Food security and technology: fear trumps hope.

Background: Food availability, accessibility, utilization, and stability, the four pillars of food security, have sound impact on food environment activities, regarding households’ food availability, accessibility, and affordability. Food availability implies the adequate supply of healthy food and food accessibility complements and builds on food availability by ensuring that households are able to obtain that food, and that food affordability is limited by incomes and food prices. Methods: In this research, socioeconomic characteristics, food security status and food environment (food availability, accessibility, and affordability) perception of households in Ecatepec, México, a marginal Mexico City conurbation area, were determined with the adequate survey. The collected data were analyzed by logistic regression to stablish the significant relationship among the independent variables (household food security status) with the socioeconomic features, in addition to food environment perception, in order to determinate which facts were significant with food security in this marginal area. Results: Educational level (P<0.001), household income (P<0.001), and belonging to a social assistance program (P<0.001) have a significant effect on food security status. Households with lower income, with food insecurity status, presented lower purchasing power. In contrast, households with food security and mild food insecurity were less likely to agree with the food that they can purchase. A better income, and therefore, a higher purchasing power was reflected in the need to access to more healthy food within their neighborhood. Conclusion: Results indicate that the food environment in this marginal area is benevolent, and households find a way to remain resilient in order to provide enough food for their families. Public policies must be focused on reducing poverty and giving more opportunities to promote social mobility

Food and nutrition security has been neglected in the planning field for reasons of a lack of connection between food and planning and the perception that agricultural activities have no place in the modernizing world. However, considering increasing climate change impacts and implications on industrialized agriculture, there is a clear need to establish shorter, more sustainable agricultural production practices and food supply chains. Urban agriculture is proposed as a potential method of intervention for planners to support sustainable food production and supply chains. The paper utilized a multiple-case study design to analyze four best practice examples of urban agriculture in the Global South to uncover its potential to address food security associated risks and contribute to sustainable development objectives. The results delivered evidence of the potential to harness the multifunctionality of urban agriculture to not only improve the food security of the most at-risk populations, but to also address other urban risks such as unemployment, community decline and food deserts. The recommendations for this paper relate to establishing a food security department, mapping and encouraging more sustainable food supply chains, creating land uses and zonings specific to urban agriculture and to utilize its multifunctionality to address other urban risks.

<scp>IFST</scp> vision for a <scp>UK</scp>‐wide national food strategy

[Extract] The goal of the 'food security' agenda – to provide the world's population with a sustainable and secure supply of safe, nutritious, affordable and high-quality food (Research Councils United Kingdom, 2011) – comes with considerable challenges. To feed the expanding human population, numbered over 7 billion and growing (United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, 2011), it is anticipated that by 2030, crop production must increase by 43% and meat production by 124% (Food and Agriculture Organisation, 2009). Growing demand is expected to result in escalating food prices as transport and storage costs increase, potentially reducing access to food among the world's poor. Given the past relationship between lack of access to affordable food and political instability (Brinkman & Hendrix, 2011), food security is given a high priority on global and national political agendas.

Sufficient production, consistent food supply, and environmental protection in urban +settings are major global concerns for future sustainable cities. Currently, sustainable food supply is under intense pressure due to exponential population growth, expanding urban dwellings, climate change, and limited natural resources. The recent novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic crisis has impacted sustainable fresh food supply, and has disrupted the food supply chain and prices significantly. Under these circumstances, urban horticulture and crop cultivation have emerged as potential ways to expand to new locations through urban green infrastructure. Therefore, the objective of this study is to review the salient features of contemporary urban horticulture, in addition to illustrating traditional and innovative developments occurring in urban environments. Current urban cropping systems, such as home gardening, community gardens, edible landscape, and indoor planting systems, can be enhanced with new techniques, such as vertical gardening, hydroponics, aeroponics, aquaponics, and rooftop gardening. These modern techniques are ecofriendly, energy- saving, and promise food security through steady supplies of fresh fruits and vegetables to urban neighborhoods. There is a need, in this modern era, to integrate information technology tools in urban horticulture, which could help in maintaining consistent food supply during (and after) a pandemic, as well as make agriculture more sustainable.

In the context of a growing world population, the fundamental need for foodstuff makes a sustainable management of the food supply an imperative. Sustainability issues in the food supply chain range from responsible use of limited resources, safe and secure food supply, minimizing food waste, while maintaining economic interests of each player. A novel ap- proach is presented integrating Processing Time, Cost and Operational Risk (PTCORk1) in one quantitative model. It allows for designing Pareto optimal monitoring systems. In a com- parative study, exact and (meta) heuristic methods are compared for best performance. The study with real-world data from an international food company is based on a common and widely consumed foodstuff with typical sustainable food supply chain challenges. Results are thus generalizable to other value chains in the food industry. It provides novel understanding of the seeming contradiction between Processing Time & Cost (PTC) and Operational Risk (ORk). On the system level, the efficient frontier reveals a quantified non-linear relationship. Within the monitoring system the relative contribution of each monitoring activity to the objective function shows a saturation effect enabling practicioners to identify critical monitor- ing activities and engage in step-by-step optimization. Evidence is presented that favorable solutions reveal potential for equidistribution of operational risks and time- and cost-efficient risk allocation. The advantages of a multi-objective approach are compared to either single objective approach. Away from conflicting formulations of minimal operational risk, process- ing time and cost, the approach fosters a more differentiated and quantifiable understanding of the relationship of processing time, cost and operational risk enabeling decision makes to formulate advantageous trade-offs. Optimized scenarios are tested for robustness and potential multiplicatory effects by numerical simulation of a connected dynamic supply chain environment. The approach provides valuable insights for practitioners and enables specific actions for a sustainable and competitive food supply.

