Assessment of the Resilience of the Organic Food System
¹Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, Faculty of Economics and
Social Development, Institute of Economics and Finance, 18 Svetes Str., LV-3001 Jelgava, Latvia
²Institute of Agricultural Resources and Economics, 14 Struktoru Str., LV-1039 Riga, Latvia
*Correspondence: lauma.zihare@arei.lv
Abstract:
The organic food system is a component of sustainable food systems, which contributes to achieving the goals of the Farm to Fork strategy. The current statistical data reveal the first indications of failing to achieve strategic goal 9 of the CAP Strategic Plan for 2023–2027 and the goal of the Farm to Fork strategy in Latvia. This creates a need for a comprehensive assessment of the organic food system. The present research aims to identify the need to increase the resilience of the organic food system in Latvia. One of the decision analysis methods – SWOT analysis – was employed to comprehensively assess the organic food system. It was concluded that in order to increase the resilience of the organic food system in Latvia, it is primarily necessary to stimulate the demand for organic food by the public catering industry through GPP (green public procurement) procedures. An equally important need is to stimulate the supply of organic food (to contribute to both the transition to organic farming and the resilience of current economic operators in the organic farming scheme, as well as to foster organic processing). To mitigate the threats, policy makers need to review support rates applicable to organic farming, as well as promote knowledge transfer between all food supply chain actors.
Key words:
organic farming, organic food system, sustainability, sustainable food system, SWOT