Twenty Years of Socio-Economic Research on Organic Agriculture Across the World: Looking at the Past to Be Ready for the Future

The world organic sector has evolved in a rapid way over the last few decades, driven by consumer interest, producer and retailer strategies, as well as by the evolving normative context. This growth has stimulated an increase in academic research, particularly in socio-economic research. The presen...

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Main Authors: Leonardo Cei, Gianluca Stefani, Luca Rossetto
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-10-01
Series:Agriculture
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/11/1944
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author Leonardo Cei
Gianluca Stefani
Luca Rossetto
author_facet Leonardo Cei
Gianluca Stefani
Luca Rossetto
author_sort Leonardo Cei
collection DOAJ
description The world organic sector has evolved in a rapid way over the last few decades, driven by consumer interest, producer and retailer strategies, as well as by the evolving normative context. This growth has stimulated an increase in academic research, particularly in socio-economic research. The present work aims to understand the evolution of organic socio-economic research in terms of the research themes covered within this field, their relative importance, and how this importance has changed over time. The implementation of a structural topic model on scientific abstracts from the last 20 years allowed us to identify three broad areas of interest for organic socio-economic researchers: consumers, production, and society. The relevance of these strands varies in different areas of the world, mostly aligning with the prominent aspects of local organic sectors. This signals a good integration of organic socio-economic research within local contexts, with the possible development of place-based skills to be exploited within the global debate on organic agriculture. Overall, a reasonably strong imbalance emerges, with consumer-focused studies being more prominent than production-focused ones, especially those investigating producers’ economic results. The latter seems to call for renewed attention on and analysis of the organic sector, assisted by robust evidence on both ends of the organic supply chain.
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spelling doaj-art-6cc716edd4404c1aba44ed4db4ff9a512025-08-20T02:26:50ZengMDPI AGAgriculture2077-04722024-10-011411194410.3390/agriculture14111944Twenty Years of Socio-Economic Research on Organic Agriculture Across the World: Looking at the Past to Be Ready for the FutureLeonardo Cei0Gianluca Stefani1Luca Rossetto2TESAF Department, University of Padova, Viale dell’Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, ItalyDISEI Department, University of Firenze, Via delle Pandette 32, 50127 Firenze, ItalyTESAF Department, University of Padova, Viale dell’Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, ItalyThe world organic sector has evolved in a rapid way over the last few decades, driven by consumer interest, producer and retailer strategies, as well as by the evolving normative context. This growth has stimulated an increase in academic research, particularly in socio-economic research. The present work aims to understand the evolution of organic socio-economic research in terms of the research themes covered within this field, their relative importance, and how this importance has changed over time. The implementation of a structural topic model on scientific abstracts from the last 20 years allowed us to identify three broad areas of interest for organic socio-economic researchers: consumers, production, and society. The relevance of these strands varies in different areas of the world, mostly aligning with the prominent aspects of local organic sectors. This signals a good integration of organic socio-economic research within local contexts, with the possible development of place-based skills to be exploited within the global debate on organic agriculture. Overall, a reasonably strong imbalance emerges, with consumer-focused studies being more prominent than production-focused ones, especially those investigating producers’ economic results. The latter seems to call for renewed attention on and analysis of the organic sector, assisted by robust evidence on both ends of the organic supply chain.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/11/1944organic researchtext analysisliterature revieworganic farmingorganic agriculture
spellingShingle Leonardo Cei
Gianluca Stefani
Luca Rossetto
Twenty Years of Socio-Economic Research on Organic Agriculture Across the World: Looking at the Past to Be Ready for the Future
Agriculture
organic research
text analysis
literature review
organic farming
organic agriculture
title Twenty Years of Socio-Economic Research on Organic Agriculture Across the World: Looking at the Past to Be Ready for the Future
title_full Twenty Years of Socio-Economic Research on Organic Agriculture Across the World: Looking at the Past to Be Ready for the Future
title_fullStr Twenty Years of Socio-Economic Research on Organic Agriculture Across the World: Looking at the Past to Be Ready for the Future
title_full_unstemmed Twenty Years of Socio-Economic Research on Organic Agriculture Across the World: Looking at the Past to Be Ready for the Future
title_short Twenty Years of Socio-Economic Research on Organic Agriculture Across the World: Looking at the Past to Be Ready for the Future
title_sort twenty years of socio economic research on organic agriculture across the world looking at the past to be ready for the future
topic organic research
text analysis
literature review
organic farming
organic agriculture
url https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/11/1944
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AT gianlucastefani twentyyearsofsocioeconomicresearchonorganicagricultureacrosstheworldlookingatthepasttobereadyforthefuture
AT lucarossetto twentyyearsofsocioeconomicresearchonorganicagricultureacrosstheworldlookingatthepasttobereadyforthefuture