Aug 2026· Sustainability· Vol 18, pp. 7807· 0 citations· 74 references
TL;DR
This systematic literature review critically examines the impact of digitalisation on sustainable agricultural development, synthesising empirical evidence published between 2015 and 2026 using a combined deductive–inductive thematic approach and identifies four priority directions for future research.
Abstract
This systematic literature review critically examines the impact of digitalisation on sustainable agricultural development, synthesising empirical evidence published between 2015 and 2026. Following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines, 62 empirical studies indexed in Scopus and Web of Science were identified and analysed using a combined deductive–inductive thematic approach. The analysis is structured around a triple-bottom-line framework encompassing economic, environmental, and social sustainability dimensions. The review addresses two research questions: the geographical and temporal distribution of research on digitalisation and agricultural sustainability, and the extent to which digitalisation yields both beneficial and adverse outcomes across all three dimensions. The findings reveal a sharp increase in scholarly attention after 2022, with strong geographical concentration in Asia, particularly China, while evidence from developing regions remains comparatively limited. Overall, existing research predominantly highlights positive effects, particularly productivity gains, efficiency improvements, and income growth, alongside enhanced environmental performance through resource optimisation and emission reduction. However, the evidence also documents uneven and context-dependent outcomes, especially within the social dimension, including labour displacement, rising inequality, and digital wage opacity. Crucially, integrative analyses that examine all three sustainability dimensions simultaneously remain scarce; fewer than 5% of included studies address economic, environmental, and social outcomes together, and potential trade-offs among dimensions are insufficiently explored. By synthesising fragmented empirical evidence through an explicit analytical framework, this review provides a comprehensive and critical foundation for understanding the complex, uneven, and context-dependent impacts of digitalisation on sustainable agriculture and identifies four priority directions for future research.
This paper provides a comprehensive literature review of studies based on the Italian Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) over the period 2015–2026. Following a PRISMA-informed review process, 112 peer-reviewed articles retrieved from Scopus were qualitatively analysed. The review identifies six main research domains, ranging from farm economic performance and efficiency to environmental sustainability, policy analysis, diversification, and social-territorial dimensions. The results show that Italian FADN-based research is characterised by a well-established body of work on income dynamics, farm efficiency, and the impacts of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), alongside the rapidly growing literature on environmental sustainability, climate change, resource use, and agroecological transitions. The main gaps concern the reliance on proxy-based environmental indicators, the fragmented and weakly conceptualised treatment of social sustainability, the limited analysis of trade-offs and synergies across sustainability dimensions, the limited understanding of farmers’ decision-making processes and behavioural responses, the marginal treatment of farm-level innovation, and the limited and fragmented analysis of circular economy initiatives and their impacts on farms and territories. These gaps point to the need for more integrative approaches, improved environmental and social indicators, stronger longitudinal and comparative designs, and greater attention to territorial, innovation, and circular economy dynamics. The review’s scientific contribution lies in consolidating a fragmented evidence base into a coherent analytical framework that clarifies the thematic evolution, structural imbalances, and methodological priorities of Italian FADN-based research. From this perspective, the transition from FADN to the Farm Sustainability Data Network (FSDN) is interpreted as a chance to extend farm-level analysis beyond economic monitoring and towards a more integrated assessment of agricultural sustainability.
N. Casolani, S. Marongiu· Agriculture· 0 citations
Climate change poses an escalating threat to smallholder and commercial agriculture alike, prompting a rapidly expanding body of research on how farmers perceive, adopt and benefit from climate-smart agriculture (CSA) and related adaptation practices. This review combines a bibliometric analysis with a comprehensive thematic synthesis of 138 peer-reviewed, open-access journal articles indexed in Scopus and published between 2015 and 2025. Using Biblioshiny and VOSviewer outputs for annual scientific production, source and country contributions and keyword co-occurrence networks, the review first maps the intellectual structure of the field. It then synthesises findings across six recurring themes: the socio economic and institutional determinants of CSA adoption; gender dimensions of access and use; barriers and constraints; the range of CSA practices and adaptation strategies documented; impacts on productivity, income, food security and livelihoods; and the methodological approaches used to study adoption behaviour. The literature is heavily concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa and South/Southeast Asia, dominated by cross-sectional household-survey designs analysed with binary, multivariate and ordered probit or logit models, with an emerging but still limited use of experimental and life cycle approaches. Findings converge on a consistent set of adoption drivers-extension access, credit, land tenure security, farmer organisations, education and prior climate-risk experience-while gender, tenure and information asymmetries remain persistent constraints. The review concludes by identifying methodological, geographic and conceptual gaps, including a shortage of longitudinal and quasi-experimental impact evaluations, limited attention to Latin America and Central Asia and inconsistent conceptualisation of adoption itself and outlines priorities for future research and policy.
