What does it really mean for a food system to be resilient, and why does it matter for public health? In this episode, we hear from Elsie Moore, postdoctoral associate in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University, who breaks down the concept of food system resilience and why it goes far beyond simply maintaining food supply.
What does it really mean for a food system to be resilient, and why does it matter for public health? In this episode, we hear from Elsie Moore, postdoctoral associate in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University, who breaks down the concept of food system resilience and why it goes far beyond simply maintaining food supply. True resilience, she explains, means ensuring that food remains sufficient, appropriate, and accessible to all communities. Moore explores the complexity of modern food systems, from farms and distributors to government agencies and public health programs, and explains how shocks like hurricanes, supply chain breakdowns, workforce shortages, or rising food costs, can ripple across the system and impact population health. She also discusses how state-level food system resilience councils can help coordinate across sectors, institutionalize lessons learned from crises like COVID-19, and plan proactively for future challenges.
Food System Resilience: A Planning Guide for State Governments | ASTHO
Leadership Power Hour: Your Launchpad for Impact | ASTHO
JOHN SHEEHAN:
This is Public Health Review Morning Edition for Wednesday, March 11th, 2026. I'm John
Sheehan with news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. Today, what
does it really mean for a food system to be resilient and why does it matter for public health?
Elsie Moore, a postdoctoral associate in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell
University, explains the concept of food system resilience and why it goes far beyond simply
maintaining food supply.
ELSIE MOORE:
Yeah, so when I speak about food system resilience, I use a definition that is developed by
Tendall and colleagues, and they define food system resilience as the capacity over time of a
food system and its units at multiple levels to provide sufficient, appropriate, and accessible
food to all in the face of various and even unforeseen disturbances. And in short, what I really
think this is saying is how can we build food systems that are equitable and provide food
security before, during, and after a disruptive event? I also think there's a couple of important
components to this definition when we're thinking about the question of what is food system
resilience.
Well, first, we're talking about the resilience and capacity over time. This isn't a short-term
reaction. It's the sustained ability of the system to function under stress and given different
uncertainties.
I think the other piece about it is that food system resilience operates across multiple levels. It
includes farms, processors, distributors, public agencies, its local governments, state
governments, federal programs, and all of the relationships between them. So for states, I think
this multi-level coordination is really important because food system resilience sits at the
intersection of so many different actors and things.
I think the third piece when talking about food system resilience is that this is not about
maintaining food supply. It's about ensuring that food is sufficient and appropriate and
accessible to all. And this really positions equity as fundamental to food system resilience, that
the system is not resilient if it's only providing food to some communities and leaving others
disproportionately vulnerable to the disruptions of it.
The last piece maybe to mention about this, food system resilience is not simply bouncing back
after a crisis. It's about strengthening systems so that they're prepared for shocks in the future.
And these shocks can be acute, like a hurricane or a wildfire or a supply chain breakdown, but
they also can be chronic stressors, such as rising food costs or labor shortages, climate-related
pressures, or ongoing instabilities.
SHEEHAN:
And I think you touched on it there, just the complexity of what we consider the food system.
You know, it's not just the food in supermarkets or necessarily corner markets or farmers
markets. It's the programs that supply the food.
It's the trucks that get food to marketplaces. It's more than a supply of food. Can you talk more
about that complexity and how that kind of gets at why states need to have a framework when
considering resilience to shocks?
MOORE:
So I think you're exactly right that food system resilience is very much about complexities, and
it's the dynamic network of producers and distributors and public institutions, all of this
embedded within climate systems and economic systems and public health systems. But I think
when talking about kind of public health agencies, that food systems influence so many
determinants of health. They influence nutrition and chronic disease management and
emergency response capacity.
And these are core to public health agencies at state levels, at local levels, at federal levels. And
what we're seeing is that the disruptions from food systems or to food systems have really
immediate and downstream impacts on population health. That we can take a sudden hazard,
say like a hurricane, that disrupts the food supply chain.
We can also take those chronic stressors like workforce shortages, economic volatility, or
climate stressors. And when communities experience food insecurity because of a crisis, it often
impacts those who have food insecurities before the hardest and after. And so I think that it's
so important for states because food system disruptions aren't isolated events.
They have cascading impacts across multiple different systems, which is why intentional state-
level planning can be really important.
SHEEHAN:
Yeah. And one response or one option states have is to create a council, a food system
resilience council to consider impacts, to consider strategies. What advice would you give to an
agency that wants to enact such a council?
MOORE:
Yeah. So states really sit at a critical coordination point, as we've talked about between federal
programs, local programs, as well as all of the other food system actors within a system. And so
they're really uniquely positioned to align policies, funding, and planning across sectors.
