368 consumers (at the first level), 53 fruit and vegetable markets (at the second level), and 3 main supply centers of fruit and vegetables in the city (at the third level) were evaluated using the Bayesian multilevel model. The results showed that approximately 56% of food waste variance was caused by differences between consumers, 29% is due to the differences between fruit and vegetable markets, and almost 14% is due to the differences between the main supply centers of Mashhad. Also, the effects of the marketing mix showed that the place of distribution of agricultural products always has an increasing effect on the waste of agricultural products. Moreover, increasing the price of agricultural products reduces waste by consumers and keeps the consumer away from unnecessary purchases. The product factor also has an increasing effect on the waste of agricultural products, and consumers are encouraged to consume more and create more waste. A good way to reduce agricultural product waste is to use solutions that slow down the spoilage process and extend the shelf life of fruit and vegetables. Using an appropriate marketing mix and considering the characteristics of consumers can also control the waste of agricultural products.
Simulating decision-making process of agents of supply chain is affected by various economic and social factors. The main purpose of this paper was to investigate the behavior of the agents of the ...milk and its products supply chain using data for the year 2016 with emphasizing on dairy farmers against the policy increasing raw milk price. In this regard, bullwhip effect is one of the important issues raised in supply chain. The present paper investigated the presence or absence of bullwhip effect in the milk supply chain and its products, using moving average method and order-up-to-level r. Improvement in supply chain performance is one of the major issues in the current world. Lack of coordination in the supply chain is the main drawback of supply chain that many researchers have proposed different methodologies to overcome it. In addition, the application of agent-based simulation has been investigated in order to improve performance indicator in supply chain. The results showed there is the bullwhip effect in the supply chain, therefore, the bullwhip effect can be reduced or even eliminated using centrality in decision-making by the agents in supply chain.
Despite a growing literature on fishing grounds footprint, there is no study analyzing fishing footprint regarding spatial effects between neighboring countries. Thus, we explored whether the fishing ...grounds footprint of 156 countries is spatially correlated. For this purpose, we applied the dynamic spatial Durbin model to examine the direct and indirect effects of GDP per capita, biological capacity, trade openness, population, and urbanization on fishing grounds footprint in the short-term and the long-term during 2001–2021. The results revealed that: (1) there exists a positive and significant spatial dependence in fishing grounds footprint between countries; (2) inverted U-shaped environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis is valid in the short-term and the long-term; (3) fishing grounds footprint is negatively influenced by biocapacity and urbanization in neighboring countries, while population directly increases the fishing footprint. Finally, some suggestions were put forward to reduce fishing grounds footprint and to achieve a sustainable fisheries environment.
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•The main determinants of fishing grounds footprint for 156 countries are investigated in this research.•Dynamic spatial Durbin model was applied to estimate the direct, indirect and total effects of fishing grounds footprint determinants.•There is a significant spatial dependence in fishing grounds footprint.•Inverted U-shaped EKC was found for the relationship between GDP per capita and fishing footprints.
This study examined the effects of climate change on food expenditure in rural household of Iran. Food expenditure is investigated as a function of average income of rural house- holds, retail food ...price index and food expenditure for rural households, agricultural sown area and climate change. Here, the Stata11 software is used and data are from 26 provinces of the country for 10 years. Precipitation, temperature and relative humidity are considered as indicators for climate variables. The results indicated a positive and significant effect of average income of rural households, retail food prices, food expenditure of rural households with a lag and precipitation on the food expenditure of rural households. Agricultural sown area and relative humidity had no effect on the food expenditure of rural households and temperature had a significant and negative effect on the food expenditure of rural households. In the end, due to the impact that each of these variables explicitly have on food expenditure of rural households and implicitly on food security of rural households, suggestions for maintaining and improving food security of rural households is presented.
Organic farming pursues sustainable agricultural development and improves the sustainability of food systems. Hence, policy makers and researchers around the world tried to develop it focusing on ...some factors and large areas. However, organic farmlands have been recently decreasing in some countries. The goal of this study is to determine the best strategies for development of organic farming based on comprehensive factors affecting organic farming, considering the interdependence among them under the uncertainty in the decision-making environment with a focus on Iran’s Khorasan Razavi province, a country suffering from a decrease in organic farmland. In this study, Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis, fuzzy theory, and Analytic Network Process (ANP) method were utilized. Based on interview with 20 organic farming experts and the SWOT analysis, 28 factors affecting organic farming were identified and nine possible strategies for organic farming development were defined. The results of fuzzy and ANP methods indicated that developing consumers’ awareness programs is the best strategy with the priority of 0.276, followed by creating a competitive market for organic products, and planning to teach the principles of organic farming with the priority of 0.262 and 0.230, respectively. The findings provide guidelines for decision makers involved in organic farming development.
