Challenges for future food systems: From the Green Revolution to food supply chains with a special focus on sustainability

TLDR

The global food system must feed a growing population while natural resources dwindle, a challenge historically addressed by the Green Revolution and later by food supply chains, with the current long food supply chain (LFSC) offering globalized benefits but also limitations. This review aims to evaluate the sustainability of the emerging short food supply chain (SFSC) across environmental, economic, and social dimensions to meet current environmental and consumer demands. The authors conduct a review tracing the evolution of food supply systems from the Green Revolution to modern supply chains to assess sustainability. The review finds that the long food supply chain (LFSC) cannot sustain the global population and imposes ecological, environmental, logistical, and nutritional pressures.

Abstract

Abstract Finding a food system to feed the growing worldwide population remains a challenge, especially in the current era, where natural resources are being dramatically depleted. From a historical point of view, the Green Revolution, together with biofortification and sustainable intensification, was established as a possible solution to counter hunger and malnutrition during the second half of the 20th century. As a solution, to overcome the limitations attributed to the Green Revolution, food supply chains were developed. The current food system, based on the long food supply chain (LFSC), is characterized by globalization, promoting several advantages for both producers and consumers. However, LFSC has been demonstrated to be unable to feed the global population and, furthermore, it generates negative ecological, environmental, logistical, and nutritional pressures. Thus, novel efficient food systems are required to respond to current environmental and consumers’ demands, as is the case of short food supply chain (SFSC). As a recently emerging food system, the evaluation of SFSC sustainability in terms of environmental, economic, and social assessment is yet to be determined. This review is focused on the evolution of food supply systems, starting from the Green Revolution to food supply chains, providing a significant perspective on sustainability.