Globally, current food consumption and trade are placing unprecedented demand on agricultural systems and increasing pressure on natural resources, requiring tradeoffs between food security and environmental impacts especially given the tension between market-driven agriculture and agro-ecological goals. In order to illustrate the wicked social, economic and environmental challenges and processes to find transformative solutions, we focus on the largest concentration of greenhouses in the world located in the semi-arid coastal plain of South-east Spain. Almería family farming, predominantly cooperative, greenhouse intensive production, commenced after the 1960s and has resulted in very significant social and economic benefits for the region, while also having important negative environmental and biodiversity impacts, as well as creating new social challenges. The system currently finds itself in a crisis of diminishing economic benefits and increasing environmental and social dilemmas. Here, we present the outcomes of multi-actor, transdisciplinary research to review and provide collective insights for solutions-oriented research on the sustainability of Almeria’s agricultural sector. The multi-actor, transdisciplinary process implemented collectively, and supported by scientific literature, identified six fundamental challenges to transitioning to an agricultural model that aims to ameliorate risks and avoid a systemic collapse, whilst balancing a concern for profitability with sustainability: (1) Governance based on a culture of shared responsibility for sustainability, (2) Sustainable and efficient use of water, (3) Biodiversity conservation, (4) Implementing a circular economy plan, (5) Technology and knowledge transfer, and (6) Image and identity. We conclude that the multi-actor transdisciplinary approach successfully facilitated the creation of a culture of shared responsibility among public, private, academic, and civil society actors. Notwithstanding plural values, challenges and solutions identified by consensus point to a nascent acknowledgement of the strategic necessity to locate agricultural economic activity within social and environmental spheres.This paper demonstrates the need to establish transdisciplinary multi-actor work-schemes to continue collaboration and research for the transition to an agro-ecological model as a means to remain competitive and to create value.

This article analyses new supply chain management (SCM) strategies of the largest retail distribution chains in Europe within the context of differing sustainability concepts and approaches. An analysis is carried out of the strategic plans of such retailers, as well as recent developments in the sector. We begin by identifying the priority actions of retailers and then evaluating, by means of a survey, how small horticultural marketing firms (mainly cooperatives) in southeast Spain respond to the needs of these retailers. Subsequently, an analysis is carried out on these small marketing firm exporters to identify the relative weight which they assign to the variables assessed, while also considering the existing relationships between said weighted variables and business profits. Our results show that retailers tend to establish more simplified supply chains (that is, shorter and more vertical), essentially demonstrating their interpretation of a sustainable supply chain. In contrast, horticultural marketing firms have concentrated more on tactical and operational issues, thereby neglecting environmental, social and logistics management. Thus, their success rate in meeting the sustainability demands of their customers can be considered medium-low, requiring a more proactive attitude. Improved and collaborative relations, and the integration of sustainability concepts between suppliers (marketing firms) and their clients could contribute to successfully meeting sustainability demands. From the point of view of the consumer, close supplier–retail relationships have solved food safety issues, but the implementation of sustainability in other supply chain activities and processes is a pending issue. We propose strategic approximation and collaboration to bridge the gap between the varying sustainability demands in the supplier–retail relationship within perishable supply chains. Although this article specifically addresses fresh vegetable supply chains, the results may be extrapolated to other agri-food chains with a similar structure.

The strategies cooperative banks use to address local socio‐economic challenges through the financing and promotion of cooperatives, socially oriented enterprises and local development initiatives are investigated. Two paradigmatic regions with strong cooperative bank sectors are compared, illustrating strategic differences in their approach to cooperative and social enterprise promotion and local development. The cooperative bank sector in the first region, Almería, Spain, has followed an aggressive growth strategy, both in terms of size and territory, resulting in a large and nationally present cooperative bank. In contrast, the cooperative bank sector in the province of Trentino, the most important region for cooperative banks in Italy, is comprised of many small scale cooperative banks, organized by consortium and tightly tied to territory. Related lines of inquiry include the trend of focusing on corporate social responsibility as opposed to local development and the relationship among different types of complementary actors in order to understand the process of promoting sustainable community development. As well, we comment on the relevance of other types of ‘alternative finance‘ in supporting such goals. These issues are particularly relevant given limited government resources to deal with pressing social and economic issues.

This paper focuses on small holding, family farming in Southeast Spain where agricultural economic activity is predominantly organized around cooperative business models. A variety of diverse studies on the Almería agricultural and credit cooperative sector and the exploration of social-economic and eco-social indicators, in addition to economic-market indicators are presented. Each correspond to a cooperative "logic" that spans theoretical perspectives from the dominant economic-market model, new institutionalism, and an eco-social approach, echoing theories on collective coordination governance, and the avoidance of the "tragedy of the commons". The latter is of particular importance given environmental challenges and scarce resources for agricultural activity. The cooperatives in Almería have increasingly relied on collective collaboration and coordination in order to meet social-economic and social-ecological challenges, transforming their role from that founded on a market dominant logic to that of cooperation as a coordination mechanism based on the mutual benefit of the community and environment. In turn, their ability to meet a wide range of needs and challenges of members and the community leads to their longevity. Cooperatives are able to act as both a market and non-market coordination mechanism, balancing the economic, social, and environmental dimensions, such that neither market nor non-market logics are dominant or exclusive.

Traceability systems are key to assuring food safety, creating a benefit for food supply chain components. Currently, the appearance of new technologies such as IoT and Big Data Analysis leads to a new generation of more functional, but complex, traceability systems. Organisational models based on cooperation of multiple small/medium size agents, for example of small/family farming cooperatives, play an important role in high standard agricultural production and commercialization processes. These function as both social and economic networks, with high social and economic impact in the rural areas. The case of Almeria as an example of this model was used to analyze its cooperative model. The actual traceability systems in the Almeria model were studied, taking account of the different networked agents and their interrelation. This study includes two main parts: a) analysis of the net-chains that constitute the food supply chains and their different relationships, and b) actual traceability. The next step studied how the net-chain model, including many diverse agents, may be applied to develop a new generation of traceability systems based of IoT and Big Data. This implies extending the special and functional scope of the actual systems and defining clear rules of exchange of the results of the Big Data Analysis, taking account of the adequate Privacy Rules. This work analyses the current organisation as a base for a new generation of traceability systems considered in the European project IoF2020 (Internet of the Food and Farm 2020). Some parallels between Almeria's model and certain areas in China, mainly in the areas of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and Shandong were detected. Another of the objectives of this work is to deepen the understanding of these similarities and analyze the possible adaptation of the results from Almeria to China.