Environmentally-Conscious Supply Chain Design in Support of Food Security

This paper seeks to design food supply chain structures that can provide food security for every person in the world while supporting long-term environmental sustainability. In particular, we provide alternatives to the current food supply chain structure and analyze their potential for providing food security, in terms of productive capacity and long-term environmental sustainability. Given the current world population and expected continued growth, our analysis suggests that environmentally-sustainable food supply chains would be most effectively supported by local and organic agriculture, while maintaining a parallel industrial agricultural system. This hybrid system would adopt environmentally-sustainable principles whenever possible, seeking to increase reliance on renewable inputs, reduce toxic outputs and maintain biodiversity.