1084: Building Resilient Food Systems: Why States Must Plan for the Next Disruption

JOHN SHEEHAN: 
This is Public Health Review Morning Edition for Wednesday, March 11, 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, it’s 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 kinds 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 or  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.

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This has been Public Health Review Morning Edition. I'm John Sheehan for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.