And what we've found in some of our work is that connectivity is key and that actors need to
have coordination points with one another. And I think that's where the resilience councils or
similar other kind of networks can bring people together and formalize that connectivity. I think
it also offers an opportunity to kind of step back and think about resilience in a couple of
different questions.
For example, resilience of what? What parts of the state food system are wanting to be
strengthened? What are the hazards and the stressors that might be particularly relevant to a
location?
Is it certain types of extreme weather events that may be uniquely important to consider? I
think it also allows these councils to kind of think about resilience for what purpose? What is the
focus of this work?
Is it long-term transformation? Is it emergency response? Is it strengthening the system
overall? And I think kind of the last piece that these councils can really help to think about is resilience
for whom? Who's benefiting? Who's vulnerable?
How to make resources before, during, and after a crisis kind of more equitably shared within
the communities. So I think these councils just can help to formalize the connections, but they
can also institutionalize lessons learned. I think we saw from COVID-19 as a disruption to the
food system, we've seen numerous other weather disruptions that have impacted the food
system, that it can be difficult to sustain changes after the immediate crisis happens.
Staff turnover can occur. There can be shifting in priorities, funding challenges. So in order to
really make sure that lessons are continuing into the future, I think these councils offer a really
cool opportunity for that.
SHEEHAN:
Yeah, an opportunity to strengthen the food system overall and to maybe address some of
those food deserts that chronically are underserved by the current food system.
MOORE:
I think that's great. And I think sometimes it's helpful to think about an example. So if we have a
state food system that's going along operating at a certain steady level, it's producing some
foods, it's importing some foods, it's distributing across lots of different regions, it's supporting
public health nutrition programs.
So there's lots of functioning that's happening and there's challenges that already exist. But
then what we see is a disruption occurs. And this can change the overall functioning of the food
system.
There's then this period of emergency response that occurs. And over time, the system will
move towards recovery and maybe back to that prior state, or sometimes to a completely new
state. And what resilience or food system resilience is really, it allows an opportunity to look at
that entire trajectory and see how that could be done in a way that functions ultimately more
efficiently, more equitably.
But that state that's being returned to is one that is transformed into a better system.
SHEEHAN:
And can you give us a sense of the kinds of actors or agents that need to be involved in those
conversations and on the councils?
MOORE:
So I think it's hard because it's a little bit context specific when we're thinking about these
councils. And there's not necessarily one set of actors or starting place where it's necessarily
going to be best. I think what is important is to think about what are the existing actors within a
system and how can those be brought together to do this work a little bit more efficiently.
That food system resilience doesn't need to start from scratch. That it can build on the existing
work that is within a state and within a region. That being said, resilience, as we've talked
about, is very complex.
It intersects with a lot of different systems. And so cross-sector representation and
collaboration is really important. So this can be public health agencies, departments of
agriculture, emergency management, planning, sustainability, transportation.
I could go on for a while listing potential actors that should be involved in this work. But I think
what helps is to start with who's already connected, where are the gaps in those connections,
and how to better bring people together to the conversations.
SHEEHAN:
And finally, Elsie, can you give us a takeaway of what an agency or what an individual in an
agency and a state official should consider when beginning this process in their own state?
MOORE:
I think if I could leave with one thing, it would be that food system resilience is fundamentally
about planning and prevention. That resilience is not just bouncing back after a disruption. It's
not something or a state that's achieved.
It's building the system's capacity to absorb shocks, to adapt to changing conditions, and to
even transform when necessary. And I think for states that planning matters, and prevention
matters, and investing in coordination and data systems and governance structures, that they
can help with that prevention. And it can reduce potentially the severity of disruptions and the
consequences for food security when those disruptions occur.
Connected to that, too, that prevention isn't always visible. But it's really one of the most
powerful tools I think we have as public health professionals to help to make the systems that
we're working within more equipped for current and future disruptions.
SHEEHAN:
Elsie Moore is a postdoctoral associate in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell
University. You can learn more about food system resilience from a new ASTHO report, Food
System Resilience, A Planning Guide for State Governments. The link is in the show notes.
Join ASTHO for part one of a new Lunch and Learn webinar series to explore recent Medicaid
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and coverage. As part of ASTHO's Policy Institute, this webinar will highlight key Medicaid policy
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While focused on STI prevention, this webinar is applicable to many other areas of public health
and open to anyone who would like to learn about the recent changes to Medicaid. You can find
more at the link in the show notes.
In the first session of a five-part series, Leadership Power
Hour, your launchpad for impact, attendees will explore frameworks for decision making and
strategies for engaging with teams, communicating with clarity, and prioritizing competing
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Learn key techniques for articulating decisions that build trust and drive action. Register for the
series now at the link in the show notes. This has been Public Health Review Morning Edition.
I'm John Sheehan for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
