Objectives for Sustainable Food Chain Management in European and Austrian Law

摘要

A systematic analysis of legal documents identified a surprising multitude of binding objectives for sustainable food chain management. Their systematisation illustrates that ecological objectives are more frequent and more detailed than economic and social ones. A consistency analysis indicates whether the pursuit of a particular objective tends to hinder or support the achievement of other objectives. Particularly conflicting objectives include: reduction of foodstuff prices and efficient agricultural structures. Another method applied for examining interdependencies within the system of objectives was the sensitivity analysis. According to its results politicians should focus on objectives with a high potential for steering the whole system, such as: reduction of inequalities between regions or social groups; policy approaches which are more compatible with existing markets; reliable, clear, classifiable information on product characteristics; and "support for local and regional supply networks").