This Deliverable examines how innovative business models can embed agrobiodiversity into economically viable food value chains, focusing on Neglected and Underutilised Crops (NUCs) within the DIVINFOOD project. Drawing on data collected from 170 stakeholders across nine Living Labs in seven European countries and building on the GxE (Genotype × Environment) database developed in the project, the report analyses how farmers and small-scale processors integrate NUCs into their Business Model Canvases (BMCs), and how retailers support these upstream actors. This report highlights the interdependence of business models along the value chain and the importance of supportive regulatory frameworks and public funding. The findings demonstrate that the valorisation of NUCs is not the result of isolated firm-level innovation, but of co-constructed strategies that align economic viability with biodiversity conservation and social value creation. The analysis shows that both farmers and processors construct value propositions that combine economic, environmental, and social dimensions. Farmers frame NUCs primarily as agroecological assets that enhance production resilience, reduce input dependency, and support diversification strategies. Their business model innovations include shared machinery (e.g., CUMAs), informal and trust-based contracts, direct marketing, crop diversification, and value addition through on-farm processing. These strategies mitigate risk and compensate for the relatively small share of land and turnover dedicated to NUCs. Processors, by contrast, position NUCs as differentiated food ingredients and narrative carriers. They translate agronomic and environmental qualities into product attributes such as traceability, health benefits, digestibility, and local identity. Technological adaptation—such as stone milling, slow processing, flexible packaging, and recipe innovation—emerges as a key lever. At the same time, processors manage supply risks through close relationships with farmers, flexible specifications, and product diversification strategies. Retailers play a crucial market-building role by incorporating NUCs into their value proposition, educating consumers, legitimising price premiums, and stabilising demand. Across the chain, direct linkages, trust-based relationships, and short supply chains are central innovations that reconfigure partnerships and redistribute risks and benefits.
Mattioni et al. (Fri,) studied this question.