Summary
The Organic Research Centre has developed a participatory methodology for assessing sustainability across organic food supply chains, prioritising co-design of assessment tools with supply-chain actors (producers, processors, retailers) over top-down, standardised evaluation. The approach is intended to improve both the contextual relevance of sustainability metrics and stakeholder engagement in the assessment process. This reflects an emerging shift in sustainable food systems research towards inclusive and adaptive assessment methodologies that embed local knowledge and priorities.
Regional applicability
This work is based at the Organic Research Centre, United Kingdom, and directly addresses UK organic supply chain contexts. The participatory methodology is designed for English-speaking organic sectors but may require cultural and institutional adaptation for application in other jurisdictions.
Key measures
Contextual relevance of sustainability metrics; stakeholder engagement levels; co-design process outcomes
Outcomes reported
The study describes development and application of a participatory methodology for assessing sustainability across organic food supply chains. It measured engagement and relevance of sustainability metrics co-designed with supply-chain actors rather than imposed through standardised frameworks.
Topic tags
Dig deeper with Pulse AI.
Pulse AI has read the whole catalogue. Ask about this record, its theme, or how the findings apply to UK farming and policy — every answer cites the underlying studies.