Food System Dynamics (E-Journals)
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Design Thinking and Food Innovation
Get PDFThis paper presents a new approach for food innovation—a Design Thinking approach that challenges the strong product orientation that still exists in the food industry. Consumer researchers widely believe that innovation in the food sector can be much more user oriented. Fork to Farm projects try to maximize value creation for the end user, but; unfortunately; many of these projects appeals to an undifferentiated mass market. The food industry needs to understand individual consumers and the context in which they live to be able to deliver successful new food solutions. The aim of this paper is to discuss and exemplify how Design Thinking can contribute to innovation in the food industry.After introducing the Design Thinking approach and describing an innovation project conducted within the seafood industry in Norway, four specific aspects of Design Thinking: a) Begin at the beginning, b) Take a human-centered approach, c) Try early and often, and d) Seek outside help, are discussed in more detail. I conclude that Design Thinking is a faster and cheaper way to include the voice of the consumer into the process —a learning approach that needs to be further discussed, improved and tested out within the food domain
Factors Influencing the Performance of German Food SME Formal Networks
Get PDFThe food sector in Europe can be characterised as a complex, global and dynamically changing network of trade streams, food supply network relations and related product flows and offers a big spectrum for economic output and employment.Innovation is important for the competitivenessof the food industry that is to a large extent comprised by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Furthermore innovation has grown extremely subordinate to interaction in networks. Network initiatives that could provide appropriate support involve social interaction and knowledge exchange, learning and competence development, and coordination (organization) and management of implementation.This paper was designed to assess the factors that affect the performance of German food SME formal networks. It also addressed the consequences at the network and macro level. The analysis was explored by using the laddering technique based on means-end chain theory.These findings will help to build up a “network learning toolbox” that is adapted to the particular requirements of the different segments of the target group of SMEs, network managers and policy makers. The “network learning toolbox” should improve the network learning, which drives to raised innovation, economic growth and sustainable competitive advantage for food SMEs
Assessing the Impact of Sustainability Improvement Options on the Agri-food Supply Chain Governance Structures: Development of an Evaluation Tool
Get PDFThe competitiveness of a supply chain is driven by the ability of supply chain governance structures to adapt to the chains’ continuously changing technical and organizational characteristics. The present study addresses the adoption of sustainability improvement options in the area of organization and management in the agri-food sector; within this framework the study proposes a tool for assessing the impact of sustainability oriented processes on the supply chain governance structures, in turn influencing the competitiveness of the supply chain. Two different approaches, proposed by (Gereffi et al., 2005) and (Hobbs and Young, 2000) have been linked to provide a theoretical framework for the tool development. The proposed new conceptual framework links the dimensions defining five different governance structures complexity of transaction, ability to codify and capabilities in the supply-base (Gereffi et al.,) to the product characteristics, regulatory and technology aspects defined by Hobbs and Young as drivers influencing the vertical coordination of supply chains. The method suggested for measuring the relations between improvement options and the chain governance structure is the adoption of experts’ evaluations. This method improves the tool capacity to provide a context-related supply chain governance structure assessment and management
Knowledge Transfer Tools for Enhancing Sustainability
Get PDFThe majority of SMEs needs repeated explanations and evidences to be convinced about the feasibility of adopting measures for improving sustainability. This is a particularly challenging task since meeting the requirements of business growth, reduction of environmental impact, social responsibility and good governance at the same time requires complex thinking and ability to find trade-offs. Human and financial resources of SMEs are usually limited. It is difficult to motivate them to change their practices until they can’t see that these changes improve or at least maintain the viability of their business and will bring them clear benefits and relatively quick return of their invested efforts and resources. Although everybody agrees that the reduction of the environmental impact and increasing the social responsibility of food and agriculture businesses is unavoidable and beneficial for the society in general, SMEs are not convinced that their additional costs and efforts will be acknowledged by the customers and consumers. If during the explanation of the sustainability requirements the main emphasis is put on the environmental aspects this message may not be satisfactory effective to persuade food SMEs to take actions, particularly in the less affluent countries. Similar typical causes of the reluctance to act on improving compliance to environmental and social requirements were found in the Latin- American countries and in Hungary, which include the following arguments and concerns:• The smaller is a business, the smaller is its contribution to the total environmental impact.• Many other businesses including larger ones than us can continue to make business without making major changes in their activities. Why should we make the first step? Is it a real consumer requirement?• Who will cover the additional costs of the changes, sustainability measures?• Our limited resources have to be focused on production. We do not have time to spend on measurements and calculations. Why shall we share our data with our competitors, why shall we give them information, what they can use for competing with us
Improved Process Quality through Certification Systems: An Assessment of Selected Animal Welfare Labels
Get PDFThe process quality of food products is currently the subject of increased attention. In the area of meat production, public discussion has centered on perceived low standards of animal welfare. Besides an increase in legislative regulations, improved animal welfare standards are most frequently achieved through the establishment of socalled animal welfare labels. So far these labeling concepts have not been substantially evaluated in terms of how well they carry out their goal of improving process quality in agricultural animal husbandry. This paper will use a recognized list of criteria to evaluate selected animal welfare labels. Results show that competing labels vary strongly regarding the improvement of process quality. This has far‐reaching effects not only for consumers andother label users, but also for companies that want to enter the animal welfare segment of the meat market
