Sustainability-oriented innovation in the agri-food system: Current issues and the road ahead

Testa, Stefania; Nielsen, Kristian Roed; Vallentin, Steen; Ciccullo, Federica

doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2022.121653

Cited by 22 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Transitioning to sustainable business is especially important for resourceintensive areas, where the creation of economic value often leads to the destruction of value for other actors in present and future time (Hawken et al, 2013). Agri-food systems, including primary production, storage, processing, distribution, marketing and consumption of food, play a prominent role in the sustainable development narrative due to their strong environmental, social and economic impacts (Testa et al, 2022). A better understanding of businesses in agri-food systems could thus contribute to greater sustainability of these systems.…”

Section: Research Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Social issues of hunger, malnutrition, food insecurity and food waste arise from or surround agriculture (El Bilali, 2020). The economic and labour conditions of many small farmers need improvement (Testa et al, 2022). Actions by all stakeholders, including businesses, are needed for social and technological change in agri-food systems (Köhler et al, 2019).…”

Section: Research Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Change for sustainable agricultural business : Addressing business model transformation and sustainable value creation

Sadovska¹

2023

Acta Universitatis Agriculturae Sueciae

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Society is facing global challenges, such as poverty and climate change, that affect entire ecosystems and human communities. Many sustainability challenges arise from existing production and consumption patterns, and thus many believe that business transformation to sustainability is essential to solving global socio-ecological problems. Understanding how sustainable business models are configured, and why companies adopt them, can be a pathway to system transformation. However, because of the complexity of sustainability challenges, they resist simple solutions and require innovative approaches. This thesis explored the potential for transformation to sustainability from the viewpoint of business model transformation in agri-food businesses, to understand why and how transformation happens, and how it can be facilitated at systems level. The focus on businesses in the agri-food sector was chosen to improve understanding of sustainable value creation in the agricultural and food production sector by transformation of business models to include sustainability. Creation of sustainable value through transformation of agricultural business models for sustainability, which act as a unifying structure for policy implementation by integrating the strategic, procedural and operational activities of a business, was analysed. The results revealed managerial, organisational and inter-organisational processes related to this transformation, which were further conceptualised. Examination of the concept of value in the agri-food sector and the business models of agri-food companies revealed a multiplicity of value creation activities, a range of motives for sustainable business model transformation and interconnectivity between companies and their surrounding environment. Overall, the results showed that sustainability can be placed at the core of an organisation. A novel contribution to the conceptual domain was creation of a new framework for sustainable value creation in the agri-food sector. This framework emphasises the need for simultaneous and equal integration of economic, social and environmental principles of sustainable development in value creation logic. It builds on the open character of sustainable business models and recognises theimportance of inter-organisational interactions to navigate transformation to sustainability. In particular, the framework promotes a more contextualised perspective on business model research, paying particular attention to multi-stakeholder interactions, learning, leadership and individual beliefs of key decision-makers.

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Section: Research Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Research Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Change for sustainable agricultural business : Addressing business model transformation and sustainable value creation

Sadovska¹

2023

Acta Universitatis Agriculturae Sueciae

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“…Moreover, management of SOI is not only limited to the product’s use but concerns the whole lifecycle, from raw materials to commercialization and beyond [ 75 ], to detect any sustainability issue along the value chain. Also, in recent literature, SOI has often been associated with circular business models as a way to operationalize it [ 40 , 76 ].…”

Section: Theoretical Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite sustainability being high on the international policy agenda [ 38 , 39 ], food incumbents have not developed a common understanding of the topic, and consequently integrate it differently in their strategy and across functions. The concept of sustainability is indeed composite and defined by several notions that have evolved over time [ 40 ]—from pure compliance to corporate social responsibility (CSR) to the triple bottom line [ 41 ] and to conformity with the UN SDGs [ 42 ]—creating a further complication.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Incumbents’ Capabilities for Sustainability-Oriented Innovation in the Norwegian Food Sector—an Integrated Framework

2022

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The urgency of sustainability transition requires large incumbents in the food industry to implement sustainability-oriented innovation (SOI). However, the high concentration of the food sector and the complexity of the sustainability concept make its understanding and overall transition challenging and slow. Incumbents would need to drive the transition by redesigning business models and practices and acquiring new competencies to integrate sustainability into their innovation strategy. This paper has a twofold aim: (I) analyzing the evolution of sustainability understanding over time and (II) evaluating the extent of dynamic capabilities of food incumbents to foster SOI. We developed an integrated theoretical framework combining the theory of dynamic capabilities with aspects of SOI and applied it to the case of the Norwegian food industry. We interviewed eight food incumbents and one food industry association, and we reviewed their annual and sustainability reports from 2016 till 2020. Key findings show a high strategic activity in SOI, as well as a notable and industry-wide ambiguity about what sustainability means in the food sector. Most companies reveal both an adaptive and expanding behavior implementing conscious sustainability-integrated product and process innovations. Most innovations are incremental without a radical modification of business models. Some exceptions have been detected resembling transformative changes. Clear initiatives of moving away from a linear supply chain to a more systematic approach are currently happening through food system collaborations.

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“…In contrast, researchers are trying to produce a high yield crop in a large volume for healthy food in a minimum space. Most of the researchers are finding ways to produce food from waste by adopting sustainable sources but the need for awareness from the consumer side is deficit [4]. There are a number of food-based industries that produced tons of waste that are rich in protein, carbohydrates, and other Handling of these waste materials is a major concern for the industry because of the presence of microbes that pose several environmental issues [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sugar Beet Fiber and Rice Based Distillers Dried Grain as a Food Additive: A Short Communication

Kumar¹,

Pratap²,

Agnihotri

2022

5003

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The utilization of sugar beet fiber (SBF) and rice-based distillers dried grain (RB-DDG) as a source of food ingredients is a prime focus of this short study. SBF and RB-DDG are extracted from waste sugar beet pulp produced in the sugar industry and grain-based distillery respectively. The mixture of SBF and RB-DDG has been given the name HNFP (Healthy nutrients-rich fine powder). The oven drying, grinding, mixing, and mesh screening were used for the preparation of HNFP from the two raw industrial wastes. HNFP has components, Carbohydrates, proteins, fibers, vitamins, and minerals. Which has the potential to be utilized as an essential food ingredient. The prepared HNFP has obtained results that show cation exchange capacity, water holding capacity, and oil binding capacity as 0.5 mEq/gm, 8.5 gm/gm, and 1.95 gm/gm respectively, or the average swelling capacity 12 ml/gm was obtained. These properties complete the requirements of good food ingredients for the human gut system. This communication is the first article that represents an idea that will analyze the use of HNFP as a food additive extracted from sugar beet fiber with a combination of high nutrients rich rice-based distillers dried grain (RB-DDG).

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Sustainability-oriented innovation in the agri-food system: Current issues and the road ahead

Cited by 22 publications

References 42 publications

Change for sustainable agricultural business : Addressing business model transformation and sustainable value creation

Change for sustainable agricultural business : Addressing business model transformation and sustainable value creation

Incumbents’ Capabilities for Sustainability-Oriented Innovation in the Norwegian Food Sector—an Integrated Framework

Sugar Beet Fiber and Rice Based Distillers Dried Grain as a Food Additive: A Short Communication

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