Food System Dynamics (E-Journals)
Not a member yet
929 research outputs found
Sort by
Future Internet as a Driver for Virtualization, Connectivity and Intelligence of Agri‐Food Supply Chain Networks
Get PDFThe food and agribusiness is an important sector in European logistics with a share in the EU road transport of about 20%. One of the main logistic challenges in this sector is to deal with the high dynamics and uncertainty in supply and demand. This paper discusses the opportunities of Future Internet (FI) technologies to addresses the specific demands on information systems for logistics in the food and agribusiness domain. More specifically, it presents a Future Internet (FI) based design for smart agri‐food logistic information systems. This design aims to enable new types of efficient and responsive logistics networks with flexible chain‐encompassing tracking and tracing systems and decision support based on that information. These systems effectively virtualise the logistics flows from farm to fork, support a timely and error‐free exchange of logistics information and provide functionality for intelligent analysis and reporting of exchanged data to enable early warning and advanced forecasting
Do Agricultural Commodity Firm Stock Price and Agricultural Commodity Price Move Together?
Get PDFThe research aims at explaining stock performance of processing companies as a function of commodity performance on commodity markets. The results show that stock prices of food companies do not significantly depend on agricultural market prices. So, risks of agricultural market price volatility cannot be hedged using foodfirm stocks, whose markets are more liquid
Demand Constraints and New Demands: Regulations, Markets and Institutions Efficiency (A Case Study for Cape Verde)
Get PDFEconomic efficiency is a key issue in economic research and for policy design, and certainly for food security challenges. In the food system dynamics the understanding of changes and trends is crucial to improve our capacity to deal with the objectives of sustainable development and quality of life. Food system efficiency evaluation is necessary with regard to production and consumption efficiencies as well as market and governance dilemmas. Regulations and institutional efficiency are crucial aspects that are frequently forgotten, and efforts should be made to improve the capacity to deal with those methodological needs. In many situations, in the real world, data and measurements are difficult or even impossible to get in numeric or quantitative terms. Frequently, a qualitative evaluation is the only way to proceed, but measurements and numeric references are still important, mainly when changes over time are central to the research. The actual paper follows a structural food system model (WFSE – World Food Security Equation) and a general equilibrium approach (ICI model – induced changes and innovation model) to show in a country case study (Cape Verde) the important role of markets and institutions as compared to regulation practices directed to improve economic efficiency subject to demand behavior. Cape Verde is a very challenging country with regard to the food security status (where natural resources are very poor for agricultural production) but with great success in global and macro terms in the last 10 years. The main problems nowadays are clearly at local level. The present research tries to highlight the global achievements and explore local assessment efforts on food consumption conditions. A specific region is studied, in the island of Santo Antão, one of the most important production regions. Three different production systems were compared mainly with regard to their respective influence on consumption habits, incomes and global interaction and behavior. The results show that food consumption at local level is reasonable good in terms of food security, but that food habits have a determining and surprising influence. Solutions for “food security” improvements are complex and very dependent on social systems, somehow in line with the problems in industrialized economies
Can Differentiated Production Planning and Control enable both Responsiveness and Efficiency in Food Production?
