Challenges and Opportunities of Circular Economy in Agri-Food Sector: Rethinking Waste

Global population by 2050 is predicted to be over 9 billion and accordingly, the production systems will demolish about 140 billion tons per year of minerals, ores, fossil fuels and biomass, i.e., thrice of the current need, and the food production itself has to be doubled. Optimized resource usage, lifecycle management, and reduced carbon emission have become a priority for agri-food businesses today, and circular economy (CE) helps for a sustainable and flexible way to grow without exhausting primary materials, and it thinks beyond recycling and resource usage. The word CE best relates to the resource and efficiency management, 6Rs, closed-loop production systems, zero waste and lifecycle engineering, reduced overconsumption of resources and waste generation, enriched system redesign and business model innovation, thereby leading to sustainable development goals. In this light, the book calls for theoretical and empirically sound contributions that are focused on the different aspects of the circular economy, 6R’s, sustainable production and consumption, closed-loop systems, etc. in the agri-food sector.

Dr. Rahul S Mor is a researcher of operational design & development, agri-food supply chain, manufacturing strategies, etc., and works as Assistant Professor at the Dept. of Food Engineering, National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management, Kundli, Sonepat, India. He holds a Ph.D. in Industrial and Production Engineering, specializing in Supply Chain & Operations Analytics. He has authored/co-authored over 50 publications in international refereed SCI, ABDC, ABS ranked journals of high impact factor and Chapters & Conference papers with Elsevier, Springer, Taylor & Francis, IGI Global, etc. His recent research focuses on 'Managing supply chain disruptions, Benchmarking, Performance measurement, Digital technologies, etc. He has the exposure of executing R&C projects in the manufacturing and food sector.
Dr. Mor is the Area Editor and Managing Guest Editor: Operations Management Research (Springer Nature), Int. J. Logistics Research & Applications (Taylor & Francis); Guest Editor: IEEE Trans. on Engg. Mgmt. (IEEE); Associate Editor: Supply Chain Forum: An Int. J. (Taylor & Francis); Editor: Int. J. Supply & Opr. Mgmt. (KU); Editorial Board: J. Dairy Science (Elsevier), FSFS, IJCEWM, IJLT, etc., and reviewer of many international journals. Currently, Dr. Mor is editing various books on 'Agri-Food 4.0, 'Circular Economy', 'OSCM in Food Industry', 'Industry 4.0' with Springer, Emerald, EAI-Springer. He is a member of many professional societies.

Dr. Anupama Panghal is Assistant Professor at the Dept of Food Business Management & Entrepreneurship Development, National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management, Kundli, Sonipat, India. Prior to that she has worked with Thapar University, Patiala, India, and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India, New Delhi. She was also selected byGoI, under the Faculty Secondment Scheme of MHRD, as a visiting professor for the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok, Thailand, for the semester of January 2020. Her academic specialisation is agriculture business management and currently her research interests are in the domain of agri-food supply chain management, technology inclusion in agri-food value chains and agri-food entrepreneurship management. She has authored books, more than 20 research papers in reputed journals, which include Scopus and ABDC indexed ones. Also, she has contributed chapters in the edited books. She has deep interest in carrying out research and consultancy projects in the areas of agri-food supply chain and agri-food entrepreneurship. Currently, she is working on one project funded by MoFPI on "Development of blockchain based traceability solution for agri-food supply chains" and another one on " Promotion of local food entrepreneurship and value chain development". She is also a master trainerfor trainers under the PMFME scheme of MoFPI for the domain of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) for agri-food entrepreneurs. For her work in past 15 years, she has traveled to Australia, Cambodia, Netherlands, Belgium, and Thailand.

Prof. Vikas Kumar is a Director of Research and Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management at Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, UK. He is also a visiting Professor at Tong Duc Trang University, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. He holds a PhD in Mgmt. Studies from the University of Exeter, UK. He serves on the editorial board of several international journals including J. of Business Logistics (Q1), Sustainability (Q1), and Int. J. of Mathematical, Engineering and Management (Q3). He has guest-edited a number of special issues in high impact journals including Int. J. of Production Research, J. of Info. Tech., Supply Chain Mgmt. an Int. J., Production, Planning & Control, Int. J. of Productivityand Performance Mgmt., and J. of Mfg. Tech. Mgmt. He is also a reviewer of more than 15 int. journals including ABS 4/4* and ABS 3* journals such as Int. J Production Research, Int. J of Production Economics, Production Planning and Control, Supply Chain Mgmt. an Int. J, Expert Systems with Application, Int. J of Production and Operations Management, J of Intelligent Mfg. Systems and Computers and Industrial Engg. He has published 5 books and more than 2 0 0 articles in leading international journals and int. conf.
He has generated research income in the excess of £1 million from research agencies such as Innovate UK, EPSRC, British Council, British Academy, Newton Fund, and Science Foundation of Ireland. He is currently working on two research projects funded by the British Academy/Newton Fund and Royal Academy of Engg.