Transition towards sustainability in agriculture and food systems: Role of information and communication technologies

TLDR

Food sustainability transitions involve transforming food systems, and digitization is a key ongoing process in global agriculture and food chains that can enhance resource productivity, reduce inefficiencies, lower costs, and improve coordination. This review investigates how information and communication technologies contribute to sustainability across the food chain, with particular emphasis on precision agriculture, while also examining their drawbacks and adoption barriers. The authors conduct a literature review of ICT applications in production, processing, distribution, and consumption, focusing on precision agriculture models and assessing both benefits and limiting factors for uptake.

Abstract

Food sustainability transitions refer to transformation processes necessary to move towards sustainable food systems. Digitization is one of the most important ongoing transformation processes in global agriculture and food chains. The review paper explores the contribution of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to transition towards sustainability along the food chain (production, processing, distribution, consumption). A particular attention is devoted to precision agriculture as a food production model that integrates many ICTs. ICTs can contribute to agro-food sustainability transition by increasing resource productivity, reducing inefficiencies, decreasing management costs, and improving food chain coordination. The paper also explores some drawbacks of ICTs as well as the factors limiting their uptake in agriculture.