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Substantial pressure from civil society and investors has forced governments around the world to take climate neutrality initiatives. Several countries have pledged their nationally determined contributions towards net-zero. However, there exist various obstacles to achieving the same and the agriculture sector is one of them. Thus, this study identifies and models the critical barriers to achieving climate neutrality in the agriculture food supply chain (AFSC).

Sixteen barriers are identified through a literature survey and are validated by the questionnaire survey. Furthermore, the interactions amongst the barriers are estimated through the application of the “weighted influence non-linear gauge system (WINGS)” method which considers the both intensity of influence and the strength of the barrier. To mitigate these barriers, a framework based on green, resilient and inclusive development (GRID) is proposed.

The obtained results reveal that lack of collaboration amongst AFSC stakeholders, lack of information and education awareness, and lack of technical expertise obtained a higher rank (amongst the top five) in three indicators of the WINGS method and thus are the most significant barriers.

This paper is the first attempt in modelling the climate neutrality barriers for the Indian AFSC. Additionally, the mitigating strategies are prepared using the GRID framework.

The purpose of this paper is to deliver a structured literature review of existing literature on agri-fresh food supply chain quality (AFSCQ) over a period of 23 years (1994 to mid-2016) and provide a platform for practitioners and researchers trying to identify the existing state of work, gaps in current research, and future directions in the field of AFSCQ.

The existing literature is classified on the basis of several classes like number of publications per year, journal-wise publications, studies across various countries, growth of empirical research, data analysis methods or tool used, issues related to supply chain quality as well as performance measurement (with respect to entity of analysis, level of analysis and element of exchange).

Most of the research publications discuss issues in developed countries, while relatively lesser publications are available on issues in developing countries. Hence, larger opportunities in the field of AFSCQ are available in developing countries. Empirical research is also growing in the field of AFSCQ. Largely research publications make use of “case study” research approach and “statistical analysis” as a quantitative tool of research. The literature is also categorized under the various issues of supply chain quality such as sustainability management, information management, logistic management, collaboration and coordination management, strategic management, demand management, inventory management, food safety, performance management, supply chain integration, supplier management, quality management, etc. It was found that in the majority of articles, information management, sustainability management, and logistics management are very critical issues as far as AFSCQ is concerned. Performance measurement of agri-fresh food supply chain is also on a growing stage. It is also an integral part of AFSCQ.

Most of the prior reviews are concentrated on a particular issue as production and distribution planning for agri-foods, temperature monitoring, corporate and consumer social responsibility, traceability system and ignore the wider perception. There exists a necessity of having a detailed review to cover up all the issues in AFSCQ. This review fills this gap in the extant AFSCQ literature.

This paper aims to find the best tools to influence the improvement of sustainability in food supply chains (FSCs) by conducting a systematic review of articles. The reader will learn how the different industry 4.0 tools (I4.0T) benefit the FSC and the limitations of each tool.

A review of 436 articles published during the period 2019 to 2022 referenced in the Scopus and Web of Science databases was performed. The review was limited to articles published in English and directly related to Industry 4.0, circular economy and sustainability in the food supply chain.

The results show different contributions of I4.0, with some being more influential than others in improving sustainability in FSCs; for example, Internet of Things and Blockchain have been shown to contribute more toward transparency, traceability, process optimization and waste reduction.

The paper's contribution consisted of ranking according to their importance and the I4.0T that affect sustainability in FSCs by classifying the aspects of each tool and the sustainability factors through a categorization by the Analysis Hierarchy Process.