high standard) are three of the main tools in a circular economy designed to create
value out of production process as valuable co-products and by-products (Rood and
Hanemaaijer 2017).
The circular economy in agri-food systems follows the stream to reuse food and
reduce the amount of waste, for example, by using by-products and waste and
recycling nutrients (de Boer and van Ittersum 2018). CE has some principles that
prevent having waste and surplus out of process, and, if the system contains waste
and surplus, some policies and technologies should be applied to minimize them as
much as possible. Toop et al. (2017) argue that it is necessary to have a comprehensive system at the food supply chain level and apply CE to agri-food systems as a
whole, rather than at the level of individual companies, which requires an evolution
in existing production systems and technologies.
The aim of these evolutionary policies is to help the food systems to use more
regenerative resources, such as wind and solar energy, instead of using more limited
resources such as phosphate rock and land (Van Zanten et al. 2019). Additionally, to
move towards CE in agri-food systems, we have to look for policies that prevent
leaking natural resources like nitrogen and phosphorus from the system and ultimately adding value to the system by reusing or recycling resources like human
excreta (Van Zanten et al. 2019). It is important to consider the way the decisions
made by various actors affect one another in the agri-food systems in terms of the
circular economy. More interestingly, their decisions are dependent on each other,
which means that a decision that is made by one actor in the food systems affects the
decisions made by others and a decision that is made in line with sustainability by
one actor can help other actors become more sustainable and vice versa (Halloran
et al. 2014). This can satisfy one of the requirements of applying CE in agri-food
systems, which is making all decisions in the agri-food supply chain more
sustainable.
Before discussing the main principles of CE and policies that make it possible to
apply its principles to agri-food systems, we highlight some of the characteristics of
agri-food systems that it is important to consider before applying CE.
2 Key Characteristics of Agri-food Systems
Thompson et al. (2007) identified the following characteristics of agri-food systems:
1. The dynamics of production: this means that agriculture is dependent on different
variables like natural resources, spatial dispersion of activity, seasonal variables,
and information asymmetries due to location and distance.
2. Integrated agri-food systems: this is linked to agri-food systems, as regional and
global supply chains, connecting producers and consumers from different parts of
the world, which means that agri-food systems in one part of the world are
affected by technological changes and developments, political decisions, and
institutional changes elsewhere.
4 Circular Economy in Agri-food Systems
59
value out of production process as valuable co-products and by-products (Rood and
Hanemaaijer 2017).
The circular economy in agri-food systems follows the stream to reuse food and
reduce the amount of waste, for example, by using by-products and waste and
recycling nutrients (de Boer and van Ittersum 2018). CE has some principles that
prevent having waste and surplus out of process, and, if the system contains waste
and surplus, some policies and technologies should be applied to minimize them as
much as possible. Toop et al. (2017) argue that it is necessary to have a comprehensive system at the food supply chain level and apply CE to agri-food systems as a
whole, rather than at the level of individual companies, which requires an evolution
in existing production systems and technologies.
The aim of these evolutionary policies is to help the food systems to use more
regenerative resources, such as wind and solar energy, instead of using more limited
resources such as phosphate rock and land (Van Zanten et al. 2019). Additionally, to
move towards CE in agri-food systems, we have to look for policies that prevent
leaking natural resources like nitrogen and phosphorus from the system and ultimately adding value to the system by reusing or recycling resources like human
excreta (Van Zanten et al. 2019). It is important to consider the way the decisions
made by various actors affect one another in the agri-food systems in terms of the
circular economy. More interestingly, their decisions are dependent on each other,
which means that a decision that is made by one actor in the food systems affects the
decisions made by others and a decision that is made in line with sustainability by
one actor can help other actors become more sustainable and vice versa (Halloran
et al. 2014). This can satisfy one of the requirements of applying CE in agri-food
systems, which is making all decisions in the agri-food supply chain more
sustainable.
Before discussing the main principles of CE and policies that make it possible to
apply its principles to agri-food systems, we highlight some of the characteristics of
agri-food systems that it is important to consider before applying CE.
2 Key Characteristics of Agri-food Systems
Thompson et al. (2007) identified the following characteristics of agri-food systems:
1. The dynamics of production: this means that agriculture is dependent on different
variables like natural resources, spatial dispersion of activity, seasonal variables,
and information asymmetries due to location and distance.
2. Integrated agri-food systems: this is linked to agri-food systems, as regional and
global supply chains, connecting producers and consumers from different parts of
the world, which means that agri-food systems in one part of the world are
affected by technological changes and developments, political decisions, and
institutional changes elsewhere.
4 Circular Economy in Agri-food Systems
59