Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Perspective
  • Published:

The role of midstream actors in advancing the sustainability of agri-food supply chains

Nature Sustainability (2024)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Global food supply chains remain critical drivers of ecosystem degradation and social injustices. In this Perspective we invite policymakers, civil society actors, businesses and researchers to direct attention to the middle of global supply chains, where various actors—referred to as ‘midstream actors’—operate between agricultural commodity producers and manufacturers of food products. We highlight the power of this less visible segment (spanning multinational trading houses to small-scale aggregators of commodities) and the potential leverage that can be harnessed to improve supply chain and food system sustainability. Not engaging these actors poses a risk to the impact of supply chain policy.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: The midstream ecosystem.
Fig. 2: Seven key suggestions.
Fig. 3: The midstream actor kaleidoscope.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Pendrill, F. et al. Disentangling the numbers behind agriculture-driven tropical deforestation. Science 377, eabm9267 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Lambin, E. F. et al. The role of supply-chain initiatives in reducing deforestation. Nat. Clim. Change 8, 109 (2018).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Waarts, Y. R. et al. Multiple pathways towards achieving a living income for different types of smallholder tree-crop commodity farmers. Food Secur. 13, 1467–1496 (2021).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Adams, M. A. & Carodenuto, S. Stakeholder perspectives on cocoa’s living income differential and sustainability trade-offs in Ghana. World Dev. 165, 106201 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Busquet, M., Bosma, N. & Hummels, H. A multidimensional perspective on child labor in the value chain: the case of the cocoa value chain in West Africa. World Dev. 146, 105601 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Sellare, J. et al. Six research priorities to support corporate due-diligence policies. Nature 606, 861–863 (2022).

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Desiderio, E., García-Herrero, L., Hall, D., Segrè, A. & Vittuari, M. Social sustainability tools and indicators for the food supply chain: a systematic literature review. Sustain. Prod. Consum. 30, 527–540 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Galford, G. L. et al. Agricultural development addresses food loss and waste while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Sci. Total Environ. 699, 134318 (2020).

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Schilling-Vacaflor, A. & Lenschow, A. Hardening foreign corporate accountability through mandatory due diligence in the European Union? New trends and persisting challenges. Regul. Gov. 17, 677–693 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Weihrauch, D., Carodenuto, S. & Leipold, S. From voluntary to mandatory corporate accountability: the politics of the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act. Regul. Gov. 17, 909–926 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Bueno, N. & Kaufmann, C. The Swiss human rights due diligence legislation: between law and politics. Bus. Hum. Rights J. 6, 542–549 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Evans, A. Overcoming the global despondency trap: strengthening corporate accountability in supply chains. Rev. Int. Polit. Econ. 27, 658–685 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Brewer, E. Closed loophole: investigating forced labor in corporate supply chains following the repeal of the consumptive demand exception. Kans. J. Law Public Policy 28, 86–112 (2018).

    Google Scholar 

  14. Plouffe-Malette, K. & Brisson, H. Forced labour and trade: a Canada–United States comparative analysis. Eur. Rev. Int. Stud. 6, 84–100 (2019).

    Google Scholar 

  15. Nolan, J. & Bott, G. Global supply chains and human rights: spotlight on forced labour and modern slavery practices. Aust. J. Hum. Rights 24, 44–69 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Renier, C. et al. Transparency, traceability and deforestation in the Ivorian cocoa supply chain. Environ. Res. Lett. 18, 024030 (2023).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. Gardner, T. A. et al. Transparency and sustainability in global commodity supply chains. World Dev. 121, 163–177 (2019).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  18. Grabs, J., Cammelli, F., Levy, S. A. & Garrett, R. D. Designing effective and equitable zero-deforestation supply chain policies. Glob. Environ. Change 70, 102357 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Reardon, T. The hidden middle: the quiet revolution in the midstream of agrifood value chains in developing countries. Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy 31, 45–63 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Reardon, T. & Minten, B. in Agricultural Development: New Perspectives in a Changing World (eds Otsuka, K. & Fan, S.) 397–437 (International Food Policy Research Institute, 2021).

  21. Reardon, T., Liverpool-Tasie, L. S. O. & Minten, B. Quiet revolution by SMEs in the midstream of value chains in developing regions: wholesale markets, wholesalers, logistics, and processing. Food Secur. 13, 1577–1594 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  22. Berning, L. & Sotirov, M. Hardening corporate accountability in commodity supply chains under the European Union Deforestation Regulation. Regul. Gov. 17, 870–890 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Silverman, S., Carodenuto, S. & Grabs, J. Adventures in Transdisciplinary Translation: Co-creating and Vetting a Novel Research Agenda on Trading Companies as Sustainability Governance Actors (Sage Publications, 2023); https://doi.org/10.4135/9781529628371

  24. Grabs, J. & Carodenuto, S. L. Traders as sustainability governance actors in global food supply chains: a research agenda. Bus. Strategy Environ. 30, 1314–1332 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Baines, J. & Hager, S. B. Commodity traders in a storm: financialization, corporate power and ecological crisis. Rev. Int. Polit. Econ. 29, 1053–1084 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Koutsouris, A. Exploring the emerging intermediation roles (facilitation and brokerage) in agricultural extension education. Int. J. Agric. Ext. 21–37 (2014).

