Search Results (218)

Market gardening is increasingly discussed as a sustainability-oriented farming model with the potential to support resilient, locally embedded food systems and to contribute to food security through diversified fresh-produce supply, short value chains, and closer producer–consumer relations. However, limited empirical evidence exists on the competences and training needs required for its professional and agribusiness development. This study examines perceived competence confidence and training priorities for market gardening across Ireland, Greece, France, Germany, and Austria. The research draws on 53 interviews with education and training providers and a cross-sectional survey of 275 respondents, including practitioners, advisory actors, and institutional stakeholders. The survey was structured around EntreComp, DigComp, and GreenComp to assess entrepreneurial, digital, and sustainability competences. The findings show that practitioners reported relatively strong confidence in motivation, vision, ethical thinking, environmental responsibility, and local contextual awareness, but weaker confidence in market research, resource mobilisation, record-keeping, planning, digital farm management, online sales, technical troubleshooting, stakeholder engagement, and participatory sustainability action. Advisory and institutional respondents rated entrepreneurial and sustainability competences as highly important, while digital competences were also considered relevant but showed stronger cross-country variation. The study concludes that market gardening education should move beyond technical horticultural instruction and adopt an integrated, competence-based curriculum combining entrepreneurial, digital, green, and practice-oriented learning. The findings highlight competence-development priorities that may strengthen market gardening and its potential contribution to local food availability, resilient short value chains, and food security. Full article

As the global agri-food system faces escalating climate-related challenges, developing localized low-carbon short food supply chains (SFSCs) has become a vital strategy for sustainable agriculture. To elucidate the psychological drivers of green consumer behavior within this context, this study integrates the Stimulus–Organism–Behavior–Consequence (SOBC) framework with the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). The aim is to investigate the continuous purchase intentions of Taiwanese consumers for organic cocoa. Data collected via an online survey from 377 consumers with prior cocoa consumption experience were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results indicate that personal attitudes and perceived behavioral control positively drive consumption intentions, whereas subjective norms do not. This suggests that consumption behaviors rely on substantive product evaluation rather than social pressures. Additionally, green product attributes and environmental values significantly enhance TPB constructs. Importantly, consumption intentions translate positively into perceived consumer effectiveness and continuous purchase intentions. By elucidating the psychological mechanisms underlying sustainable food choices, this study highlights the value of Taiwan’s “Tree-to-Bar” model. Practically, the findings highlight potential implications for policymakers and agribusinesses regarding how environmental attributes are communicated through front-of-pack (FOP) labels that emphasize local production and low-carbon mileage. Such approaches may help make environmental information more accessible to consumers, although their effectiveness should be evaluated in future research. Full article

The sustainability of Coffea arabica L. production in Oaxaca, Mexico, is increasingly threatened by climate change, biodiversity loss, and pest pressure, along with other factors that undermine the responsiveness of small-scale producers in the state, such as trade restrictions and coffee-related regulatory frameworks. These challenges are particularly acute in mountainous regions like Oaxaca, where coffee cultivation plays a central role in rural livelihoods, cultural identity, and territorial development. Studies demonstrate that localized models are vital for rural improvement, reducing the carbon footprint, and maintaining economic viability. Despite extensive research on agronomic, environmental, and market factors, sustainability strategies for coffee production often remain fragmented and insufficiently integrated. This systematic review used the Scopus Review database, searching by title, abstract, and keywords such as “sustainable coffee production” from 2015 to 2026. A total of 1085 documents were retrieved and processed using VOSviewer software to generate a bibliographic map in which frequently used words are grouped by color to show their relationships. Using Oaxaca as a regional case study, the article synthesizes the key factors influencing coffee productivity and quality, examines the main socio-environmental challenges, and proposes a conceptual framework that integrates agroecosystem management with socioeconomic processes under external climate and market pressures. The proposed framework highlights the central role of agroforestry systems and ecosystem services in improving climate resilience, conserving biodiversity, and supporting quality-oriented value chains. These processes generate feedback loops that influence farmers’ livelihoods, food security, and territorial sustainability. While grounded in the context of Oaxaca, the socio-ecological review and conceptual framework presented here are applicable to other Arabica-producing regions facing similar challenges, providing a structured basis for future research, policy design, and integrated sustainability strategies. Full article

