Food systems resilience through dialogue

Localizing a food systems approach in pandemic response

Abstract

Community and international development practitioners are increasingly adopting a food systems approach to research, planning, and intervention. This paper examines such an approach as part of the COVID-19 response of the Food Systems Dialogues (FSDs), a global effort facilitating multistakeholder interchange to build support for food systems transformations. The FSDs’ pandemic response involved redesigning the in-person global dialogue process for online delivery in localized settings. This paper documents how the online FSDs in New York’s Hudson Valley allowed local systems actors to share their experience mid-shock, as the system responded to the pandemic, and revealed FSDs’ ability to quickly adopt a systems orientation and thus take the first steps toward transforming food systems. It also highlights where new research is needed in food systems approaches to development.