Agro-food economics as culture economics: some inceptive reflections

The main objective of our work was to highlight the standpoint of economics of culture to analyze many aspects of the agro-food reality, both on consumption and production side. This perspective is an extension of the of economics of culture defined by the pioneering classification of David Throsby. This extension is justified by two items. On one hand, the proposal of UNESCO to assign the heritage patrimony, with which agriculture has several obvious point of contacts, a value comparable to that of performing arts. On another hand, industrial design, and subsequently food-design, are highly consistent with cultural activities, sensu strictu. On the ground of theoretical premises, we can mean as 'cultural' both artistic goods and performances, yet studied by economists of culture, and other goods (first of all food) which can strongly represent certain styles of life, and do necessitate a taste-driven enjoyment, that is actually accessible only for consumers who have been specially trained by means of an actually cognitive education. Such a line of work implies many relevant departures from the mainstream economic theory. The major aftermath seems to be the abandonment of the beloved toolbox, containing more or less formalized but always reassuring and elegant stylized models. In reward of this grief, economists should re-consider as a happy-ending the opportunity to face the importance of knowledge and culture in understanding the essence of the discipline and re-defining theories and practical tools. The western postindustrial society needs to imagine new development models in order to challenge the overwhelming globalism. The approach of culture economics can help regional and local economies, and policymakers, to find their place in the sun, even giving sense to the efforts of improving the quality of agricultural raw materials and eno-gastronomy, grounding differentiations in the cognitive assets and deposits of historical-cultural capabilities.