Experiences in Assessing the Impact of Circular Economy Interventions in Agrifood Systems—A Review

The circular economy (CE) offers a promising framework for sustainable resource management; however, assessing its performance remains challenging due to a lack of robust methodologies, metrics, and data. In agrifood systems, CE has the potential to improve resource efficiency and food security. However, limited research has explored CE interventions in this sector, emphasizing the need for tailored assessment tools. This study seeks to advance CE intervention evaluation in agrifood systems through a realist literature review and discussion on agrifood system assessments to bridge identified knowledge gaps. Our review reveals that most frameworks only address technical or environmental dimensions due to their measurable nature and predominance of laboratory research. This focus underscores the necessity of incorporating assessments in real-world contexts. Insights from agrifood system evaluations suggest that future research should develop holistic frameworks encompassing technical, environmental, social, and economic dimensions. A systems-thinking approach is important for understanding complex interactions among these dimensions, involving mapping, key component identification, and development of context-specific metrics adaptable to global and local settings, particularly for low- and middle-income countries. Active stakeholder collaboration throughout design, data collection, and evaluation is essential for creating relevant indicators. Integrating these elements supports a comprehensive CE assessment framework for agrifood systems.