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•A hybrid SWOT- Fuzzy Analytic Network Process is applied to find the best strategies for organic farming development.•The method considers holistic factors affecting organic farming and their interaction.•The method considers uncertainty in decision-makers’ judgments.•The method considers the agronomic and climatic peculiarities of the studied region.•Developing consumers’ awareness programs is the best strategy for organic farming development.
In the current study, factors affecting cheese brands products in grocery stores were evaluated with an emphasis on diversity. The sample data were collected from Noushad and Pegah Milk Industry in ...2015 and data were extracted, reviewed, and analyzed from 435 grocery stores in Mashhad using seemingly unrelated regression model and particle swarm optimization algorithm. Results showed that optimum amount of Kalleh product diversity is higher than other competitors in the market, and Kalleh UF diversity is 100 to 250 grams, and Kalleh UF diversity with weight of 300 to 500 grams is more than other modes of diversity, and Kalleh brand must remove tin cheese from the market. Sabah Brand also should eliminate its glass and creamy diversity from market, UF diversity is mostly welcomed in market. KCI Citation Count: 0
IntroductionToday, the businesses of the poultry industry are facing many challenges, because this industry has to manage a number of unique processes, methods and risks at the same time. Therefore, ...identifying the business risks of poultry production units can play an effective role in reducing the level of vulnerability of these businesses. Considering the need to increase the productivity of the poultry industry, one of the basic solutions is to identify the risk and measure the existing risks of this industry. Risk identification and quantification can reduce costs for industry stakeholders, and risk reduction leads to better production planning. In this regard, this study identifies the business risks of poultry production units in Khorasan Razavi province. Materials and MethodsThis study is applied as purpose and descriptive survey in terms of nature and method. This research is based on mixed research, qualitatively and quantitatively. The statistical population is poultry industry experts, 18 of whom were investigated by snowball sampling method as the research sample. This study proposes a new Delphi technique that uses the features of traditional Delphi techniques and the Fuzzy Delphi method. The proposed new Delphi technique is based on the integration of pentagonal fuzzy sets and the Delphi technique. Results and DiscussionThe results of the modified pentagonal Fuzzy Delphi method showed that five main risks and 36 secondary risks out of 58 identified risks are part of the business risks of poultry production units. Identified business risks of poultry production units, in order of priority, include inputs price fluctuations, command pricing, exchange rate fluctuations, sanctions, chicken price fluctuations, delay in accessing inputs, fluctuations in the purchase price of day-old chickens, fluctuations in drug and vaccine prices, imported inputs, lack of government support in the matter of production, fluctuations in subsidies to inputs, lack of animal inputs, import of poultry products, Promulgation of various instructions, poultry diseases, lack of liquidity of poultry farmers, bankruptcy of poultry farmers, fluctuations in current costs, losses, lack of medicine and vaccines, lack of expansion of poultry business, lack of confidence of poultry farmers in the government, fluctuations in profitability, investment, seasonal fluctuations in egg demand, dependence of poultry farmers on Special suppliers, supply of day-old chicks, lack of energy, exclusivity of the livestock and poultry feed supply system, egg price fluctuations, seasonal fluctuations in chicken production, seasonal fluctuations in chicken demand, weakness in providing working capital facilities to poultry farmers, lack of skilled human resources in time Appropriate, lack of technical knowledge of advanced technologies and lack of variety of poultry food ingredients. ConclusionThe business of poultry production units is facing various challenges and risks, and due to the many risks of this industry, production in this industry is facing problems and it is not possible to plan for it, and production will be disrupted in the future. Therefore, in this research, an effort was made to fully identify the business risks of poultry production units. In order to complete and finalize the business risks of poultry production units, the pentagonal Fuzzy Delphi method was used. In this regard, a questionnaire was prepared that included two parts. The first part is about the survey and information about the background of the respondents, and the second part includes the ranking of 54 identified risks. Fuzzy Delphi method in this study was done in two rounds and based on the opinion of experts, 4 more risks were added to the total of 54 risks, and finally 58 risks were analyzed using Fuzzy Delphi method. In Fuzzy Delphi, the selection of risk components among all the components that were identified in the research literature was based on the accepted threshold criterion. The results of the second round of modified pentagonal Fuzzy Delphi showed that there are 36 important sub-risks in the sector of production, market, financial, institutional and personal business risks of poultry production units. Considering the price fluctuations of livestock inputs and exchange rate fluctuations, it is suggested to allocate currency and control it by government policies in order to reduce mentioned fluctuations, or move towards diversifying poultry feed ingredients and formulating new poultry feed rations. Also, in order to avoid fluctuations in the price of chicken or eggs, it is suggested to make the distribution network smarter to prevent these fluctuations. In the poultry market, it is better to set a fair price for each kilogram of chicken according to the production costs of poultry farmers, or not to interfere with the government in the market and allow the government to set the price based on the supply and demand mechanism.
