3. Market failures: failures in the market for agricultural products can be the result of
different factors, like high transaction cost and information asymmetries.
4. Public sector interventions: it is necessary to compensate the market failure agrifood systems by public sector interventions.
5. Sociocultural systems: agriculture is a combination of “agri,” which is related to a
productive activity, and “culture,” which is connected to a way of life. This means
that social relations are essential to accessing resources, power asymmetries, and
benefits from public services.
6. Heterogeneity and diversity: in agriculture, there is diversity among actors. Some
actors have access to better assets, to better technologies, and, ultimately, to better
new markets, while many other actors have access to limited resources and a
limited number of consumers.
7. Collective action: different types of collective and cooperative actions are important for farmers to have their voices reach the policy-makers, including their
request for accessing public resources, managing common property resources,
and meeting new market requirements.
In the following section, we discuss some of the main challenges that exist in agrifood systems. CE can be a solution to handling these challenges and arrive at more
sustainable agri-food systems.
3 Challenges for Agri-food Systems
Jurgilevich et al. (2016) mentioned the main problems and challenges in three stages
of agri-food systems by considering the circular economy: food production, food
consumption, and food waste and surplus management.
The first stage in agri-food systems, based on the model proposed by Jurgilevich
et al. (2016), is food production, for which we need fertilizer containing nutrients
like nitrogen, phosphors, and potassium (Cordell et al. 2009). However, due to a
growing population and a change in the human diet from plant-based to meat-based,
demand for nutrients, specially phosphors, has increased (Elser 2012), which poses
an important challenge to sustainable phosphors management (Metson et al. 2012).
More precisely, phosphate rocks are the main source of phosphor, which is a
nonrenewable resource, and it is predicted that in the next 50–100 years, existing
global reserves will be used up (Cordell et al. 2009). Additionally, changes in
agricultural methods to increase production by intensification of the use of fertilizer
increases the scarcity of phosphor resources (Godfray et al. 2010). As such, it is
essential to look for policies, methods, and technologies to recover and reuse
phosphors from different resources, like human and animal excreta and food and
crop waste (Jurgilevich et al. 2016; de Boer and van Ittersum 2018).
Food consumption is the next stage in the agri-food systems, based on Jurgilevich
et al. (2016), that creates problems in terms of applying the circular economy. One of
the most challenging problems in food systems is the growing rate of meat
60
N. Salimi
different factors, like high transaction cost and information asymmetries.
4. Public sector interventions: it is necessary to compensate the market failure agrifood systems by public sector interventions.
5. Sociocultural systems: agriculture is a combination of “agri,” which is related to a
productive activity, and “culture,” which is connected to a way of life. This means
that social relations are essential to accessing resources, power asymmetries, and
benefits from public services.
6. Heterogeneity and diversity: in agriculture, there is diversity among actors. Some
actors have access to better assets, to better technologies, and, ultimately, to better
new markets, while many other actors have access to limited resources and a
limited number of consumers.
7. Collective action: different types of collective and cooperative actions are important for farmers to have their voices reach the policy-makers, including their
request for accessing public resources, managing common property resources,
and meeting new market requirements.
In the following section, we discuss some of the main challenges that exist in agrifood systems. CE can be a solution to handling these challenges and arrive at more
sustainable agri-food systems.
3 Challenges for Agri-food Systems
Jurgilevich et al. (2016) mentioned the main problems and challenges in three stages
of agri-food systems by considering the circular economy: food production, food
consumption, and food waste and surplus management.
The first stage in agri-food systems, based on the model proposed by Jurgilevich
et al. (2016), is food production, for which we need fertilizer containing nutrients
like nitrogen, phosphors, and potassium (Cordell et al. 2009). However, due to a
growing population and a change in the human diet from plant-based to meat-based,
demand for nutrients, specially phosphors, has increased (Elser 2012), which poses
an important challenge to sustainable phosphors management (Metson et al. 2012).
More precisely, phosphate rocks are the main source of phosphor, which is a
nonrenewable resource, and it is predicted that in the next 50–100 years, existing
global reserves will be used up (Cordell et al. 2009). Additionally, changes in
agricultural methods to increase production by intensification of the use of fertilizer
increases the scarcity of phosphor resources (Godfray et al. 2010). As such, it is
essential to look for policies, methods, and technologies to recover and reuse
phosphors from different resources, like human and animal excreta and food and
crop waste (Jurgilevich et al. 2016; de Boer and van Ittersum 2018).
Food consumption is the next stage in the agri-food systems, based on Jurgilevich
et al. (2016), that creates problems in terms of applying the circular economy. One of
the most challenging problems in food systems is the growing rate of meat
60
N. Salimi