Title: Investigating the sustainability of a food system by system dynamics approach

Authors: Alireza Amiri; Yahia Zare Mehrjerdi; Ammar Jalalimanesh; Ahmad Sadegheih

Addresses: Industrial Engineering, Yazd University, Yazd, 98195-741, Iran ' Faculty of Industrial Engineering, Yazd University, Yazd, 98195-741, Iran ' Iranian Research Institute for Information Science and Technology (IranDoc), Tehran, Iran ' Faculty of Industrial Engineering, Yazd University, Yazd, 98195-741, Iran

Abstract: Food is one of the essential human needs, from birth to death. The existence of sustainable systems that satisfy such requirements is always critical for the survival of the human race. This study investigates the sustainability of a food system using the system dynamics approach. The proposed model is applied to a food system in Iran. For this, the key factors affecting the production of wheat, the primary food resource in Iran, were analysed. Based on the history of these factors and related research works, causal loop diagrams were depicted. Then, the problem was simulated by drawing the flow diagram. After the model validation, several scenarios were proposed for sustainable wheat production. Reducing the use of chemical fertilisers and increasing the use of organic fertilisers, while in the short term, reduce the production, in a long time, by improving soil quality, bring about an increase in cropping sustainability and wheat production.

Keywords: food system; simulation; system dynamics; system sustainability; wheat production; causal loop diagram; sustainable food system; statistical analyses; Vensim software.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIEI.2020.111247

International Journal of Intelligent Engineering Informatics, 2020 Vol.8 No.3, pp.198 - 220

Received: 24 Nov 2019
Accepted: 03 Jun 2020

Published online: 16 Nov 2020 *

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