“International Msc Educational Programme in Environmental Management and Modelling” (GeoNetC) is a European Commission funded project under ERASMUS+: Higher Education – International Capacity ...Building programme (Project No 561967-EPP-1-2015-1-SE-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP). It began in October 2015 and ended in October 2018. Initiated by the Lund University and partners from the Middle East countries, the GeoNetC project is an ambitious project aiming to match labour market needs with geospatial education offer both in Europe and Middle East countries. The aim of this three-year project is to enable European universities to exchange best practices and innovation with each other and with Middle Eastern universities regarding the mismatch between Europe’s geospatial education and training and the geospatial education in Middle East countries. There is a growing need for well-trained students at all levels – vocational, bachelors, masters – in the field of geospatial technologies. Obviously there is a growing number of jobs available in land surveying, mapping data collection, data processing, data delivery and turning data into information in both European and Middle East countries. Through cooperation, all partners will improve the quality of their respective academic programs. The European partners will make their courses more attractive and well adjusted for students from the Middle East. As well, they will increase the general quality and add state-of-the-art learning components to their offerings, and the partners from the region will significantly increase the academic level and quality in the education they provide. There will be spin-offs into other subjects than environment/Geomatics, since both the pedagogic models developed (e.g. e-Learning) and communication and administrative tools can be used throughout the partner universities. Therefore, this partnership cooperation will be of great value to Partner Countries as well as to Programme Countries. A number of distance learning courses/modules are developed jointly by partner institutions in Europe and the Middle East. The main aim of the network is to promote the use of spatial information and earth observation for environmental management and modelling through capacity building and institutional development, via a network in which all partners would contribute from their own positions of strength. All 13 modules are following EU higher education standards regarding e.g. ECTS, and learning outcomes. The outcome of the project, in terms of courses/modules, will be freely used among the partners, with the possibilities of offering individual courses or a whole MSc programme, whether individually or together. All produced material was evaluated/quality controlled by an external evaluation group of independent experts within environmental management and modelling, higher education, as well as pedagogy.
Shifting from conventional methods of food production to genetic modification methods benefits sustainable agri-food production and environmental preservation. However, one of the main problems ...genetically modified food manufacturers have ever had to deal with is the public acceptability of GM foods. This study has two major objectives. First, it intends to apply principles from behavioral economics to investigate how consumers’ willingness to pay for GM corn oil can be affected. For this purpose, two different nudges are tested by providing consumers with positive information regarding GMO and changing the wording of the GMO label. Then, a comparison between the effectiveness of each of them is provided. Second, it investigates the impact of trust in GM food institutions, GMO information, and perceived GMO risk on both WTP for GM edible oil and the effectiveness of each nudge. A between-subjects choice experiment with a sample size of 550 Iranian corn oil consumers was conducted in Mashhad from March to April 2021. The results of mixed logit models indicate that both nudges affected consumer valuation of GM corn oil significantly, while their effectiveness differed according to the consumer level of trust in the GM food institutions and the perceived risk of GMO. Increasing consumer trust and information raises the WTP for GM corn oil; however, perceived risk has no effect. This study introduces effortless tools that GM food manufacturers can consider in their marketing strategies to affect consumers in the desired way.
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