Plastic contamination (plastamination) is one of the main challenges of the 21st century. Microplastics (MPs, 5 mm–1 µm) and nanoplastics (NPs, <1 µm) are mainly produced from the environmental degradation of plastic waste and enter the food chain, bypass biological barriers, and bioaccumulate in tissues where they exert toxic/inflammatory effects. In the male reproductive system, MP/NPs can cross the blood–testis barrier, impair spermatogenesis, and affect semen quality parameters. While biodegradable polymers like polylactic acid (PLA) may represent an ecofriendly alternative to carbon fossil polymers, their real effects in reproduction have been poorly investigated. In the present manuscript, the effects of increasing doses of rhodamine B-loaded PLA-NPs (170 ± 20 nm mean size) on the physiology of frozen–thawed bovine sperm were investigated using a computer-assisted sperm analyzer (CASA) and flow cytometry. Sperm kinetics revealed a significant effect of PLA-NPs on progressive motility at 60 min, with higher values at 200 and 300 µg/mL doses (p < 0.05 vs. control). Flow cytometry showed that PLA-NP exposure did not alter acrosomal integrity (PNA488+); however, the proportion of spermatozoa showing high mitochondrial potential (MitoDR+) was significantly reduced compared to controls at a 300 µg/mL PLA-NP dose after 120 min of incubation. The proportion of spermatozoa metabolically active (MitoDR+) with contextual membrane destabilization (M540+) was significantly lower in samples with 200 and 300 µg/mL PLA, independently of the incubation time. Finally, immunofluorescence analysis revealed the internalization of PLA-NPs within spermatozoa at the longest exposure time. In conclusion, PLA-NPs are internalized in spermatozoa, with specific localization in mitochondria, and slightly affect progressive motility mainly by mitochondrial interference and plasma membrane destabilization. Despite limited effects on post-thaw bull sperm motility even at high doses, plastamination warrants consideration, and further studies on the biological effects of biodegradable plastics are recommended to preserve sperm physiology. Full article

This study presents the first integrated multi-compartment assessment linking soil heavy- metal contamination and satellite-derived tropospheric air pollution in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. Six metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn) were measured in 295 agricultural topsoils using DTPA extraction—which targets the labile, bioavailable pool most relevant to food-chain transfer in calcareous soils—and were compared with Sentinel-5P TROPOMI vertical columns of SO₂, NO₂ and HCHO extracted at point, 1000 m and 5000 m scales. Chromium was the dominant element, and composite pollution indices indicated overall good but transitional soil quality, with a majority of sites at warning level. Principal component analysis, spatial autocorrelation and land-use analysis converged on three plausible source groupings—predominantly geogenic (Cr, Ni), localized anthropogenic (Cd, Pb) and agricultural (Cu)—although, in the absence of isotopic or other direct source tracing, these assignments remain indicative rather than confirmed. Soil metals and atmospheric columns were largely uncorrelated (|r| < 0.3 for 17 of 18 pairs); this decoupling is consistent with the contrasting temporal integration and spatial support of the two compartments rather than with a single shared pathway. Multi-scale analysis supported a parsimonious dual-scale (point + 5000 m) sampling framework. The study offers a transferable assessment framework for other Mediterranean regions and underscores the need for locally calibrated, total-metal soil background values. Because these indices and threshold comparisons are computed from DTPA-extractable concentrations, they serve here as one-directional, bioavailability-based screening tools rather than regulatory determinations: an exceedance conservatively flags a site for confirmatory total-metal analysis, whereas a non-exceedance does not establish compliance. Full article