Harnessing indigenous knowledge for sustainable forest management in Ghana
Get PDFThis paper makes a case for harnessing indigenous knowledge (IK) for sustainable national development in Ghana. IK according to the World Bank is the basic component of any country’s knowledge system and it is upon this knowledge that scientific research builds. In Ghana the Government has recognized the need to harness IK for sustainable national development and has therefore incorporated it into the National Science, Technology and Innovation Development Programme. But there is no evidence however that scientific research in Ghana actually takes IK into consideration during the research process. This paper discusses the concept of indigenous knowledge, its relevance in scientific discourse and the need for harnessing it for national development in Ghana. A desk study was conducted using journal publications, research and technical reports, online databases and the internet. About sixty articles were analysed using the thematic synthesis method under the following broad headings: Importance of Indigenous knowledge, Indigenous forest foods, Indigenous medicines, IK and food security, the management and processing of IK and the protection of Indigenous Knowledge.The results of the study established the need to document the local knowledge using appropriate procedures and strategies. It also concludes by suggesting that IK in Ghana must be protected by law and integrated into formal science
Future Internet for Safe and Healthy Food from Farm to Fork
Get PDFAt the present time, we are facing an emerging problem which will become even more urgent and critical in the coming decades: the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates an increase of the world population from the current 6 billion people to 9-11 billion people by 2050 leading to a doubling of world-wide food demand. It is generally believed that that smart, data-rich ICT-services and applications, in combination with advanced hardware, can provide the much needed breakthroughs to producing enough good quality food in a safe and environmental-sound way. Therefore, the EU’s Future Internet Public-Private Partnership (FI-PPP) program (www.fi-ppp.eu) aims to make service infrastructures and business processes more intelligent, more efficient and more sustainable through tighter integration with Future Internet (FI) technologies
A Latent Class Model to discover Household Food Waste Patterns in Lisbon City in Support of Food Security, Public Health and Environmental Protection
Get PDFIn the middle of a great world financial crisis that also affects food security, it is important to characterize the habits of households concerning the buying and wasting food. With this study we intend (1) to uncover the patterns of Portuguese citizens concerning food waste by using a mixed research approach and (2) to identify demographic factors that can influence the production of food waste and that may support initiatives towards the education of society on food waste. We used a random sample of 542 Portuguese citizens to identify consumer profiles and 18 in-depth interviews for better understanding the uncovered profiles in a mixed method research approach. Through a two-latent class model two clusters of consumers were identified: cluster 1, the Non food waste citizens with 65% of respondents, mainly 24 years or more, female and married or divorced and cluster 2, the Food waste citizens with 35% of respondents, mainly up to 23 years old, male and single. Our findings may impact in two distinct ways: they may be used to educate Portuguese citizens concerning the issue of food waste and they may be useful in contributing to a less polluted world
Chain Governance Systems and Sustainable Capital Use – A Conceptual Approach
Get PDFDue to pressures such as climate change, globalization, price volatility and scarcity of natural resources, our agri-food chain is urged to make a transition towards more sustainable production. How to organize such a transition, given the various stakeholders involved, and how to monitor progress still remain important challenges. This paper presents a new conceptual framework that follows an integrated chain approach to help address these challenges. First, it tackles the complex ecological and socio-economic challenges along the chain and its members (agriculture and food industries), and second, allows for decision support to chain members and policy.This framework combines two existing theoretical frameworks. The first framework is global chain value analysis (GCVA) of Gereffi (2005) which has its roots in institutional economics. GCVA categorizes five governance types of value chains (markets – modular – relational – captive – hierarchy) based on three variables: (i) the complexity of information and knowledge transfer required to sustain a particular transaction, (ii) the ability to regulate transactions, and (iii) the capabilities of actual and potential suppliers. The second framework, which was first formulated in ecological economics, extends the set of traditional economic resources to various forms of capital in the production system. These are natural (land, water, …), manufactured (buildings, machinery, ...), human (labour, skills,…), and social capital (networks,…). The economic system is fully embedded in the social system which in turn is embedded within the finite ecological system. Throughput of natural, social, human, and manufactured capital allows for the description of agri-food systems in terms of the maximal sustainable use of their stocks and flows.These two frameworks can be combined to perform an integrated system analysis of the agri-food chain, including the governance structures and the boundary conditions for the various types of capital. This paper describes this new conceptual framework illustrated by means of a case study of the agri-food chain in Flanders, Belgium
Societal Expectations on Structural Change in Agriculture: How can the Sector Cope with it?
Get PDFIn Germany, productivity gains and other factors induce structural changes in agriculture since decades. While the number of farms decreases simultaneously average farm sizes with respect to area and herd sizes increases. Conflicts between agricultural reality and society’s perception will always surface when production methods of large farms become public and significantly divert from the societal expectations mainly if the society still have romantic views from story-books in their mind. In this study societal perception of structural change in agriculture is analyzed using a mixed method approach to identify the main conflicts and to evaluate options to cope with these. In the focus group discussions as well as in the online survey a rejecting or critical attitude towards structural change in agriculture was stated. Structural change in agriculture was often associated with ‘mass production’, ‘mechanization’ or ‘agrarian factories’. Participants requested a restructuring of agriculture towards smaller and more diversified farms; however, most are aware that the technical progress require also adjustments in the agriculture. As expected, results do not provide an easy solution to cope with societal expectations. Responsibility for a better alignment of structural change to societal expectations is seen multi-layered: The government, the farmers, the processing industry as well as the consumers seem to be in demand