The role of food retailers in improving resilience in global food supply
File(s)Macfadyen et al 2015 MS ver4.docx (1.01 MB)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
We urgently need a more resilient food supply system that is robust enough to absorb and recover quickly from shocks, and to continuously provide food in the face of significant threats. The simplified global food supply chain we currently rely upon exacerbates threats to supply and is unstable. Much attention has been given to how producers can maximise yield, but less attention has been given to other stakeholders in the supply chain. Increasingly, transnational food retailers (supermarkets) occupy a critical point in the chain, which makes them highly sensitive to variability in supply, and able to encourage change of practice across large areas. We contend that the concentration in the chain down to a few retailers in each country provides an opportunity to increase resilience of future supply given appropriate, scale-dependent interventions. We make ten recommendations aimed at reducing variability in supply that can be driven by retailers (although some of the interventions will be implemented by producers). Importantly, resilience in our food supply requires the restoration and expansion of ecosystem services at the landscape-scale.
Date Issued
2016-01-25
Date Acceptance
2016-01-12
Citation
Global Food Security, 2016, 7, pp.1-8
ISSN
2211-9124
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
1
End Page
8
Journal / Book Title
Global Food Security
Volume
7
Copyright Statement
© 2016, Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Food Science & Technology
Vulnerability
Resilience
Ecosystem services
Sustainable intensification
Landscape
Supermarkets
CLIMATE-CHANGE
AGRICULTURAL INTENSIFICATION
ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
SECURITY
CONSERVATION
SUPERMARKET
BIODIVERSITY
CHALLENGES
REVOLUTION
TILLAGE
Publication Status
Published