Study: Food system organizations must strengthen operations to safeguard against potential threats
Businesses and organizations involved in growing, distributing and supplying food must be able to withstand and rebound from acute disruptions such as civil unrest and cyber attacks, as well as those with more gradual impact, such as drought, rising sea level or funding cuts.
Food systems face growing threats, as extreme weather events become more common and more extreme due to climate change. Events such as Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico in 2017 have drawn attention to the havoc natural disasters can wreak. A new study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Md., highlights characteristics of organizations involved in the food system that may lead them to be more prepared to respond to such disasters, and outlines opportunities for local, state and federal organizations to improve resilience across the urban food system.
Businesses and organizations involved in growing, distributing and supplying food must be able to withstand and rebound from acute disruptions such as civil unrest and cyber attacks, as well as those with more gradual impact, such as drought, rising sea level or funding cuts. Policymakers and researchers are in the early stages of considering ways to improve resilience to both natural and human-generated threats across the food system.