Food Commerce has turned into one of the most controversial economic battlefields in humankind history, whilst the society of today is characterized by a single existential criterion, manifested from top to bottom: efficiency. Due to the distinctive features and functions of agriculture, the economic theory has a subtle approach of the efficiency concept in agriculture, compared to the other non-agricultural economic branches.
There are two theoretical approaches on efficiency in agricultural production: the first has a general meaning, overlapping the hedonistic concept, while the second one has a rather singular meaning that senses the efficiency of agricultural production, related to the extent to which it assures population’s food security. In other words, agriculture, through what it produces, is effective when able to provide the necessary food to its consumers, a food that meets all essential criteria: quality, quantity and diversity.
The paper aims at developing a thorough analysis of the food offer produced by the agriculture and food industry and also at investigating the way in which the offer meets or does not meet consumers’ demand, seen as increasingly concerned with the quality and origin of food.