Food security depends on a network of actors and elements working together to produce and deliver healthy, sustainable, varied, safe and plentiful food supply to society. The interactions between these actors and elements must be designed, managed and optimized to satisfy demand. In this chapter we introduce Food Supply Chain Optimization and Demand, providing a framework to understand and improve food security from an operational and strategic point of view.
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This study theorizes on the sociomateriality of food in authority-building processes of partial organizations by exploring alternative food networks (AFNs). Through the construction of arenas for food provisioning, AFNs represent grassroots collectives that deliberately differentiate their practices from mainstream forms of food provisioning. Based on a sequential mixed-methods analysis of 24 AFNs, where an inductive chronological analysis is followed by a qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), we found that the entanglements between participants’ food provisioning practices and food itself shape how authority emerges in AFNs. Food generates biological, physiological and social struggles for AFN participants who, in turn, respond by embracing or avoiding them. As an outcome, most AFNs tend to bureaucratize over time according to four identified patterns while a few idiosyncratically build a more shared basis of authority. We conclude that the sociomateriality of food plays an important yet indirect role in understanding why and how food provisioning arenas re-organize and forge their forms of authority over time. Pascucci, S., Dentoni, D., Clements, J., Poldner, K., & Gartner, W. B. (2021). Forging Forms of Authority through the Sociomateriality of Food in Partial Organizations. Organization Studies, 42(2), 301-326. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840620980232
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This study proposes a systematic value chain approach to helping businesses identify and eliminate inefficiencies. The authors have developed a robust framework, which food-sector entrepreneurs can use to increase profitability of an existing business or to create new profitable opportunities. The value chain approach provides win-win opportunities for players within the value chain. To test the robustness of the framework, the authors use food waste as an example of a critical inefficiency and apply it to two different food sector business cases, each operating in diverse conditions. Because the suggested framework addresses the core elements and parameters for the existence and competitiveness of a business, the model can be adapted to other sectors.
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From the article: "This article evaluates the application of blockchain technology to improve organic or fair-trade food traceability from “Farm to Fork” in light of European regulations. This study aims to shed light on the challenges in the organic food chain to overcome, the drivers for blockchain technology, and the challenges in current projects."
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The EU-28’s food service sector generates excessive amounts of food waste. This notwithstanding, no comparative, cross-national research has ever been undertaken to understand how food waste is managed in restaurants across the EU-28. This study contributes to knowledge by presenting a first attempt to conduct a comparative analysis of restaurant food waste management practices in the UK and the Netherlands. It finds that although restaurateurs in both countries use demand forecasting as a prime approach to prevent food waste, forecasting does not always work. When this happens, food waste management programmes such as repurposing excess foodstuffs, redistribution of surplus food and consumer choice architecture are mostly considered commercially unviable. To improve the effectiveness of food waste management in the food service sectors of the UK and the Netherlands it is necessary to ensure that food waste mitigation becomes a corporate target for restaurateurs and the progress towards its achievement is regularly monitored by top management. This corporate commitment should be facilitated by national policy-makers, but also by EU regulators, by raising consumer awareness of food waste, incentivising surplus food redistribution and enabling food waste recycling.
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More and more people worldwide live in urban areas, and these areas face many problems, of which a sustainable food provision is one. In this paper we aim to show that a transition towards more sustainable, regionally organized food systems strongly contributes to green, livable cities. The article describes a case study in the Dutch region of Arnhem–Nijmegen. Partners of a network on sustainable food in this region were interviewed on how they expect the food system to develop, and in design studies possible futures are explored. Both the interviews and the designs give support to the idea that indeed sustainable food systems can be developed to contribute to green livable cities. They show that the quality and meaning of existing green areas can be raised; new areas can be added to a public green system, and connections with green surroundings are enforced. They also show that inhabitants or consumers can be stimulated to become so called food citizens, highlighting that the relation of food systems and livable cities is a very close one.
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Food and the city has never been a more urgent theme than today, and The European Union’s priority to commit to innovation in this field will certainly enhance its economic and external strength and improve its competitive position in the world of food and life sciences. Europea Netherlands held a seminar on this topic in May 2016, during the Dutch EU presidency.To be part of this international endeavour, the Netherlands need to strengthen the digital market, support innovation in the internal market, boost domestic policy reforms, and embed their knowledge and skills in a European society that challenges itself and continues to innovate. The Netherlands is a global player in the agro, food and horticultural sector and a major player in the export market of agricultural products. This sector is one of its main economic pillars. New knowledge is being developed as we speak, which is also an export product in high demand, providing sizeable employment. This is only possible because the sector is innovative and remains up-to-date. The peri-urban areas in the Netherlands (both urban and rural areas) are characterized by high population density. This necessitates thinking about manufacturing, food, logistics and water management(circular economy). Land-based education and life sciences in the Netherlands may appear to be specific, yet it is broad too: the primary sectors are included, as well as the manufacturing businesses and services associated with it. Participants learn to work in an innovative sector in a society in transition, bringing together multiple disciplines (cross-overs) and stakeholders. This education is practical and has a strong connection to the industry. During the Europea seminar five professorships, installed by the ministry of Economic Affairs, focused on transitions in the agro and food sector. The five professorships are posted at the Dutch Agricultural Universities of applied sciences, including teacher education for sustainable connected learning and development for professional education and business communities.