  27. Serdijn, M., Kolk, A. & Fransen, L. Uncovering missing links in global value chain research—and implications for corporate social responsibility and international business. Crit. Perspect. Int. Bus. 17, 619–636 (2020).

  28. Kingsman, J. C. Out of the Shadows: The New Merchants of Grain (Independently published, 2019).

  29. Cao, Y. & Mohiuddin, M. Sustainable emerging country agro-food supply chains: fresh vegetable price formation mechanisms in rural China. Sustainability 11, 2814 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Legun, K. & Bell, M. M. The second middle: conducers and the agrifood economy. J. Rural Stud. 48, 104–114 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Schoonhoven-Speijer, M. & Vellema, S. How institutions governing the economic middle in food provisioning are reinforced: the case of an agri-food cluster in northern Uganda. J. Rural Stud. 80, 34–44 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Reinecke, J., Donaghey, J., Wilkinson, A. & Wood, G. Global supply chains and social relations at work: brokering across boundaries. Hum. Relat. 71, 459–480 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Quiñones-Ruiz, X. F. Social brokerage: encounters between Colombian coffee producers and Austrian buyers—a research-based relational pathway. Geoforum 123, 107–116 (2021).

  34. Clapp, J. ABCD and beyond: from grain merchants to agricultural value chain managers. Can. Food Stud. 2, 126–135 (2015).

    Google Scholar 

  35. Carodenuto, S. & Buluran, M. The effect of supply chain position on zero-deforestation commitments: evidence from the cocoa industry. J. Environ. Policy Plan. 23, 716–731 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Bager, S. L. & Lambin, E. F. Sustainability strategies by companies in the global coffee sector. Bus. Strategy Environ. 29, 3555–3570 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Cargill: Still The Worst (Mighty Earth, 2023).

  38. Norström, A. V. et al. Principles for knowledge co-production in sustainability research. Nat. Sustain. 3, 182–190 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Bennett, E. A. & Grabs, J. How can sustainable business models distribute value more equitably in global value chains? Introducing “value chain profit sharing” as an emerging alternative to fair trade, direct trade, or solidarity trade. Bus. Ethics Environ. Responsib. (in the press).

  40. Davies, I. A. & Doherty, B. Balancing a hybrid business model: the search for equilibrium at Cafédirect. J. Bus. Ethics 157, 1043–1066 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. zu Ermgassen, E. K. H. J. et al. Addressing indirect sourcing in zero deforestation commodity supply chains. Sci. Adv. 8, eabn3132 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  42. Middendorp, R. S., Boever, O., Rueda, X. & Lambin, E. F. Improving smallholder livelihoods and ecosystems through direct trade relations: high-quality cocoa producers in Ecuador. Bus. Strategy Dev. 3, 165–184 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Holland, E., Kjeldsen, C. & Kerndrup, S. Coordinating quality practices in Direct Trade coffee. J. Cult. Econ. 9, 186–196 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Borrella, I., Mataix, C. & Carrasco-Gallego, R. Smallholder farmers in the speciality coffee industry: opportunities, constraints and the businesses that are making it possible. IDS Bull. 46, 29–44 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Ogahara, Z., Jespersen, K., Theilade, I. & Nielsen, M. R. Review of smallholder palm oil sustainability reveals limited positive impacts and identifies key implementation and knowledge gaps. Land Use Policy 120, 106258 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Hidayat, N. K., Offermans, A. & Glasbergen, P. Sustainable palm oil as a public responsibility? On the governance capacity of Indonesian Standard for Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO). Agric. Hum. Values 35, 223–242 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. dos Reis, T. N. P. et al. Understanding the stickiness of commodity supply chains is key to improving their sustainability. One Earth 3, 100–115 (2020).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  48. Grabs, J. & Garrett, R. D. Goal-based private sustainability governance and its paradoxes in the Indonesian palm oil sector. J. Bus. Ethics https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-023-05377-1 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  49. Claassen, R. & Gerbrandy, A. Doing good together: competition law and the political legitimacy of interfirm cooperation. Bus. Ethics Q. 28, 401–425 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. Boshoven, J. et al. Jurisdictional sourcing: leveraging commodity supply chains to reduce tropical deforestation at scale. A generic theory of change for a conservation strategy, v 1.0. Conserv. Sci. Pract. 3, e383 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. von Essen, M. & Lambin, E. F. Jurisdictional approaches to sustainable resource use. Front. Ecol. Environ. 19, 159–167 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. Dallas, M. P., Ponte, S. & Sturgeon, T. J. Power in global value chains. Rev. Int. Polit. Econ. 26, 666–694 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. Dauvergne, P. Is the power of brand-focused activism rising? The case of tropical deforestation. J. Environ. Dev. 26, 135–155 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. McCullough, E. B. & Matson, P. A. Evolution of the knowledge system for agricultural development in the Yaqui Valley, Sonora, Mexico. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 113, 4609–4614 (2016).

