Search Results (512)

The fruit agro-export value chain in northern Chile faces governance and water-related challenges that affect its resilience and long-term sustainability. In the context of sustainable agriculture, these challenges highlight the need for integrated approaches to understand how socio-economic and environmental factors interact. This paper proposes a set of measures to assess resilience using a social simulation model based on the Sociology of Organized Action, implemented through the Social Laboratory (SocLab) platform. The model represents actors, their resources, and their interactions as a system driven by strategic behavior. The proposed measures are applied to analyze both simulation outcomes and the structure of the model. The findings indicate that resilience is constrained by power imbalances among actors and by external pressures related to water scarcity. In particular, simulation results show that the influence of Producers reaches only approximately half that of the Public Sector, revealing a significant power imbalance within the value chain. These imbalances create vulnerabilities that limit the system’s capacity to absorb disturbances and adapt to environmental stressors, which are expected to intensify due to climate change and increasing demand. In addition, the resource associated with coordinating actors around the efficient use of water exhibited the highest relevance among the resources considered, highlighting the central role of water governance in shaping resilience. The study contributes by integrating a simulation-based approach with economic and institutional perspectives, linking the distribution of influence among actors to value allocation along the chain, as conceptualized in marketing margin analysis, and interpreting governance structures through Transaction Cost Economics. This integration provides a more comprehensive understanding of how power distribution, coordination mechanisms, and transaction costs jointly shape resilience and sustainability in agri-food value chains. Full article

Food loss and waste (FLW) constitutes a structural challenge for agri-food systems. However, current analytical tools for assessing management and valorisation options remain fragmented across disciplines. Existing frameworks rarely capture within a single structure the environmental, social, and economic–institutional feasibility dimensions needed to compare alternative recovery pathways. This study introduces the ESG-FLW Index, a multidimensional composite index designed to support comparative evaluation of FLW valorisation strategies, with particular attention to recovery for human consumption. The index draws on a comparative analysis of eight established frameworks. It integrates Life Cycle Assessment for the environmental pillar; Techno-Economic Assessment together with compliance, data-quality, scalability, and replicability indicators for the governance pillar; and Social Return on Investment for the social pillar. These components are aggregated through Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis, following methodological guidance for robust composite indicators. The framework aligns explicitly with the Food Waste Hierarchy and SDG Target 12.3. It also includes hurdle criteria to limit the risk that high aggregate scores obscure critical shortcomings. As a proof of concept, the index was applied to the CiboAmico redistribution programme. Redistribution scored substantially higher than composting (85.1 versus 30.7). The ranking remained stable under ±20% weight variations and Monte Carlo simulations (n = 1000). The ESG-FLW Index offers a transparent and replicable decision-support tool. It is best suited to relative comparison among options and to making sustainability trade-offs explicit. Full article

Achieving energy sustainability is a major challenge across all sectors of an economy. In agri-food systems (AFSs), this challenge is twofold in the context of energy sustainability; one challenge is to reduce fossil fuel dependency, and another challenge is to provide safe and nutritious food for humans and animals. An appropriate aggregate indicator needs to be used for assessing the energy sustainability of AFSs. This study presents a systematic literature review aimed at developing a core indicators framework to support both research and policymaking. It also critically evaluates and updates existing indicators currently used to evaluate energy sustainability in AFSs, considering environmental, economic, social and technical dimensions. Environmental indicators, such as energy use efficiency, net energy balance, carbon footprint, exergy destruction and renewable energy share, measure the ecological impacts of agricultural practices. Economic indicators, including energy cost share, levelized cost of energy, energy return on investment, and productivity per unit of energy input, reflect how energy use influences farm competitiveness and resilience. Social indicators such as equitable access to energy, labor productivity gains, and system resilience to energy shocks highlight the broader human and societal aspects of energy sustainability. Technical indicators, including technology performance, maintenance intensity, technology lifespan, and resource circularity, emphasize the need to minimize resource depletion and environmental harm. Together, these sustainability indicators provide a strong framework for assessing trade-offs and guiding policy decisions that support the transition toward low-carbon, resilient, and resource-efficient AFSs. Their effective development and implementation require interdisciplinary knowledge integration and active engagement with relevant societal stakeholders in a transdisciplinary sustainability context. Full article

