What does it take to build resilience against droughts in food value chains?

IF 3.6 2区社会学 Q1 ECOLOGY Ecology and Society Pub Date : 2024-08-31 DOI:10.5751/es-15071-290317

Elena Monastyrnaya, Jonas Joerin, Johan Six, Pius Kruetli

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Abstract

Although the impacts of climate change are increasingly challenging food production efforts around the globe, evidence from past studies suggests that adapting and building food systems’ resilience to climate change is not a trivial task. In this study, we adopted a multi-stakeholder perspective by using qualitative and quantitative data to examine the process of building resilience in food value chains against droughts. Through a transdisciplinary process engaging practitioners from different activities of four key Swiss food value chains, we identified measures to build resilience in these value chains and their respective barriers, and determined key stakeholders to facilitate the implementation of the measures. We further complemented the results of the study with a quantitative survey of 832 Swiss farmers aimed at more deeply understanding the barriers from an agricultural perspective. The measures proposed by the practitioners for building resilience in the value chains are primarily focused on production activity and are aimed at avoiding production disruptions and mitigating farmers’ economic losses. Although some of these measures (e.g., irrigation, amassing stocks of animal feed) can be implemented by farmers themselves, other measures (e.g., compensation through pricing changes, flexibility in quality requirements) require interventions from other stakeholders, including post-production actors (processors, retailers) and consumers. However, our results indicate that such implementation is hindered by conflicting interests, the uneven exposure of actors to droughts, and a lack of motivation by the actors to act beyond securing their own operational needs. We conclude that a value chain approach based on collaboration is essential for building food system resilience against droughts and that research on motivations to enable such collaborations deserves more attention in resilience design and research.

The post What does it take to build resilience against droughts in food value chains? first appeared on Ecology & Society.

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如何在粮食价值链中建立抗旱能力？

尽管气候变化的影响对全球粮食生产工作的挑战日益严峻，但过去的研究表明，适应和建设粮食系统抵御气候变化的能力并非易事。在本研究中，我们采用了多利益相关方视角，利用定性和定量数据来研究在粮食价值链中建立抗旱能力的过程。通过一个跨学科的过程，让来自瑞士四个主要粮食价值链不同活动的从业人员参与其中，我们确定了在这些价值链中增强抗灾能力的措施及其各自的障碍，并确定了促进措施实施的主要利益相关者。我们还对 832 名瑞士农民进行了定量调查，进一步补充了研究结果，旨在从农业角度更深入地了解这些障碍。从业者提出的价值链抗灾措施主要集中在生产活动方面，旨在避免生产中断和减轻农民的经济损失。虽然其中一些措施（如灌溉、积累动物饲料库存）可由农民自己实施，但其他措施（如通过价格变化进行补偿、质量要求的灵活性）则需要其他利益相关者的干预，包括产后参与者（加工商、零售商）和消费者。然而，我们的研究结果表明，利益冲突、参与者受干旱影响的程度不均以及参与者缺乏在确保自身运营需求之外采取行动的动力，都阻碍了此类措施的实施。我们的结论是，以合作为基础的价值链方法对于建立粮食系统抗旱能力至关重要，在抗旱能力的设计和研究中，对促成这种合作的动机的研究值得更多关注。

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来源期刊

Ecology and Society 环境科学-生态学

CiteScore

6.20

自引率

4.90%

发文量

109

审稿时长

3 months

期刊介绍： Ecology and Society is an electronic, peer-reviewed, multi-disciplinary journal devoted to the rapid dissemination of current research. Manuscript submission, peer review, and publication are all handled on the Internet. Software developed for the journal automates all clerical steps during peer review, facilitates a double-blind peer review process, and allows authors and editors to follow the progress of peer review on the Internet. As articles are accepted, they are published in an "Issue in Progress." At four month intervals the Issue-in-Progress is declared a New Issue, and subscribers receive the Table of Contents of the issue via email. Our turn-around time (submission to publication) averages around 350 days. We encourage publication of special features. Special features are comprised of a set of manuscripts that address a single theme, and include an introductory and summary manuscript. The individual contributions are published in regular issues, and the special feature manuscripts are linked through a table of contents and announced on the journal''s main page. The journal seeks papers that are novel, integrative and written in a way that is accessible to a wide audience that includes an array of disciplines from the natural sciences, social sciences, and the humanities concerned with the relationship between society and the life-supporting ecosystems on which human wellbeing ultimately depends.