Agro-industrial by-products are increasingly considered as feed resources for circular animal production, but their value should not be interpreted only as a low-cost replacement of conventional ingredients. This scoping review critically examines how by-products from grape, olive, tomato, citrus, cereal, brewery, oilseed and vegetable processing chains may contribute to the development of high-value animal-derived foods. Particular attention is given to bioactive compounds, polyphenols, carotenoids, tocopherols, fermentable fibres and residual lipids, as well as to microbiome-mediated biotransformation, host metabolic pathways, compound transfer, product-quality modulation, feed safety and circular valorization. Available evidence indicates that selected by-products can influence milk, cheese, meat, eggs and fish products by modifying fatty acid profile, oxidative stability, antioxidant-related traits, pigmentation, volatile compounds, shelf-life and, in some cases, the transfer of specific metabolites to edible products. However, these responses depend on by-product source, processing method, inclusion level, active dose, animal species, basal diet and analytical endpoints. Chemical richness alone is therefore insufficient to support functional claims. Stronger evidence requires studies that connect matrix characterization, processing stability, microbial and host-mediated transformation, biological intermediates and final product quality within the same experimental design. Precision circular feeding should therefore combine local availability, safety, active-dose definition, metabolomic and lipidomic traceability, and product-level validation to support reproducible improvements in high-value animal-derived foods. Full article

Zingiber officinale (ginger) is a high-value crop with significant nutritional benefits, but it is susceptible to food hazards, including mycotoxins and heavy metals. Fifty-one ginger samples were collected along the value chain in Kaduna State (local government areas: Jaba, Kachia and Zango) and 44 samples obtained from markets in Oyo State (local government areas: Ibadan North, Ibadan Northeast, Ibadan Northwest, and Ibadan Southwest). The incidence of aflatoxins (B1, B2, G1, and G2) and heavy metals (mercury, cadmium, lead, copper, zinc, and chromium), as well as risk assessments, were determined. Half (50%) of the samples from Kaduna contained aflatoxins and all (100%) of the samples from Oyo State contained aflatoxins. On average, 18 to 60% of split-dried samples and 17 to 83% of fresh from Kaduna exceeded 10 ng/g total aflatoxin concentration. In Oyo State 67 to 100% of the split-dried samples exceeded 10 ng/g and 100% of both fresh and milled samples exceeded 10 ng/g total aflatoxins. The estimated probable daily intake of mercury (0.572 mg/kg bw/day) exceeded the limit of 0.23 mg/kg bw/day from Kaduna samples, whereas others were within the tolerable limits. Lead, which has no defined tolerable daily intake, was not detected in Kaduna State samples. In Oyo State samples, lead was detectable with an estimated limit of 0.007 mg/kg bw/day; whereas, the others were within the limit. The estimated probable daily intake (PDI) of aflatoxin B1 was estimated at 4.1 μg/kg bw/day and 1.5 μg/kg bw/day from Oyo State and Kaduna State samples, respectively. The provisional maximum tolerable daily intake (TDI) for aflatoxins is 2 μg/kg bw/day. The use of probiotics was explored for the detoxification of aflatoxin-spiked ginger samples (at 50 ng/g). Lactiplantibacillus plantarum ATCC 8014 (LP) and Lactobacillus helveticus ATCC 15009 (LH) reduced aflatoxin concentrations by 50% when used alone or together at the end of a 120 h incubation period. The study highlights the incidence and risk of exposure to multiple toxicants in ginger and the need for management of aflatoxins and heavy metals along the ginger value chain. Full article

This paper illustrates the theoretical framework, the methodological approach, and the primary findings of a project titled MASSTER (Managing(South)Africa-and-Senegal-Sustainability-Targets-through-Economic-diversification-of-Rural-areas), in which higher educational institutions (HEIs) and organizations from Senegal, South Africa, and Europe collaborate with the aim of addressing the nexus between migration, agriculture and development in Sub-Saharan Africa by co-creating evidence-based training, tools, and actions to foster development and co-development while targeting several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), namely Zero-hunger, Good-Health-and-Wellbeing, Gender-Equality, Quality-education, Decent-work-and-economic-growth, Responsible-consumption-and-production, all within the frame of Partnership-for-the-Goals. The MASSTER project employs a transdisciplinary and bottom-up approach based on a cross-sectional study conducted in South Africa and Senegal to identify actual challenges, needs, and resources from farmers (n = 737) and students enrolled in agricultural courses (n = 1.013). Findings underpinned the co-creation of the primary project outcomes: training on agritourism development, farm management, income-generating activities, climate change resilience, and food value chain; toolkits designed to boost the adoption of the Whole of Society Approach and to strengthen cooperation between HEIs and local communities; MASSTER Student-and-alumni-tracking-procedure-with-early-warning-mechanism-for-brain-drain; and a MOOC on critical-thinking-and-empowerment. The MASSTER project can have a relevant impact at local and international levels, providing evidence-based tools to be used by HEIs, stakeholders/policymakers, and the scientific community to actively foster development and co-development. Full article

