Strategies for the valorization of sustainable productions through an organic district model

The debate around Organic Agriculture, Agroecology, and Alternative Food Networks shows that sustainable food systems have to be socially sustainable, economically attractive for producers and valuable for consumers, as well as environmentally friendly. This paper presents an ongoing project regarding an organic district in the Province of Parma in Italy, modeled as an Agroecology and a Local Agri-food System (ALAS), which is based on the integration of organic agriculture techniques with agroecology principles. To this aim, the main issues faced by the paper are: i) how to valorize local organic and agroecological products, ii) how to increase the environmental sustainability and produce public goods for local citizens and consumers, iii) how to be inclusive, bringing together different types of organic farmers. The Parma organic district case study shows to be the evolution of the concept of organic district toward a comprehensive definition of sustainability, ranging from environmental concerns to socio and economic issues.