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Article
Publication date: 25 June 2019

Harpreet Kaur

The purpose of this paper is to model the sustainable food security system using various technologies driving internet of things (IoT). The right to food is a fundamental right of…

1569

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to model the sustainable food security system using various technologies driving internet of things (IoT). The right to food is a fundamental right of humans. With increasing population and urbanization, less land is being used for agricultural purposes. In addition, the climate change due to global warming often leads to frequent disasters such as droughts and floods, adversely affecting the food production. This leads to increased levels of poverty and hunger. Ensuring food security has become the prime agenda for all the policymakers and government bodies across the world. With changing global dynamics, traditional ways of ensuring food security will not be sufficient alone.

Design/methodology/approach

There is a need to develop a sustainable food security system that not only focusses on food production but also equally emphasizes on the efficacy of food distribution and reducing food wastage. In this digital age, the emerging disruptive technologies like Block chain, robotics, big data analytics, and cloud computations, etc., are increasingly changing the functioning of various sectors, giving rise to IoT-based working environment. The policymakers are also exploring these technologies to maximize their outreach so as to benefit the larger set of population and to gain visualization and control over policy implementation using IoT. This paper attempts to model the sustainable food security system using various technologies driving IoT. It also studies the interrelationship among various technologies and their application in various levels of policy implementation. The methodology used in the paper is fuzzy-TISM, which not only provides the causal relationship among two technologies but also provides the magnitude of the cause–effect relationship and the hierarchical framework for the complex problem.

Findings

The paper is addressed to the design of sustainable food security system in the Indian context wherein government ensures food security for all, using public distribution system (PDS).

Social implications

The paper is addressed to the design of sustainable food security system in Indian context wherein government ensures food security for all, using PDS.

Originality/value

This study is a novel attempt to integrate the IoT into the design of the PDS to ensure food security. The enabling factors for IOT are modelled using Fuzzy-TISM.

Details

Benchmarking: An International Journal, vol. 28 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-5771

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 May 2012

Anna Post and Minna Mikkola

This paper aims to explore progressive stakeholders' understandings about and activities for sustainable catering as socio‐cultural embodiments in the Nordic countries. The paper…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore progressive stakeholders' understandings about and activities for sustainable catering as socio‐cultural embodiments in the Nordic countries. The paper also seeks to highlight focal points for development.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 46 structured telephone interviews with stakeholders within the food system were carried out during 2006 in the Nordic countries. The theoretical frame was established by Billig's idea of “ideological dilemmas” and the interview transcripts were coded into conceptual versus pragmatic speech regarding catering for sustainability. Thereafter, five subcategories were topically identified in each category representing variation in meanings.

Findings

Sustainable catering as conceptually understood corresponds to a holistic picture while the pragmatic view represents more everyday working orientation. The analysis delivered five topical categories of conceptual and pragmatic sustainability, which show how sustainability was dealt with in speech by mixing the conceptual ideal with the pragmatic on the “shop floor”, while evidently there seemed to be conceptualisations which do not have their proper counterpart within pragmatic action. The way sustainability was viewed suggests a translation of ideology into practice and to do that proper tools and support are needed, both within own activities and in the linking with other stakeholders.

Research limitations/implications

The participants represented progressive stakeholders as they were members of a Nordic network for healthy and sustainable catering.

Originality/value

The study includes progressive professional stakeholders in different positions within the food system. A system approach is used to better locate differences and similarities in understanding the concept and its translational potential within the food system.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 114 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 20 August 2016

Raffaella Cagliano, Christopher G. Worley and Federico F. A. Caniato

This chapter introduces the volume’s theme by describing the challenges of sustainability in the agri-food industry and the critical role of agri-food supply chains. Following a…

Abstract

Purpose

This chapter introduces the volume’s theme by describing the challenges of sustainability in the agri-food industry and the critical role of agri-food supply chains. Following a description of traditional and sustainable supply chain management practices, we discuss the likely characteristics of sustainability-oriented innovations and how organizations pursuing higher levels of economic, social, and environmental performance will need to adapt their capabilities.

Methodology/approach

Drawing on the emerging concepts and practices from sustainable supply chain management as well as traditional and emerging concepts from innovation, we develop general propositions and expectations about how organizations might address sustainable effectiveness in their supply chains. The importance of the agri-food industry to all three pillars of sustainable effectiveness and predictions about the inability to feed future populations gives the discussion a certain urgency.

Findings

Sustainability-oriented innovations in the agri-food supply chain are different from traditional innovations. We develop propositions regarding the driving motivations, their nature and scope (i.e., more radical and systemic than incremental and focused), and the importance of a multi-stakeholder approach. The 10 cases presented in the volume are summarized.

Details

Organizing Supply Chain Processes for Sustainable Innovation in the Agri-Food Industry
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78635-488-4

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 30 November 2022

Ayari Genevieve Pasquier Merino

This paper aims to analyze the conceptions that underlie the notion of “sustainable food” of different social actors based on a study focused on promoting sustainable food

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to analyze the conceptions that underlie the notion of “sustainable food” of different social actors based on a study focused on promoting sustainable food strategies on university campuses.

