Conflicting objectives in the design of multi-actor supply chains: The case of agri-food side-stream valorization

Agri-food supply chains generate significant waste, yet adopting side-stream valorization to improve sustainability is not straightforward due to conflicting stakeholder objectives. Existing research often overlooks how divergent economic and environmental priorities among key actors, such as farmers and processors, inhibit the design and implementation of effective valorization strategies. This study addresses this gap by investigating these conflicts within the Dutch potato and coffee supply chains using a mixed-methods approach that integrates qualitative surveys and the Analytic Hierarchy Process. Potato farmers strongly favored economic goals over environmental ones, prioritizing primary sales revenue and soil quality, which led to composting and feed pathways. In contrast, processors adopted a more balanced perspective, focusing on profit, by-product revenue, and energy and water efficiency, favoring food ingredient pathways. Coffee growers and processors assigned similar weight to economic and environmental domains but differed significantly on specific objectives, such as raw material cost versus subsidies and soil quality versus wastewater demand. These differences influenced their distinct approaches to food ingredient valorization. Our findings demonstrate that actor-specific priorities critically shape valorization pathway selection and overall supply chain configuration. This research contributes an actor-centric analysis to delineate these conflicts, providing valuable insights for developing tailored policies and collaborative strategies that align diverse interests and enhance the potential of sustainable side-stream valorization in agri-food supply chains.