European mountain areas have experienced a persistent loss of agricultural land and economic activities over time, with negative effects from both an environmental and a cultural perspective. In 2012, the European Union devised the mountain product (MP) quality term to provide to mountain producers a tool to better market their products and thus increase their income. In this article, we tried to understand what the current challenges and opportunities are concerning this quality term, focusing on meat products in the Italian Alpine context. To this end, interviews were conducted with producers who are allowed to use the term on meat in this area and with regional persons in charge of the food quality policy. The SWOT analysis performed on the results of these interviews highlights that the lack of stringent requirements and simple bureaucratic procedures are the main strengths of this tool, while the interest of consumers in mountain products is a factor that can stimulate the spread of its use. However, four crucial needs should be addressed, namely increasing consumers’ awareness of MP, providing information on MP to producers, increasing the protection of the term and developing a more collaborative approach among producers.

The EU Mountain Product Voluntary Quality Term as a Valorization Tool for Livestock Farms: Challenges and Opportunities in an Alpine Context

Pagliacci, Francesco;Cei, Leonardo
;
Defrancesco, Edi;Gatto, Paola
2022

Abstract

European mountain areas have experienced a persistent loss of agricultural land and economic activities over time, with negative effects from both an environmental and a cultural perspective. In 2012, the European Union devised the mountain product (MP) quality term to provide to mountain producers a tool to better market their products and thus increase their income. In this article, we tried to understand what the current challenges and opportunities are concerning this quality term, focusing on meat products in the Italian Alpine context. To this end, interviews were conducted with producers who are allowed to use the term on meat in this area and with regional persons in charge of the food quality policy. The SWOT analysis performed on the results of these interviews highlights that the lack of stringent requirements and simple bureaucratic procedures are the main strengths of this tool, while the interest of consumers in mountain products is a factor that can stimulate the spread of its use. However, four crucial needs should be addressed, namely increasing consumers’ awareness of MP, providing information on MP to producers, increasing the protection of the term and developing a more collaborative approach among producers.
2022
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
Sustainability.pdf

accesso aperto

Descrizione: Articolo principale
Tipologia: Published (publisher's version)
Licenza: Creative commons
Dimensione 476.47 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
476.47 kB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri
Pubblicazioni consigliate

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11577/3421181
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 11
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 11
  • OpenAlex ND
social impact