Die ergriffenen Maßnahmen zur Eindämmung der COVID-19-Pandemie sowie Einstellungs- und Verhaltensänderungen der Konsumenten haben sich global auf Lebensmittelwertschöpfungsketten ausgewirkt. Um die ...Auswirkungen von COVID-19 auf die österreichische Landwirtschaft zu untersuchen, wurden im Frühjahr 2021 Interviews mit 34 Landwirt:innen geführt. Basierend auf den Ergebnissen einer qualitativen Inhaltsanalyse wird deutlich, dass die vielfältigen und heterogenen Auswirkungen von COVID-19 auf landwirtschaftliche Betriebe sowohl Chancen als auch Herausforderungen verursachen. Zu den negativen Auswirkungen zählen Absatzschwierigkeiten durch die Schließung von Gastronomie und Märkten, das Verbot nichtlandwirtschaftlicher Aktivitäten, die gestörte Verfügbarkeit von Arbeitskräften und Betriebsmitteln sowie Belastungen der Landwirt:innen. Die Mitigation negativer Auswirkungen durch staatliche Hilfen und Interessenvertretung zeigte eine begrenzte Wirksamkeit. Dennoch wurde die Funktionsfähigkeit der landwirtschaftlichen Produktion aufgrund geringfügiger direkter Auswirkungen und adäquater Anpassungen aufrechterhalten. Positive Auswirkungen resultieren aus der gestiegenen Nachfrage in der Direktvermarktung und im Lebensmitteleinzelhandel, der verbesserten Wahrnehmung der Landwirtschaft in der Gesellschaft und Vorteilen im Privatleben der Landwirt:innen. Langfristige Veränderungen der landwirtschaftlichen Betriebe werden vor allem durch Digitalisierung, Investitionen und Anpassungen der Vermarktung ausgelöst.
Recently, there has been significant growth in the consumption of the most widely diversified Internet of Things (IoT) technological knowledge, and devices, which has resulted in an impact on not ...only electrical items and the agricultural and food industries (Agri-Food) supply chain networks. This has sparked intense curiosity about the development of information sharing that is reliable, traceable, and transparent, and also increased significant research and advancement efforts. Existing IoT-based trace & authenticity methods for agri-food distribution networks are constructed on top of centralized architectures, which creates the potential for significant issues such as data security, manipulation, and standard points of weakness. A creative and scraping methodological approach to implementing decentralized trust-free networks is represented by blockchain technologies, the decentralized blockchain technologies that underpin cryptocurrencies. The fault tolerance, data integrity, visibility, and complete tracing of saved transactional data, along with cohesive digital information of property resources and independent transactions implementations, are in fact features built into this digitalization. This study introduces Agri-BlockIoT, a completely decentralized blockchain-based traceable platform for managing a global agro-food distribution network that can seamlessly connect IoT systems that produce and consume digital information all along the distribution chain. We implemented a use caseto achieve transparency and traceability. Lastly, we analyzed and contrasted the implementations' capability in terms of delay, CPU, or network utilization.
The production and distribution of food are among the hot topics debated in the context of sustainable development. Short food supply chains (SFSCs) are now widely believed to be more sustainable in ...comparison to mass food delivery systems. To date, very little quantitative evidence exists on the impacts of various types of food supply chains. Using a cross-sectional quantitative approach, this study assesses the sustainability of distribution channels in short and long food supply chains based on 208 food producers across seven countries: France, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam. Ten distribution channel types are used in this study. To provide a comprehensive sustainability assessment, a set of economic, social, and environmental indicators are applied. Indicators commonly used in the literature are used, supported by original indicators constructed specifically for the present study. In total, 486 chains are examined and the study confirms that individual producers participate simultaneously in several, short and long chains. Participation in SFSCs is beneficial for producers from an economic perspective. SFSCs allow producers to capture a large proportion of margin otherwise absorbed by different intermediaries. It appears, however, that ’longer’ supply channels generate lower environmental impacts per unit of production when measured in terms of food miles and carbon footprint. Finally, ambiguous results are found regarding social dimension, with significant differences across types of chains.
