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Sustainability in Agri-Food Supply Chain: From Farm to Fork
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Sustainability in Agri-Food Supply Chain: From Farm to Fork

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Food".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 July 2024) | Viewed by 20357

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Roberto Ciccoritti

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
CREA—Research Centre for Olive, Fruit and Citrus Crops, Via di Fioranello 52, 00134 Rome, Italy
Interests: food processing; biochemistry; chromatography; spectrometry; bioactive compounds; extraction; antioxidant activity
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Tiziana Amoriello

E-Mail Website1 Website2 Website3
Guest Editor
CREA-Research Centre for Food and Nutrition, 00178 Rome, Italy
Interests: agricultural sustainability; climate change; modeling; circular economy; waste recovery and reuse; food technology; food quality; food product design
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Agricultural production and the food industry generate a high amount of by-products and waste, having a negative impact on the environmental, economic, and social sectors. Waste is produced by agronomic management practices, damage of vegetables during transportation, storage, unsuitable packaging, and processing. Many of these biomaterials are not utilized and end up in municipal landfills. On the contrary, biowaste valorization can represent an alternative resouce to the disposal or landfilling of waste. The circular economy offers opportunities, strategies and new models to rethink agri-food systems in order to move toward a more sustainable bio-economy and to promote the development of sustainable food systems for current consumers and future generations. In the context of a biorefinery model, bio-energy, innovative chemical and biotechnological processes for the  recovery of bioactive chemicals, and the production of food ingredients and multifunctional materials from by-products and bio-waste can open new competitive market opportunities and social and environmental benefits throughout the agri-food supply chain, from farm to fork.

This Special Issue of Sustainability will address topics relevant to the agri-food sector, from targeted measures in specific production chain processes to more integrated solutions aimed at organisational changes throughout the entire value chain. Articles that assess the sustainability implications (agronomic, environmental, economic, and social impacts or benefits) of the implementation of such technologies and innovations are also encouraged. This Special Issue welcomes original research articles and review articles, as well as theoretical and experimental research articles.

Dr. Roberto Ciccoritti
Dr. Tiziana Amoriello
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • circular economy
  • food waste
  • waste reduction strategies
  • sustainable food supply chain technologies or management
  • environmental, social and economic benefits
  • sustainable bio-economy
  • sustainable agriculture
  • bio-energy
  • bio-refineries
  • bio-waste valorization, recovery and reuse
  • redesign of products
  • high-added-value products
  • bioactive compounds extraction
  • sustainable business model innovation

