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Visible disruptions of appropriate food distribution for end consumers during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic prompted calls for an urgent, renewed look at how the U.S. agri-food system is impacted by and responds to pandemics, natural disasters, and human-made crises. Previous studies suggest the COVID-19 pandemic yielded uneven impacts across...
Citations
... Environmental hazards in the transportation logistics aspect of the agro-food supply chain stem from issues such as heightened carbon emissions, energy usage, and ineffective distribution networks (Galati et al., 2023;Joshi and Sharma, 2022;Peterson et al., 2023). The use of traditional transportation techniques in agro-food supply chains leads to increased environmental effects, namely in terms of food miles and carbon footprint (Galati et al., 2023). ...
... The Consumer Price Index for food at home also surged, climbing by 3.5 percent annually in 2020 and 2021-substantially above the historical average (McLaughlin et al., 2022). This crisis caused a reduction in the food purchasing power of consumers and decreased farmers' income (Gortázar and de la Fuente, 2020;Lioutas and Charatsari, 2021;Peterson et al., 2023). Moreover, driven by uncertainty and fear, the early pandemic panic-buying created an unprecedented surge in demand (Weersink et al., 2020). ...
Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic caused mainstream food supply chain disruptions, increased food security concerns, and impacted agri-food production and distribution systems. Short food supply chains provided consumers with an alternative method to acquire food outside conventional food supply chains. In this paper, innovation was seen as a solution to external challenges or problems in global food supply chains during a pandemic crisis. The solution was analyzed in the context of the United States and changes in the consumers’ behavior and purchasing patterns in the direction of more accepting short supply chains, which led to the successful overcoming of crisis or adaptation of consumers to crisis circumstances.
Methods
The Diffusion of Innovations was selected as the theoretical framework. Data were collected from 1,002 American adults from July 13 to August 18, 2021, through an online survey.
Results and discussion
Results showed that consumers with higher educational attainment and financial status, from non-rural areas, and with more conservative viewpoints had higher innovation adoption levels, and they were more likely to embrace short food supply chains as an alternative during disruptions to conventional supply chains. Recommendations provide strategies to increase the use of short supply chains during the crisis to better meet the needs of consumers in the food system and improve marketing and communication efforts. Marketing and communication initiatives should engage these food innovators as opinion leaders to increase the adoption of short food supply chains to stabilize food supply in preparation for future crises.
... Furthermore, the risk spillovers from the US to China also rely heavily on supply-side shocks. Production and supply chain shortages due to blockades, travel restrictions, and quarantines after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic have reduced the availability of food [79][80][81]. This exacerbates the fluctuations and risk spillovers in these two countries' markets. ...
The linkages between the US and China, the world’s two major agricultural powers, have brought great uncertainty to the global food markets. Inspired by these, this paper examines the extreme risk spillovers between US and Chinese agricultural futures markets during significant crises. We use a copula-conditional value at risk (CoVaR) model with Markov-switching regimes to capture the tail dependence in their pair markets. The study covers the period from January 2006 to December 2022 and identifies two distinct dependence regimes (stable and crisis periods). Moreover, we find significant and asymmetric upside/downside extreme risk spillovers between the US and Chinese markets, which are highly volatile in crises. Additionally, the impact of international capital flows (the financial channel) on risk spillovers is particularly pronounced during the global financial crisis. During the period of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine 2022 war, the impact of supply chain disruptions (the non-financial channel) is highlighted. Our findings provide a theoretical reference for monitoring the co-movements in agricultural futures markets and practical insights for managing investment portfolios and enhancing food market stability during crises.
... [13][14][15] The Coronavirus pandemic reminded the world of the global interconnectedness of its food supply, [16] and that not only those previously deemed geographically vulnerable were affected. [17,18] Increasing frequency of extreme weather events places undue stress on global food systems, thereby impacting human food security [19] and mental health, [13,14] with the term 'solastalgia' coined to refer to the specific mental distress caused by environmental degradation and climate change. [20] Solastalgia has become increasingly prevalent in regions experiencing adverse weather events, and the enduring effects of warming, flooding, and drought have been shown to have traumatic effects on mental health, particularly where there is a lack of support or dedicated adaptation strategies. ...
BACKGROUND
The global impact of climate change ranges from extreme heat and poor air quality, to extreme weather events that endanger entire ecosystems and our way of life. Increasing climate events place undue stress on communities, both indirectly via their impact on food security, as well as increasing ecoanxiety. Ubiquitous digital devices have the potential to connect community members to effectively monitor existing and emerging climate-related crises due to their ability to enable rapid response, instant communication, and knowledge sharing.
