Personal information
Filippo Arfini
Via 7 flli. Cervi, 12, 43123 Parma (Italy)
Tel +39 0521 902496
filippo.arfini@unipr.it
Sex Male | Date of birth 07/06/1960 | Nationality Italian
Academic position
INTENDED FUNCTION: FULL PROFESSOR
2020
PRESIDENT OF THE MASTER’S COURSE “ECONOMY AND MANAGEMENT OF SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS” at the University of Parma, Department of Economic and Management Science
2017
FULL PROFESSOR IN AGRI-FOOD ECONOMICS at the University of Parma, Department of Economic and Management Science
2017
Member of the Economic and Management Department Board
1991-2016
Assistant Professor in Agricultural Economics at the University of Parma, Faculty of Economics, Italy
Education and training
1990-1993
PhD in the Economy of Mountain Areas, Forest Wood Systems and Environment
University of Trento, Trento (Italy)
1982-1987
Degree in Agricultural Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna (Italy)
- Professional qualification for the profession of Agronomist
Education and training
1990-1993
PhD in the Economy of Mountain Areas, Forest Wood Systems and Environment
University of Trento, Trento (Italy)
1982-1987
Degree in Agricultural Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna (Italy)
- Professional qualification for the profession of Agronomist
Public Engagement activities
2020 - Ongoing
Rector Delegate for relationships with the agricultural sector
2025 – Ongoing
Rector Delegate for the relationships with the municipality of Parma on the definition of the Parma Food Policy
2020 - Ongoing
Member of the School of Advanced Studies on Food and Nutrition
2015 – Ongoing
Member of Centro Universitario Cooperazione Internazionale (CUCI)
Teaching activities
1991 - Ongoing
He covers most topics related to agricultural economics, Environmental Economics, Farm management, Food Policies, Methodological approaches to farm management, Agri-Food chain management, and rural development.
2015 – 2024
He has supervised the preparation of 6 PHD students
2024 – Ongoing
He is supervising the preparation of 2 PHD students
Research Skills
▪ Agricultural and public policy impact assessment using ex-ante quantitative approaches based on mathematical programming methods.
▪ Rural development analysis by quantitative and qualitative methods.
▪ Food marketing, food policy and sustainability of food systems.
▪ I have worked in many areas related to public policy related to agriculture, rural development and food marketing, such as speciality markets, market structure, supply chain organisation, food quality, food labelling, and public policy related to quality food
Research activities
- The study of methodologies (mainly based on mathematical programming) useful to analyse the impact of the agricultural policies (mainly Common Agriculture Policies derived from the EU) at the farm, regional and national level;
- The socio-economic analysis of food quality products (GIs, PDO/PGI, Organic food, regional products, Alternative Food networks, Short Food Supply Chains, Local Agri-Food Systems, etc.) and Quality Assurance Scheme on the food chains, looking at their implications on firm strategy, food value chains and rural development.
- The analysis of the socioeconomic determinants that affect the economic, social and environmental sustainability of rural areas.
- The study of food polices for developed and developing countries with the aim to support a sustainable path for urban and rural areas.
Involvement in research projects
EU Research Projects
- 2026 – PAS Burundi. Project coordinated by Region Emilia Romagna to enhance the sustainable local food system in Burundi. In the project, he is responsible for the socio-economic activities related to the organisation of agri-food value chains.
- 2026 – Ongoing. HEurope PRIMA PANACEA Empowering Families to Mediterranean Healthy and Sustainable Dietary Patterns during the Perinatal Period through a Community-Level Multicomponent Approach. The PANACEA project embraces the symbolic legacy of the word by advancing a realistic and systemic approach to some of the most pressing nutritional, environmental, and societal challenges facing families in the Mediterranean region -particularly during the sensitive perinatal period as a foundational period during which nutritional exposures have lifelong effects on growth, metabolism, cognitive development and chronic disease risk. He coordinates the activities of the Agri-economic Unit.
- 2025 - Ongoing. Caracade project. CarCade Project - Cultivating Knowledge, Harvesting Food Security: Strengthening University Capacities in the Democratic Republic of Congo, led by the University of Parma in partnership with the University of Angers (part of the EU GREEN - European Alliance), the University of Lomami, the University of Mbujimayi and the University of Mwene-Ditu. The project is co-funded by the EU under the Erasmus-EDU-2024-CBHE programme. He is part of the Unit of UNIParma and the coordination Team
- 2025 – Ongoing. Horizon Europe-Agroecology Crop-matching. Crop-MATCHING (www.cropmatching.com/) set up a holistic approach to identify information, underutilised knowledge and best sustainable practices from small-scale farms, mix and match them into crop combinations (such as crop rotation, strip cropping, or vertical cropping) and generate new impartial and tailored knowledge specific to small farmers'/foresters' requirements. He coordinates the activities for UNIPR.