Agricultural and horticultural by-products represent an underexploited source of valuable bioactive compounds that can contribute to the development of more sustainable production systems. This study investigated the chemical composition and biological activities of the essential oil obtained from the horticultural byproducts of Artemisia dracunculus. The waste aerial biomass was subjected to steam distillation, and the essential oil was characterized by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Its antioxidant, α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory, phytotoxic, antibacterial, and antibiofilm activities were subsequently evaluated. The essential oil was characterized as an estragole-rich chemotype (70.17%), with trans-β-ocimene and cis-β-ocimene as other main constituents. The essential oil showed moderate antioxidant activity and measurable enzyme inhibitory activity and, despite showing limited effects on seed germination, it significantly inhibited radical elongation in selected plant species. Furthermore, it demonstrated excellent antibiofilm activity, significantly reducing the metabolic activity of mature cells of bacteria associated with biofilm formation: Listeria monocytogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Acinetobacter baumannii, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus. The results demonstrate how horticultural by-products from A. dracunculus maintain a chemical profile comparable to conventional plant material and represent a valuable source of bioactive compounds with promising potential for sustainable agri-food applications. Full article

The development of sustainable food systems increasingly relies on the valorization of agri-food by-products and circular economy strategies. In this context, food-grade hydrogels represent promising matrices for incorporating biological components and bioactive compounds. This study focuses on the preparation and characterization of four hydrogels formulated with natural biopolymers, such as pectin, an extract obtained from spray-dried by-products generated during the processing of strawberry and blueberry fruit preparations, with potential applications in innovative and sustainable food formulations. A specific formulation was produced by including plant cells. UV–visible spectra, pH, and moisture content of the hydrogels were evaluated. Their morphological, chemical, and hydrodynamic properties were investigated using micro-Raman and FTIR/ATR spectroscopy along with swelling degree and dehydration behavior over time. The analysis clarified gelation mechanisms, confirming the key role of calcium chloride in matrix stabilization and the influence of plant cells on water retention. The developed food-grade hydrogels demonstrated physicochemical stability, even after 20 days of storage at 4 °C. The incorporation of plant cells modulated the hydrogel’s hygroscopic behavior, maintaining the fundamental gelation pathways. These results highlight the potential of these hydrogels as sustainable matrices for incorporating biological components and support their application in innovative food formulations based on the valorization of by-products. Full article

Food waste has emerged as one of the most pressing global sustainability challenges because of its environmental, economic, and social implications. Nearly one-third of the food produced worldwide is lost or wasted each year, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, depletion of natural resources, and increasing food insecurity. Advances in circular bioeconomy concepts and sustainable processing technologies have transformed food waste from an environmental liability into a valuable feedstock for producing biofuels, bioplastics, bioactive compounds, functional ingredients, prebiotics, and other high-value products. This review critically examines current strategies for converting food waste into value-added products, including green extraction technologies and biochemical, thermochemical, enzymatic, and microbial approaches. Attention is given to major agri-food by-products, such as fruit pomace, vegetable residues, oilseed meals, dairy by-products, and agro-industrial wastes. Emerging developments involving biorefinery concepts, artificial intelligence, digital biorefineries, synthetic biology, and carbon-neutral production systems are also discussed. Furthermore, the review highlights recent applications of waste-derived fibers, antioxidants, and polyphenols in functional foods, especially bakery products. Finally, key challenges related to feedstock heterogeneity, process scalability, regulatory frameworks, economic feasibility, and sustainability assessment are critically analyzed together with future research directions supporting the transition toward resilient circular bioeconomy systems. Full article

Agri-food systems are increasingly exposed to environmental, economic, and social challenges, including climate change, biodiversity loss, resource depletion, and growing territorial inequalities. In this context, agroecology is increasingly recognised as a transformative paradigm integrating ecological, economic, social, cultural, and political dimensions within broader processes of food-system transition. Within the PRIMA AgrEcoMed project, 24 Italian agroecological initiatives led by women and young farmers were analysed to explore their contribution to agroecological transition processes in Mediterranean rural areas. The study adopts a qualitative multiple-case study approach and evaluates the selected initiatives through the framework of the 13 Principles of Agroecology proposed by the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition, organised into three operational axes: improving resource efficiency, strengthening resilience, and ensuring social responsibility and fairness. The results show that the analysed initiatives combine ecological farming practices with processes of multifunctionality, territorial networking, knowledge co-creation, short supply chains, and community engagement. The findings suggest that several initiatives move beyond input-reduction strategies associated with “weak agroecology” and display characteristics consistent with stronger agroecological pathways based on territorial embeddedness, collective learning, and the reorganisation of relationships between production, consumption, and local communities. The paper highlights the relevance of agroecology not only as an environmentally sustainable farming approach, but also as a broader socio-ecological and territorial transition process, as well as the importance of policy frameworks to support territorial agroecological systems. Full article

