Resilience, as an objective system, is concerned with maintaining the intended function of a system during normal times as well as under stress and shocks. A food system’s function of providing food to households and individual consumers can persist with the help of different components and capabilities that are permanent fixtures or that take effect when they are needed. A portfolio to enhance the resilience of social functions can include strategies targeting physical infrastructure, policies, mutual agreements, and communication channels, and can reside internal or external to the interest system that provides the functions of. We propose Resilience-by-Design (RbD) and Resilience-by-Intervention (RbI) as a useful framework to help conceptualize the wide range of potential corrective actions that may comprise a comprehensive and cost-effective resilience strategy24,25.
A system possessing RbD can maintain and recover its critical functions autonomously. As an approach, RbD identifies elements that can be implemented within the system to minimize the degradation of critical functions under stressors and shocks, and facilitate rapid recovery if function is lost. In food supply chains, production and transportation networks should be organized in such a way as to ensure self-sufficiency, which may aid in overcoming negative of disruptions. RbI, by contrast, utilizes resources that are external to the system to facilitate the persistence and recovery of critical functions. RbI strategies can take effect when the system cannot sustain critical functions on its own; They can act as emergency stop-gap measures to assist with the delivery of critical functions and allow the system to recover and/or actively support recovery.
In food supply chains, RbD strategies may include the involvement of multiple logistics networks or retailers that are capable of performing the same function (ie, adding redundancy into the supply chain), back-up suppliers, adaptable feedstock capabilities, local food production, or re-allocation of food. RBI strategies may include establishing emergency government subsidies to producers (eg, farm subsidies) or consumers, (eg, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), government stockpiles, or mandatory nutritional guidelines for school lunch programs. Ideally, RbI strategies are developed and arranged prior to a disruption so they can take effect rapidly. Developing a portfolio of appropriate RbD and RbI corrective actions requires resilience analytics to strategize implementation and critically consider tradeoffs, such as where efficiencies can be sacrificed for the sake of enhancing resilience. Having both RbD and RbI in the supply chain management toolbox facilitates the balance of governance, resources, and priorities for all stakeholders. In so doing, RbD and RbI help to frame a systems approach to ensuring supply chains maintain optimal performance (eg, food security) despite disruptions.
On Martha’s Vineyard, the Vineyard Food Equity Network has employed RbD strategies, and has been a key player in some internal capacity for resilience during the pandemic. For example, the lead member of the network, Island Grown Initiative, doubled their local agricultural production from the beginning of the pandemic and saved close to 23 tons of food from spoilage at MV supermarkets and commercial farms20. Despite initial challenges with expanding distribution, their efforts effectively diversified the fresh produce supply chain, minimized reliance on the off-Island transportation links, and restructured the waste management portion of the supply chain. This highly local experience exemplifies that the use of different strategies to enhance resilience come with different challenges; The Island Grown Initiative was able to quickly adapt its production capacity, but the connections necessary for distribution required more coordination and resources, limiting speed of response.
In terms of RbI, a primary strategy on MV during the pandemic has been in the form of state infrastructure grants made possible by the Food Security Infrastructure Grant Program. Island Food Pantry used the funding to buy a refrigerated van to enable a new food delivery service21. Such ad hoc measures have been essential on MV during the pandemic and indicate the need for resilience that seeks an optimal combination of RbD and RbI measures to prevent food insecurity under future scenarios and avoid the costs that accompany purely ad hoc measures.
While the island developed many measures to ensure food security for its general population and the Tribal community since the onset of the pandemic, pre-existing weak points exposed in its food system could be improved upon in the future with RbD and RbI measures. For instance, shelves were often bare at the Stop & Shop grocery stores, and due to staff shortages and COVID outbreaks, one of the two Cronig’s Market locations was forced to shut down19. This further concentrated the remaining grocery stores on the east side of the island, increasing the travel burden for west island Tribal community members to access food. Additionally, typical government RbI measures like food subsidies are difficult for many non-English speaking, food insecure island residents to navigate, and act as a significant deterrent to the exact population of these target programs21. Incorporating additional outreach (RbI) and internal community networks (RbD) could help to enhance this ineffective RbI measure. Other island-based RbD efforts can come from local food production, a movement that has been propelled by the Food Equity Network. Involving a variety of different farms, businesses, and families to develop a transparent local food production system will allow residents to rely less on imports from the fragile supply chain to the island.