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Sustainability
Special Issues
Process Innovations in Agri-Food Supply and Value Chains
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Process Innovations in Agri-Food Supply and Value Chains

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2024) | Viewed by 8846

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Giulio Paolo Agnusdei

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Chief Guest Editor
Department of Innovation Engineering, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Interests: logistics; supply chain management; safety; agrifood supply chain
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Eleonora Bottani

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Guest Editor
Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Parma, 43124 Parma, Italy
Interests: Logistics and supply chain management; analysis and optimization of supply chains; sustainable supply chain; supply chain agility; supply chain performance; RFID technology for logistics and supply chain dynamics; food processing plants; safety/security of industrial plants; Industry 4.0 in logistics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Giada La Scalia

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Guest Editor
Department of Engineering, University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy
Interests: facility layout problem; logistics; supply chain management; industrial process optimization; warehouse management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Giuseppe Vignali

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Guest Editor
Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Parma, viale delle Scienze 181/A, 43124 Parma, Italy
Interests: food engineering; food packaging; industrial quality and safety; life cycle assessment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainable, diverse and resilient value chains are a preconditions for sustainable growth, food security and natural resource use. Food supply chains operate in a dynamic complex environment characterized by new consumer demands and game-changing technologies. The latter define the processes within the whole chain of agri-food production. Agricultural machinery, originally led by tractor manufacturing, has almost eliminated human labour in many areas of production. Biotechnology has become an important driver for change within the sector as it applies to agrichemicals, plant breeding, and food processing. Instruments and tools deriving from information technology advancements are crucial, with computer networks and specialized software providing the support infrastructure to allow for systems interactions.

Within the existing scientific literature, the relationship between production processes and innovation in the agrifood supply and value chains is marked by conceptual and methodological issues that limit the ability to understand their mutual effects. This Special Issue aims at collecting contributions from different fields of study, thus highlighting and discussing the foundations which could guide the research efforts in this area. The need to decarbonize the agrifood sector to meet climate change goals is compounded with considerations of supply chain efficiency, and an increasing interest in circular economy. In this scenario, Industry 4.0 framework provides impetus to sustain the value creation process across and beyond the supply chains, generating a new set of questions and opening up new research directions. Research should thus play the role of unraveling the links between the complexity of food systems and their efficiency, resilience and sustainability.

Dr. Giulio Paolo Agnusdei
Prof. Dr. Eleonora Bottani
Prof. Dr. Giada La Scalia
Prof. Dr. Giuseppe Vignali
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

  • innovation
  • industry 4.0
  • supply chain
  • vulnerability
  • food security
  • sustainability
  • resilience

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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17 pages, 287 KiB  
Article
Traditional Food Vendor-Producer Innovation Capabilities
by Luiza Ossowska, Dorota Janiszewska, Grzegorz Kwiatkowski, Dariusz Kloskowski and Ove Oklevik
Sustainability 2024, 16(7), 2844; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16072844 - 28 Mar 2024
Viewed by 877
Abstract
Nowadays, introducing innovations is treated as a necessity to ensure market survival. However, this may be difficult, especially for food entrepreneurs whose innovations are strongly connected with tradition. The main aim of this study was to assess the innovation abilities and potential of [...] Read more.
Nowadays, introducing innovations is treated as a necessity to ensure market survival. However, this may be difficult, especially for food entrepreneurs whose innovations are strongly connected with tradition. The main aim of this study was to assess the innovation abilities and potential of traditional food producers in the context of the classic dilemma of innovation-and-tradition interplay. The surveyed food producers were from five Polish voivodeships belonging to the European Culinary Heritage Network. The study conducted 70 semi-structured interviews. The respondents were divided into two groups: the innovative and non-innovative groups. The statistical significance of the differences between the two groups was tested using a two-independent-samples t test. A comparison revealed significantly different average results for the following variables: general managerial education, business duration, sources of knowledge about traditions, profits and earnings, and own product brand. For the remaining variables (employment, sales range, financial capital sources, business goals in total, and own business), no significant differences were found between the mean results. Both tested hypotheses were verified to be valid. The vendors-producers of traditional food in this study showed innovative abilities and untapped innovation potential. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Process Innovations in Agri-Food Supply and Value Chains)

Other

Jump to: Research

28 pages, 4906 KiB  
Systematic Review
Technologies to Optimize the Water Consumption in Agriculture: A Systematic Review
by Luca Preite, Federico Solari and Giuseppe Vignali
Sustainability 2023, 15(7), 5975; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15075975 - 30 Mar 2023
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 6951
Abstract
Agriculture is facing several very important challenges. Population growth means that more food must be produced to meet nutritional needs. However, this is putting excessive pressure on natural resources, such as water and land, which are heavily used for agricultural practices. For these [...] Read more.
Agriculture is facing several very important challenges. Population growth means that more food must be produced to meet nutritional needs. However, this is putting excessive pressure on natural resources, such as water and land, which are heavily used for agricultural practices. For these reasons, we carried out a systematic review of existing studies in the scientific literature to better understand how innovative strategies can decrease water consumption in agriculture. It was performed following PRISMA guidelines, using the Scopus database to select papers that have investigated the link between water consumption and the main agriculture strategies, such as controlled-environment agriculture, hydroponics, and precision farming for field crops, in the last ten years. Data relating to the water requirements of the selected crops were estimated to provide a framework for evaluating possible solutions. The results showed that these innovative strategies have the potential to decrease water consumption, but more research is needed to fully understand their effectiveness and potential trade-offs. Therefore, both exogenous and endogenous crop factors should be considered to maximize water savings. The results will form the basis for a framework for assessing the sustainability of agricultural strategies and how they can be applied in a real-life case study. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Process Innovations in Agri-Food Supply and Value Chains)
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