The focus of the group is on the study of the impacts that the activities of the agro-food and agro-forestry sectors produce on economic operators and rural areas, taking into account the national, EU and international regulatory context.

The research group develop assessment of the economic, environmental and social sustainability aspects of agro-forestry and food systems.
The focus is on the evaluation of processes, products and supply chains, in the framework of national and international regulatory context. In a supply chain, there are several actors who can generate impacts, whose detailed knowledge allows working to mitigate negative impacts and enhance the favorable effects. In addition, identifying and disseminating technological innovations makes it possible to increase the sustainability of the systems, while also increasing their resilience.
The members of the group are involved in various research projects in which they analyze the environmental and economic impacts through tools such as Business Plans, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Cost (LCC), Environmental Balance sheets, Environmental Eco-Schemes, in order to optimize the economic results taking into account the environmental sustainability.

Insights
INNOV'API
TOMRES

• NODES-PNRR. The NODES project - DIGITAL AND SUSTAINABLE NORTHWEST - with Spoke 7, deals with the secondary agro-industry in Piedmont. With this project, digital and sustainable solutions are being sought to innovate products and processes in the animal (especially beef and dairy products) and plant (apple, hazelnut, wine) supply chains. With the aim of increasing the competitiveness of local food companies, which are directly involved in all the exploratory phases, issues related to packaging, communication, consumer needs and expectations are addressed with the most advanced digital technologies, from nanosensors to robotics. The theme of sustainability, from the perspective of the circular economy, spans all the supply chains under analysis.
• AGRITECH-PNRR. SPOKE 6 Assessment of the environmental, economic and social sustainability of innovative circular production systems. Assessment of the environmental and economic sustainability at farm level of innovative circular production models. Evaluation of the level of knowledge and acceptability by farmers towards the application of innovative production systems, technological and otherwise, for more sustainable management. 
• TOMRES - Grant Agreement n. 727929 “A novel and integrated approach to increase multiple and combined stress tolerance in plants”, 2017-2021 (Progetto EU H2020). This project integrates genetic research, with agronomic, environmental and socio-economic aspects to develop commercial tomato varieties able to maintaining productivity in conditions of water stress and scarcity of fertilization. The data collected by the 25 EU partners will allow to build a Decision Support System. The task of the socioeconomic unit is to assess costs and production revenues of the different accessions in parcels, in open field and in greenhouses, paying special attention to the irrigation and fertilization items.
• GREENRISK4ALPS -Development of ecosystem-based risk governance concepts with respect to natural hazards and climate impacts – from risk assessment to ecosystem based solutions, ALPine Space (Progetto EU-INTERREG Alpine Space). 2018-2021.

• De Cianni, R., Pippinato, L., & Mancuso, T. (2023). A systematic review on drivers influencing consumption of edible mushrooms and innovative mushroom-containing products. Appetite, 106454.
• Vercelli M, Croce L, Mancuso T. Biotechnical Control of Varroa in Honey Bee Colonies: A Trade-Off between Sustainable Beekeeping and Profitability? Insects. 2023; 14(10):830.  doi:10.3390/insects14100830.
• Baldi, L., Trentinaglia, M. T., Mancuso, T., & Peri, M. (2021). Attitude toward environmental protection and toward nature: How do they shape consumer behaviour for a sustainable tomato?. Food Quality and Preference, 90, 104175.
• Brun, F., Zanchini, R., Mosso, A., Di Vita, G., (2020). Testing consumer propensity towards novel optional quality terms: An explorative assessment of “mountain” labelled honey, AIMS Agriculture and Food, 5(2): 190–203.
• Pippinato L., Blanc S., Mancuso T., Brun F., (2020). A Sustainable Niche Market: How Does Honey Behave? Sustainability, 12, 10678; doi:10.3390/su122410678.

• Italy
  Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Cuneo (CRC), Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Torino (CRT), Coldiretti Cuneo, Confagricoltura Cuneo, UNAAPI (UNione Associazione Apicoltori Italiani), Ministero Agricoltura Italiano (MIPAAF), Regione Piemonte, Regione Lombardia, CREA-Centro Politiche e Bioeconomia (sede di Torino), IRES (Istituto di Ricerche Economiche e Sociali), Università degli Studi di Milano, Università degli Studi di Bologna, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Università di Palermo, Università di Scienze Gastronomiche di Pollenzo
• France
  INRA PACA (Institut National de la recherche agronomique, Avignon-Sophia), ADAPI (Association pour le développement de l’apiculture en PACA)
• Greece
  Agricultural University of Athens
• Scotland (UK)
  The James Hutton Institute
• Slovenia
  Jožef Stefan Institute - Department of Knowledge Technologies