Sustainable Business Innovations in International Agricultural Industry

Today's agricultural industry faces global challenges, including an ever-increasing world population that needs to be fed, rising prices, and increasing environmental concerns. At the same time, the industry produces the majority of greenhouse gas emissions and has a significant water footprint. As such, sustainable innovations are essential for its future development. This paper investigates such innovations in the industry, their types, characteristics, and in terms of both social and environmental benefits and business benefits. The research methodology is based on a qualitative thematic content analysis of over 80 cases of sustainable entrepreneurs published on the international platform AIM2Flourish, which promotes sustainable initiatives involving students and flourishing businesses around the world and contribute to the successful achievement of the UN SDGs. Among the main findings of the study are the prevalence of innovations in greener product manufacturing, and the highest prevalence of eco-efficiency strategies in the industry than other basic sustainable strategies. The results of this study can be used both for further research in the field and in the applied field for forecasting and working with sustainable agricultural development in the world.