Agricultural production must be sustainable under two main “eco” profiles: ecological and economic. The need to combine these aspects of the organizations operating in the agricultural sector can be met through the adoption of management tools that would allow a systemic view of the various activities of individual companies, fully respecting the peculiarities of each of them, providing valid responses in terms of both environmental and economic sustainability. The aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of the most important management and assessment tools that can be applied by agri-food production firms, in order to answer, in a flexible way, the various needs of organizations operating in food chain. In particular, this chapter describes: • management systems and tools, based on international standards, useful for the reduction of environmental impacts associated with the activities, processes and/or products of agri-food firms; • integration opportunities among these systems and tools in order to improve, in a synergic way, environmental and economic performance; • some emerging management approaches aimed at the valorization of the by-products and waste from the agricultural and agri-industrial sector, thanks to the application of industrial ecology principles that allow the creation of a network of firms, within a territorial framework.
The Role of Eco-Management for Sustainable Agricultural Production
SALOMONE, Roberta;SAIJA, Giuseppe;CIRAOLO, Luigi
2012-01-01
Abstract
Agricultural production must be sustainable under two main “eco” profiles: ecological and economic. The need to combine these aspects of the organizations operating in the agricultural sector can be met through the adoption of management tools that would allow a systemic view of the various activities of individual companies, fully respecting the peculiarities of each of them, providing valid responses in terms of both environmental and economic sustainability. The aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of the most important management and assessment tools that can be applied by agri-food production firms, in order to answer, in a flexible way, the various needs of organizations operating in food chain. In particular, this chapter describes: • management systems and tools, based on international standards, useful for the reduction of environmental impacts associated with the activities, processes and/or products of agri-food firms; • integration opportunities among these systems and tools in order to improve, in a synergic way, environmental and economic performance; • some emerging management approaches aimed at the valorization of the by-products and waste from the agricultural and agri-industrial sector, thanks to the application of industrial ecology principles that allow the creation of a network of firms, within a territorial framework.Pubblicazioni consigliate
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