Stable societies depend upon sustainable food supplies for their very existence. However, very few food sources or food supply chains have been independently certified as truly sustainable. As world food demand goes up and supply goes down, sustainable food supply is a myth for both the poor and the rich. Instead, there is widespread ignorance regarding the dangers of the present ‘profit-only’ driven world food supply system. These dangers are concealed behind a confusing array of mostly unreliable and misleading green claims and green labels. In the transition to a sustainable future, there is an urgent need for world food business to change from a competitive corporate paradigm to a sustainable stewardship paradigm. There is also an urgent need for an independent, incorruptible, and universal green label that can authenticate, on one consistent and reliable platform, all types of truly sustainable foods and food supply chains world-wide. This chapter will discuss these issues, how paradigm change might occur, and how the brand family of Green Tick® ‘Sustainable’, ‘Natural’, ‘Organic’, ‘Carbon Neutral’, ‘Carbon Negative’, ‘GE-Free’ and ‘Fair Trader’ meet the need for an incorruptible and universal ‘green’ label for food and food supply chains.

Chapter 21 - Food Safety Training and Teaching in the United Kingdom and Europe

Food access is one of the food security pillars. Food security encompasses physical and economic access to food. For most Mediterranean people affordability is a key factor determining access to food. Food affordability is dependent not only on food cost but also on the disposable income that can be spent on food. The paper aims at analysing food accessibility and affordability at household and country levels in the Mediterranean region. The paper uses secondary data from different sources (e.g. FAO, World Bank, the Economist, LABORSTA) to analyse the trends of different indicators: food affordability; food consumer price index; household food expenditure; cereals imports dependency; and Values of food imports over total merchandise exports. In March 2013, food affordability score of the Global Food Security Index ranged from 34.8 in to 86.5 in . The share of food consumption expenditure in total household expenditure is high e.g. 67.3% in and 43.9% in . During the period 2005-2011, the highest increase of the FAO food consumer price index was recorded in followed by and . FAO consumer cereal price index increased more than meat price index in the period 2004-2012. Cereals import dependency is high in all Mediterranean Arab countries; up to 80% in drought years in . In the and more than four-fifths of merchandise exports are dedicated to food imports. In the period 1990-92/2008-10, the coverage of food imports with total exports deteriorated especially in the , and . Adequate and consistent economic access to safe, nutritious and high quality food, even in times of crisis, is a prerequisite for achieving sustainable food and nutrition security in the . However, accessible and affordable diets should not be taken for granted in the Mediterranean region.

Review: Climate change impacts on food security- focus on perennial cropping systems and nutritional value

Position of the American Dietetic Association: Child and Adolescent Food and Nutrition Programs

Position of the American Dietetic Association: child and adolescent food and nutrition programs.

Food and water security and variability are some of the crucial challenges facing communities worldwide. Qatar is concerned with such challenges due to its nature and the rapid population growth. The 2017 blockade only further aggravated the situation since it interrupted the food supply chain, and therefore, food security. This study investigates the impacts of the blockade on Qatar's food and water security. All challenges facing Qatar’s food and water security have been discussed; as well as the possible solutions to secure sustainable water and food supply. Among all initiatives, integrated farming was selected as one potential solution toward agricultural and food sustainability in Qatar. The proposed project consists of several production units in arranged and interconnected ways to improve the integration, reduce costs, and maximize benefits. The proposed units of the project include agriculture production units, livestock production units, fish farms, and a composting unit for the management of farm wastes. This project is expected to be of great benefit to the Qatari food and water sectors. It can contribute to reducing the gap between the demand and supply for food thanks to its advantages over the conventional agriculture and farming systems.KeywordsFood securityIntegrated farmingQatar blockadeWater security

Chapter 21 - Healthy aquatic ecosystem, towards sustainable food supply

This study analyzed the trajectory of interests and priorities related to food security expressed in the reports of the five National Food and Nutritional Security Conferences (Conferências Nacionais de Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional - CNSAN) held in Brazil between 1994 and 2015. The documentary research was systematized through content analysis with a quantitative and qualitative focus. Food security dimensions were identified in the 1,181 action proposals assessed through an analysis model consisting of 3 cross-sectional categories, 8 thematic categories, and 10 subcategories. The temporal content analysis revealed: continuous reduction in demands for “universal access to adequate food”, especially in the subcategory “employment and income”; constant predominance of the category “structuring sustainable food production and supply systems” with a progressive increase in the subcategory “incentive to agroecology-based production”; and increased demands for “prioritization of traditional peoples and communities”. The timeline suggests different contributions of the Conferences to the evolution of the debate on food security in Brazil. However, the insertion of social actors in the process of formulating the Brazilian National Food and Nutritional Security Policy did not guarantee the incorporation of the problems into the public agenda, which should be re-established and deepened in the decision-making processes. The findings attest to the importance of social participation for the theoretical and political qualification of food security in Brazil.