Price volatility in fresh food commodities can weaken supply-chain coordination, disturb market expectations, and increase short-term risks to food availability and affordability. This issue is more pronounced for specialty crops with seasonal production, concentrated supply, limited storability, and high sensitivity to climate, trade, energy, and online-attention shocks. This study develops a trajectory-regularized physics-informed multi-source forecasting framework for daily wholesale prices of garlic, scallion, and ginger in China from 2014 to 2024. The framework, denoted as STL–ETO–EMA–PILSTM, integrates Seasonal-Trend decomposition using LOESS (STL), Efficient Multi-scale Attention (EMA), Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), an economically motivated physics-informed trajectory residual constraint, and Exponential-Trigonometric Optimization (ETO), using production, climate, macroeconomic, trade, crude-oil, and online-attention indicators. In this framework, the physics-informed component is implemented as a trajectory residual constraint inspired by price-adjustment inertia and local continuity, rather than as a conventional PINN based on strict governing physical equations. In one-step-ahead forecasting, the model outperformed conventional machine learning baselines and additional time-series baselines, including naive persistence, Transformer Encoder, and PatchTST, with MAE values of 0.0853, 0.0581, and 0.1409 for garlic, scallion, and ginger, respectively, and R² values above 0.996. Leakage-prevention procedures, walk-forward validation, multi-horizon forecasting, and Diebold–Mariano tests were used to strengthen result credibility. Multi-step forecasting showed clear performance degradation as the horizon increased, supporting the positioning of the framework as a short-term market-monitoring tool rather than a long-horizon structural projection model. Permutation-based feature-importance and interaction analyses revealed crop-specific price drivers. The framework provides an interpretable tool for fresh food price forecasting, market stability monitoring, and short-term operational risk monitoring in fresh food supply chains. Full article

Anaerobic co-digestion (AcoD) is increasingly applied in sewage-sludge management and organic-waste treatment because it can improve methane recovery, stabilize mixed substrates, and reduce life-cycle greenhouse-gas emissions under appropriate feedstock and operating conditions. However, existing reviews still focus mainly on feedstock types or isolated enhancement measures and less often connect synergistic mechanisms with engineering implementation and carbon outcomes. The specific novelty of this review is to connect functional feedstock classification, mechanism boundaries, engineering controls, and carbon-performance evaluation within one sludge-centered AcoD framework. This review synthesizes recent progress in AcoD of sewage sludge, food waste, livestock manure, crop residues, and industrial organic streams through a chain from feedstock traits to substrate interactions, microbial responses, engineering performance, and carbon benefits. Feedstocks are reorganized by function rather than by waste name, highlighting how carbon-to-nitrogen contrast, buffering capacity, hydrolysis recalcitrance, and inhibitor profiles jointly define synergy potential. Key mechanisms, including C/N balancing, hydrolysis complementarity, inhibitor mitigation, and direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET), are discussed together with their applicability limits. Representative evidence shows methane-yield or methane-production increases of about 41–55% for selected food-waste–manure blends, approximately 45% for rice–straw–pig manure systems after cellulolytic pretreatment, and approximately 16–55% for selected additive strategies; these values are illustrative rather than directly comparable because the underlying studies differ in substrates, baselines, reactor configurations, pretreatment conditions, and operating parameters. The review then translates mechanism into practice through pretreatment, reactor-selection templates, operating windows, additive reinforcement, and artificial-intelligence-assisted monitoring. Representative cases and life-cycle evidence indicate that AcoD can improve methane productivity while lowering greenhouse-gas emissions relative to landfill or mono-digestion pathways when energy substitution and nutrient recycling are credibly counted. Remaining bottlenecks include incomplete kinetic integration, limited DIET quantification, insufficient reporting of quantitative operating ranges and additive dosages, and weak coupling of carbon, economics, and regional feedstock dynamics. The revised review therefore treats AcoD as a sludge-centered mechanism-to-engineering framework and highlights two transferability gaps that require stronger standardization: biodegradation/toxicity testing and local co-substrate logistics. Full article

