Level: Global & Transboundary

Since the 1950s, agricultural and food systems have been more and more connected globally. Nowadays, we can speak of a global production system with international markets defining prices and directions of products and goods. We can see food, land and water systems all as assemblages of subsystems (i.e. components) which interact with each other, linking production, processing, distribution and consumption. Changes in one of the subsystems affect the others through interactions. This gives rise to ‘emerging behaviour’, i.e. behaviour that none of the subsystems contains individually, but occurs as a result of the interaction among the subsystems.

As everything is connected, steering the global production ecosystem towards a sustainable trajectory requires analysis at the global level and perhaps requires the redirection of finance, increased transparency and traceability in supply chains, and the participation of a multitude of players, including integrated ‘keystone actors’ such as multinational corporations. At the same time, results from a global analysis can be translated to tailor made solutions at smaller levels.