Design/methodology/approach

The research incorporates the views of various actors linked to a sustainable food project on the campuses of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), which is one of the most important universities in Latin America. The study includes a literature review on food sustainability strategies on university campuses and implemented sustainable food programmes in 100 universities worldwide. It also incorporates semistructured interviews and discussion groups conducted with consumers of the university community, 60 smallholder farmers and managers of 23 alternative food networks in Mexico City.

Findings

This research evidence the diversity of meanings and perspectives associated with food sustainability and a generalized emphasis on its environmental dimensions, although environmental problems tend to be partially understood. It also highlights the priority students and producers give to the accessibility of healthy foods.

Research limitations/implications

The results of this study revealed important elements, potentially useful for designing sustainable food strategies on the campuses, considering the principles of the rights-based approach to development and social participation.

Originality/value

The research evinces tensions in the definition of food sustainability and its translation into actions from a multistakeholder perspective.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 23 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 May 2007

Gill Seyfang

Sustainable consumption is increasingly on the policy menu, and local organic food has been widely advocated as a practical tool to make changes to conventional production and…

7375

Abstract

Purpose

Sustainable consumption is increasingly on the policy menu, and local organic food has been widely advocated as a practical tool to make changes to conventional production and consumption systems. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of community‐based initiatives at achieving sustainable consumption objectives.

Design/methodology/approach

A new multi‐criteria evaluation tool is developed, from New Economics theory, to assess the effectiveness of initiatives at achieving sustainable consumption. The key indicators are: localisation, reducing ecological footprints, community building, collective action and creating new socio‐economic institutions. This evaluation framework is applied to an organic producer cooperative in Norfolk, UK, using a mixed‐method approach comprising site visits, semi‐structured interviews and a customer survey.

Findings

The initiative was effective at achieving sustainable consumption in each of the dimensions of the appraisal tool, but nevertheless faced a number of barriers to achieving its potential.

Research limitations/implications

Future research could examine the sustainability preferences of non‐consumers of local or organic food, to compare responses and assess the scope for scaling up initiatives like this.

Practical implications

Ways forward for community‐based sustainable consumption are discussed, together with policy recommendations. Community‐based initiatives such as the local organic food network examined here should be supported to offer a diversity of local action.

Originality/value

This paper presents the first empirical evaluation of a local organic food network as a tool for sustainable consumption. It makes a timely and original contribution on environmental governance and the role of new institutions which enable consumers to change their consumption patterns. It is of interest to academics, practitioners and policymakers concerned with sustainable development.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 27 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 1 February 2021

David M. Blodgett and Marjorie N. Feld

The sustainability of the global food system hinges on its environmental resiliency and safety, including the health and well-being of its labor force. Single disciplinary courses…

2058

Abstract

Purpose

The sustainability of the global food system hinges on its environmental resiliency and safety, including the health and well-being of its labor force. Single disciplinary courses in liberal arts or science often fail to highlight the overlap between environmental and social vulnerabilities that lead to food insecurity and diminish the sustainability of food systems. This paper aims to present the design and delivery of a successfully co-taught, interdisciplinary module on agricultural labor and sustainable food systems as a case study.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors designed a co-taught module in which they joined each other’s respective history and science class sessions at the undergraduate business college where they teach. Innovating the cross-disciplinary content of food security, immigration status, labor exploitation and pesticide exposure, they approached sustainability from the disciplinary perspectives of labor history and environmental science to show how these elements had both unique and overlapping impacts across food systems levels. Comparisons between pre- and post-module survey responses, alongside assessments of a co-authored exam question, measured the effectiveness of this module is changing students’ perspectives as food consumers and as citizens.

Findings

This module altered students’ understanding and perspectives around issues of food systems sustainability. Assessments indicated that students increased their awareness of agricultural workers at the front end of the food system, during production; students also gained awareness beyond consumption as they came to see the connections between workforce invisibility and ecosystem degradation.

Originality/value

These insights are valuable to educators at all institutional levels who seek to collaborate on sustainability initiatives and teaching, both in the singular, robust modules and in building modules that will lead to the development of entire courses focused on sustainability. The module described here builds on previous demonstrations of the value, significance and effectiveness of cross-disciplinary collaborations; it pioneers the use of the food system as the link between social and environmental sustainability education.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 24 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 July 2021

Kirti Nayal, Rakesh Raut, Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour, Balkrishna Eknath Narkhede and Vidyadhar V. Gedam

This article sheds light on the missing links concerning the study of using integrated enabling technologies toward sustainable and circular agriculture supply chains by examining…

1750

Abstract

Purpose

This article sheds light on the missing links concerning the study of using integrated enabling technologies toward sustainable and circular agriculture supply chains by examining the available literature and proposing future research possibilities.

Design/methodology/approach

The relevant literature was researched through online databases such as Scopus, Web of Science, Academic Search Premier, Emerald, IEEE Xplore, Science Direct, World Scientific Net and Springer-Link Journals, covering a period from 1999 to 2020. A systematic literature review based on 75 papers analyzed the integration of the concepts of enabling technologies, sustainability, circular economy and supply chain performance in agriculture supply chains.

