Interdisciplinary system and network perspectives in food and agricultural economics

Food systems and food networks have gained increased attention among agricultural and applied economists in recent years. This chapter presents a new topic that has not been included in previous Handbook chapters, aiming to provide a broad review of the research related to food systems and food networks to guide and motivate agricultural and applied economists new to this space in conducting research on these topics. Many of our examples come from local and regional food systems and food networks as they are both of wide interest globally, and because they represent a growing volume of expertise among researchers. It would be a daunting task attempting to include all literature in this domain given the complexity of research subjects by agricultural and applied economists and scholars from other fields. However, the frameworks and approaches we discuss can be applied to food systems and food networks at a variety of scales and in a variety of contexts. Unsurprisingly, definitions of food systems and food networks are not fully agreed upon by scholars. In this chapter, we begin with discussing various definitions of food systems and food networks; the types of research questions one might want to answer related to food systems and food networks; and the theories, frameworks, data, and methods used to study and answer these questions. This chapter provides examples of the interdisciplinary nature of this work including: (1) examinations of components of food systems versus food networks, (2) characteristics and interactions of actors in building and maintaining food systems and food networks, and (3) integrated systematic approaches to understanding and enhancing food systems and food networks to address societal problems. Our chapter concludes with a discussion of the opportunities and challenges we see for agricultural and applied economists in this field moving forward. Through this work, we hope to stimulate innovative approaches among agricultural and applied economists, working with other disciplines, to explore and analyze relationships, influences, and impacts of food systems and food networks to enhance social, economic, and environmental sustainability and equity.