Open research questions in Organic Food and Agriculture
349 gap statements mined from Organic Food and Agriculture papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 2,196 papers on the topic — drawn mostly from each paper's own stated research gap, future-work, challenge and limitation notes, and its abstract. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one.
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What the literature leaves open
Further research could investigate the impact of the boycott on sales. Research could explore the effects of different types of supermarkets (full-service or ethnic-focused chains) on price competitiveness. Studies could examine the role of public wholesale infrastructure in enabling diverse retail in other cities or regions.
The gap is the lack of empirical scrutiny of the assumption that supermarkets provide the most affordable food options. The paper identifies a need to consider alternative pathways to food affordability beyond supermarkets.
Future research could address this limitation through longitudinal or multi-source designs, temporal separation of predictor and outcome measures, or incorporating behavioral data. The model focuses exclusively on the attitudinal pathway of the Theory of Planned Behavior, which represents a theoretical limitation of the present study.
Beyond food safety: environmental and sensory drivers of organic food purchase intention in an emerging market · 2026 · DOIFuture research should address these limitations by expanding the scope geographically, incorporating primary data and quantitative analysis, refining the framework, exploring broader industry applications, and integrating multi-stakeholder perspectives.
The Co-Evolution of Markets and Regulation in the Japanese Functional Food Industry: Balancing Risk and Benefit · 2025 · DOIFuture research should explore these alternative threshold variables to provide a more nuanced understanding of the dynamics at play. Future research could explore alternative approaches, including instrumental variables and panel data methods, to establish more robust causal inferences. Further investigation is warranted.
Enhancing Rural Economic Sustainability in China Through Agricultural Socialization Services: A Novel Perspective on Spatial-Temporal Dynamics · 2025 · DOIThe study faced the challenge of sampling bias, as online surveys can underrepresent groups with limited internet access or digital literacy. The research had to overcome geographical constraints to gather data from a diverse, widespread sample. The study had to ensure the validity and reliability of the survey questionnaire and data collection process.
The lack of easy access to organic foods and high prices. The discrepancy between the actual purchasing behaviour of organic products and the favourable attitude of consumers.
The lack of understanding of what drives consumers to buy organic food. The gap between favourable attitudes towards organic foods and actual purchasing behaviour. The need to examine the factors affecting attitudes, purchase intention, and actual purchasing behaviour towards organic foods.
The study must address the issue of social desirability bias in self-reported data. The study needs to consider the cultural and contextual factors that influence consumer behavior.
The rapid pace of industrialization and urbanization is leading to the abandonment of traditional agricultural practices. The emergence of increasingly unsustainable agricultural systems. The need to ensure farmers' livelihoods and food security through agricultural heritage systems and other sustainable agriculture.
Livelihood and Food Security in the Context of Sustainable Agriculture: Evidence from Tea Agricultural Heritage Systems in China · 2024 · DOIMany traditional agricultural practices are being gradually abandoned, resulting in the emergence of increasingly unsustainable agricultural systems. There is a need to examine the livelihood and food security of farmers in tea agricultural heritage systems in China.
Livelihood and Food Security in the Context of Sustainable Agriculture: Evidence from Tea Agricultural Heritage Systems in China · 2024 · DOIThe study highlights the need to understand consumer behavior in the agri-food sector, particularly in relation to strawberries. The research identifies a gap in the existing literature regarding the application of the Best-Worst Scaling methodology to investigate consumer preferences for strawberries.
There is an information gap between consumers, producers, and policymakers regarding sustainable food awareness. The study aims to address this gap by exploring how economic, cultural, and demographic differences influence sustainability perceptions.
Does Consumers’ Cultural Background Affect How They Perceive and Engage in Food Sustainability? A Cross-Cultural Study · 2024 · DOIThere is a demand for comparisons of the economic efficiency of organic versus conventional farms and their environmental impact. The study identifies a gap in understanding how organic and conventional farms compare in terms of production, environmental, and economic effects.
Productive, Environmental and Economic Effects of Organic and Conventional Farms—Case Study from Poland · 2024 · DOIInsufficient attention to GIs may lead to negative effects on local economies. The study faces challenges in alleviating endogeneity concerns and addressing the limitations of difference-in-differences estimation. The research needs to address the issue of data limitations and the lack of large-scale quantitative empirical evidence.
Impacts of Geographical Indications on Agricultural Growth and Farmers’ Income in Rural China · 2024 · DOIThe study does not explicitly state specific technical or domain challenges, but it mentions the complexity of the census operation and the need to analyze a vast number of variables and characteristics.
Current Framework of Italian Agriculture and Changes between the 2010 and 2020 Censuses · 2024 · DOIThe study does not explicitly state a research gap, but it aims to provide insights into the current situation of the Italian agro-food system. The study highlights the need to understand the changes that occurred in the Italian agricultural sector between 2010 and 2020.