Findings

It was identified that enabling technologies and agriculture supply chains alone have been explored further than integrated enabling technologies, sustainability, circular economy, supply chain performance and agriculture supply chains. Enabling technologies and agriculture supply chains' main findings are: enabling technologies have been studied to improve food safety, food quality and traceability in agriculture supply chains. The main results regarding integrated enabling technologies, sustainability, circular economy, supply chain performance and agriculture supply chains are: Internet of Things and information communication technology play an important role in addressing food security, traceability and food quality, which help achieve sustainable development goals.

Originality/value

This review study provides 13 research questions to underpin future trends regarding integrated technologies' application in agriculture supply chains for circular and sustainable growth.

Details

Journal of Enterprise Information Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-0398

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 July 2019

Jill Quest, Chris Shiel and Sarah Watson

This paper aims to provide a case study of a capacity building project and critical reflection in relation to transitioning to a sustainable food city.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to provide a case study of a capacity building project and critical reflection in relation to transitioning to a sustainable food city.

Design/methodology/approach

A case study research approach was adopted involving two research initiatives: first, a survey to elicit stakeholders’ understanding of sustainable local food, with a view to creating a shared agenda and informing future strategic direction and second a combination of research approaches, including paired discussions, generation of pictorial outputs and a workshop, aimed to inform the future vision and mission of the Partnership.

Findings

Collaboration with stakeholders through a variety of research initiatives has facilitated the development of a sustainable food city partnership, with the overarching aim of achieving a transition towards a more sustainable food system. Moreover, collaboration has contributed to the transition of the Partnership to ensure sustainability and continuity after the initial funding stage.

Research limitations/implications

While universities have an important role to play in guiding direction and shaping new community initiatives for sustainability in their regions, the challenges, resources and time involved may be under-estimated; these projects take considerable time to yield fruit.

Practical implications

The findings of the study will be of interest to those working in the community to promote education for sustainable development and better food systems.

Originality/value

This paper addresses a gap in the literature in relation to universities and their collaboration with key stakeholders in building capacity and contributing to local sustainability transitions.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 20 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 January 2024

Mariel Alem Fonseca, Naoum Tsolakis and Pichawadee Kittipanya-Ngam

Amidst compounding crises and increasing global population’s nutritional needs, food supply chains are called to address the “diet–environment–health” trilemma in a sustainable

Abstract

Purpose

Amidst compounding crises and increasing global population’s nutritional needs, food supply chains are called to address the “diet–environment–health” trilemma in a sustainable and resilient manner. However, food system stakeholders are reluctant to act upon established protein sources such as meat to avoid potential public and industry-driven repercussions. To this effect, this study aims to understand the meat supply chain (SC) through systems thinking and propose innovative interventions to break this “cycle of inertia”.

Design/methodology/approach

This research uses an interdisciplinary approach to investigate the meat supply network system. Data was gathered through a critical literature synthesis, domain-expert interviews and a focus group engagement to understand the system’s underlying structure and inspire innovative interventions for sustainability.

Findings

The analysis revealed that six main sub-systems dictate the “cycle of inertia” in the meat food SC system, namely: (i) cultural, (ii) social, (iii) institutional, (iv) economic, (v) value chain and (vi) environmental. The Internet of Things and innovative strategies help promote sustainability and resilience across all the sub-systems.

Research limitations/implications

The study findings demystify the structure of the meat food SC system and unveil the root causes of the “cycle of inertia” to suggest pertinent, innovative intervention strategies.

Originality/value

This research contributes to the SC management field by capitalising on interdisciplinary scientific evidence to address a food system challenge with significant socioeconomic and environmental implications.

Details

Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1359-8546

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 28 November 2022

Sergio Schneider and Abel Cassol

Territorial food markets and governance have emerged as a key mechanism for the design and implementation new food systems and policies aimed at sustainable cities. However, the…

Abstract

Territorial food markets and governance have emerged as a key mechanism for the design and implementation new food systems and policies aimed at sustainable cities. However, the many existing policies tend to overlook the way food markets and supply strategies work. This chapter analyses governance in traditional agri-food markets in Brazil, aiming to demonstrate how, in different contexts, the economic interactions between actors are embedded in a set of social institutions (cultural values), which define modes of governance, participation in the markets and can be potential to fostering new (sustainable) rural-urban relations. These institutions challenge and compete with formal regulatory requirements imposed by the public authorities, which often disrupt and/or inhibit the development of local and traditional production and consumption practices, posing obstacles to the fostering rural-urban relations and the construction of solid local policies for food supply. Empirical data refer to three traditional Brazilian markets: the Feira do Pequeno Produtor in Passo Fundo, located in the South of Brazil, the Feira Central de Campina Grande and the Feira de Caruaru, both located in the Northeast of the country. The results point to the necessity and centrality to cities food supply policies recognise, encourage and institutionalise these markets traditional institutions in order to overcome supermarketisation and consolidate sustainable food systems. These process could be able to remove traditional markets from marginalise, promoting not only their survival, but their growth and consolidation as a source of decent work, healthy food and new sustainable rural-urban relationships.

Details

Food and Agriculture in Urbanized Societies
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80117-770-2

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 32000