Changes in the supply chain outcomes of food regionalization, 2007-2017: Broccoli in the eastern United States.

Local and regional food supply chains are gaining increasing support from public and private sectors for their contributions to economic development and promoting sustainability. However, the impacts of regionalization are not well understood. We employ a spatial-temporal model of production and transportation to evaluate the supply chain outcomes of a decade-long process of food regionalization for fresh broccoli in the eastern United States (US). Our results indicate that eastern broccoli supply chains displaced products sourced from the western US and met over 15% of the annual demand in eastern markets in 2017. We find that total broccoli supply chain costs and food miles increased in the period 2007-2017. Nevertheless, eastern-grown broccoli has contributed to reducing regional food miles in the eastern region (from 365 miles in 2007 to 255 miles in 2017) and experienced only modest increases in supply chains costs (a 3.4% increase, compared to a 16.5% increase for broccoli shipped from western US) during the same period. Our results provide valuable information for policymakers and the fresh produce industry interested in promoting regional food supply chains.

Households' preferences for hydrological services in Veracruz, Mexico: The importance of outcomes vs. program design.

Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) are transfer payments that incentivize natural resource owners and managers to carry out environmental conservation efforts that promote ecosystem service provision. A common issue that PES programs face is long-term financial sustainability. In the case of payments for hydrological services (PHS), this may be achieved by introducing fees in the water bill of water users and using the money to pay landowners to conserve their forests and the hydrological services they provide. However, these fees are often minuscule and chosen arbitrarily without assessing households' preferences for the outcomes and design of the programs that manage them. While programs that improve water quality and regularity are universally desired, we know less about household preferences for who administers the program and who is eligible to enroll. We design a choice experiment survey to study preferences for attributes of a PHS program in Xalapa and Coatapec, Mexico. Expectedly, both cities' residents are willing to pay more to support a PHS program that improves water quality and water quantity regulation. Trust in the municipal government in the case of Xalapa and watershed awareness in Coatepec increase the likelihood of selecting the proposed alternative PHS programs. Households in both cities are willing to pay a premium if an NGO is involved in managing the program. While residents of Xalapa prefer keeping the PHS program land eligibility restricted to forests, the residents of Coatepec are willing to pay significantly more for a program that expands land eligibility to include shade-grown coffee. Overall, the WTP for a PHS program is estimated to be 16% of the current average monthly water bill for Xalapa households and 70% of the current water bill for Coatepec households. Our findings suggest that downstream water users can serve as a viable option for financing a PHS program to conserve forestland upstream. Attention needs to be paid to differences in WTP magnitudes and the population characteristics that affect differences in WTP across cities, such as trust in the government and watershed awareness.

Effects of different irrigation, drying and production scenarios on the productivity, postharvest quality and economic feasibility of Origanum syriacum, a species typically over-collected from the wild in Lebanon.

BACKGROUND: The potential of Origanum syriacum L. to become a cultivated crop in Lebanon rather than being harvested from the wild was investigated at the production, postharvest and economic levels. Three irrigation schemes were tested on growth parameters of cultivated oregano plants. In order to identify the most quality-preserving drying technique, air-, oven (30 °C)- and freeze-dried oregano samples were assessed through sensory analysis. Cost/benefit analysis was used to compare the economic potential of O. syriacum in four production scenarios. RESULTS: An irrigation scheme of 16 L per plant administered every 2 weeks (medium irrigation) during the dry period resulted in a doubling of the horticultural (56.34%) and hydro-distilled essential oil (55.22%) yields. Descriptive sensory analysis showed that air-dried material had the desired flavour, aroma and colour attributes. Net present values ranged from - 677 406.02 to 562 301.5 US$ and benefit/cost ratios from 0.5341 to 5.1993 for a 1 ha, 5 year life-cycle oregano farm. CONCLUSION: Irrigating plants once every 2 weeks during the dry season optimised herbage and essential oil yields of oregano, while air drying of plant material preserved its organoleptic attributes as a spice. Three of the four production scenarios, namely Zaatar production, herbal tea and Zaatar production and essential oil production, were economically feasible, with the last of these having the highest economic feasibility.