Abstract

Background: The current paper analyses the evaluation of the costs and benefits of French wineries (N=69) participating in the sustainability program Terra Vitis, a widespread environmental certification scheme within the French wine industry.

Method: An online questionnaire was sent to all Terra Vitis participants, in order to analyse the evaluation of economic costs and benefits (together with environmental benefits) as perceived by wineries.

Results: Our findings reveal that older participants in the scheme (over 5 years), firms with higher export share (>40% of annual turnover) and cooperative wineries tend to be keener to assign a positive evaluation to the benefits/costs ratio in both the vineyard and the winery.

Conclusion: In the context of increasing concerns regarding the economic and environmental performance of the French agricultural sector, such findings and also the patent research could be useful for policy makers and entrepreneurs in defining mainstream normative and corporate strategies.

Keywords: French agricultural sector, French wine industry, sustainability certification program, terra vitis, vineyard.

Graphical Abstract