Food production and supply have been affected by several contemporary phenomena. They have stimulated movements for the social construction of alternative markets in urban centres, which reflect the ...growing interest of consumers in the quality of food and increased the demand for organic and agroecological products. The present article uses the theoretical approach of social innovation to investigate the emergence of trajectories that organize networks and articulate production, supply and purchase of superior biological quality food in the Florianopólis Metropolitan Area and beyond, Southern Brazil which we identify as an agrifood citizenship network. The research was developed through participatory methodologies, using interviews, participant observation and the use of databases. We verified that organizations and networks have been acting interdependently, generating social innovations. We've shown that actors create relations of proximity through markets, which are explained by the network articulation in groups of farmers, social organizations and public institutions. From the rural areas, this social innovation emerges in the form of an agrifood citizenship network, directly related to the trajectory of organizations and network focused on agroecology and short food supply chains.
•Investigate how rural social actors contribute to the innovation trajectories in SFSC.•Participatory method to investigate construction of markets of superior quality food.•Actors creating proximity through markets, in a agrifood citizenship network.•Social innovation emerging from rural areas, through trajectory of agroecology actors.
Currently, there is great concern about the consequences of COVID-19 on health and also on food supply globally. Ceasas are important food distribution centers in Brazil that have great economic ...importance in Brazilian agribusiness.
In this work, the price of fruits and vegetables sold in four Ceasas in different regions affected by COVID-19 in the first quarter of 2020 were evaluated, with the aim of verifying the possible effects of the pandemic on food supply chains. Data were collected from the institutions' websites and subjected to analysis of variance and Tukey's test (p ≤ 0.05), principal component analysis and Cluster analysis (Euclidean distance).
The regions affected by COVID-19 showed great variations in the prices of products sold in the studied Ceasas. Statistical analysis showed that food prices were dependent on the regions and the period in which they were traded. In general, the month of March proved to have the greatest impact on the consumer's pocket. The strengthening of Ceasas as platforms for supplying food from short supply chains is essential to guarantee internal food security during crises such as that caused by the new coronavirus.
•Ceasas are crucial tools to ensure internal food supply during the COVID-19 crisis.•Regions affected by the pandemic suffered great variations in the food prices studied.•Ceasa-PE presented the biggest price variation in the first quarter of the year.•Tomato and onion were the most expensive products in March.
•Smart technologies are viewed by farmers and consumers as incompatible with SFSCs.•Smart technologies threaten the alternative, unconventional character of SFSCs.•Perceived incompatibility ...negatively affects willingness to engage in smart SFSCs.•Incompatibility can be divided into actual and symbolic.•Symbolic compatibility refers to the meanings attached to smart farming and SFSCs.
The challenge of sustainability and the need to secure the production of high-quality, affordable and healthy food, have led to the emergence of alternative food production/distribution schemes that, based on technological or organizational innovation, can increase food production without burdening the environment. Both smart farming and short food supply chains (SFSCs) are considered as promising solutions towards this target. From a theoretical standpoint, the introduction of smart farming technologies into SFSCs could increase the value-generating capacity of short food supply schemes. However, a pivotal question is whether such technologies are compatible with SFSCs. In this study, following a mixed research design, we analyze Greek farmers’ and consumers’ perceptions of the compatibility between smart technologies and SFSCs, and we examine the extent to which compatibility perception affects willingness to engage in “smart SFSCs.” Quantitative results revealed that perceived (in)compatibility is central in predicting this willingness for both farmers and consumers. The qualitative strand of the study uncovered the existence of two different types of compatibility. Actual compatibility refers to the consistency of smart technologies with the technological advancement of farms and the real everyday needs of farmers. Symbolic compatibility relates to the meanings attributed to both SFSCs and smart technologies by farmers and consumers. In sum, the results indicated that smart technologies are viewed as tools that can lead to a conventionalization of SFSCs, thus altering their optimally distinct nature. Policies targeted at the promotion of smart farming should go beyond traditional views of smart technologies as tools that increase farm efficiency, by paying more attention to their compatibility with different “agricultures” and to the ways they can transform farming systems.
The present paper intends to address the impact of COVID-19 crisis upon the consumer buying behavior of fresh vegetables directly from local producers as observed 30 days later, after enforcing the ...state of emergency in Romania within a well-defined area, namely, the quarantined area of Suceava. The study relies on the interpretation of answers received from the quarantined area (N = 257) to a questionnaire applied online nationwide. The starting point of this paper is the analysis of the sociodemographic factors on the purchasing decision of fresh vegetables directly from local producers before declaring the state of emergency in Romania (16 March 2020). Further research has been conducted by interpreting the changes triggered by the COVID-19 crisis on the purchasing intention of such products before and after the end of the respective crisis. The aim of this scientific investigation relies on identifying the methods by which these behavioral changes can influence the digital transformation of short food supply chains.
