Abstract
Conventional agricultural systems have contributed to social, economic and environmental problems and are the main threat to global sustainability. In response, theoretical frameworks to describe the transition to sustainable food systems have been proposed, emphasizing the necessity to shift from farm-level solutions to a focus on interactions within the entire value chain, from production to consumption. Despite the emphasis on the importance and potential of consumers to contribute to sustainable agri-food transitions, approaches to their role have remained within the traditional, linear supply chain framework. Marketing approaches view consumers as passive actors, limited to voting with their wallets, which has deepened the disconnection between consumers, producers and nature, resulting in a triple fracture. We analyze the role of the consumer in agri-food systems, contrasting marketing approaches with other consumers/citizens concepts and locate them within sustainability transition frameworks and a multi-level perspective. We discuss the re-establishment of the connection between farmers and consumers and human–nature connectedness and explore this connection mediated through innovative business models, which act as niche innovations with the capacity to influence regimes and landscapes within the multi-level perspective. The role of consumers/citizens in the co-creation of innovative business models is also addressed.
Highlights
Current conventional agri-food systems are among the major threats to global sustainability [1,2,3,4]
We explore innovative business models that mediate between consumers/citizens and growers and which allow consumers/citizens to re-connect with agriculture and the natural environment
The importance of consumers’ role in sustainability transition of the agri-food value chain has gained more attention in recent years, as evidenced by the F2F strategy launched by the EU in 2020 [25], which addresses the connection between farmers and consumers, in addition to FAO and United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP)’s announcement in 2017 [24], emphasizing the consumerdriven approach and integrated implementation of sustainable food consumption
Summary
Current conventional agri-food systems are among the major threats to global sustainability [1,2,3,4]. Conventional agri-food systems seek to produce large amounts of standardized foods to achieve economies of scale, where production volume and yield outputs are indicators of productivity [6] This fact results in negative environmental impacts, such as climate change, environmental degradation, stressed resources and biodiversity loss [7,8,9,10], as well as socio-economic problems, such as “demographic change, urbanization, growing inequality, unequal access to resources, unhealthy eating habits and poverty” [11,12]. Despite the massive volume of food production in the global markets for an ever-increasing population (expected to rise to nearly 10 billion by 2050 [13]), unequal access to nutritious food has led to an increase in the number of undernourished people in the world, rising to 811 million in 2020 [14,15] These socio-economic challenges suggest that agri-food value chains should embrace more sustainable objectives and measures
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