OBJECTIVE
This scoping review aims to identify digital apps used to capture climate change impacts on both food security and mental health to inform necessary development of digital climate change initiatives.
METHODS
The search strategy included review of PubMed and Web of Science databases, as well as manual grey literature searches on Google Scholar and relevant organizational (i.e., governmental, non-profit) websites to identify articles and reports published over the past decade (January 2012 to July 2023). Three separate searches were conducted to identify apps focused on climate change and: 1) food security; 2) mental health; 3) food security and mental health. Initial screening was conducted of article titles and abstracts for inclusion of key search terms, i.e., digital platforms, applications, or tools. Articles focused on climate change impacts on wildlife or agriculture (i.e., not on human food security) were excluded. Full-text screening was conducted by two reviewers to generate a final list for data abstraction to a summary table.
RESULTS
A total of 14 digital apps were shortlisted, including 8 articles and 6 applications found through grey literature searches. A total of 7 apps focused on climate change and food security, while 7 focused on climate change and mental health. No platforms examined the intersection of climate change, food security, and mental health. The final shortlist included studies conducted across three continents: Europe (n=3), Africa (n=1), Asia (n=1), with three studies not reporting the geographic region. Several apps were designed to enable user-user communication (n=5), build a knowledge database (n=5), collect and analyze data to generate insights (n = 3), and/or serve as educational tools (n=2).
CONCLUSIONS
While some apps focused on food security or mental health, there were no apps identified which took a holistic approach to assessing food systems and health outcomes associated with experiences of climate change. Given the frequency of adverse climate change-related events globally, there is an urgent need for work focused on minimizing food insecurity and mental distress. By harnessing the power of digital apps, we can empower communities to effectively respond to and navigate climate change impacts on both food security and mental health.
Background
The global impact of climate change ranges from intense heatwaves to extreme weather events that endanger entire ecosystems and people’s way of life. Adverse climate change events place undue stress on food and health systems, with consequences for human food security and mental health status. Ubiquitous digital devices, such as smartphones, have the potential to manage existing and emerging climate-related crises, given their ability to enable rapid response, instant communication, and knowledge sharing.
Objective
This scoping review aimed to identify digital apps being used to capture or address climate change impacts on food security and mental health to inform the development of a digital citizen science initiative.
Methods
A scoping review was conducted using 3 peer-reviewed databases (PubMed, IEEE Xplore, and Web of Science) and manual gray literature searches of relevant organizational (ie, governmental and nonprofit) websites to identify articles and reports published between January 2012 and July 2023. Three separate searches were conducted in each database to identify digital apps focused on climate change and (1) food security, (2) mental health, and (3) food security and mental health. Two reviewers conducted initial screening, with a third reviewer resolving any discrepancies. Articles focused on climate change impacts on wildlife or agriculture (ie, not human food security) were excluded. Full-text screening was conducted for shortlisted articles, and a final data abstraction table was generated, summarizing key app features, contextual factors, and participant involvement.
Results
From the 656 records screened, 14 digital apps met the inclusion criteria. The food security apps (n=7, 50%) aimed to capture traditional knowledge to preserve food systems, conduct food security assessments, and aid users in decreasing food insecurity risk. The mental health apps (n=7, 50%) assessed climate change–related stress and provided users with coping strategies following adverse weather events. No digital apps examined the intersection of climate change, food security, and mental health. Key app features included user-to-user communication (n=5, 36%), knowledge databases (n=5, 36%), data collection and analysis (n=3, 21%), gamification (n=1, 7%), and educational resources (n=2, 14%) to address climate change impacts on food security or mental health. In total, 3 approaches to participant involvement were used across studies, including contributory (n=1, 7%), collaborative (n=1, 7%), and cocreative (n=1, 7%) approaches, to ensure the relevance and use of digital apps.
Conclusions
Most digital apps identified provided a service to citizens to either prevent adverse climate change–related health impacts or manage these effects following an acute event or a natural disaster. The capacity of ubiquitous digital tools to enable near real-time communication, the involvement of various stakeholder groups, and their ability to share relevant educational resources in a timely manner are important for developing tailored climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies across jurisdictions.
Are diversified firms more resilient to negative market shocks than specialized firms? We answer this question in the context of the COVID‐19 pandemic by analyzing data from small‐ and medium‐sized firms in the U.S. agrifood supply chain. We first develop revenue‐based measures of firms' vertical (across supply‐chain segment) and horizontal (within supply‐chain segment) diversification. We then compare post pandemic outcomes of more diversified and less diversified firms using several inverse‐probability weighting techniques. We find that vertical diversification reduces firms' resilience, whereas horizontal diversification increases firms' resilience.
