Blockchain and Sustainability in the Agri-Food Sector: a Structured Literature Review

The adoption of blockchain-based technologies for a sustainable agri-food sector is a recently developing area of inquiry. Blockchain technology promises to be a significant enabler of sustainability in the agri-food sector. However, there is still limited understanding on how the blockchain technology can promote agri-food sustainability, because its adoption is still in an early stage and the related literature is relatively limited. This paper reviews and critically evaluates the available research with the aim to understand 1) how it is developing, 2) what are the main research foci, and 3) what future research directions are needed. We analyzed a total of 31 studies extracted from the Scopus database using a structured literature review (SRL) methodology. We found evidence that the topic is attracting a growing research interest and identified two main research areas: studies that focus on the technological components of blockchain with the aim to provide operational frameworks for blockchain-based food traceability, and studies that deepen the potential benefits, the challenges and the boundary conditions for blockchain adoption in the agri-food sector. Additionally, the coding analysis reveals that much of the reviewed studies are from the USA, the UK and India, and tend rely on the case study methodology. To the best of our knowledge, there are very few review articles that describe the development of this research stream. The main limitations of this study are the sampling method (limited to a Scopus search) and the methodological approach employed to code and analyze the literature, which involves some degree of subjective interpretation.