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Food and the city has never been a more urgent theme than today, and The European Union’s priority to commit to innovation in this field will certainly enhance its economic and external strength and improve its competitive position in the world of food and life sciences. Europea Netherlands held a seminar on this topic in May 2016, during the Dutch EU presidency.To be part of this international endeavour, the Netherlands need to strengthen the digital market, support innovation in the internal market, boost domestic policy reforms, and embed their knowledge and skills in a European society that challenges itself and continues to innovate. The Netherlands is a global player in the agro, food and horticultural sector and a major player in the export market of agricultural products. This sector is one of its main economic pillars. New knowledge is being developed as we speak, which is also an export product in high demand, providing sizeable employment. This is only possible because the sector is innovative and remains up-to-date. The peri-urban areas in the Netherlands (both urban and rural areas) are characterized by high population density. This necessitates thinking about manufacturing, food, logistics and water management(circular economy). Land-based education and life sciences in the Netherlands may appear to be specific, yet it is broad too: the primary sectors are included, as well as the manufacturing businesses and services associated with it. Participants learn to work in an innovative sector in a society in transition, bringing together multiple disciplines (cross-overs) and stakeholders. This education is practical and has a strong connection to the industry. During the Europea seminar five professorships, installed by the ministry of Economic Affairs, focused on transitions in the agro and food sector. The five professorships are posted at the Dutch Agricultural Universities of applied sciences, including teacher education for sustainable connected learning and development for professional education and business communities.
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Food and the city has never been a more urgent theme than today, and The European Union’s priority to commit to innovation in this field will certainly enhance its economic and external strength and improve its competitive position in the world of food and life sciences. Europea Netherlands held a seminar on this topic in May 2016, during the Dutch EU presidency.To be part of this international endeavour, the Netherlands need to strengthen the digital market, support innovation in the internal market, boost domestic policy reforms, and embed their knowledge and skills in a European society that challenges itself and continues to innovate. The Netherlands is a global player in the agro, food and horticultural sector and a major player in the export market of agricultural products. This sector is one of its main economic pillars. New knowledge is being developed as we speak, which is also an export product in high demand, providing sizeable employment. This is only possible because the sector is innovative and remains up-to-date. The peri-urban areas in the Netherlands (both urban and rural areas) are characterized by high population density. This necessitates thinking about manufacturing, food, logistics and water management(circular economy). Land-based education and life sciences in the Netherlands may appear to be specific, yet it is broad too: the primary sectors are included, as well as the manufacturing businesses and services associated with it. Participants learn to work in an innovative sector in a society in transition, bringing together multiple disciplines (cross-overs) and stakeholders. This education is practical and has a strong connection to the industry. During the Europea seminar five professorships, installed by the ministry of Economic Affairs, focused on transitions in the agro and food sector. The five professorships are posted at the Dutch Agricultural Universities of applied sciences, including teacher education for sustainable connected learning and development for professional education and business communities.
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Most beginning food forests face the following challenge: how do we get the harvest to the consumer? At food forest 't Mortelke they had the same question. The following research presents the answer to the following question: 'What are potential outlets for the harvest of Voedselbos 't Mortelke and how can these collaborations be realized?' The research provides more clarity on the needs of the market regarding potential collaborations with Voedselbos 't Mortelke. Interviews with interested parties (restaurants, country stores, organic supermarkets, individuals) revealed that the most appropriate form of cooperation with the food forest lies with fine-dining restaurants in the Eindhoven area. To initiate these collaborations an experimental phase is needed in which the chefs can get to know the products of the food forest. As a result of this research, several collaborations with restaurants have been initiated! Due to privacy reasons, certain parts of the research have been removed from the publication version.
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The increasing rate of urbanization along with its socio-environmental impact are major global challenges. Therefore, there is a need to assess the boundaries to growth for the future development of cities by the inclusion of the assessment of the environmental carrying capacity (ECC) into spatial management. The purpose is to assess the resource dependence of a given entity. ECC is usually assessed based on indicators such as the ecological footprint (EF) and biocapacity (BC). EF is a measure of the biologically productive areas demanded by human consumption and waste production. Such areas include the space needed for regenerating food and fibers as well as sequestering the generated pollution, particularly CO2 from the combustion of fossil fuels. BC reflects the biological regeneration potential of a given area to regenerate resources as well to absorb waste. The city level EF assessment has been applied to urban zones across the world, however, there is a noticeable lack of urban EF assessments in Central Eastern Europe. Therefore, the current research is a first estimate of the EF and BC for the city of Wrocław, Poland. This study estimates the Ecological Footprint of Food (EFF) through both a top-down assessment and a hybrid top-down/bottom-up assessment. Thus, this research verifies also if results from hybrid method could be comparable with top-down approach. The bottom-up component of the hybrid analysis calculated the carbon footprint of food using the life cycle assessment (LCA) method. The top-down result ofWrocław’s EFF were 1% greater than the hybrid EFF result, 0.974 and 0.963 gha per person respectively. The result indicated that the EFF exceeded the BC of the city of Wrocław 10-fold. Such assessment support efforts to increase resource efficiency and decrease the risk associated with resources—including food security. Therefore, there is a need to verify if a city is able to satisfy the resource needs of its inhabitants while maintaining the natural capital on which they depend intact. Original article at: https://doi.org/10.3390/resources7030052 © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI.
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