Maria Bustamante

Maria J. Bustamante is a postdoctoral researcher at SEED. Her research focuses on topics at the intersection of digitalization and sustainability in the agri-food sector. She has a PhD in Business Administration from the Stockholm School of Economics, which focused on how actors in the agri-food system evaluate and value nascent digital technologies, arguing this will have an impact on which transition pathways these technologies follow.

Maria’s current research is focused on high-tech vertical farming and its applications within the retail sector. The project seeks to understand the sustainability and viability of modular vertical farming systems by studying the new service and data-driven business models these systems represent for both retailers and vertical farming companies and the potential sustainability impacts from a quantitative and qualitative perspective. The overall goal is to build a greater understanding of the potential impact and changes needed within organizations and the broader value chain to achieve both organizational and societal goals.

Research interests:

• Agrifood tech
• Digitalization
• Innovation processes
• Sustainable food systems
• Sustainability transitions
• Valuation processes
• Vertical farming