A Systems Thinking Approach to Achieve Food Security Through Agricultural Market Intelligence

The current Agricultural Market Intelligence (AMI) efforts focus market price predictions to assist agrifood supply chain (ASC) stakeholders in making informed decisions. These methods lack the holistic view necessary to capture the dynamics of the agriculture domain. A systems thinking approach can capture such dynamics, generate valuable AMI and use feedback loops to ensure food security. This paper aims to explore how food security can be achieved through AMI, following a systems thinking approach. We propose four essential conditions for achieving food security: balancing supply and demand, integrating all ASC stakeholders, creating efficient supply chains through market mechanisms, and ensuring ASC ecosystems can withstand long-term disruptions. We demonstrate this possibility through a real-world project called “AgriConnect”. The insights from this study can guide future innovations across supply chains to ensure food security.