How do French agri-tech start-ups contribute to the sustainability of food value chains?

Florez, Mauro; Piot-Lepetit, Isabelle; Bourdon, Isabelle; Gauche, Karine

doi:10.1080/26437015.2021.1989993

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Engås, Raja, and Neufang [53] indicated that the digital divide led to low adoption of digital technologies. In order to maximise the opportunities presented by digital technologies, there is a need to consider the digital divide in all three levels of capacities, competences, and inequality in access [54,55]. McCampbell, Schumann, and Klerkx [52] referred to the digital divide as a result of structural ethical issues, for example, limits in skills and access.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors Influencing the Perceptions of Smallholder Farmers towards Adoption of Digital Technologies in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Bontsa,

Mushunje,

Ngarava

2023

Agriculture

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The objective of the study was to determine the factors that influence the perceptions of smallholder farmers towards the adoption of digital technologies. A purposively selected sample of 250 smallholder farmers who were cross-sectionally surveyed from Port St Johns and Ingquza Hill Local Municipalities in South Africa was used in the study. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Attention, Desire, and Action (AIDA) model were used to analyse the data. The results showed that digital technologies were perceived to be expensive, cause a digital divide, and discouraged the use of Indigenous Knowledge even though they increased production. Positive perception towards digital technologies was associated with cattle rearing, with extreme negative perception for sheep and goat rearing. Educational level, employment status, monthly income, household size, being part of a cooperative (1% level), age, and source of income (10% level) were significant factors affecting smallholder farmers’ perceptions of digital technologies. In conclusion, there are economic, social justice, and traditional perceptions towards digital technologies by smallholder farmers, with socio-economic factors affecting the perceptions. The study recommends providing low-cost digital technologies that promote Indigenous Knowledge, which should target the youth and young farmers with less education in small households who are full-time farmers with moderate-to-high incomes and are part of farmer groups/organisations.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors Influencing the Perceptions of Smallholder Farmers towards Adoption of Digital Technologies in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Bontsa,

Mushunje,

Ngarava

2023

Agriculture

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“…However, digital technologies have not entered all segments of agri-food value chains identically in Europe. For instance, in France, the production and retail/consumer segments are those where the larger number of start-ups are developing (Florez et al 2022). In Germany, delivery services are where digital technologies are the most present.…”

Section: Digital Technologies In the European Agri-food Value Chainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital agriculture in Europe and in France: which organisations can boost adoption levels?

Maurel

Piot-Lepetit

Lachia

et al. 2023

Crop & Pasture Science

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This paper presents the way the digital transformation of the agricultural sector is implemented in Europe and in France. It describes the main European and national strategies, the structure of research and innovation initiatives, and the investment in capacity building to foster innovation, adoption and use. More specifically, the French research and innovation ecosystem on digital agriculture is described. The actors involved come from different organisations, such as research and higher educational institutes, government agencies, agricultural technology (AgTech) companies, farmer unions etc., and work together by means of associations (e.g. Robagri), networks (e.g. RMT Naexus, DigiFermes, Fermes Leader), or living labs (e.g. Occitanum) on both digital technology assessment and co-design. Additionally, support is devoted to capacity building (e.g. Le Mas numérique, Mobilab) and a better understanding of the drivers of adoption and use of digital technologies (e.g. FrOCDA). Among these various organisations, #DigitAg, the Digital Agriculture Convergence Lab, has been created to foster interdisciplinary research on digital agriculture. All these initiatives aim to use digital technologies to support the European Green Deal, Farm-to-Fork and Biodiversity strategies as well as the French orientation towards more agroecological practices for safer and more sustainable food systems. Even though this organisational ecosystem is developing fast, the objective of encouraging the coevolution of both digital and green transformations is not without challenges that still need to be overcome, either through new research, innovations, initiatives or collaborations between the actors involved.

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“…However, startups can be looked at as key actors of digitalization (Kergroach, 2020) in the agrifood sector. More specifically, Florez et al (2022) found that the digital technologies provided by startups are most often using artificial intelligence (AI), internet of things (IoT), big data, blockchain, cloud computing, robots and e-commerce. But, with a dominance of IoT and e-commerce in the production and retail/consumption segments of agrifood chains, while AI is deployed in all segments.…”

Section: Some Opportunities and Challenges Of Open Innovations Foster...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, some startups focus on the environmental dimension of sustainability by means of more efficient use of natural resources, optimized application of chemicals, reduction of food waste, increased recycling and reuse, and improved resilience and adaptive capacities to climate hazards. Other startups provide solutions for social outcomes such as improving transparency, changing in consumption, production, and distribution behaviors, reducing food losses and wastes (Florez et al, 2022), fostering inclusiveness, or developing the sharing economy (Fauzi and Sheng, 2020). In doing so, startups are becoming important providers of inclusive and sustainable innovations using digital technologies.…”

Section: Some Opportunities and Challenges Of Open Innovations Foster...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The first one is the switch from a principle of product ownership to a logic of service access, which can be illustrated by the creation of platforms for sharing agricultural machinery or accessing local and cultural food. The second one relates to the establishment of startup ecosystems, characterized by a technological environment, a culture of innovation and risk, and an ability to push forward the limits of what already exists (Florez et al, 2022). At the same time, the agrifood sector is being asked to become more sustainable (UN-United Nations, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Digitainability and open innovation: how they change innovation processes and strategies in the agrifood sector?

Piot-Lepetit

2023

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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By developing a conceptual analysis, this research explores the possibility of fostering a convergence between digitalization and sustainability, also named digitainability. This convergence is often seen as an opportunity to solve the various challenges the agrifood sector faces nowadays, especially those of feeding more people without deteriorating the environment and creating social divides and, at the same time, managing specific risks related to climate change, biodiversity loss, and hunger. The research describes how open innovation is becoming an imperative and explains the contribution of startups in the development of these new innovative initiatives. It also explains how sustainability considerations are closely linked to the development of servitization in the business context. Finally, it explores how these changes impact established companies, forcing them to develop ambidextrous innovation strategies to maintain and support their competitive advantage. In doing so, the paper illustrates some of the well-known effects of this ongoing change, while identifying the opportunities created and the challenges for which more research is still needed.

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How do French agri-tech start-ups contribute to the sustainability of food value chains?

Cited by 5 publications

References 20 publications

Factors Influencing the Perceptions of Smallholder Farmers towards Adoption of Digital Technologies in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Factors Influencing the Perceptions of Smallholder Farmers towards Adoption of Digital Technologies in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Digital agriculture in Europe and in France: which organisations can boost adoption levels?

Digitainability and open innovation: how they change innovation processes and strategies in the agrifood sector?

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