Integrating Digital Technologies into Sustainable Food Systems: Addressing Food Stability, Policy, and Nutritional Outcomes

Across the globe, the agricultural food system is facing unprecedented pressure. Climate change has increased the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, geopolitical conflicts have disrupted global supply chains, and economic fluctuations have directly impacted consumers' purchasing power. Against this backdrop, the vision of ensuring that all people have access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences and to lead an active and healthy life is facing unprecedented challenges. Particularly, the ability to always obtain food has become precarious due to the supply-side shocks in the agricultural food system and the fragility of the demand side. How to ensure the stability of food supply is an urgent topic to be addressed.Meanwhile, the digital technology revolution represented by artificial intelligence (AI), big data, the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, and 5G is penetrating every aspect of the agricultural food system with unprecedented depth and breadth. From precise sowing on the farm, AI pest and disease identification, intelligent water and fertilizer integrated management, to blockchain traceability in the post-harvest stage, smart warehousing and logistics, and nutrition and health consultation platforms at the consumer end, digital technology is reshaping the face of the agricultural food system. These technologies not only have the potential to enhance agricultural production efficiency, but more importantly, they can fundamentally improve the stability and resilience of the food system by enhancing transparency, traceability, and response speed of the system.The application of digital technology is not without challenges. Currently, issues such as the digital divide, data sovereignty and privacy security, technological ethics, the acceptance ability and inclusiveness of small farmers, and how to ensure that technological innovation truly serves sustainable development are all policy and economic topics that need to be deeply discussed. Especially from the perspective of food policy and economics, we need to carefully evaluate: to what extent, through what path, and under what cost-benefit analysis, can digital technological innovation truly promote the construction of a more stable, fairer, and more sustainable agricultural food system in a complex and changing world?This Research Topic aims to bring together cutting-edge research to explore how digital technology can act as a key variable to intervene and optimize the governance mechanism and market structure of the agricultural food system, thereby strengthening the stability guarantee of food security in a complex and changing world. We will particularly focus on research results that can connect technology with policy, link economic incentives with sustainable practices. This research topic clearly welcomes submissions related to SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), and other goals, and focuses on food insecurity in urban and rural areas, the impact of market forces on nutrition and health. To obtain more insights, we welcome articles discussing, but not limited to, the following themes: o How digital technology enhances the stability and resilience of the food systemo Blockchain technology-driven food traceability systems and consumer trusto Data governance, privacy security, and the ownership of agricultural datao The application of AI and big data in reducing food loss and wasteo Economic analysis of precision nutrition and personalized food recommendation systemso Analysis of the agricultural food market structure under the digital platform economyo Analysis of dietary nutrition structure under the support of the Interneto Cost-benefit analysis and business model innovation of digital agricultural serviceso Food environment transformation driven by digital technology and changes in consumer behavior. Topic editors: Ming Xu, Tianshu Quan, Zhaoyang Lu, Yang Shen Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/79968/integrating-digital-technologies-into-sustainable-food-systems-addressing-food-stability-policy-and-nutritional-outcomes