Framework

Food systems are complex systems, characterized by multiple dynamic components linked through unidirectional pathways as well as feedback loops, including elements and processes that occur at multiple scales.

This figure depicts the drivers, components, and outcomes of food systems; though static in representation, the drivers are processes, and the components have feedback loops with each other and with the drivers and outcomes. Though not explicit within this figure, power dynamics shape interactions and outcomes throughout food systems—such as by shaping whose voice is heard in politics and leadership, and who is benefited or harmed by globalization and trade. Similarly implied is that this schematic reflects a single food system, but food systems exist at multiple scales and interact with one another.