The purpose of this article is to present and test a framework for lean implementation in the agricultural sector, addressing challenges from an operational and strategical perspective. The article builds on the previous literature on the use of Lean and reports empirical data from a lean implementation project in the south-western Sweden, including interviews, observations, diaries and questionnaires. A framework is developed to examine strategic and operational perspectives on Lean Thinking. Using this framework, a number of challenges encountered in Lean implementation are presented. This article is limited to the study of Lean among a group of Swedish farms although its findings may have implications for the wider agricultural sectors. Many societal challenges are linked with agricultural sustainability, stressing the need for productive, resource-efficient, resilient and less wasteful food production. This article is the first to develop and test a Lean implementation framework in the agriculture sector.

This study sheds light on a new generation of Swedish food producers, market gardeners, who are attracting attention in terms of food system sustainability, prompted by increasing consumer awareness about the value of healthy and locally produced food. Market gardening is part of a global agroecological movement opposed to industrialized agriculture and its negative impacts on the environment and rural communities. These food producers challenge the incumbent agri-food regime through the building of alternative food networks. This case-based study involving 14 young vegetable producers showed that young people who engage in market gardening are strongly motivated by dual incentives, namely entrepreneurship and transformation to sustainability. Six main competences were identified as important for market gardeners: practical skills related to growing vegetables, business management, innovation and continuous learning, systems thinking, pioneering, and networking. Individuals develop their skills through continuous experiential learning and gain knowledge through peer-to-peer learning using social media. However, they need to acquire certain skills relating to their daily work in the field and to managing a business. Market gardeners currently face a number of barriers erected by the sociopolitical environment, in particular regarding access to research-based knowledge, extension services, and business support.

The current European agri-food and forestry (AFF) systems are perceived to be moving too slowly towards more sustainable agriculture, forestry, food and bio-based value chains. The European Green Deal and Farm to Fork (FtF) Strategy stress the importance of the sustainable transition of food systems that emphasize resilience and justice along food chains. In this direction, education and training (ET) are given a major role, constituting one of the pillars of the Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) framework. This study aims to propose an extended version of the AKIS framework to focus on the transition of policies concerning the ET pillar and to use this framework as a conceptual background with which to identify strategies for the improvement of ET policies in the AFF sectors. Data collection was undertaken through a round of workshops, and the data were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. The results revealed that the need for a high-quality educational policy and the need to enhance collaboration, entrepreneurship and innovative learning methods were among the most important for the sector, where urgent changes in pace and an approach in ET are necessary for the entire value chain, from farm to fork. These results emphasize that pivoting the transition of ET systems toward achieving the Green Deal, FtF and new CAP objectives requires the development of policies that support student-centered and interdisciplinary education, while also being flexible and supported by non-formal and lifelong learning approaches.

A large percentage of small- and medium-sized farms have ceased operations in the last 2 decades in part due to their inability to respond to increased competitive intensity. Consequently, the strategic responses farmers adopt to competitive intensity are important to understand as they may influence performance and ultimately their survival. Based on a sample of 388 randomly selected farmers in Sweden and using structural equation modelling, we find that as perceptions of competitive intensity increase, so does their market orientation (MO) and lean production orientation (LPO), but not entrepreneurial orientation (EO). Moreover, we find that farmers who indicate greater (in order of importance) MO and LPO report better overall performance, while increased EO surprisingly contributes negatively to performance. Our findings contribute to the limited body of research on strategic responses to competitive intensity in the agricultural sector and subsequent payoff on farm performance.

Educational strategies globally are changing from an authoritative, top-down model to one focused on greater student and stakeholder participation in planning and implementation of research and educational activities. In addition to emphasis on student-centered education, strategies currently evolve to encompass learning organizations and multistakeholder learning networks. These are essential to address the complexity and scope of tomorrow’s challenges, involving issues that could be called ’wicked problems’ not easily addressed by single disciplines nor resulting in solutions that please all the players. Such incommensurate problems make it essential to tap into all possible sources of information, to explore multiple learning strategies for solutions, and to seek answers that will be acceptable to all those impacted. The NEXTFOOD project ( https://www.nextfood-project.eu/) is used as an example of how these goals for educational change were set, and how a transformation through their implementation is played out. In this study we aimed to identify transformation challenges of a collaborative global network and to suggest practical solutions for how these challenges can be overcome. The method was action research informed by several workshops organized at annual consortium conferences during the first three years of the project. The findings show that a successful transformation involves ownership by all the players, meaningful and lasting changes in roles of various players and their institutions, willingness to experiment with new methods, and shared responsibility for outputs and impacts. The NEXTFOOD partners made concerted efforts to overcome institutional, disciplinary, and long-established barriers to this type of transformation in education, and have dealt with the unique pandemic challenges to creating a meaningful transition that will emerge as a resilient and pro-active strategy for the continual improvement of transformative education.