IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/fan/ecaqec/vhtml10.3280-ecag2025oa18773.html

The implementation of EU Optional Quality Term ?Mountain Products? in Italy: Challenges and opportunities for the food sector in rural mountain areas

Author

Listed:
  • Sara Bispini
  • Riccardo Ievoli
  • Mauro Conti
  • Angelo Belliggiano

Abstract

The Optional Quality Term (OQT) ?Mountain Product? aims to promote mountain food products. This term can be beneficial for the economy of mountain regions, as it allows them to distinguish their products and can protect consumers from fraud, counterfeiting or agro-piracy. This study has two main objectives: to assess how farms that have adopted the label perceive their limitations and to analyse the reasons for these limitations and provide policy recommendations to strengthen the use of OQT. The study involves a survey of agri-food companies that have adopted the label, with data collected through a questionnaire. Although existing research indicates that consumers generally prefer mountain products and perceive them as higher quality, producers report that consumer awareness of the OQT is still low. It appears essential to improve communication with both producers and consumers on the economic, social and environmental benefits of the ?mountain product? label. Producers need support to integrate the label into their business strategies, while consumers should be informed about the ethical and social responsibility linked to the OQT.

Suggested Citation

  • Sara Bispini & Riccardo Ievoli & Mauro Conti & Angelo Belliggiano, 2025. "The implementation of EU Optional Quality Term ?Mountain Products? in Italy: Challenges and opportunities for the food sector in rural mountain areas," Economia agro-alimentare, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2025(2), pages 163-193.
    • Handle: RePEc:fan:ecaqec:v:html10.3280/ecag2025oa18773
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=78358&Tipo=ArticoloPDF
    Download Restriction: Single articles can be downloaded buying download credits, for info: https://www.francoangeli.it/DownloadCredit
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maria Rosita Cagnina & Marta Cosmina & Gianluigi Gallenti & Francesco Marangon & Federico Nassivera & Stefania Troiano, 2018. "The role of information in consumers? behavior: A survey on the counterfeit food products," Economia agro-alimentare, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 20(2), pages 221-231.
    2. Kent D. Messer & Harry M. Kaiser & William D. Schulze, 2008. "The Problem of Free Riding in Voluntary Generic Advertising: Parallelism and Possible Solutions from the Lab," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 90(2), pages 540-552.
    3. Dario Casati, 2006. "Il ruolo della specificit? per la valorizzazione dei prodotti agroalimentari," Economia agro-alimentare, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 10(1).
    4. Ivano Scotti & Corrado Ievoli & Letizia Bindi & Sara Bispini & Angelo Belliggiano, 2023. "Facing Climate Vulnerability in Mountain Areas: The Role of Rural Actors’ Agency and Situated Knowledge Production," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-19, November.
    5. Messer, Kent D. & Kaiser, Harry M. & Schulze, William D., 2008. "AJAE Appendix: The Problem of Free Riding in Voluntary Generic Advertising: Parallelism and Possible Solutions from the Lab," American Journal of Agricultural Economics APPENDICES, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 90(2), pages 1-13.
    6. Alessandro Bonadonna & Giovanni Peira & Chiara Giachino & Luana Molinaro, 2017. "Traditional Cheese Production and an EU Labeling Scheme: The Alpine Cheese Producers’ Opinion," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 7(8), pages 1-13, August.
    7. Alessandro Bonadonna & Stefano Duglio & Luigi Bollani & Giovanni Peira, 2022. "Mountain Food Products: A Cluster Analysis Based on Young Consumers’ Perceptions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-14, September.
    8. Ivana Bassi & Matteo Carzedda & Enrico Gori & Luca Iseppi, 2022. "Rasch analysis of consumer attitudes towards the mountain product label," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 10(1), pages 1-25, December.
    9. Tenzing Ingty, 2017. "High mountain communities and climate change: adaptation, traditional ecological knowledge, and institutions," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 145(1), pages 41-55, November.
    10. Yee, Thomas W., 2010. "The VGAM Package for Categorical Data Analysis," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 32(i10).
    11. Giacomo Staffolani & Deborah Bentivoglio & Adele Finco, 2022. "Consumers’ Purchasing Determinants Towards Mountain Food Products," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-15, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Benjamin DeMuth & Trey Malone & Brandon R. McFadden & Christopher A. Wolf, 2023. "Choice effects associated with banning the word “meat” on alternative protein labels," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 45(1), pages 128-144, March.
    2. Roma Paolo & Perrone Giovanni, 2010. "Generic Advertising, Brand Advertising and Price Competition: An Analysis of Free-Riding Effects and Coordination Mechanisms," Review of Marketing Science, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 1-29, October.
