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.
Highlights
Mountain areas cover nearly 40% of the territory of the European Union (EU) [1]
The objective of the study is twofold: (i) To assess the extent to which mountain product (MP) is used by meat producers in the Italian Alpine context; and (ii) to understand which factors stimulate or hinder its adoption
The Italian Alps territory includes Valle d’Aosta, but this region was excluded given that it has no producers using the MP on meat products
Summary
Mountain areas cover nearly 40% of the territory of the European Union (EU) [1]. The climatic and morphological conditions that characterize these areas limit the economic profitability of agriculture. Yields in the mountains are usually lower, production costs higher and farmers are forced to choose what to produce among a smaller range of crops [2]. The main effects of this lower economic viability are land abandonment and rural migration [3,4]. In the European Alps, around 40% of agricultural land was abandoned between 1980 and 2000 [5,6]. For 70% of farmers in these areas, farming is a secondary source of income [7]
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