Enhancing Resilience in Agrifood Supply Chains: The Role of Technological Innovation for Risk Management

The adoption of innovative technologies can help agrifood companies face crucial challenges related to meeting the food needs of a growing world population, adapting to and mitigating the effects of climate change, and increasing the resilience of supply chains against sudden disruptions. In fact, several studies highlight the advantages that technological innovation can bring to agrifood supply chains. At the same time, few studies examine the connections between technological innovation and risk management, and the literature lacks established theoretical frameworks. This study aims to help bridge this gap by reviewing and organizing previous findings. Specifically, this paper provides a classification of the main risks affecting agrifood supply chains and investigates the role that technological innovations may play in helping agrifood companies address key risks. The results lead to the identification of five main risk categories: food safety, information management, environmental, geopolitical, and supply chain management risks. Furthermore, the literature review focuses on six key technologies, including blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), big data, artificial intelligence, drones, and digital twins. From this perspective, the results show that blockchain tracking systems allow companies to monitor product conditions throughout the supply chain. This helps ensure product quality, combat counterfeiting, and support the management of information and product flows. IoT systems are especially useful for mitigating food safety risks by enabling real-time monitoring during cultivation, transport, and distribution. Big data and AI-based solutions mainly support precision agriculture activities, contributing to the mitigation of environmental risks. Finally, the study highlights emerging applications related to drones and digital twins. Ultimately, this study provides several relevant contributions. First, it helps organize the fragmented contributions on the impact of technologies on risk management in the agrifood industry. Second, it offers a solid theoretical foundation for analysing the implications of technological applications on different risk categories. Third, it provides useful insights for practitioners to assess how technological innovation may help manage and mitigate key risks.