Get PDFThis paper addresses the complex production planning and control (PPC) challenges in food supply chains. The study illustrates how food producers' traditional make‐to‐stock (MTS) approach is not well suited to meet the trends of increasing product variety, higher demand uncertainty, increasing sales of fresh food products and more demanding customers. The paper proposes a framework for differentiated PPC that combines MTS with make‐to‐order (MTO).The framework matches products with the most appropriate PPC approaches and buffering techniques depending on market and product characteristics. The core idea is to achieve more volume flexibility in the production system by exploiting favourable product and market characteristics (high demand predictability, long customer order leadtime allowances and low product perishability). A case study is used to demonstrate how the framework can enable food producers to achieve efficiency in production, inventory and PPC processes – and simultaneously be responsive to market requirements
Alternative Food Systems: The Case of Agri-food SMEs
Get PDFTalking about food sustainability, including environmental, social and economic issues concerns the whole product life-cycle (i.e., from the production to the consumption as well as transportation, distribution, waste and losses). Thereby, new forms of food supply chain have emerged over the last decade such as farmers markets, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), organics and Fairtrade stores, online sales. These different marketing channels are called Alternative Food Networks (AFN’s) and are considered as an alternative to conventional system (Renting et al. 2003; Ilbery and Maye 2005a; Sonnino and Marsden, 2006). It will be noted in this respect that conventional system dominated by the retail sector is characterized by products standardization, specialization and concentration of the actors, globalized procurement and buyer-driven chains (Gereffi, 1994).Furthermore, consumers are increasingly looking for healthy and natural products and are more conscious about environmental and social issues. However, costumer’s perceptions, motivations and attitudes toward local, organics and fair trade products are ambiguous. Several studies assessing consumer perceptions and attitudes about food highlight the importance of a multidimensional approach of quality (i.e., environmental, health, taste, quality (Codron et al. 2006). Other studies have showed that consumer perceptions about food miles are unclear and the distance could be perceived positively and negatively by consumers (Siriex et al. 2008; Zapeda and Deal, 2009).In this context, the main objective of the AFN’s is rethinking the market and non-market relationships between producers and consumers (Winter, 2003; Goodman, 2003; Kirwan, 2006; Sage, 2003). They address questions about the redefinition of governance processes and social relations in the food supply chains (Watts et al. 2005)
System Dynamics and Innovation in Food Networks 2014
Get PDFProceedings of the 8th International European Forum on System Dynamics and Innovation in Food Networks, organized by the International Center for Food Chain and Network Research, University of Bonn, GermanyFebruary 17-21, 2014, Innsbruck-Igls, Austri
Responsible Business and Sustainable Food – A Regional and International Network Model with Linkage between Science and Business
Get PDFSustainability is a key issue in current research activities and programs. In this conjunction three major functions of research have been identified: Basic research, knowledge reservoirs, and knowledge transfer. With regard to a transmission to the private sector, knowledge transfer is the most important factor. In this process, universities of applied sciences can play an important part as they typically have a long-standing experience in linking science and business in their teaching and research. Another important agent in the process of knowledge transfer are networks and clusters. Their strength lies integrating the different competencies of its partners and using them to a mutual benefit.The International Centre for Sustainable Development (IZNE) – with a major focus on responsible business and sustainable food – takes the advantage of being part of a University of Applied Sciences (Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, BRSU), and being a member of several regional and international clusters and networks. These co-operations aim to establish and strengthen linkages between science and business, in particular by investigating research needs for business and business relevant research activities. Moreover, IZNE established and expanded regional and international co-operations of its own to get more transparency about regional and international value-added chains in the food sector and the issue of responsible business
Commercializing Smallholder Value Chains for Goats in Mozambique: A System Dynamics Approach
Get PDFGoat producers in Inhassoro follow traditional management practices that lead to low supply of low quality goats. This has negative impacts on profitability, and on market access. Traders who buy in the Inhassoro locality buy only small volumes, and buyers from external markets are unaware of potential market supply in Inhassoro. This interaction of production constraints and limited information flows in the value chain was addressed using a system dynamics model for various commercialization scenarios. Simulation results show that improving goat production and animal health practices alone without concomitant improvements in market access have negative impacts on the financial performance of producers and no impact on other value chain actors. However, interventions that both improve market access and animal health have significant positive impacts on the financial performance of all value chain actors. The model’s explicit treatment of herd dynamics contribute significantly to these conclusions, particularly the lagged production response inherent in livestock breeding systems
Business Collaboration in Food Networks: Incremental Solution Development
Get PDFThe paper will present an approach for an incremental solution development that is based on the usage of the currently developed Internet based FIspace business collaboration platform. Key element is the clear segmentation of infrastructures that are either internal or external to the collaborating business entity in the food network. On the one hand, the approach enables to differentiate between specific centralised as well as decentralised ways for data storage and hosting of IT based functionalities. The selection of specific data exchange protocols and data models is facilitated. On the other hand, the supported solution design and subsequent development is focusing on reusable “software Apps” that can be used on their own and are incorporating a clear added value for the business actors.It will be outlined on how to push the development and introduction of Apps that do not require basic changes of the existing infrastructure. The paper will present an example that is based on the development of a set of Apps for the exchange of product quality related information in food networks, specifically addressing fresh fruits and vegetables. It combines workflow support for data exchange from farm to retail as well as to provide quality feedback information to facilitate the business process improvement. Finally, the latest status of the FIspace platform development will be outlined. Key features and potential ways for “real users and software developers” in using the FIspace platform that is initiated by science and industry will be outlined