Drawing a Circle for the Livestock and Agrifood Sector: Fundamentals to a Sustainable Supply Chain

Gianluca Pugliese¹Nikola Puvača²Letizia Passantino¹Antonella Perillo¹Vito Laudadio¹Alessandra Tateo¹Luca Piemontese³Michela M. Dimuccio⁴Stefano Lauriola⁵Vincenzo Tufarelli^1*Caterina Losacco¹

• ¹Department of Precision and Regenerative Medicine and Jonian Area (DiMePRe-J), University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy
• ²Univerzitet Privredna akademija u Novom Sadu Departman za inzenjerski menadzment u agrobiznisu, Novi Sad, Serbia
• ³Universita degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro Dipartimento di Farmacia Scienze del Farmaco, Bari, Italy
• ⁴Universita degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy
• ⁵ASL FG, Foggia, Italy

The classical linear food supply chain exacerbates environmental and socio-economic vulnerabilities, undermining future food security. In contrast, retain and reintegrate biomass, valorising by-products and residues for other applications within or outside the sector (i.e. feed, compost, bioenergy, and bioproducts), allows to disentangle the agrifood sector from entailed environmental and social issues. Circular practices and circular agrifood models may reconcile productivity, sustainability and social wellbeing, creating new value chains, diversify revenue options and reduce input costs; meantime, they strengthen local food systems' resilience and promote equitable access to nutritious food. The present literature review brings a critical holistic outlook about reshaping of livestock system towards a circular paradigm. It emphasises the timeliness and relevance of a circular approach in livestock management to design a greener and cost-effective agrifood system able to maintain such productivity to keep providing food to a growing global population. Here, resource flow and valorisation pathways are integrated to present a comprehensive circular framework feasible across diverse livestock production contexts, filling the gap where previous assessments focused on single resource flows or case specific report (e.g. waste-to-feed or manure-to-fertiliser pathways). Therein, the present review proposes a structured roadmap to improve resource-use efficiency and reduce environmental impact, guiding the transition toward more sustainable and resilient agrifood and livestock systems.