Hydrodynamic cavitation is assessed as a conditional process-intensification platform for the sustainable recovery and transformation of bioactive and functional fractions from agri-food residues, food-processing by-products, and plant-derived matrices. The analysis focuses on fractions enriched in polyphenols, flavonoids, pectins, carotenoids, proteins, pigments, essential oils, and other value-added compounds with potential relevance for food, nutraceutical, formulation-oriented, and related high-value applications. Rather than being considered an inherently green or universally superior technology, hydrodynamic cavitation is evaluated according to the specific process functions it can provide, including matrix disruption, mass-transfer enhancement, solvent-use reduction, recovery of pectin-associated fractions, protein extraction, macromolecular restructuring, dispersion, and process integration. Quantitative and scale-relevant indicators are considered where available, including recovery yield, target-compound content, solvent use, operating conditions, treated volume, energy input, fraction quality, and reporting limits. Comparison with ultrasound-assisted extraction, microwave-assisted extraction, pulsed electric fields, subcritical water extraction, natural deep eutectic solvents, and enzyme-assisted extraction indicates that its advantage is most defensible when hydrodynamic effects address a clearly identified matrix or process limitation. The available evidence supports substantial potential for wet matrices, plant by-products, aqueous suspensions, and liquid food systems. However, critical gaps remain in energy reporting, selectivity, recovered-fraction stability, scale-up, downstream processing, and application-oriented validation. Recovered fractions should therefore be regarded as candidate ingredients or functional intermediates, rather than as direct evidence of efficacy in final products. Full article

Structural inefficiencies and labor shortages within the global tomato agrifood chain pose significant threats to its economic sustainability. While vision-dominated systems, encompassing structural and spectral dimensions, have pioneered intelligent management, their limitations in environmental robustness and computational overhead necessitate a new approach. Furthermore, dimensional incompleteness remains a challenge in decoding internal states. Multisensory perception, integrating physical (tactile and auditory) and chemical (olfactory and gustatory) modalities, enables the quantitative characterization of tomato physiological states. Based on technological advancements at the leading edge of knowledge, a critical perspective on the mushrooming field of multisensory perception is highlighted. Grounded in the capabilities and bottlenecks of visual perception, the discussion outlines significant progress in multisensory perception, along with its challenges and prospects. Crucially, it delineates the construction pathway of digital fingerprints that couple instrumental sensing signals with human sensory experiences and envisions the landscape of multimodal fusion to address practical challenges. This perspective provides a roadmap for sensorially transparent evaluation systems in the tomato agrifood chain. Full article

In an era of accelerating geopolitical realignments and intensifying climate volatility, the interconnected domains of land, food, and climate have emerged as critical axes of global inequality, demanding renewed attention within sustainability education. This study addresses the central problem that existing geography, environmental, and sustainability curricula rarely engage with the geopolitical forces shaping Water, Energy, Land and Food (WELF), thereby obscuring progress toward achieving SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 13 (Climate Action) and SDG 15 (Life on Land). Situated within the Water, Energy, Land, and Food (WELF) nexus. Employing a Systematic Literature Review methodology, guided by PRISMA protocols and grounded in Political Ecology Theory, findings reveal that agricultural protectionism and land-grabbing dynamics originating from the Global North exacerbate climate-induced food insecurity and land dispossession in the Global South. Critically, the synthesis demonstrates that these dimensions of climate–food geopolitics remain inadequately addressed in existing curricula, leaving learners ill-equipped to critically analyze the structural forces underlying land-based vulnerabilities. The study recommends embedding land–food–climate geopolitics into sustainability curricula through decolonial, systems-thinking pedagogies; integrating scenario-based simulations of land-centric climate negotiations; and developing transdisciplinary modules that combine geospatial land-use analysis, political economy of agrifood systems, and indigenous land knowledge. Full article

The adoption of sustainable agricultural practices is essential to cope with climate change and to ensure soil health, efficient nutrient use, and food security. This study aims to delve into the effects of the use of different mulching techniques, both traditional and with an innovative ecological and sustainable mulch called hydromulch, on soil quality parameters, gas-exchange parameters and the final quality of the artichoke fruit (Cynara cardunculus subsp. scolymus L. (Heigi) cv. Symphony), as well as its impact on the metabolomics profile. The experimental design consisted of three blocks, each with three treatments: traditional polyethylene (PE) mulch, a rice husk-based hydromulch, and a bare soil control. The results show an increase in the physical quality of the artichokes grown with both mulches, as well as a direct impact on the primary and secondary metabolism, being more pronounced in the artichokes grown with hydromulch. In particular, hydromulch significantly up-regulated metabolites associated with the melatonin, serotonin, and polyamine pathways, suggesting a marked metabolic response compared with both polyethylene mulch and bare soil treatments. Furthermore, soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil organic matter (SOM) were increased in hydromulched soils. Gas exchange measurements revealed that hydromulched plants reduced stomatal conductance and transpiration, resulting in enhanced intrinsic water use efficiency. These improvements contribute to the production of high-quality, nutritionally enriched crops with direct relevance to food safety and sustainable agri-food systems. Full article

