Resilience Through Digital Collaboration: Platform Economics and Food Systems

By Daniel Vlahek

Connection is fundamental to the human experience. And there is no greater bridge than food. It permeates the whole human existence and is readily used as a form of self-expression between cultures.

Yet, food comes with its fair share of challenges.

Our current food system has a growing list of social and environmental impacts attached to it, one which continues to flame the issues of malnutrition, obesity, biodiversity loss, food waste, water pollution, and climate change.

With the COVID-19 pandemic and the disruption it brought to global supply chains, this has shone a light on the structures that keep our modern food system afloat, albeit weakly.

Issues persist, with consumers now growing increasingly distrustful of ‘Big AG’. Instead, the desire to engage with food more holistically – what, where and how it is sourced – is starting to blossom.

But what levers are there that can improve healthy food access, provisioning, and restoring connection with the very thing that sustains us?

Food Systems at a Glance

What defines a food system? Piggybacking off the definition from the University of Oxford, food systems are: ‘a complex web of activities involving the production, processing, transport, and consumption (of food).’

The past 100 years have seen a ‘rapid’ evolution of our food system – from humble beginnings as an agrarian society, we have now evolved to a global supply chain that is highly industrialised through widespread use of crop varieties, fertilisers, and machinery.

Every day, we engage with our food system - either through the simple act of buying take-away from our favourite restaurant or cafe, to shopping at our local grocery store.

Yet, despite its inherent value, our current food system is no longer fit-for-purpose. Land management practices and consumption patterns had markedly led to a depletion in water, soil, land, and nutrients - all of which has been fuelled by the centralised, siloed nature of food companies and their supply chains.

The emergence of COVID-19 however brought to the fore that these modern supply chains may not be so resilient as we thought.

As Forum for the Future writes, ‘the food system is at a pivotal crossroad’ - indeed, how do we enhance food system resilience from future shocks, whilst balancing health and social outcomes for those who need it the most?

Decentralisation + Digitisation = Improved Resiliency?

Could digital innovation and industry 4.0-based solutions be an important lever in improving food system resiliency?

Dr. Soujanya Mantravadi believes they have a part to play. In her recent paper, Soujanya presents evidence that our food systems problems are in part, a supply chain problem.

‘Healthy food access is a critical element of urban food security…food supply chain inefficiencies impact urban food systems negatively; therefore, there should be efforts to improve the performance of supply chains,’ she writes.

To combat stressors, innovators within the food procurement and sharing space have developed digital applications, transmuting centralised supply chains to decentralised ones.

In Australia, Charbel Yamouni has developed an online sharing platform called Bright Sparqe - it acts as a conduit for manufacturers to donate discarded, edible food directly to social entities to support their respective food programs:

‘The impact has been extremely high with over 13,000 donations of brand-new products and unused and unopened food that has not expired which equates to over 900.000 brand new products nationally,’ she adds.

Understandably, the nature of economics pressures stakeholders to be remunerated for their work which led to the development of apps like GrownBy and Open Food Network, allowing food entities to create virtual farmers markets to sell directly to the consumer.

This digital transformation enables consumers to reconnect with producers (and vice versa), leading to greater value being placed on the who, what, and where of the food we eat.

Empowerment Through Government Policy

Government policy is also an important intervention in creating tangible change.

Currently the benchmark on food policy, the municipality of Milan approved the ‘Milan Food Policy’ in 2015, establishing priorities to foster an environment that would empower food stakeholders to co-create a more equitable food system.

Giuliano Pisapia, the then Mayor of Milan, elaborated on its importance.

‘850 million people in the world suffer from hunger…As Mayors of the largest cities in the world, we have decided to reach an agreement with concrete and achievable goals, we want to eliminate food waste, suggesting a good food education. This agreement will make the world more equal and less poor’.

Political frameworks can also be designed to support better digital integration.

Despite a $3 trillion dollar evaluation on primary agriculture alone (estimates show five times the amount when accounting the whole food supply chain), food systems still receive little climate support - only 4% of climate-based funds being dedicated to it.

There are however some signs that this is beginning to change. The recent COP28 summit featured food systems more prominently, discussing the mechanisms in solving its modern issues.

Still, vigilance is needed to ensure mistakes from the past century are not recreated, nor tools be misused to maintain power relationships within food systems.

Taking a systemic codesign approach in solving its many issues is required, with digital interventions being part of that portfolio of solutions.