    3. Li, Tongzhe & Fooks, Jacob & Messer, Kent D., "undated". "Residents’ Preferences in Adopting Water Runoff Management Practices: Examining the Effect of Behavioral Nudges in a Field Experiment," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 259127, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    4. Janusch, Nicholas & Palm-Forster, Leah H. & Messer, Kent D. & Ferraro, Paul J., "undated". "Behavioral Insights for Agri-Environmental Program and Policy Design," 2018 Allied Social Sciences Association (ASSA) Annual Meeting, January 5-7, 2018, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 266299, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    5. Yuanfang Lin & Sandeep Krishnamurthy, 2017. "Generic and Brand Advertising Strategies Under Inter-Industry Competition," Customer Needs and Solutions, Springer;Institute for Sustainable Innovation and Growth (iSIG), vol. 4(1), pages 18-27, September.
    6. Matthew Donazzan & Nisvan Erkal & Boon Han Koh, 2016. "Impact of Rebates and Refunds on Contributions to Threshold Public Goods: Evidence from a Field Experiment," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 83(1), pages 69-86, July.
    7. Li, Tongzhe & Fooks, Jacob R. & Messer, Kent D. & Ferraro, Paul J., 2021. "A field experiment to estimate the effects of anchoring and framing on residents’ willingness to purchase water runoff management technologies," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    8. Swallow, Stephen K., 2013. "Demand-side Value for Ecosystem Services and Implications for Innovative Markets: Experimental Perspectives on the Possibility of Private Markets for Public Goods," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 42(1), pages 33-56, April.
    9. Zarghamee, Homa S. & Messer, Kent D. & Fooks, Jacob R. & Schulze, William D. & Wu, Shang & Yan, Jubo, 2017. "Nudging charitable giving: Three field experiments," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 137-149.
    10. Stephanie Rosch & Sharon Raszap Skorbiansky & Collin Weigel & Kent D. Messer & Daniel Hellerstein, 2021. "Barriers to Using Economic Experiments in Evidence‐Based Agricultural Policymaking," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(2), pages 531-555, June.
    11. James Alm & William D. Schulze & Carrie von Bose & Jubo Yan, 2019. "Appeals to Social Norms and Taxpayer Compliance," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 86(2), pages 638-666, October.
    12. Jia Liu & Yohanes E. Riyanto, 2017. "The limit to behavioral inertia and the power of default in voluntary contribution games," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 48(4), pages 815-835, April.
    13. Kent Messer & Jordan Suter & Jubo Yan, 2013. "Context Effects in a Negatively Framed Social Dilemma Experiment," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 55(3), pages 387-405, July.
    14. D'Alberto, R. & Targetti, S. & Schaller, L. & Bartolini, F. & Eichhorn, T. & Haltia, E. & Harmanny, K. & Le Gloux, F. & Nikolov, D. & Runge, T. & Vergamini, D. & Viaggi, D., 2024. "A European perspective on acceptability of innovative agri-environment-climate contract solutions," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    15. Jiang, Xianfeng & Packer, Frank, 2019. "Credit ratings of Chinese firms by domestic and global agencies: Assessing the determinants and impact," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 178-193.
    16. Xi Liu & Yiqiao Jin & Yifan Yang & Xiaoqing Pan, 2023. "Properties and Estimations of a Multivariate Folded Normal Distribution," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-15, December.
    17. Ivana Bassi & Matteo Carzedda & Enrico Gori & Luca Iseppi, 2022. "Rasch analysis of consumer attitudes towards the mountain product label," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 10(1), pages 1-25, December.
    18. Huizhao Yang & Sailesh Ranjitkar & Deli Zhai & Micai Zhong & Stefanie Daniela Goldberg & Muhammad Asad Salim & Zhenghong Wang & Yi Jiang & Jianchu Xu, 2019. "Role of Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Seasonal Calendars in the Context of Climate Change: A Case Study from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-22, June.
    19. Yiwei Fan & Jiaqi Gu & Guosheng Yin, 2023. "Sparse concordance‐based ordinal classification," Scandinavian Journal of Statistics, Danish Society for Theoretical Statistics;Finnish Statistical Society;Norwegian Statistical Association;Swedish Statistical Association, vol. 50(3), pages 934-961, September.
    20. Antonella Fatica & Alessio Manzo & Erika Di Iorio & Luana Circelli & Francesco Fantuz & Luca Todini & Thomas W. Crawford & Claudio Colombo & Elisabetta Salimei, 2025. "Apennine Natural Pasture Areas: Soil, Plant, and Livestock Interactions and Ecosystem Characterization," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-19, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:fan:ecaqec:v:html10.3280/ecag2025oa18773. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Stefania Rosato (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/sommario.aspx?IDRivista=214 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.