COVID-19, the Food System and the Circular Economy: Challenges and Opportunities

Fabio Giudice, Rocco Caferra and Piergiuseppe Morone
Additional contact information
Fabio Giudice: Department of Law, Economics, Politics and Modern Languages, LUMSA University of Rome, 00193 Rome, Italy
Piergiuseppe Morone: Bioeconomy in Transition Research Group (BiT-RG), University of Rome Unitelma Sapienza, 00161 Rome, Italy

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 19, 1-15

Abstract: This paper analyzes the causes and effects of the COVID-19 crisis, with a specific focus on the food system. Food consumption and production has not only been impacted by the crisis, but it may have also contributed to causing the pandemic. After providing a brief introductory framework, the paper presents the results of a pilot study on the link between COVID-19 and the food system, as indicated by the social media activity of selected European Union (EU) Twitter accounts, measured using an original “theme popularity” metric. Thereafter, a systematic review of the literature is proposed to identify the causes of the rise in popularity of a sustainable food system theme, the potential consequences of the COVID-19 crisis for the food system (targeting the production, consumption and waste disposal phases) and possible solutions, focusing on the circular economy. Challenges and opportunities for policymakers in the short and long term are discussed. A holistic approach is advocated, as the global food system is intimately connected with society and requires deep cooperation among nation states and economic actors.

Keywords: COVID-19; food system; circular economy; sustainability; EU; Twitter (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/19/7939/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/19/7939/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:19:p:7939-:d:419424

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().