Modelling the Transition to a Circular Agriculture - A Systems Dynamics Perspective

Abstract

Designing efficient and sustainable pathways for ensuring the transition to a circular economy is one of the main challenges to which an answer must be found, regardless of the economic sector, activity field or geographic area of ​​interest. In order to improve the planet natural resource conservation systems, the main representative institutions and policy makers have implemented a series of strategies and directives, all over the world. From a simple crossing through relevant documents, assumed at global level such as: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, United Nations 2015, regional level: The New Circular Economy Action Plan, EC 2020 or national level: Recovery and Resilience Plan of Romania, 2023, the main common denominator it can be identified - focusing on finding the optimal balance between the environmental resources rational exploitation, protection and developing competitive economy systems. The bioeconomy involves the use of renewable biomass, including raw material obtained from different categories of secondary products, for the production of finished products in the economy. Interest in the bioeconomy has grown over the last decade, and this study analyses the potential of biomass and circular bioeconomy models in the agricultural sector, using systemic modelling approaches. In this sense, studies and models of bioeconomy and circular economy applied at the regional and European level are presented, specifically for dynamic system modelling methods. Finally, we propose studying a circular bioeconomy pilot model for sunflower production in Romania, highlighting the potential of biomass and secondary products from this crop. The use of sunflower by-products in various applications, such as animal feed, biofuels, functional food ingredients or bio-composite materials, underlines their importance in promoting circular economy practices.