Leverage points to improve resilience in supply chains: civil food resilience and food sovereignty

Adverse impacts of various interrelated socio-environmental crises reveal food systems as increasingly vulnerable and call for action. To improve food system resilience, we review adaptations of agri-food supply chains and suggest leverage points for change. We distinguish shallow from deep leverage points. Shallow ones merely aim at recovering the established supply chain after a shock, whereas deep leverage lies in changing the design or intent of the system. Findings suggest that responses to COVID-19, which dominate the sample, are biased towards short-term recovery, and neither did justice to calls for “building back better” nor to the long-term impacts of relatively neglected causes of disturbance such as climate change, biodiversity decline, and economic crises. We outline contradictions in resilience discourse between the drive towards short-term system recovery and the need to address long-term stressors caused by an unsustainable food and economic system. Given the need for deep, systemic change, we advocate for civil food resilience and food sovereignty as frameworks for resilience research and food systems transformation. • Interrelated socio-environmental crises threaten resilience of the food system • Long-term resilience requires systemic transformations in the supply chain • Effective interventions and adaptations focus on “deep” systemic leverage points • Debates dominated by “shallow” responses to COVID-19 aimed at system recovery • Resilience research needs deep focus on civil food resilience and sovereignty