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 696 KiB  
Article
Farm-to-Fork and Sustainable Agriculture Practices: Perceived Economic Benefit as a Moderator and Environmental Sustainability as a Mediator
by Ibrahim A. Elshaer, Alaa M. S. Azazz, Salah S. Hassan and Sameh Fayyad
Sustainability 2023, 15(14), 11462; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151411462 - 24 Jul 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 5483
Abstract
In recent years, there has been growing interest in promoting sustainable agriculture and reducing the environmental impact of the food system. One approach to achieving these goals is through farm-to-Fork (FTF) sourcing, which involves direct procurement of food products from local farms to [...] Read more.
In recent years, there has been growing interest in promoting sustainable agriculture and reducing the environmental impact of the food system. One approach to achieving these goals is through farm-to-Fork (FTF) sourcing, which involves direct procurement of food products from local farms to restaurants table. This approach has been touted as a way to support sustainable agriculture and decrease the carbon footprint of the food supply chain. This study aims to explore the relationship between farm-to-fork sourcing, perceived economic benefit, and environmental sustainability. Specifically, the research examines the moderating effect of the perceived economic benefit as well as the mediating role of environmental sustainability in the relationship between farm-to-fork (FTF) sourcing and sustainable agriculture practices. To investigate these relationships, a web-based questionnaire was designed and collected from 298 farmers. The collected data were analyzed via PLS-SEM. The results of the study suggest that farm-to-fork sourcing has a positive impact on sustainable agriculture practices and both perceived economic benefit and environmental sustainability have a moderating and mediating role in these relationships. This finding is consistent with the idea that direct procurement of food from local farms can lead to economic benefits for both farmers and restaurants, while also reducing the carbon footprint of the food supply chain. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in Agri-Food Supply Chain: From Farm to Fork)
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16 pages, 3886 KiB  
Article
Trade-Off Analyses of Food Loss and Waste Reduction and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Food Supply Chains
by Jan Broeze, Xuezhen Guo and Heike Axmann
Sustainability 2023, 15(11), 8531; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15118531 - 24 May 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3717
Abstract
Food losses and waste (FLW) reduction and mitigating climate impact in food chains are priorities in achieving sustainable development goals. However, many FLW-reducing interventions induce additional greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, for example, from energy, fuel, or packaging. The net effect of such interventions [...] Read more.
Food losses and waste (FLW) reduction and mitigating climate impact in food chains are priorities in achieving sustainable development goals. However, many FLW-reducing interventions induce additional greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, for example, from energy, fuel, or packaging. The net effect of such interventions (expressed in GHG emissions per unit of food available for consumption) is not obvious, as is illustrated in a number of case studies. We recommend that in the decision to take on FLW-reducing interventions, the trade-offs on sustainability impacts (such as GHG emissions) are taken into consideration. Since FLW induce demand and extra operations in all stages along a supply chain, adequate representation of cumulative GHG emissions along the production and supply chain, including ‘hidden parts’ of the chain, is required, which is challenging in full LCA studies. As a workaround, the case studies in this paper are based on a generic tool, the Agro-Chain greenhouse gas Emission (ACE) calculator that includes metrics and data for common food product categories and supply chain typologies. The calculator represents the structure of a generic (fresh food) supply chain and offers data sets for, amongst others, crop GHG emission factors and FLW in different stages of the production and distribution chain. Through scenario calculations with different chain parameters (describing pre and post-intervention scenarios), the net effects of an intervention on GHG emissions and FLW per unit of food sold to the consumer can be compared with little effort. In the case studies, interventions at the production stage as well as in post-harvest operations, are analyzed. Results show that post-harvest activities (especially FLW) contribute substantially to the carbon footprint of supplied food products. The FLW-reducing interventions are considered to induce additional GHG emissions. In most case studies, FLW-reducing interventions lower total GHG associated with a unit of food supplied to a client or consumer. However, in one case study, the extra emissions due to the intervention were higher than the prevented emission from lowering food losses. Consequently, in the latter case, the intervention is not an effective GHG emission reduction intervention. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in Agri-Food Supply Chain: From Farm to Fork)
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22 pages, 4394 KiB  
Article
Profit-Sharing Contract of the Fresh Agricultural Products Supply Chain under Community Group Purchase Mode Considering Freshness Preservation Efforts
by Min Li, Zhen Lian, Guangchuan Yang and Liaoning Li
Sustainability 2023, 15(9), 7572; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15097572 - 5 May 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1959
Abstract
This article constructed a four-level fresh agricultural product (FAP) supply chain with a two-stage pricing strategy under a “community group purchase (CGP) platform + direct procurement from the FAP supplier” sales model. We investigate the influence of the CGP agency’s participation in the [...] Read more.
This article constructed a four-level fresh agricultural product (FAP) supply chain with a two-stage pricing strategy under a “community group purchase (CGP) platform + direct procurement from the FAP supplier” sales model. We investigate the influence of the CGP agency’s participation in the control strategy of FAP freshness preservation efforts on the profits of supply chain stakeholders. This article discusses the effects of the FAP supplier profit-sharing ratio, the CGP agency profit-sharing ratio, and consumers’ sensitivity to FAP freshness on the supply chain stakeholders’ freshness preservation efforts. Moreover, based on the fairness preference theory, this article designed a profit-sharing contract that involves the Nash bargaining game between the FAP supplier and the CGP agency as the supply chain coordination mechanism. Modeling results revealed that: (1) The CGP agency’s freshness preservation efforts increased total supply chain profits. (2) The FAP supplier profit-sharing ratio, CGP agency profit-sharing ratio, and consumers’ sensitivity to FAP freshness have a positive correlation to the profits of the FAP supply chain and promote the coordination of the supply chain. (3) Considering fairness preferences, with the increase in FAP suppliers’ business negotiating ability, their freshness preservation efforts and fairness utility both increased gradually, while the fairness utility of the CGP agency gradually decreased. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in Agri-Food Supply Chain: From Farm to Fork)
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15 pages, 1132 KiB  
Article
Food Supply Chain Sustainability Strategy for Fresh Retailer and Multi-Output Random Fresh Suppliers after COVID-19
by Lijie Wang
Sustainability 2023, 15(1), 546; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15010546 - 28 Dec 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2174
Abstract
Feeding people sustainably during the COVID-19 pandemic remains a challenge, as food productivity is declining and there is a risk of chain breakage at any time. To maintain the core function of supplying food to end consumers, a new framework must be developed [...] Read more.
Feeding people sustainably during the COVID-19 pandemic remains a challenge, as food productivity is declining and there is a risk of chain breakage at any time. To maintain the core function of supplying food to end consumers, a new framework must be developed to investigate the strategies for coordinating a new supply chain comprised of multiple suppliers with random output. Thus, in both decentralized and centralized systems, this paper constructs a supply chain model of a retailer procuring from multiple suppliers and characterizes each party’s optimal decisions. These results show that: (1) the optimal order quantity, profit of each part, and overall profit of the supply chain in the concentrated situation are better than those in the decentralized situation, and the transmission mechanism is slightly different from the classic newsboy model; (2) a supply chain coordination contract consisting of price discounts and compensation is designed, which can realize the coordination of a retailer and multiple suppliers with random yield in the endogenous price situation. These results imply that managers can develop sustainable food supply chains during uncertain times by ordering from these multi-suppliers with random yield. This paper adds to the literature on random yield assembly systems by taking into account that multiple suppliers have random component distributions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in Agri-Food Supply Chain: From Farm to Fork)
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Review

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14 pages, 493 KiB  
Review
Challenges for a Sustainable Food Supply Chain: A Review on Food Losses and Waste
by Annalisa De Boni, Giovanni Ottomano Palmisano, Maria De Angelis and Fabio Minervini
Sustainability 2022, 14(24), 16764; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142416764 - 14 Dec 2022
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 5628
Abstract
To address global food security, new strategies are required in view of the challenges represented by Climate Change, depletion of natural resources and the need to not further compromise the ecosystems’ quality and biodiversity. Food losses and waste (FLW) affect food security and [...] Read more.
To address global food security, new strategies are required in view of the challenges represented by Climate Change, depletion of natural resources and the need to not further compromise the ecosystems’ quality and biodiversity. Food losses and waste (FLW) affect food security and nutrition, as well as the sustainability of food systems. Quantification of the adverse effects of FLW is a complex and multidimensional challenge requiring a wide-ranging approach, regarding the quantification of FLW as well as the related economic, environmental and social aspects. The evaluation of suitable corrective actions for managing FLW along the food supply chain requires a system of sound and shared benchmarks that seem still undefined. This review aims to provide an overview of the environmental, economic and social issues of FLW, which may support policy measures for prevention, reduction and valorization of food wastes within the food supply chain. In fact, detection of the hotspots and critical points allows to develop tailored policy measures that may improve the efficiency of the food supply chain and its sustainability, with an integrated approach involving all the main actors and considering the several production contexts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in Agri-Food Supply Chain: From Farm to Fork)
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