Interventions to provide food security are many, ranging from strategically leasing arable land from overseas Governments through to innovative approaches that seek increased levels of produce yield. The challenges and responses are not uniform and indeed are in many respects polarised, with those in resource-poor countries and some developing nations facing a lack of access to food and/or severe food shortages, right the way through to those in the West suffering increasingly higher levels of obesity (due to excessive over-consumption). The latter clearly represents an oversupply of food manifesting in overindulgence whereas the former is a product of food scarcity resulting ever too often in malnutrition or even starvation. The challenges around the safe and secure access to food as well as its production, supply and recovery are intimately connected with information, resources and policy and national/paranational political strategies; the effect of the macro- and meso-economic landscapes in terms of stability and access to funding; social attitudes to food, nutrition, well-being and food waste; technological innovations in agriculture; legal jurisdiction constraints (including tariffs); and food supply and sustainability within the broader climate change and environmental context. The presentation explores the use, applicability and relevance of strategic planning as a process and tool when applied to exploring food security challenges, in the context of existing research on food security and food waste in the food supply chain. The issues associated with robust and resilient food supply chains within a circular economy are increasingly being seen as supportive of creating enhanced levels of food security but it is argued that this is only sustainable when strategically planned as part of a cross-enterprise, information-rich and complex supply chain. The presentation will navigate through the multiple strategic, tactical and operational challenges from an enterprise perspective around food security and postulate food security as a puzzle, problem or mess.
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