Abstract
Over the last century, food demands were increased because of the global population quadruplication. Many strategies were used to increase the crop production, either by increasing the amount of agricultural land to grow crops or by enhancing productivity on existing agricultural lands through fertilizer and irrigation and adopting new methods like precision farming. Not only these strategies did not completely meet the food demands but also caused a significant amount of agricultural waste that created additional serious environmental problems. Although one of strategies in management of agricultural wastes such as rice husk, sugar cane bagasse, wood waste, and bamboo leaf is using them as a new input to increase the production growth as along as the population growth, considering limited potential to increase the use of conventional inputs, especially land, but still, a large part of agricultural waste is either burned or left in nature. It is clear that the previous strategies were not proportional enough to prevent environmental problems. It seems that entrepreneurs with relevant skills and knowledge in ecology and economy can solve the problem. This article focuses on how to use the innovative potential of such entrepreneurs, called ecopreneurs, to encourage more startups that would create the new jobs needed to address our environmental problems.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- NGOs:
-
Non-governmental organizations
- NPO:
-
Nonprofit organizations
- AW:
-
Agricultural waste
- AWM:
-
Agricultural waste management
References
Ahmed, I. (1978). Unemployment and underemployment in Bangladesh agriculture. World Development, 6(11–12), 1281–1296. https://doi.org/10.1016/0305-750X(78)90017-7
Azizi-Shotorkhoft, A., Mohammadabadi, T., Motamedi, H., Chaji, M., & Fazaeli, H. (2016). Isolation and identification of termite gut symbiotic bacteria with lignocellulose-degrading potential, and their effects on the nutritive value for ruminants of some by-products. Animal Feed Science and Technology, 221, 234–242. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2016.04.016
Bruyat, C., & Julien, P. A. (2001). Defining the field of research in entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Venturing, 16(2), 165–180. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0883-9026(99)00043-9
Cherubini, F., & Ulgiati, S. (2010). Crop residues as raw materials for biorefinery systems–A LCA case study. Applied Energy, 87(1), 47–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2009.08.024
Cohen, B., & Winn, M. I. (2007). Market imperfections, opportunity and sustainable entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Venturing, 22(1), 29–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2004.12.001
Daly, H. E. (2005). Economics in a full world. Scientific American, 293(3), 100–107. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26061149.
Dean, T. J., & McMullen, J. S. (2007). Toward a theory of sustainable entrepreneurship: Reducing environmental degradation through entrepreneurial action. Journal of Business Venturing, 22(1), 50–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2005.09.003
Faghih, N., Bonyadi, E., & Sarreshtehdari, L. (2021). On the utility of the stochastic processes in modeling the nexus between entrepreneurship and innovation: A nonparametric application of Bayesian inference. Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, 1-15.https://doi.org/10.1007/s40497-021-00272-3
Galaz, V., Crona, B., Dauriach, A., Jouffray, J. B., Österblom, H., & Fichtner, J. (2018). Tax havens and global environmental degradation. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2(9), 1352–1357. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0497-3
Gunun, N., Wanapat, M., Gunun, P., Cherdthong, A., Khejornsart, P., & Kang, S. (2016). Effect of treating sugarcane bagasse with urea and calcium hydroxide on feed intake, digestibility, and rumen fermentation in beef cattle. Tropical Animal Health and Production, 48(6), 1123–1128. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-016-1061-2
Jeznabadi, E. K., Jafarpour, M., & Eghbalsaied, S. (2016). King oyster mushroom production using various sources of agricultural wastes in Iran. International Journal of Recycling of Organic Waste in Agriculture, 5(1), 17–24. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40093-015-0113-3
Kermani, M. M. M., Bahrololoum, S., & Koohzadi, F. (2019). Investigating the possibility of producing animal feed from sugarcane bagasse using oyster mushrooms: A case in rural entrepreneurship. Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, 9(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40497-019-0174-2
Lohan, S. K., Jat, H. S., Yadav, A. K., Sidhu, H. S., Jat, M. L., Choudhary, M., …, & Sharma, P. C. (2018). Burning issues of paddy residue management in north-west states of India. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 81, 693-706.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.08.057
Malecki, E. J. (2018). Entrepreneurs, networks, and economic development: A review of recent research. Reflections and Extensions on Key Papers of the First Twenty-Five Years of Advances. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1074-754020180000020010
McClelland, D. C. (1987). Characteristics of successful entrepreneurs. The Journal of Creative Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2162-6057.1987.tb00479.x
Meng, X., Dai, J., Zhang, Y., Wang, X., Zhu, W., Yuan, X., …, & Cui, Z. (2018). Composted biogas residue and spent mushroom substrate as a growth medium for tomato and pepper seedlings. Journal of Environmental Management, 216, 62-69.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.09.056
Nacu, C. M., & Avasilcăi, S. (2014). Technological ecopreneurship: Conceptual approaches. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 124, 229–235. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.02.481
Obi, F. O., Ugwuishiwu, B. O., & Nwakaire, J. N. (2016). Agricultural waste concept, generation, utilization and management. Nigerian Journal of Technology, 35(4), 957–964. https://doi.org/10.4314/njt.v35i4.34
Paula, F. S., Tatti, E., Abram, F., Wilson, J., & O’Flaherty, V. (2017). Stabilisation of spent mushroom substrate for application as a plant growth-promoting organic amendment. Journal of Environmental Management, 196, 476–486. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.03.038
Pimentel, D., & Burgess, M. (2013). Soil erosion threatens food production. Agriculture, 3(3), 443–463. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture3030443
Prasad, S., Singh, A., & Joshi, H. C. (2007). Ethanol as an alternative fuel from agricultural, industrial and urban residues. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 50(1), 1–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2006.05.007
Saini, J. K., Saini, R., & Tewari, L. (2015). Lignocellulosic agriculture wastes as biomass feedstocks for second-generation bioethanol production: Concepts and recent developments. 3 Biotech, 5(4), 337–353.
Santini, C. (2017). Ecopreneurship and ecopreneurs: Limits, trends and characteristics. Sustainability, 9(4), 492. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9040492
Scheidgen, K. (2021). Degrees of integration: How a fragmented entrepreneurial ecosystem promotes different types of entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 33(1–2), 54–79. https://doi.org/10.1080/08985626.2020.1734263
Wach, D., Stephan, U., Weinberger, E., & Wegge, J. (2020). Entrepreneurs’ stressors and well-being: A recovery perspective and diary study. Journal of Business Venturing, 106016.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2020.106016
York, J. G., & Venkataraman, S. (2010). The entrepreneur–environment nexus: Uncertainty, innovation, and allocation. Journal of Business Venturing, 25(5), 449–463. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2009.07.007
Zahra, S. A., Gedajlovic, E., Neubaum, D. O., & Shulman, J. M. (2009). A typology of social entrepreneurs: Motives, search processes and ethical challenges. Journal of Business Venturing, 24(5), 519–532. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2008.04.007
Acknowledgements
We would like to express our gratitude and appreciation for everyone; guidance and encouragement have been invaluable throughout this study.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
SB, MMMK, and FK contributed in the data collection, in order writing this review manuscript, and also interpretation, discussion, and drafting the manuscript; and FK was a major contributor in writing the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bahrololoum, S., Kermani, M.M.M. & Koohzadi, F. Ecopreneurs and agricultural waste management. J Glob Entrepr Res 12, 47–51 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40497-022-00311-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40497-022-00311-7