Bioeconomy is an important concept of economic development, supported at the highest political levels. However, its successful implementation calls for action within local markets. This study, therefore, examined the market readiness to engage in bioeconomy growth and emerging value chains in Italy, Slovenia, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, and Austria. The objectives were to assess the market readiness for placing novel bioproducts based on by-products and waste from primary production and agri-food processing sectors, and to evaluate the economics of their production. Specific goals were to estimate the availability of by-products and waste used for making new products, evaluate the main directions and trends in the use of by-products and waste, analyse the main barriers and restrictions to by-product and waste supplies to new enterprises and innovative applications, and make an economic assessment of the market entry of innovative products and their development. The study showed that the oil industry, with a high residue potential, was most often chosen to market new products. Other sectors where value chains can be created or modified are the fruit, winery, grain and milling, wood, hemp, and vegetable industries. PESTEL analysis demonstrated that economic factors, at both national and global levels, are the most common barriers to supplying by-products and waste to new business entities. Technological factors also significantly impede the delivery of by-products and waste to such new enterprises and their processing into novel products. In contrast, social conditions are the main factors stimulating supply of by-products and waste to such new plants. The results provide a preliminary insight into the Central European market and its enormous development potential, which is already implicated in the context of growing bioeconomy. Full article

To address the challenges of small foreign matter size, severe occlusion, and complex backgrounds in Pu-erh ripe tea processing, this study drew inspiration from primate visual mechanisms and proposed an improved YOLOv13-based network, AE-YOLOv13-S. To mitigate loss of fine details, the weakening of discriminative features, and the frequent occurrence of missed and false detections, the Adaptive Sparse Self-Attention Network was introduced to optimize the backbone of the network, inspired by the sequential cognitive pattern of primates involving target search, local verification, selective integration, and final decision making. To address insufficient long-range semantic associations and the submergence of fine-grained differences in background noise, Emulating Self-Attention with Convolution was employed to optimize part of the Conv modules of the network, drawing on the hierarchical information processing mechanisms of primates from peripheral perception to central fine analysis. In response to the limitations of bounding boxes, such as approximate target enclosure, the large amount of geometric supervision noise, the obvious localization deviation, and delayed model convergence, a Scale-based Dynamic Loss, inspired by primate visual perception mechanisms, was introduced to optimize the network’s loss function. The results showed that, during training, compared with the baseline, AE-YOLOv13-S achieved lower training loss values: Box Loss declined by 6.76%, Cls Loss by 6.52%, and DFL Loss by 8.65%. On the validation dataset, the model demonstrated reductions of 6.58%, 16.39%, and 8.33% for these respective metrics. After the overall improvements, AE-YOLOv13-S achieved increases of 1.43, 4.85, and 2.69 percentage points in precision, recall, and mAP@50, respectively, with only a 0.3 G increase in FLOPs. The improved model can classify and detect foreign matter in Pu-erh ripe tea efficiently and accurately, providing not only a new technical pathway for foreign matter detection in tea processing but also a practically meaningful technical solution for intelligent quality control and food safety assurance in the tea processing chain. Full article