Bhavana S, P. R, Cinthia Fernandaz C et al.· Genetics and Molecular Resea...· 0 citations
This study reviews the resources and capabilities associated with climate resilience among smallholder cocoa farmers in developing countries using the Resource-Based View (RBV). A PRISMA-guided systematic literature review of Scopus-indexed articles published between 2015 and 2025 identified 30 eligible studies. Thematic analysis revealed four key themes: social and digital learning, strategic adoption, livelihood stability, and climate resilience. Resilience depends on combinations of human, social, financial, informational, physical, and natural resources, as well as farmers’ ability to mobilise them within specific institutional and market conditions. Although social and digital learning may support technology adoption and adaptation, current evidence does not confirm a universal causal pathway linking learning, adoption, income stability, and resilience. Evidence on Digital Farmer Influencers remains limited and is therefore proposed as a future research construct. The study recommends construct validation, longitudinal and mixed-method research, and cross-country comparisons.
Kadek Surya Prasetya Wiguna· Journal of Economics, Entrep...· 0 citations
This study conducts a systematic literature review to synthesise academic research on sustainability practices in fine-dining restaurants. With the growing importance of environmental, economic, and sociocultural sustainability in gastronomy, this review explores how fine-dining establishments conceptualise and implement sustainable practices. Guided by the PRISMA 2020 framework, 28 peer-reviewed articles indexed in Scopus and Web of Science were analysed and selected on the basis of language, accessibility, and thematic relevance. Thematic analysis revealed four dominant themes: environmental sustainability, customer attitudes, gastronomic innovation, and sociocultural sustainability. Key tensions were identified, including the balance between creative freedom and ethical sourcing, as well as the challenges of integrating exclusivity with ecological responsibility. Moreover, underexplored areas such as AI-supported menu engineering, energy efficiency, and resilience during crises emerged as promising directions for future research. These findings were interpreted through systemic transition theory and sustainable gastronomy frameworks, offering a multidimensional perspective that goes beyond purely environmental approaches. This review represents the first comprehensive synthesis focusing exclusively on fine-dining sustainability, mapping both theoretical and practical blind spots. By integrating underrepresented perspectives, it advances conceptual understanding while providing actionable insights. The study contributes to academic debates and offers guidance for chefs, managers, and policymakers aiming to align luxury gastronomy with long-term sustainability goals.
Batuhan Aktepe, Özer Özaydın· Journal of Tourismology· 0 citations
Rural development remains a national priority in Malaysia due to its significant contribution to socioeconomic growth, poverty reduction, regional equity, and sustainable development. Despite continuous government initiatives, rural areas continue to experience challenges related to infrastructure disparities, digital inequality, governance, and environmental sustainability. This study aims to systematically synthesise recent empirical evidence on rural development in Malaysia by identifying the key challenges, determinants, dominant research themes, and future research directions. A Systematic Literature Review (SLR) was conducted following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. Literature was retrieved from the Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) databases using predefined search strategies. Following a rigorous screening and eligibility process, 20 empirical journal articles published between 2021 and 2026 were included in the qualitative synthesis. The extracted data were analysed using thematic synthesis to identify recurring patterns across the selected studies. The findings reveal six major themes: (1) Infrastructure and Accessibility, (2) Socioeconomic Development and Rural Livelihoods, (3) Community Participation and Empowerment, (4) Governance and Institutional Capacity, (5) Digital Inclusion and Technology, and (6) Environmental Sustainability and Rural Resilience. The review demonstrates that successful rural development depends on the integration of effective governance, community participation, infrastructure development, digital transformation, human capital enhancement, and environmental stewardship rather than isolated sectoral interventions. Persistent regional disparities, particularly in remote areas of Sabah and Sarawak, indicate the need for more inclusive and coordinated policy implementation. This review contributes to the existing literature by providing a comprehensive synthesis of contemporary empirical evidence, identifying research gaps, and offering evidence-based recommendations to support policymakers, practitioners, and researchers in advancing sustainable and resilient rural development in Malaysia.
Muhammad Shaharudin bin Samsurijan, Nurul Syazwani Aimi Ramlan, Mohamad Syazmin bin Sulaiman3· International journal of res...· 0 citations
The advancement of global agrifood systems increasingly relies on digital innovation; however, the inclusive potential of digital agricultural productive services (APS) remains a subject of intense debate. This paper offers a systematic literature review (SLR) of some articles published between 2011 and 2026. We develop a unified conceptual framework based on Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) and the Capability Approach to analyze the mechanisms through which digitalization mitigates market frictions and empowers marginalized rural stakeholders, including smallholders, women, and youth. The review shows that digital APS makes it much cheaper for farmers to find and hire workers and improve their noncognitive skills. However, the resulting inclusive outcomes are often not linear and depend on “threshold effects” of infrastructure and institutional development. We also find that there are significant gaps in our knowledge about how digitalization will affect agricultural productivity in the long term, how it might enhance climate resilience, and how it might facilitate trade that is open to everyone. The study concludes with a strategic research agenda, and we recommend particular policies that aim to bridge the “soft” digital divide and establish inclusive data governance frameworks to ensure equitable transformations within the agrifood system.
Peng Huo, Yiming Shi· Journal of economic surveys...· 0 citations
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