Modeling of Integrated Supply-, Value- and Decision Chains within Food Systems

This paper presents a work in progress on the development of a mental model of a food system using system analysis. The aim is to be able to use this model to create a mathematical simulation model that can be used to identify policy intervention opportunities, specifically focusing on the resilience, integrity and sustainability of food supply networks. The traditional view of food systems as supply chains with a downstream physical flow of products is extended to include the associated upstream flow of money and the decision chains that link these flows. Central to this work is the idea that supply systems are driven by profit and regulated by market dynamics and that these factors generate the underlying feedback structure of the system. Studying the structure of such systems as integrated supply-, value- and decision chains has underscored their complexity and the need for further, more food system specific research.