Abstract
With increasing out-of-home food consumption and approximately 36 million annual visitors in South Tyrol, transforming the value chain from agriculture to gastronomy is central to making the agri-food system more sustainable. The explorative and transdisciplinary research project NEST (Sustainable Food System South Tyrol) investigates how South Tyrol’s food system —from agriculture to gastronomy— can become more regional, sustainable, and fair. To this end, the project explores how to align stakeholder supply and demand for local and ecological agricultural products and identifies key measures to enhance local cooperation and enable systemic transformation of the agri-food system.
Using a mixed-method approach based on 78 stakeholder interviews, expert consultations, and co-creation events, the study provides an in-depth analysis of the local farm-to-restaurant value chain. From this, we derived four core action areas: (1) gastronomy-oriented agriculture, (2) central-distribution hub, (3) future-oriented gastronomy, and (4) food innovation. Through a subsequent focus group meeting, we further developed concrete, actionable measures for decision-makers and sectoral interest groups. The study illustrates how transdisciplinary collaboration can bridge science and practice, empower stakeholders, and shape actionable pathways for long-term transformation. Despite its exploratory nature, the study offers transferable insights to comparable contexts, such as Alpine or rural regions with small-scale agriculture, high tourism flows, and the will to integrate strategies for sustainable agri-food development.