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An Application of Systems Thinking - Food Systems

Authors:
Edward Tettamanti
Mo Mansouri

Keywords: Systemigram; Interest Map; Context Diagram; Drivers

Abstract:
Most of us make our weekly trip to the grocery store, purchase, and consume our favorite foods without giving much thought into where it came from, the resources used to get it from farm-to-plate, laws and regulations dictating food safety and sustainment, factors influencing price, political pressures, etc. Our modern day food system is one of the most complex systems in society and is facing many challenges that includes feeding a growing population, distribution, managing ecosystems, nutritional value, and water shortages to name a few. To get to the root of these issues, they need to be viewed from a system’s point of view, tackled as systemic issues of the food system as a whole, instead of trying to solve these individually. This paper will apply the Systems Thinking framework to create an abstract model of the modern day food system that goes beyond food production, cultivation, distribution, processing, consumption, etc., but also dives into the socioeconomic factors, laws and regulations, environmental impacts, ethics, as well as external systemic impacts. Ultimately, the analysis done here will be used to lead the way into future research and system analysis that will lead to innovative ways to optimize the current food system and further build upon existing models and framework that may be used to help mitigate some of the major known impacts on the food supply.

Pages: 23 to 28

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2023

Publication date: November 13, 2023

Published in: conference

ISBN: 978-1-68558-088-9

Location: Valencia, Spain

Dates: from November 13, 2023 to November 17, 2023