BACKGROUND: Businesses and organizations involved in growing, distributing, and supplying food may face severe disruptions from natural and human-generated hazards, ranging from extreme weather to political unrest. Baltimore, Maryland, is developing policies to improve local food system organizations' ability to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disruptive events and ultimately to contribute to food system resilience. OBJECTIVES: To identify factors that may be associated with organization-level food system resilience, how these factors may play out in disaster response, and how they may relate to organizations' confidence in their ability to withstand disruptive events. DESIGN: Semi-structured in-depth interviews with representatives of key food system businesses and organizations identified by means of stratified purposive sampling and snowball sampling. PARTICIPANTS/ SETTING: Representatives of 26 food system businesses and organizations in Baltimore stratified by two informant categories: organizations focused on promoting food access, such as governmental offices and nonprofits, and businesses and organizations involved in supplying and distributing food in Baltimore City, such as retailers, wholesalers, and producers. ANALYSES: Interviews were analyzed using a phronetic iterative approach. RESULTS: The following 10 factors that may contribute to organization-level resilience were identified: formal emergency planning; staff training; staff attendance; redundancy of food supply, food suppliers, infrastructure, location, and service providers; insurance; and post-event learning. Organizations that were larger, better resourced, and affiliated with national or government partners typically demonstrated more resilience factors compared with smaller, independent, and nonprofit organizations. CONCLUSION: To ensure reliable access to safe food for all people, food system organizations must strengthen their operations to safeguard against a variety of potential threats. This study's examination of factors that contribute to resilience can help food system organizations, researchers, and government officials identify priorities for investigating vulnerabilities in diverse operations and potential strategies to improve resilience in the face of ongoing and growing threats.
BACKGROUND: Businesses and organizations involved in growing, distributing, and supplying food may face severe disruptions from natural and human-generated hazards, ranging from extreme weather to political unrest. Baltimore, Maryland, is developing policies to improve local food system organizations' ability to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disruptive events and ultimately to contribute to food system resilience. OBJECTIVES: To identify factors that may be associated with organization-level food system resilience, how these factors may play out in disaster response, and how they may relate to organizations' confidence in their ability to withstand disruptive events. DESIGN: Semi-structured in-depth interviews with representatives of key food system businesses and organizations identified by means of stratified purposive sampling and snowball sampling. PARTICIPANTS/ SETTING: Representatives of 26 food system businesses and organizations in Baltimore stratified by two informant categories: organizations focused on promoting food access, such as governmental offices and nonprofits, and businesses and organizations involved in supplying and distributing food in Baltimore City, such as retailers, wholesalers, and producers. ANALYSES: Interviews were analyzed using a phronetic iterative approach. RESULTS: The following 10 factors that may contribute to organization-level resilience were identified: formal emergency planning; staff training; staff attendance; redundancy of food supply, food suppliers, infrastructure, location, and service providers; insurance; and post-event learning. Organizations that were larger, better resourced, and affiliated with national or government partners typically demonstrated more resilience factors compared with smaller, independent, and nonprofit organizations. CONCLUSION: To ensure reliable access to safe food for all people, food system organizations must strengthen their operations to safeguard against a variety of potential threats. This study's examination of factors that contribute to resilience can help food system organizations, researchers, and government officials identify priorities for investigating vulnerabilities in diverse operations and potential strategies to improve resilience in the face of ongoing and growing threats.
Authors: Serafim Bakalis; Vasilis P Valdramidis; Dimitrios Argyropoulos; Lilia Ahrne; Jianshe Chen; P J Cullen; Enda Cummins; Ashim K Datta; Christos Emmanouilidis; Tim Foster; Peter J Fryer; Ourania Gouseti; Almudena Hospido; Kai Knoerzer; Alain LeBail; Alejandro G Marangoni; Pingfan Rao; Oliver K Schlüter; Petros Taoukis; Epameinondas Xanthakis; Jan F M Van Impe Journal: Curr Res Food Sci Date: 2020-06-02
Authors: Jillian Whelan; Andrew Dwight Brown; Lee Coller; Claudia Strugnell; Steven Allender; Laura Alston; Josh Hayward; Julie Brimblecombe; Colin Bell Journal: Nutrients Date: 2021-01-28 Impact factor: 5.717
Authors: Eric E Calloway; Nadine B Nugent; Katie L Stern; Ashley Mueller; Amy L Yaroch Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2022-09-09 Impact factor: 4.614