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Supervising third-party control bodies for certification: the case of organic farming in Italy

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  • Annalisa Zezza

    (Council for Agricultural Research and Economics)

  • Federica Demaria

    (Council for Agricultural Research and Economics)

  • Tiziana Laureti

    (University of Tuscia)

  • Luca Secondi

    (University of Tuscia)

Abstract

The organic food certification system in Italy, based on the EU legislation, relies on private control bodies (CBs) that are supervised by national authorities. The aim of this paper is to investigate whether it is possible to test for differences in controls outcome based on CBs’ behavior. To this extent, we use a multinomial logit model estimated on data corresponding to the results of the inspections in the year 2015 in Italy. The model controls for two fixed effects represented by the type of operator and a contextual variable, i.e., the region where a firm is located. Significant variability in CBs behavior could induce adverse selection in the choice of the CB by organic operators. In this vein, we discuss some implications in terms of policies and consequences for supervision in the conclusions.

Suggested Citation

  • Annalisa Zezza & Federica Demaria & Tiziana Laureti & Luca Secondi, 2020. "Supervising third-party control bodies for certification: the case of organic farming in Italy," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 8(1), pages 1-14, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:agfoec:v:8:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1186_s40100-020-00171-3
    DOI: 10.1186/s40100-020-00171-3
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Danilo Gambelli & Francesco Solfanelli & Raffaele Zanoli, 2014. "Feasibility of risk-based inspections in organic farming: results from a probabilistic model," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 45(3), pages 267-277, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Giovanni Dara Guccione & Elena Pagliarino & Ilaria Borri & Alessandra Vaccaro & Patrizia Borsotto, 2021. "A Participatory Analysis of the Control and Certification System in the Italian Organic Rice Value Chain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-20, February.
    2. Solfanelli, Francesco & Ozturk, Emel & Pugliese, Patrizia & Zanoli, Raffaele, 2021. "Potential outcomes and impacts of organic group certification in Italy: An evaluative case study," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).

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