A Typological Classification for Assessing Farm Sustainability in the Italian Bovine Dairy Sector

Margherita Masi, Yari Vecchio, Gregorio Pauselli, Jorgelina Di Pasquale and Felice Adinolfi
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Margherita Masi: Department of Veterinary Medical Science, University of Bologna—Alma Mater Studiorum, 40064 Ozzano dell’Emilia, Italy
Yari Vecchio: Department of Veterinary Medical Science, University of Bologna—Alma Mater Studiorum, 40064 Ozzano dell’Emilia, Italy
Gregorio Pauselli: Department of Veterinary Medical Science, University of Bologna—Alma Mater Studiorum, 40064 Ozzano dell’Emilia, Italy
Jorgelina Di Pasquale: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Teramo, 64100 Teramo, Italy
Felice Adinolfi: Department of Veterinary Medical Science, University of Bologna—Alma Mater Studiorum, 40064 Ozzano dell’Emilia, Italy

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 13, 1-14

Abstract: Italy is among the most important countries in Europe for milk production. The new European policies encourage a transition towards sustainability and are leading European dairy farms to follow new trajectories to increase their economic efficiency, reduce their environmental impact, and ensure social sustainability. Few studies have attempted to classify dairy farms by analyzing the relationships between the structural profiles of farms and the social, environmental, and economic dimensions of sustainability. This work intends to pursue this aim through an exploratory analysis in the Italian production context. The cluster analysis technique made it possible to identify three types of dairy farms, which were characterized on the basis of indicators that represented the three dimensions of sustainability (environmental, social, and economic sustainability) and the emerging structural relationships based on the structural characteristics of the dairy farms. The classification made it possible to describe the state of the art of the Italian dairy sector in terms of sustainability and to understand how different types of farms can respond to the new European trajectories.

Keywords: sustainability; farm type; sustainable management; small-/medium-scale animal farms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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