(1) Background. Food sovereignty and local sustainability are ensured by large agro-industrial holdings and small-scale farms; this synergy forms a complementary model of the agrifood system. Maintaining this model’s balance requires the creation of a unified digital ecosystem that integrates all suppliers and consumers into production chains, thereby eliminating unnecessary intermediaries. (2) Methods. This study employs a comprehensive methodological framework, including systems analysis and mathematical modeling, to develop service algorithms. Object-oriented design and software engineering methods facilitated the development and implementation of a service-oriented architecture for the digital system. (3) Results. The study presents a multi-tier architecture featuring an integration bus based on a service-oriented approach. To implement direct supply-and-demand coupling strategies, the system integrates both internal services (microeconomic indicators) and external services (macroeconomic indicators). Additionally, a recommender system based on neural networks and mathematical models was developed to personalize consumer requests and manage product sales. (4) Conclusions. The software solution is consistent with the AgTech 4.0 concept and enables the creation of a seamless environment for interstate trade. The implementation of the system enhances the transparency of the “product footprint”, facilitates the redistribution of surpluses, and, consequently, contributes to price stabilization. Full article

Climate change is reshaping agricultural systems by altering temperature and rainfall regimes, increasing the frequency of extreme events, and intensifying risks to crop productivity, water use, and farm decision-making. As climate–agriculture research expands rapidly, it becomes increasingly difficult to identify consolidated knowledge domains, emerging priorities, and evidence gaps. This study maps the structure and evolution of this literature using 219,261 Scopus-indexed documents selected from 290,560 records published between 1990 and 2025. A text-mining workflow combined BERTopic-based semantic modeling with supervised thematic classification into 18 macro-themes, while annual shares, z-scores, and document-level primary–secondary co-framing were used to assess temporal salience and cross-theme coupling. The results show sustained growth in research output, with 53.67% of publications produced between 2016 and 2025, and strong geographical concentration in the United States and China, which together account for 41.98% of the corpus. Hydrology and water management, crop production, impact assessment, and atmospheric processes remain central pillars, while socio-economic vulnerability, food security, sustainability, biotechnology, and greenhouse gas mitigation have gained prominence. The resulting evidence map provides a reproducible overview of the climate–agriculture knowledge landscape and can support research prioritization and policy design for climate-resilient agrifood systems. Full article

The transition towards the circular economy (CE) is fundamentally reshaping Italian agrifood systems, thus enhancing sustainability. The aim of this research is to establish a spatially advanced framework for quantifying, monitoring, and valorizing agricultural residues, supporting their transition from being disposed of to being a valuable secondary material for renewable bioenergy. This study provides a provincial-scale territorial screening of selected agricultural residues in Italy based on a five-year average dataset (2020–2024) of apples, peaches, grapes, fava beans, peas, lentils, and chickpeas. The main contribution lies in combining crop-specific residue quantification, GIS-based mapping, and Local Moran’s I analysis to identify spatial clusters of theoretical bioenergy potential. The results indicate a geographically polarized pattern, with northern areas, such as Bolzano, which offers over 1.06 million GJ, exhibiting substantial potential driven by apple orchards. Conversely, southern regions have emerged as major contributors to grape- and legume-derived bioenergy potential. The integration of geospatial intelligence with the assessment of agricultural residues and their energy potential supports the implementation of circularity by optimizing biomass logistics, providing practitioners and stakeholders with environmental and economic data for improved sustainability performance. Full article

The growing prevalence of chronic degenerative diseases has increased interest in nutritional strategies based on natural bioactive compounds such as polyphenols. This study aimed to develop a polyphenol-fortified tomato juice using extracts from unripe green tomatoes and to evaluate its physicochemical, antioxidant, sensory, and storage properties. Polyphenolic extracts obtained from tomato by-products were characterized using spectrophotometric and HPLC analyses and incorporated into tomato juice, which was then pasteurized and stored for six months. Total polyphenol content increased from 40.97 to 82.45 mg GAE/100 g, decreasing to 71.44 mg after storage; HPLC confirmed higher levels of key phenolic compounds in fortified juice. DPPH antioxidant activity increased in fortified juice compared to control, since pasteurization had limited effects but decreased after storage, with a moderate reduction in bioactivity. Colorimetric and sensory analyses showed changes in color, aroma, and sweetness after storage, potentially affecting consumer acceptance, although overall composition remained largely stable. Overall, results demonstrate the feasibility of producing a polyphenol-enriched tomato juice from agro-industrial by-products with improved antioxidant properties and acceptable technological stability. These findings support the valorization of tomato processing waste and suggest potential applications in functional food development, human health promotion, and the sustainability of agri-food systems’ overall approach. Full article