From Vulnerability to Resilience: Short Food Supply Chains in the Face of Global Shocks

An article by Amped and AMS Institute

Local food systems are often framed in terms of sustainability and community building. Yet, the current geopolitical and climate context adds another layer: food security. This is not just about ensuring that food is available, but also about ensuring it is affordable, accessible, and resilient. With global trade facing increasing disruptions, Short Food Supply Chains  (SFSC) can become part of the answer.

In this article, two of our EU4Advice partners examine the role local food supply systems can play in ensuring food security for cities. Amped is active in urban-rural innovation and the EU4Advice Living Lab manager for Central Europe, and the AMS Institute specialises in metropolitan challenges and Living Labs.

Challenges

Today, food systems face various challenges, including export bans, political instability, disruption of global trade flows, and protectionist policies that limit imports.

The economic challenges vary widely. Fertilisers’ dependence on gas imports in Europe has exposed supply chain vulnerabilities, leading to an increase in crop failures and market imbalances due to the effects of climate change. Market consolidation concentrates power in dominant retailers, marginalising small producers. SFSC are promising, but its price segment often serves higher-income consumers.

The ecological challenges include soil degradation, loss of nutrients and biodiversity, which undermines the resource base of local agricultural dependencies. ‘Locally produced’ does not automatically mean that carbon emissions are reduced: in the Netherlands, for instance, non-renewable energy is used to keep greenhouses warm in winter, making some local products have higher emissions compared to products imported from warmer areas. 

As we have learned from the EU4Advice project, governance and advisory gaps and challenges persist; many farmers lack access to the expertise and coordinated networks essential for navigating these powerful and dynamic changes. Within this context, short food supply chains provide a foundation for addressing economic volatility, ecological fragility, and governance fragmentation. Strengthening the advisory in SFSC can bridge these gaps. SFSC could act as anchors for resilience.

Before the Second World War, the Dutch food system was also geared towards export. Following the outbreak of the Second World War, the Dutch transformed their export-oriented food system into a local food network within three months. After the Second World War, Sicco Mansholt, the Dutch minister of Agriculture, picked up where the Netherlands had left off and, under the mantra “never hungry again”, scaled up the food system.  

“The current challenges again call for radical change, with our landscape and farmers serving the community. Short food supply chains have the potential to bring about significant steps in food security and access. I am keen to reinforce this narrative and work together to build a safe environment, just as the Defence Line of Amsterdam and the Dutch Water Line were created in the past. By harnessing the power of nature and working together, we can achieve this. History repeats itself.” – HRH Prince Carlos de Bourbon de Parme (2021) 

Role of SFSCs in Food Security

AMPED views SFSC not simply as a niche alternative, but as a necessary complement and counterbalance to the dominant industrial food system. By shortening geographical and social distances between producers and consumers, SFSC can foster trust, transparency and shared value. They have the potential to improve farmers’ incomes, as fewer intermediaries are involved, and can also strengthen community cohesion, playing a vital role in food security. While scaling SFSCs sustainably involves challenges, such as maintaining local identity and competitiveness while achieving logistical efficiency, AMPED sees SFSC having a key role in economic resilience and ecological stewardship, particularly when aligned with regenerative agriculture and circular local economies. Considering the increased energy and fertilizer prices, driven by dependence on gas imports, regenerative agriculture becomes even more relevant.

In general, SFSC could function as a redundancy mechanism when global supply chains fail, safeguarding a baseline supply of fresh and perishable food. They can support local communities in developing storage, distribution and production capacities, which are critical during crises. However, for SFSC to contribute meaningfully to food security, it must evolve beyond serving predominantly higher-income consumers, ensuring affordability and accessibility, and avoiding the risk of remaining a premium niche market.

Practical experiences or examples

History shows that local food production can be scaled rapidly in times of crisis. During World War II, food gardens in Amsterdam and Berlin provided vital calories when imports were disrupted. More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic triggered shortages in supermarkets and a boom in direct-to-consumer delivery by SFSC, urban gardening, and rooftop or peri-urban farming. These responses demonstrate that, when needed, communities can mobilise production and distribution quickly, but they also highlight persistent challenges of affordability, access, and sustaining momentum once the crisis passes.