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  55. Carodenuto, S. Governance of zero deforestation cocoa in West Africa: new forms of public–private interaction. Environ. Policy Gov. 29, 55–66 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  56. Sayogo, D. S. et al. Challenges and requirements for developing data architecture supporting integration of sustainable supply chains. Inf. Technol. Manag. 16, 5–18 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  57. Hamm, M. W., Mueller, A., Riemer, O. & Merrigan, K. True Cost Accounting and Dietary Patterns: A Strategy for Transformative Food Systems (TMG – Think Tank for Sustainability, 2022).

  58. Lafarre, A. The proposed Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive: corporate liability design for social harms. Eur. Bus. Law Rev. 34, 213–240 (2023).

  59. Specialty Coffee Transaction Guide (Goizueta Business School, 2024); https://www.transactionguide.coffee/data

Download references

Acknowledgements

We extend our gratitude for the shared insights and knowledge offered by all participants in this overarching project, including Antonin, N. Adubofour, T. Agyarko-Kwarteng, T. Bartley, R. Besong, B. Cashore, K. Cavallin, B. Cisneros, C. Cutler, P. Dauvergne, S. Dieng Ndeye, T. Dietz, C. Ehrensperger, L. Fransen, B. Guyton, K. Halle, L. Kamphuis, J. Kehoe, T. Kodjane, E. Lambin, S. Ng, K. Nolte Ferguson, C. Ortiz, J.-A. Ponce, S. Ponte, P. Schleifer, M. Serdijn, V. Semelkova, M. Tampe, O. Tichit and M. Wong. We also gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the University of Victoria and its Centre for Global Studies, as well as the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, who supported this project via an SSHRC Connection Grant.

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors jointly supervised this work: Janina Grabs, Sophia Carodenuto.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Society, Politics and Sustainability, ESADE Business School, Universitat Ramon Llull, Barcelona, Spain

    Janina Grabs

  2. Department of Geography, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

    Sophia Carodenuto, Marshall A. Adams & Sofia Silverman

  3. Department of Management, Society and Communication, Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Kristjan Jespersen & Ina Niehues

  4. Independent consultant, Freiburg, Germany

    Manuel Antonio Camacho

  5. Mercon Coffee Group, Amsterdam, Netherlands

    Giacomo Celi

  6. Department of Humanities, Social and Political Sciences, ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Adelina Chandra

  7. ofi, Geneva, Switzerland

    Jeremy Dufour

  8. UCLouvain, Earth and Life Institute, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    Erasmus K. H. J. zu Ermgassen

  9. Department of Geography and Conservation Research Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Rachael D. Garrett & Joss Lyons-White

  10. Independent consultant, Denpasar, Indonesia

    Moray McLeish

  11. Uncommon Cacao, Arvada, CO, USA

    Emily Stone

Authors
  1. Janina Grabs
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sophia Carodenuto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Kristjan Jespersen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Marshall A. Adams
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Manuel Antonio Camacho
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Giacomo Celi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Adelina Chandra
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Jeremy Dufour
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Erasmus K. H. J. zu Ermgassen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Rachael D. Garrett
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Joss Lyons-White
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. Moray McLeish
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  13. Ina Niehues
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  14. Sofia Silverman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  15. Emily Stone
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Conceptualization was by J.G. and S.C. Methodology was by S.C., J.G. and S.S. Investigation was by J.G., S.C., K.J., M.A.A., M.A.C., G.C., A.C., J.D., E.K.H.J.z.E., R.D.G., J.L.-W., M.M., E.S., S.S. and I.N. Writing (original draft) was by J.G. and S.C. Writing (review and editing) was by K.J., M.A.A., M.A.C., G.C., A.C., J.D., E.K.H.J.z.E., R.D.G., J.L.-W., M.M., I.N. and S.S. Visualization was by J.G. Funding acquisition was by S.C. and J.G.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Janina Grabs or Sophia Carodenuto.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Sustainability thanks Eugenia Rosca, Ruerd Ruben and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Grabs, J., Carodenuto, S., Jespersen, K. et al. The role of midstream actors in advancing the sustainability of agri-food supply chains. Nat Sustain (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-024-01296-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-024-01296-9

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing Anthropocene

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Anthropocene newsletter — what matters in anthropocene research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Anthropocene