Current Framework of Italian Agriculture and Changes between the 2010 and 2020 Censuses · 2024 · DOIThe study also highlights the need to determine the factors influencing the development of organic farming in Poland.
Development and Effects of Organic Farms in Poland, Taking into Account Their Location in Areas Facing Natural or Other Specific Constraints · 2024 · DOIThere is a need to investigate the impact of socio-economic factors on organic agriculture areas. There is a lack of understanding of the relationships between organic agriculture and socio-economic factors. The study highlights the gap between the current state of organic agriculture and the European Commission's goal.
Evaluating the Path to the European Commission’s Organic Agriculture Goal: A Multivariate Analysis of Changes in EU Countries (2004–2021) and Socio-Economic Relationships · 2024 · DOIThe existing literature has a critical gap in clarifying the differential impact of organic certification across distinct farmer demographics and geographical regions. The rapid growth of agricultural e-commerce has emerged as a primary influencing factor of product pricing dynamics.
Organic Certification, Online Market Access, and Agricultural Product Prices: Evidence from Chinese Apple Farmers · 2024 · DOIThere is a need to explore the correlation between respondents' pro-environmental, pro-health, and pro-wellbeing attitudes toward organic food and their demographic and socio-economic characteristics.
Further research on the impact of demographic changes on aquatic food consumption patterns, - Investigation of the effectiveness of ecolabels in promoting sustainable aquatic food consumption, - Study of the relationship between aquatic food consumption and environmental…
Data were collected from South Korea, which may not be representative of other countries where meat is an important part of culinary traditions or those where it is not - There can be an 'intention-actual behavior gap' - The study used cross-sectional data, which only provides static…
The study identifies a gap in understanding consumer behavior toward EU-quality-scheme-certified agricultural and food products. The research aims to fill this gap by exploring consumer profiles, preferences, and awareness of EU quality labels.
The Role of Promoting Agricultural and Food Products Certified with European Union Quality Schemes · 2024 · DOIFurther research is needed to investigate the relationships between socio-economic factors and organic agriculture, - The development of more complex regression models to account for autocorrelation, - Investigation of the impact of the EU Green Deal policy on the development of organic…
Evaluating the Path to the European Commission’s Organic Agriculture Goal: A Multivariate Analysis of Changes in EU Countries (2004–2021) and Socio-Economic Relationships · 2024 · DOI
Most-cited papers in Organic Food and Agriculture
- Understanding Alternative Food Networks: Exploring the Role of Short Food Supply Chains in Rural Development · Environment and Planning A Economy and Space · 2003 · 1,335 citations
- Sustainability labels on food products: Consumer motivation, understanding and use · Food Policy · 2014 · 1,155 citations
- Who are organic food consumers? A compilation and review of why people purchase organic food · Journal of Consumer Behaviour · 2007 · 1,143 citations
- Promoting sustainable consumption: Determinants of green purchases by Swiss consumers · Psychology and Marketing · 2003 · 851 citations
- Food store availability and neighborhood characteristics in the United States · Preventive Medicine · 2006 · 810 citations
- The role of health consciousness, food safety concern and ethical identity on attitudes and intentions towards organic food · International Journal of Consumer Studies · 2007 · 721 citations
- Seeing Through the ‘Good Farmer's’ Eyes: Towards Developing an Understanding of the Social Symbolic Value of ‘Productivist’ Behaviour · Sociologia Ruralis · 2004 · 717 citations
- An Exploratory Study into the Factors Impeding Ethical Consumption · Journal of Business Ethics · 2010 · 663 citations
- Sustainable Consumption: Opportunities for Consumer Research and Public Policy · Journal of Public Policy & Marketing · 2011 · 621 citations
- Food Values · American Journal of Agricultural Economics · 2008 · 619 citations
Most recent work
- Recent advances in organic agriculture: innovations, challenges, and opportunities · Frontiers in Plant Science · 2026
- Small farms contribute a third of the food consumed in high-income nations · Nature Food · 2026
- Stakeholder perspectives on local and seasonal food in Brazil and Portugal: Pathways to sustainability · International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science · 2026
- Blockchain technology and organic food consumption: A polynomial regression-based approach to explore the role of trust in retailers and producers · Technological Forecasting and Social Change · 2026
- Constraints on the expansion of organic farming in highly productive regions · Agricultural Systems · 2026
- Transformative capacity for resilience in short food supply chains: The dynamic matching mechanism of sustainable restaurants in China · International Journal of Hospitality Management · 2026
- Effect of environmental attitudes on consumer acceptance of more sustainable chicken production: Evidence from five European countries · Future Foods · 2026
- Profitability and exit decisions of organic dairy farmers in the EU · Food Policy · 2026
- Blockchain and Food Trust: Will Consumers Pay More? · Sustainable Development · 2026
- Exploring the intensity of power asymmetry in food supply systems: an application of systems thinking · Industrial Marketing Management · 2026
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