Background: Fermentation has shaped human food systems for millennia through spontaneous microbial activity that preserved crops, enhanced nutrition, and created culturally significant products. Traditional practices relied on indigenous lactic acid bacteria, yeasts, and fungi. Rising demand for sustainable, nutrient-dense foods, coupled with limitations of conventional agriculture (high resource use, waste generation, and nutrient losses), has driven a shift toward controlled bioprocessing.
Objective: This review examines the evolution from traditional fermentation to modern technologies and evaluates their contributions to nutritional quality, resource efficiency, waste valorization, and circular bioeconomy approaches in agriculture and food production.
Methods: Peer-reviewed literature was retrieved from PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar (primarily 2019–2026), using combinations of terms related to fermentation technologies, plant substrates, nutritional bioavailability, and sustainability. Inclusion focused on experimental and review studies of microbial mechanisms, process technologies, and applications in cereals, legumes, and agro-residues.
Results: Controlled fermentation with defined cultures or consortia consistently reduces antinutritional factors (phytate, tannins), improves protein digestibility and mineral bioavailability, generates bioactive peptides and phenolics, and extends shelf life via organic-acid production. Emerging platforms—precision fermentation, solid-state fermentation (SSF), submerged systems, co-cultures, and enzyme-assisted hybrids—enable targeted metabolite production and agro-waste conversion. Digital tools (AI, biosensors, digital twins) further enhance process control and scalability.
Conclusion: Fermentation technologies bridge traditional knowledge and modern biotechnology, offering scalable routes to more nutritious, lower-impact foods and circular use of agricultural resources. Remaining challenges include industrial scale-up, regulatory harmonization, energy demands of precision systems, and consumer acceptance. Continued integration of multi-omics, synthetic biology, and smart automation is required to realize full sustainability potential.