Defining a Conceptual Model for Market Mechanisms in Food Supply Chains, and Parameterizing Price Functions for Coffee, Wheat, Corn, Soybeans, and Beef

The contribution of the study presented in this paper is twofold. Firstly, to add to the present body of knowledge of food supply and demand model dynamics and the associated economics, based on system analysis. It describes a new approach for dealing with price mechanisms in models based on causal links and dynamic feedbacks. It has been applied to some main global food commodities, but has also been used for metals and materials in a parallel study. The price mechanism is described in a way to be useful for other modelers dealing with price mechanism, and it enables modelers to make dynamic price endogenous in models. Secondly, it presents price function curves for different food commodities, parameterizing a fundamental property of the commodity trade

Applying System Analysis and System Dynamics Modelling In Complex Research Projects - The Case Of VALUMICS

VALUMICS is a Horizon 2020 project funded by the European Commission (2017-2021). The project structure is highly integrated and transdisciplinary, building on the expertise of over 30 specialists in various fields of research including knowledge integration through systems analysis and system dynamics modelling, food science, supply chain management, life cycle assessment, logistics, economics and social science. The aim of the project is to analyze the dynamics of food supply systems using a structural analysis including system analysis and perform system simulations using system dynamics. The VALUMICS research approach and the project design are explained and it is justified why system analysis is needed to obtain an understanding of the complex connections and interactions of the distinct parts of food systems. Patterns will be recognized and thus causes and effects of complex relations within the selected food supply system and networks will be identified. This understanding of the functioning of the system can in turn be used to identify policy interventions

System Dynamics Modelling and System Analysis Applied in Complex Research Projects - the Case of VALUMICS

VALUMICS is a Horizon 2020 project funded by the European Commission (2017-2021). The project structure is highly integrated and transdisciplinary, building on the expertise of over 30 specialists in various fields of research including knowledge integration through systems analysis and system dynamics modelling, food science, supply chain management, life cycle assessment, logistics, economics and social science. The aim of the project is to analyze the dynamics of food supply- and value chain systems using a structural analysis including system analysis and perform system simulations using system dynamics. The VALUMICS research approach and the project design are explained and it is justified why system analysis is needed to obtain an understanding of the complex connections and interactions of the distinct parts of food systems. Patterns will be recognized and thus causes and effects of complex relations within the selected food supply system and networks will be identified. This understanding of the functioning of the system can in turn be used to identify policy interventions

Modeling of Integrated Supply-, Value- and Decision Chains within Food Systems

This paper presents a work in progress on the development of a mental model of a food system using system analysis. The aim is to be able to use this model to create a mathematical simulation model that can be used to identify policy intervention opportunities, specifically focusing on the resilience, integrity and sustainability of food supply networks. The traditional view of food systems as supply chains with a downstream physical flow of products is extended to include the associated upstream flow of money and the decision chains that link these flows. Central to this work is the idea that supply systems are driven by profit and regulated by market dynamics and that these factors generate the underlying feedback structure of the system. Studying the structure of such systems as integrated supply-, value- and decision chains has underscored their complexity and the need for further, more food system specific research

The value of Group Model Building: A stakeholder perspective

Stakeholder Group Model-Building (GMB) is often used as an approach to form a model in system dynamics (SD) and increasingly also to support strategic decisions in organizations. In this study, grounded theory approach is used to study how 8 participants in GMB experienced the process and to increase understanding of the value of the method. A number of strategies were coded and analyzed and a theoretical model was developed describing: 1) the causal conditions that underlay the development of value adding strategies, 2) phenomena that arose from these causal conditions, 3) the context that influenced strategy development, 4) intervening conditions that influenced strategy development, 5) value adding strategies, and 6) the consequences of these strategies. Subcategories of each component were identified and are illustrated and implications for GMB projects are addressed. A discussion section is presented based on the results and the authors experience of stakeholder GMB workshops

How large is the global population when limited by long term sustainable global metal-, energy-and phosphate supply ?

The WORLD7 model was used to make an assessment for the sustainable metal usage and the resources available within the planetary limits to human society, in order to estimate demands on recycling and maximum metal consumption per capita for different metals. The metals were selected for their importance in society. The calculations of critical metal use show that we have substantial metal usage above the sustainable rates, needing a reduction in net use of more than 95% for many metals. Alternatively, the issue was turned around, asking, if this is how much metals that is available, how many people for how long can we support with it? A sustainability gap can be determined, alternatively, that the global population needs to come down in size to somewhere between 1.5-2 billion people, combined with improved recycling efficiencies. How a global population contraction can take place is not discussed

Applying System Analysis and System Dynamics Modelling In Complex Research Projects - The Case Of VALUMICS

VALUMICS is a Horizon 2020 project funded by the European Commission (2017-2021). The project structure is highly integrated and transdisciplinary, building on the expertise of over 30 specialists in various fields of research including knowledge integration through systems analysis and system dynamics modelling, food science, supply chain management, life cycle assessment, logistics, economics and social science. The aim of the project is to analyze the dynamics of food supply systems using a structural analysis including system analysis and perform system simulations using system dynamics. The VALUMICS research approach and the project design are explained and it is justified why system analysis is needed to obtain an understanding of the complex connections and interactions of the distinct parts of food systems. Patterns will be recognized and thus causes and effects of complex relations within the selected food supply system and networks will be identified. This understanding of the functioning of the system can in turn be used to identify policy interventions

The WORLD6 Integrated System Dynamics Model: Examples of Results from Simulations

The WORLD6 model is a fully integrated dynamic world systems model. It includes a biophysical global economic model, based on first principles of physics and thermodynamics, forcing it to be fully consistent with the underlying mass- and energy balances. The WORLD6 model first creates value from extraction of natural resources, input of human labour, the efficiency effect of mechanization and automation, the effect of innovation and their use in manufacturing of goods and services, and the secondly does monetization through market mechanisms and debt financing. The model includes 7 different capital stocks for: (1) industrial resource extraction, (2) industrial manufacture, (3) social service capital, (4) agricultural capital for land use and food production, (5) military capital, (6) speculative capital tied up in derivatives, real estate, consumer credits, (7) criminal or illegal capital. There are 3 different debt pools; (1) general, (2) speculative and (3) pensions. These are all linked through a number of feedbacks in the system to resource extraction, energy production, population dynamics, food production and phosphorus extraction, manufacture of consumer goods and services. The WORLD6 model connects to environmental pollution with feedbacks and inputs to human health and climate change inside the model. The model includes money flows, stocks as well as debt dynamics and how this is connected to the capital base and the governance. The WORLD6 model has earlier been extensively tested on natural resource extraction rates, resource ore grades, supply volumes and market price for resources with very good success. The WORLD6 model system was tested in its economic aspects against observed GDP for the period 1850 to 2015 and GDP per capita, commodity prices, extraction rates and resource supply rates with good success. These results were obtained from first principles only and without calibrating the model to any type of data time-series