TY - JOUR

T1 - Trade-offs for healthy and sustainable diets in Europe

T2 - Social-ecological dynamics in an intensive agricultural system

AU - Jiménez-Aceituno, A.

AU - López-Rodríguez, M. D.

AU - Castro, A. J.

AU - Cortés-Calderón, S.

AU - Collste, David

AU - Aparicio, G.

AU - Rölfer, Lena

AU - Bote, Marcos A.

AU - Marín, Longinos Marín Rives

AU - Gómez-Tenorio, Miguel Ángel

AU - González-Martín, B.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2025 The Authors

PY - 2025/3

Y1 - 2025/3

N2 - Food production and trade are key drivers of environmental change worldwide. Global initiatives emphasize the need to shift towards healthier and more sustainable diets, with increased consumption of fruits and vegetables (F&V). However, F&V cultivation relies on diverse high-value crop species that often require intensive fertilization and irrigation for optimum yield and quality, as well as a large labor force. This generates trade-offs across scales between the impacts in the production regions and the global need to increase F&V production. Through multi-actor dialogues, we analysed the social-ecological dynamics of the F&V agriculture system in Southeast Spain, which crucially supplies F&V to Northern Europe. Using a new approach combining the 3Horizons method and system thinking tools, our results reveal the agricultural system's context-specific structures as a foundation for exploring transformative opportunities. We found that the agricultural system a) is sustained in a governance model that lacks cooperation and fosters polarized views, 2) surpasses the biophysical limits, and 3) relies on immigrant low-wage labor. Additionally, our results underscore the need to share the responsibilities and costs of the food-system transformation across the supply chain actors, focusing on the potential of retailers, governance institutions at multiple scales, collective structures of farmer producers, and auxiliary industries to support sustainable and just transformative changes.

AB - Food production and trade are key drivers of environmental change worldwide. Global initiatives emphasize the need to shift towards healthier and more sustainable diets, with increased consumption of fruits and vegetables (F&V). However, F&V cultivation relies on diverse high-value crop species that often require intensive fertilization and irrigation for optimum yield and quality, as well as a large labor force. This generates trade-offs across scales between the impacts in the production regions and the global need to increase F&V production. Through multi-actor dialogues, we analysed the social-ecological dynamics of the F&V agriculture system in Southeast Spain, which crucially supplies F&V to Northern Europe. Using a new approach combining the 3Horizons method and system thinking tools, our results reveal the agricultural system's context-specific structures as a foundation for exploring transformative opportunities. We found that the agricultural system a) is sustained in a governance model that lacks cooperation and fosters polarized views, 2) surpasses the biophysical limits, and 3) relies on immigrant low-wage labor. Additionally, our results underscore the need to share the responsibilities and costs of the food-system transformation across the supply chain actors, focusing on the potential of retailers, governance institutions at multiple scales, collective structures of farmer producers, and auxiliary industries to support sustainable and just transformative changes.

KW - Environmental Governance

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85217264773&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.gfs.2025.100829

DO - 10.1016/j.gfs.2025.100829

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85217264773

VL - 44

JO - Global Food Security

JF - Global Food Security

SN - 2211-9124

M1 - 100829

ER -