Similarly, an EIT Cross-KIC pilot project in the Netherlands (2021) demonstrated that, with the intelligent design of first- and last-mile food hubs and data-driven logistics, SFSC can scale to meet urban food demands without sacrificing its local or regional identity. Such initiatives exemplify how business innovation, combined with policy support and strong governance, can advance the SFSC movement, increasing producer revenue and citizen access to fresh, local foods. Lessons learned include the critical importance of multi-actor cooperation, robust digital infrastructure, and aligning market incentives with ecological and social sustainability goals. 

Reflections

To make short food supply chains a meaningful answer to the challenge of food security, they must be actively integrated into national and municipal resilience strategies. This involves shifting policy from passive recognition to active facilitation by removing regulatory barriers, incentivizing collaboration and embedding SFSC into public procurement and emergency planning. At the same time, investment is needed in urban and peri-urban farming infrastructure, cooperative logistics, and scalable storage systems that can serve communities during times of crisis. 

Training and advisory services should focus on system-wide innovation, equipping farmers and advisors to navigate technology, governance, and market dynamics. In this regard, EU4Advice plays a role by training SFSC advisors in some of these areas. Markets should evolve to ensure transparency, affordability and fair pricing, so that the true ecological and societal value is both captured by producers and recognized by consumers. In this, entrepreneurship skills are key, helping producers and other SFSC actors to develop viable business models, access funding, and adapt to changing market conditions.

Living Labs, as demonstrated in EU4Advice, offer a promising governance model for aligning diverse actors, experimenting with novel solutions, and accelerating innovation. Living Lab coordinators and advisors play a key role in connecting producers, consumers, and policymakers, turning fragmented efforts into coordinated strategies, funding and policies. Equally vital is a shift in mindset: stakeholders must begin to see themselves as part of a living ecosystem, where food, soil, health, and community wellbeing are deeply interconnected. Regenerative agriculture and healthy soils are not just ecological ideals; they are practical responses to rising input costs and energy dependencies, especially in contexts like the Netherlands, where fossil fuels are used to heat greenhouses. By restoring soil health and reducing reliance on synthetic inputs, SFSC can become more resilient and cost-effective.

Better evidence is also needed on the resilience performance of local versus imported food. This will help ensure that SFSCs deliver both sustainability and security benefits, and guide smarter policy and consumer choices.

History shows that transformation is possible. Today’s global challenges, such as wars, trade disruptions, rising input costs, and climate change, require a similar response. Even if SFSCs cannot replace global supply chains, they can provide redundant systems to cities and countries, a buffer that ensures communities have access to fresh, nutritious food when systems falter.

In the long term, resilient local food networks act as insurance against external shocks. With the right support, SFSCs can serve not just higher-income consumers, but entire communities, strengthening food sovereignty, ecological stewardship, and economic justice.

About Amped

Amped is embedded at the nexus of farmers, agribusiness, NGOs, research and education, and governments, we specialize in designing, orchestrating, and developing regional food systems with a systemic, gamified approach. Our connection to short food supply chains (SFSC) stems from this integrative role, where we see firsthand the economic, ecological, and political dynamics shaping local and regional food environments. Our entrepreneurial vantage point is committed to enabling resilient, regenerative, and socially just food networks that respond to the pressing challenges of today’s global and regional food systems. 

About AMS Institute

AMS Institute is an interdisciplinary research center focused on urban innovation. The institute was founded by the city of Amsterdam, in collaboration with TU Delft, Wageningen University, and MIT, to connect research to the urban challenges the Amsterdam metropolitan region is facing. The ecosystem addresses complex urban sustainability challenges by developing science-based solutions to make cities resilient, regenerative and just. It specifically focuses on developing innovative solutions for challenges in the six themes of urban mobility, energy, circularity, digitalization, food, and climate resilience by implementing Living Labs supporting ecosystem engagement and urban experimentation.