Abstract for: Regional food systems infrastructure: what are the beneficial tipping points?

This particular study is one off-shoot of a multi-disciplinary research collaboration that seeks to answer the question: what is a successful foodshed? Here we aim to begin understanding (though causal loop modelling) and quantifying (through more advanced simulation) what it would take to move a food system towards more local consumption, and specifically identifying the existence of beneficial tipping points accessed through infrastructure capacity building. We are particularly interested in the impact of investment into physical and financial food system infrastructure - operationalized through public policy incentives and regulations - on a region’s ability to produce, process, warehouse, distribute and retail food.