AI for Sustainable Food Systems
Food Systems and the Sustainability Challenge
The transition toward sustainable food systems and dietary choices is characterized by reduced environmental impact, nutritional adequacy, and economic viability and, therefore, is not only a technological challenge. It involves complex challenges between technological and digital communication infrastructures, producers and consumers, individual behavior and societal norms, as well as markets, policies and governance. These interdependencies can be understood through the paradigm of cyber-physical-human systems (CPHS), i.e., systems that integrate three elements: the cyber, the physical, and the human.
A CPHS framework can help us understand the dynamics across different interconnecting layers in the context of, for instance, sustainable diet transitions. In particular, social networks shape human behavior, and tracking these group patterns can help us design effective AI-based control policies. Such policies can then be implemented by policymakers to influence individual human decision-making within the social network. However, these strategies also need to account for physical network infrastructures, such as food transportation and distribution networks, as well as resource availability, economic viability, and nutritional intake – factors that may in turn also influence individual behaviors.
An AI-based CPHS perspective
The AI for Sustainable Food Systems Theme explores how AI-based methods can help us better understand and address these complex interactions. Key questions include how AI based methods can be used to:
- Model and predict complex decision-making behavior across interconnected actors in global food systems.
- Capture interactions between producers, consumers, policymakers, and technology providers in evolving food ecosystems.
- Support the design of interventions that promote sustainable diets, reduce environmental impact, and improve system resilience.
In short, as emerging food technologies, digitalization, and automation are changing the agro-food value chains, the theme explores how AI can connect and transform food systems to make them more sustainable, healthy, and resilient.
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