sustainability Review Digitalization and Future Agro-Food Supply Chain Management: A Literature-Based Implications Tadesse Kenea Amentae 1, * and Girma Gebresenbet 2   Citation: Amentae, T.K.; Gebresenbet, G. Digitalization and Future Agro-Food Supply Chain Management: A Literature-Based Implications. Sustainability 2021, 13, 12181. https://doi.org/10.3390/ su132112181 Academic Editors: Alessio Ishizaka and Andrea Appolloni Received: 5 August 2021 Accepted: 26 October 2021 Published: 4 November 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). 1 Department of Management, Ambo University, Ambo P.O. Box 19, Ethiopia 2 Division of Automation, Department of Energy and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, P.O. Box 7032, Se-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden; girma.gebresenbet@slu.se * Correspondence: tadesse.kenea@ambou.edu.et or tadesse.kenea.amentae@slu.se; Tel.: +251-911348846 Abstract: Achieving transition towards sustainable and resilient food systems is a critical issue on the current societal agenda. This study examined the potential contribution of digitalization of the food system to such transition by reviewing 76 relevant journal articles, indexed on the Scopus database, using the integrative literature review approach and descriptive content analysis with MAXQDA 2020 software. ‘Blockchain’ was the top hit among keywords and main concepts applied to the food system. The UK as a country and Europe as a continent were found to lead the scientific research on food system digitalization. Use of digital technologies such as blockchain, the Internet of Things, big-data analytics, artificial intelligence, and related information and communications technologies were identified as enablers. Traceability, sustainability, resilience to crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and reducing food waste were among the key benefit areas associated with digitalization for different food commodities. Challenges to practical applications related to infrastructure and cost, knowledge and skill, law and regulations, the nature of the technologies, and the nature of the food system were identified. Developing policies and regulations, supporting infrastructure development, and educating and training people could facilitate fuller digitalization of the food system. Keywords: agro-food supply chain management; blockchain; digitalization; IoT; sustainability; sustainable food system; traceability 1. Introduction 1.1. Subject Highlight: Supply Chain Management and Agri-Food Supply Chain Management According to [1] (p. 3) supply chain management (SCM) is defined as “the management of upstream and downstream relationships with suppliers and customers in order to deliver superior customer value at less cost to the supply chain as a whole”. According to the author, supply chain management is a process through which relationships between parties in the chain are managed to incorporate individual interests into common interests for benefit of the chain as a whole. It is unarguable that supply chain management has an indispensable role in the current world. For instance, Ref [2] indicated the critical role of SCM to coordinate and efficiently control the material, information, and finance flows for the global market and trade to function properly. The author noted the important role of supply chain management in establishing a network of firms, suppliers, transportation systems, logistics hubs, and production units. Similarly, Ref [3] asserted that supply chain management is the foundation for the execution of operations and as the core of 21st-century business functions. Nowadays, the business environments are requiring supply chain management theories and principles to be synergized by the recent developments of digital technologies. Some scholars are referring the supply chain management in the era of the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) as “SCM 4.0”[4–6]. The success of supply chain management lies in the capabilities of the group-based and the whole chain-centered supply chain managers’ capabilities in making quality decisions within the complex real-world constraints. The test of capabilities of the supply chain Sustainability 2021, 13, 12181. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132112181 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability