This paper seeks to analyze an endogenous development scheme implemented by farming families, involving innovations in the organic production of watermelons; this was a novel local initiative reflecting the creative drive of the farmers themselves, against a background marked by considerable...

The System of Rice Intensification is a cropping system based on agroecological principles that mobilizes existing biological potentials in crops and soil systems. SRI has shown in more than two dozen countries that yields can be raised substantially by managing plants, soil, water and nutrients...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a socio-ecological counter account of the role that agroecology plays in supporting the sustainable livelihoods of a co-operative of smallholder coffee farmers, where very little value is created at their end of the coffee commodity chain....

To address the challenges of biodiversity conservation and commodity production, a framework has been proposed that distinguishes between the integration ("land sharing") and separation ("land sparing") of conservation and production. Controversy has arisen around this framework partly because...

How much is a wildflower worth? Inspired by "The worth of a songbird" by Funtowicz and Ravetz (1994) we use the value of a wildflower as symbol of the complexity of evaluating environmental qualities and risks. We critically discuss the application of cost-benefit analysis in evaluating...

The emergence of agricultural biotechnology and the subsequent introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into the food system have been among the most controversial issues surrounding the increasingly scrutinized agri-food system. They have received considerable attention in the...

Paper prepared for presentation at the Third International Conference onCoexistence between Genetically Modified (GM) and non-GM basedAgricultural Supply Chains (GMCC)Seville (Spain), 20th and 21st November 2007

This paper presents a theoretical economic model assessing the effect of the level of mandatory geneticallymodified (GM) / non-GM coexistence regulations on market and welfare outcome. We assumevertical differentiation of GM and non-GM goods on the consumer side. Producers are heterogeneousin...