Agri-Food Markets towards Sustainable Patterns

TLDR

Recent decades have seen unpredictable changes in agri‑food markets driven by global and domestic forces, underscoring the unsustainability of current production, processing, distribution, and consumption patterns and the urgent need for governance reforms to support population growth and universal food security. The paper reviews international literature to trace the evolution of sustainability issues in agri‑food markets, aiming to identify drivers, trends, and opportunities for shaping markets toward sustainability. The study conducts an extensive analysis of sustainability transition frameworks, focusing on the links between markets, trade, food and nutrition security, and emerging issues in agri‑food markets.

Abstract

In recent decades, the confluence of different global and domestic drivers has led to progressive and unpredictable changes in the functioning and structure of agri-food markets worldwide. Given the unsustainability of the current agri-food production, processing, distribution and consumption patterns, and the inadequate governance of the whole food system, the transition to sustainable agriculture and food systems has become crucial to effectively manage a global agri-food market able in supporting expected population growth and ensuring universal access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food for all. Based on a critical review of the existing international literature, the paper seeks to understand the evolutionary paths of sustainability issues within agri-food markets by analyzing their drivers and trends. An extensive analysis was conducted highlighting the development and importance of the body of knowledge on the most important sustainability transition frameworks, focusing mainly on the relationship between markets, trade, food and nutrition security, and other emerging issues within agri-food markets. Finally, the study makes suggestions to extend the research in order to improve basic knowledge and to identify opportunities to design meaningful actions that can shape agri-food markets and foster their transition to sustainability.