Postharvest losses along food supply chains have far reaching consequences for the environment and affect the social and economic conditions of food supply chain participants, especially of those in ...developing countries. This paper explores the structural inefficiencies that lead to postharvest losses and analyses how innovative collaboration could lead to more sustainable food supply chains (FSCs) by reducing those inefficiencies. Innovative collaboration is defined as the improvement or creation of inter-organizational relationships through which FSC participants can exchange information, align incentives, engage in effective partnerships and improve their use of technology. This research distinguishes two research questions: First, how do FSC participants interact and which structural inefficiencies leading to postharvest losses can be identified in global food supply chains? And second, what are the main drivers and barriers of FSC participants to engage in innovative collaboration to reduce postharvest losses within global food supply chains? Two case studies explore the supply chain of avocados, especially due to their high susceptibility to postharvest losses, and focus on avocados from Mexico and Colombia imported into the Netherlands. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with avocado importers, producers/exporters, packers and growers' associations, governmental organizations, and knowledge institutions. Informal interviews were held with producers and suppliers of other agricultural products traded globally. Using the software NVIVO, the collected data from interviews, documents and literature was structured allowing patterns and categories in the data to be discerned. The contribution of this paper is a typology of structural inefficiencies in global food supply chains, which provides insight into the social drivers of postharvest losses. Three categories of structural inefficiencies leading (directly or indirectly) to postharvest losses were identified: (1) corporate inefficiencies, (2) cognitive and affective inefficiencies, and (3) tangible inefficiencies. Effective partnerships were found to be the backbone of innovative collaboration, and the largest contributor to the reduction of postharvest losses, functioning as catalysts of trust, communication, cooperation and innovation, in addition to contributing to reduce structural inefficiencies along food supply chains.
•Innovative collaboration contributes positively to the sustainability of food supply chains.•Corporate, cognitive & affective, and tangible organizational inefficiencies are found.•Effective partnerships appear to be the backbone of innovative collaboration.•Effective partnerships are catalysts of trust, communication, cooperation and innovation.
Food supply chains are receiving increased attention due to rapid depletion of natural resources, increasing quality standards and rising food safety and security concerns. Implementing ...sustainability practices in food supply chains is believed to overcome such emerging challenges. However, limited studies address sustainability implementation concerns, particularly in cold food supply chains. Thus, this study attempts to identify factors hindering sustainability implementation in cold food chain networks by considering a case of UK artisan cheese producers. Survey data is utilised to identify and prioritise barriers for implementing sustainability following fuzzy analytic hierarchy process and sensitivity analysis. The analysis identified several key barriers, including initial investment cost, firm size and unawareness of government regulations. The internal barriers significantly dominate the implementation of sustainability practices in comparison to external barriers. Lack of consensus regarding the concept of sustainability by different stakeholders is observed to be an issue negatively affecting the level of integration in SMEs. Findings will help food and dairy SME's in gaining competitive advantage through the successful implementation of sustainability practices.
Increasingly, blockchain technology is attracting significant attentions in various agricultural applications. These applications could satisfy the diverse needs in the ecosystem of agricultural ...products, e.g., increasing transparency of food safety and IoT based food quality control, provenance traceability, improvement of contract exchanges, and transactions efficiency. As multiple untrusted parties, including small-scale farmers, food processors, logistic companies, distributors and retailers, are involved into the complex farm-to-fork pipeline, it becomes vital to achieve optimal trade-off between efficiency and integrity of the agricultural management systems as required in contexts. In this paper, we provide a survey to study both techniques and applications of blockchain technology used in the agricultural sector. First, the technical elements, including data structure, cryptographic methods, and consensus mechanisms are explained in detail. Secondly, the existing agricultural blockchain applications are categorized and reviewed to demonstrate the use of the blockchain techniques. In addition, the popular platforms and smart contract are provided to show how practitioners use them to develop these agricultural applications. Thirdly, we identify the key challenges in many prospective agricultural systems, and discuss the efforts and potential solutions to tackle these problems. Further, we conduct an improved food supply chain in the post COVID-19 pandemic economy as an illustration to demonstrate an effective use of blockchain technology.
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