IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i4p1371-d1334409.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An Evaluation of Research Interests in Vertical Farming through the Analysis of KPIs Adopted in the Literature

Author

Listed:
  • Benedetta Fasciolo

    (Department of Management and Production Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca Degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy)

  • Ahmed Mubarak Mekki Awouda

    (Department of Management and Production Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca Degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy)

  • Nicolò Grasso

    (Department of Management and Production Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca Degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy)

  • Giulia Bruno

    (Department of Management and Production Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca Degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy)

  • Paolo Chiabert

    (Department of Management and Production Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca Degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy)

  • Franco Lombardi

    (Department of Management and Production Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca Degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy)

Abstract

Vertical farming has gained increased attention in recent years due to its capacity to reduce the environmental impact of agricultural production in terms of water consumption and soil and fertilizer usage. In the literature, many works describe and evaluate applications of vertical farming. However, no work addresses the issue of classifying the KPIs for vertical farming and highlights both the most assessed aspects and the lack of evaluations. The main contribution of this study is to conduct a literature review to identify and classify the KPIs used in vertical farming. To this aim, we first proposed a methodology to define the KPI categories. Then, we identified the KPIs used in the literature, and we classified them according to the defined categories. Finally, we analyzed the obtained results. As a result, a collection of 78 KPIs were compiled and organized into the proposed categories. The analyses on the frequency of the KPIs allow us to conclude that the KPIs related to productivity are the most used as compared to those related to sustainability and quality. Furthermore, very few papers perform a cross-category evaluation. This study underscores the necessity for a more balanced consideration of productivity, quality, and sustainability in the context of vertical farming.

Suggested Citation

  • Benedetta Fasciolo & Ahmed Mubarak Mekki Awouda & Nicolò Grasso & Giulia Bruno & Paolo Chiabert & Franco Lombardi, 2024. "An Evaluation of Research Interests in Vertical Farming through the Analysis of KPIs Adopted in the Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-18, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:4:p:1371-:d:1334409
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/4/1371/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/4/1371/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Moreno, José C. & Berenguel, Manuel & Donaire, Julián G. & Rodríguez, Francisco & Sánchez-Molina, Jorge A. & Guzmán, José Luis & Giagnocavo, Cynthia L., 2024. "A pending task for the digitalisation of agriculture: A general framework for technologies classification in agriculture," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gorobets Nataliia & Verhun Mykhailo & Nemashkalo Karina & Vovk Volodymyr & Mazur Nataliya & Brovarets Oleksandr & Melnyk Anton, 2024. "Management of Cluster Development of Agricultural Enterprises in Conditions of Digitalization, Legal Risks, Innovative Education and Smart Economy," Management Theory and Studies for Rural Business and Infrastructure Development, Sciendo, vol. 46(4), pages 506-517.
    2. Granado-Díaz, Rubén & Colombo, Sergio & Romero-Varo, Marina & Villanueva, Anastasio J., 2024. "Farmers' attitudes toward the use of digital technologies in the context of agri-environmental policies," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:4:p:1371-:d:1334409. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.