Point of contact at UniTrento
dott. Matteo Ferrari (coordinator)
dott. Simone Cerroni

The legal analysis focuses, methodologically, on the processes of internationalization of the agri-food regulation by adopting a comparative approach. The main areas of inquiry concern: 

• the regulation of precision agriculture;
• the regulation of innovation, with specific regard to the protection of new plant varieties and the policies for technology transfer;
• the regulation of sustainability, with specific regard to examples of private-law making developed to protect the environment and the landscape.

The research activity in economics focuses on the investigation of consumers and producers’ perceptions, attitudes and preferences for innovative solutions in the agri-food sector. This research is based on principles and methodologies related to marketing, behavioural and experimental economics. The research agenda mainly focuses on the following topics:

• consumers’ acceptability of innovative and more sustainable agri-food products and packaging solutions; 
• consumers’ acceptability of agri-food policies geared to promote more sustainable diets and lifestyles with particular focus on policy interventions based on nudging and taxation (sugar, fat, plastic tax);
• producers’ acceptability of innovative and more sustainable production systems, based on lower carbon footprint and/or a reduced use of pesticides, nitrates and phosphates;
• producers’ acceptability of innovative risk management tools for agriculture, such as multi-peril insurances, mutualistic funds and future contracts.