1. The Agrifood Districts in the New Millennium by Roberto Fanfani Department of Statistics, University of Bologna, Via Belle Arti 41, 40126 Bologna 2. Séminaire international d’Antalya INDICATIONS GEOGRAPHIQUES, DYNAMIQUES SOCIO- ECONOMIQUES ET PATRIMOINE BIO-CULTUREL EN TURQUIE ET DANS LES PAYS MEDITERRANEENS

2. We are going to present an analysis of Agrifood Districts The Internationalisation of Agrifood Districts Identification of Agrifood districts and clustering food industry The focus on the districts of the meat industry: the ham districts of Parma & Reggio Emilia and S. Daniele. Does still exists the “district effect”? System Dynamics and Innovation in Food Networks, Igls/Innsbruck, February 8-12, 2010 – The Agrifood Districts in the New Millennium by Cristina Brasili and Roberto Fanfani

3. The Development of the ID’s in the New Millennium  According to an ISTAT analysis of 2001 Census data, the new Italian industrial “triangle” had moved towards the North-East and it was now characterised by ID’s  In Italy there was a clear positive “district effect” for more than a decade (from the mid 80’s to the end of the 1990’s)  Many important changes, the globalization effects and the new competitive scenario call into question the rigidity of the Italian ID’s, but some of them have been able to react  Standardised production will have to be abandoned in favour of more flexible management aimed at producing typical and niche products. A process of concentration has taken place in the Italian ID’

4. The “New” Food Districts among the “New” ID’s In the new globalization scenario the Italian food industry has improved its export performance and its importance in employment market (Foresti G. Micelli S., 2007) In the Italian food districts exports grew from 14,3% in 1991 to 17,6% in 2004 (% of total food production), and from 0.6% to 0,9% (% of total exports) Important changes in the exports of ID’s: the percentage of total exports to non-EU countries increased from 16% in 1995 to 24% in 2005 ( the exports increased most to USA and Canada) Different trends have been evident in the agrifood districts: Non-standardised products and the Districts where they are produced are less vulnerable to competition

5. Cooperation, aggregation and collaboration of firms in Emilia-Romagna 271 food enterprises from Emilia-Romagna participated in foreign enterprises in 2005 Most collaboration is with other EU countries (119 firms) Firms that have important investments in foreign countries are capital companies or cooperatives (Unioncamere 2006) these enterprises had previously developed several forms of collaboration with other firms in the region or from other regions, aimed at investing or collaborating with foreign enterprises “The most common forms of network are consortium, association, or participation in the capital of the companies” (Brasili, Fanfani, 2007). The Medium size enterprises play a relevant role as leader enterprises or mini-multinational.

6. IDs in Italy by kind of production (ISTAT) Industrial districts identification (ISTAT- Sforzi 2006) consider : 159 ID’s in 2001 with the prevalent specialization of the main sectors of the manufacturing industry Only 7 IDs belong to food industry in Northern Italian regions The presence of many SMEs, in term of number of firms and employees

9. Club dei distretti industriali (Unioncamere)

10. Questi indici di specializzazione sono i seguenti: Peso delle aziende agroalimentari sul totale delle aziende, Peso dell’occupazione nel settore agroalimentare sul totale, Peso delle aziende agroalimentari sul totale manifatturiero, Peso degli occupati nell’agroindustria sul totale manifatturiero. Mappa di sintesi dei distretti rurali e agroalimentari di qualità (Istituto Tagliacarne)

12. The identification of Agri-Food Districts A different methodology The “mosaic” or “patchwork” geographical distribution of food industry’s are the basis for the identification of AFD We have identified numerous local production systems (districts and clusters) considering: the concentration and specialization of the food industry (and not that of manufacturing industry) at municipal level (and not the local labour system). It uses six indices 8 main subsectors of the Italian food industry are identified more presence of clusters of firms and agrifood districts, and in particular the meat industry than the ISTAT methodology does

14. The Italian districts in the meat sub-sector The Italian districts in the meat sub-sector Census Data 1991 Parma & Reggio- Emilia Ham District San Daniele Ham District Census Data 2001

15. The Italian districts in the fruit & vegetables sub-sector The Italian districts in the fruit & vegetables sub-sector Census Data 1991 Census Data 2001

16. The AFDs identification is relevant to develop Quantitative analysis To verify the existence of a “district effect” Economic and efficiency analysis of the firms Financial and economic characteristics ( ROI; ROE, labour cost per employee, innovation ratio) A stochastic frontier production function Economic performance on international markets

19. Export Dop e Igp by products, % on value (Italy)

21. Concluding Remarks Economic and social globalisation may have a relevant impact at the regional and local level: – enhance the relevance of regional and local economies. – erase the key factors that characterise and make local economies competitive. Many local and regional economies have a global market, whereas their production and innovation systems remain local. AFDs are characterised by typical or high-quality products, DOP and IGP, which were considered as “niche” products, but the “niche” products are now becoming an important part of global food demand The quantitative analysis on efficiency of firms show some “district effect”. The “district effect” remains strong and significant in Parma and Reggio Emilia, while it is less relevant in the other districts. In the meat sector the larger firms prove to be more efficient.