This study investigates ecosystem service valuation on Zhoushan Island. Based on Landsat remote sensing images for 2000, 2010, and 2020 acquired through the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform, six land use types are extracted using the Random Forest method. By integrating land use dynamic degree, transfer matrix, ecosystem service value (ESV) accounting, and five-level land–sea gradient zoning approaches, this study systematically analyzes the spatiotemporal evolution of land use and its effects on ESV over the 20-year period, and reveals the spatial differentiation pattern of land use change and ESV gains and losses along the land–sea gradient. The results indicate that from 2000 to 2020, water bodies and cultivated land on Zhoushan Island experienced continuous decline while construction land expanded rapidly, driven by policy regulation, urbanization, and industrial transformation. Localized coastal areas exhibited a typical chain conversion process of “water body → bare land → construction land,” which is closely associated with reclamation and land reclamation activities. Regional ESV declined continuously, reaching only 56.7% of its 2000 level by 2020, with regulating and provisioning services exhibiting the most pronounced deterioration. Analysis of the ESV net transfer matrix indicates that the primary driver of ESV decline was the large-scale conversion of high-value water bodies to low-value construction land and bare land, the magnitude of which far exceeded the positive ecological gains generated by all other land use conversions. The reduction in cultivated land area, compounded by adjustments in cropping structure, has placed sustained pressure on regional food security, and policy responses have lagged considerably behind the pace of ecological degradation. In terms of spatial differentiation, both the intensity of land use change and ESV loss exhibited a gradient pattern that decreases progressively from the coastal zone moving inland. Zone 1 and Zone 2 in the nearshore area together accounted for approximately 80% of total ESV loss, whereas Zone 4 and Zone 5 maintained relatively stable land use structures and ecological support capacity, owing to higher forestland coverage. Spearman’s rank correlation analysis confirmed a statistically significant monotonically decreasing relationship between land use dynamic degree and coastal distance. Policy regulation served as the primary driver of regional land use pattern evolution: early sea reclamation policies facilitated rapid land transformation along the coastline, while subsequent tightening of controls effectively curbed disorderly expansion. Full article

Short food supply chains (SFSCs) have gained attention as mechanisms for strengthening local food systems and enhancing producer value. However, many SFSCs involving traditional artisan dairy products struggle to remain viable in competitive markets characterised by industrial production and weak market positioning. This study examines the viability of the SFSC for queso tenate, a traditional artisan cheese from central Mexico, through a cybernetic perspective using the Viable System Model (VSM) and the Viplan method. Accordingly, an integrative framework is proposed that combines cybernetic organisational design with a value chain perspective and a core infrastructure of food technology practices. The SFSC is analysed through the focal enterprise as the primary coordination and integration point for production, coordination, control, intelligence, and governance functions. The analysis incorporates technical and managerial activities, including food technology practices, production operations, and market-related processes. Using the Viplan method, the study represents systemic functions within the SFSC. The results identify structural weaknesses affecting viability, including fragmented coordination, limited technological validation, and insufficient market differentiation. The findings suggest that the configuration of systemic functions, as defined by the VSM, may be associated with organisational conditions shaping system functioning in traditional artisan food systems. The proposed framework provides a structured basis for diagnosing areas where viability may be strengthened. Limitations are acknowledged regarding the conceptual approach, the single-case study design, and the generalisability of the results. Future research may extend this work by examining diverse traditional cheese supply chains, exploring viability across multiple recursion levels, strengthening core infrastructure and market development activities, and incorporating stakeholders’ perspectives within SFSCs. Full article

This field study examined extant aquatic food production and marketing in the three coastal states of Lagos, Ogun, and Ondo before IMTA across 15 Local Government Areas (LGAs)/Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs). Marketing mix practices in coastal aquatic food systems were explored through a structured, qualitative assessment using a multi-value chain perspective. Monthly sales volumes most frequently fell within the range of 1–5 tonnes. The local market was dominant, with some sales in the international markets. Respondents asserted that post-harvest processing was diverse, and some were satisfied with the technology available to preserve their products. Cold storage practices across coastal states were hindered by unreliable power supply. Zero-level channel distribution dominated among traders, with over 90% relying on word-of-mouth (WOM) to promote their products. Consumers showed a strong preference for the quality of local products and expressed openness to incorporating seaweed into their purchases. Health benefits, taste, and other reasons for purchase decisions varied significantly across the state χ² (df = 8, n = 300) = 92.39, p < 0.001. These findings provide a baseline for IMTA in Nigeria, highlighting existing strengths, market dynamics, and infrastructure gaps that must be addressed to support sustainable integration. Full article