- 2024 – ongoing: Horizon Europe GI SMART (www.gismart.eu). Geographical Indications’ contribution to smart territorial development and sustainability. Insights for GIs producers, policy makers, consumers and local communities. Coordinator of Research Focus 1 on “Assessing the sustainability of all EU GIs” and research activities of the University of Parma;
- 2022 – 2025: EU National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Research and Innovation for Sustainable Food and Nutrition (ONFOODS). He is the coordinator of SPOKE1 activities at the national and local level and plays the role of a member of the national scientific committee.
- 2021 – 2025: EU-PRIMA Project: Innovative agri-ecological Approaches to achieving resilience to climate CHANGE in Mediterranean countries (CHANGE- UP),
- 2019 – 2024: UE-H2020, Agent-based support tool for the development of agriculture policies (AGRICORE);
- 2016 – 2021: UE-H2020; Strengthening European Food Chain Sustainability by Quality and Procurement Policy (strength2food);
- 2013 – 2016: Expert of the JRC-Advisory Group supporting the DG-AGRI project 'IFM-CAP', whose aim is to provide IPTS with the appropriate competencies for the development of PMP models to simulate the impact of agricultural policy reforms on individual farms belonging to the FADN database.
- 2012 - JRC-IPTS Framework contract for the project “Deriving from FADN data quantitative information on mountain agricultural products supply chains in the EU” aimed at estimating the production cost differential between mountain and lowland production in 6 European mountainous regions
- 2009-2011: EU-FP7, Farm Accountancy Cost Estimation and Policy Analysis of European Agriculture (FACEPA)
- 2011: Experts of CEIGRAM (Research for the Management of Agricultural and Environmental Risks) of the Technical University of Madrid (Spain) for the conduct of a study entitled ‘What market measures in the future CAP after 2013?‘ Commissioned by the European Parliament.
- 2008: Expert for the Evaluation of the CAP policy on protected designations of origin (PDO) and protected geographical indications (PGI) / DG AGRI. Drafted the Green paper on quality.
- 2006-2007: EU FP6, The Impact of CAP Reform on the Employment Levels in Rural Areas (CARERA).
- 2005-2008, EU-FP6 Strengthening International Research on Geographical Indications: from research foundation to consistent policy (SINER-GI)
- 2005 – Contract Framework DG-AGRI on "The Impact assessment of decoupling on cohesion of NUTS2 EU regions".
- 2004-2007: EU-FP6 A quantitative and qualitative assessment of the socio-economic and environmental impacts of decoupling of direct payments on agricultural production, markets and land use in the EU (GENEDEC).
- 2004 – Contract framework DG-AGRI on the impact of decoupling payment on the tobacco sector in Europe.
- 2003-2006: EU-FP6, Integration of animal welfare in the food quality chain: from public concern to improved welfare and transparent quality (Welfare Quality®)
- 2003 – 2006: Italian Research Project (PRIN- MIUR) on "The new agricultural negotiations within the World Trade Organisation and the process of reforming the European Union's agricultural policies", coordinated by Prof. G. Anania. Participation in the project led to the construction of a Positive Mathematical Programming model capable of evaluating at the regional and national level the effects of the agricultural policy measures decided by the CAP.
- 2000-2003: Concerted Action Development of Origin Labelled Products: Humanity, Innovation and Sustainability (DOLPHINS) on the analysis of the socioeconomic problems and characteristics of typical and traditional issues at the EU level with particular references to WTO negotiations on geographical indications (GIs) for products.
- 1994-1998: FP4-FAIR – (EUROTOOLS) Specific research, technological development and demonstration programme in the field of agriculture and fisheries (including agro-industry, food technologies, forestry, aquaculture and rural development),
National Research Projects
- 1995 – Present: cooperation in research activities with CREA-PB (ex INEA) on topics related to the impact of the assessment of CAP on regional and national territories.
Metrics
- Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5179-2541
Scopus (01/02/2026)
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H Index:
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Google Scholar (01/02/2026)
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Since 2021
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Other responsibilities and positions
- 2025 – Ongoing Member of Società Italiana di Economia Agraria
- 2022 – Ongoing Member of the Agricultural Economic Society
- 2020 - Ongoing Member of the Associazione Italiana di Economia Agraria Applicata (AIEAA)
- 1999 – 2005: Member of the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association (IAMA)
- 2020 – 2022 President of the Italian Association of Applied Agricultural Economy (AIEAA)
- 2018 – 2020 President-elect of the Italian Association of Applied Agricultural Economy (AIEAA)
- 2006 – 2012: Board Member of the European Association of Agricultural Economists (EAAE);
He has organised the following conferences with the European Association of Agricultural Economists
- XV EAAE Congress on “Towards Sustainable Agri-Food Systems: Balancing between Markets and Society” (Parma, 2017)
- 89th EAAE Congress “Modelling agricultural policies: state of the art and new challenges” (Parma, 2005);
- 67th EAAE Conference “The socio-economics of Origin Labelled Products in agri-food supply chains: spatial, institutional and co-ordination aspects”, (Le Mans, 1999),
- 52nd EAAE Conference ‘Typical and traditional products, rural effect and agro-industrial problems’ (Parma, 1998).
