Food systems type

Definition

The Food Systems Dashboard created a typology that characterizes countries into one of five food systems types: rural and traditional; informal and expanding; emerging and diversifying; modernizing and formalizing; and industrial and consolidated.

Relevance

The complexity of food systems creates a challenge in identifying policy actions that are needed to improve human and planetary health outcomes. The food systems typology is a useful classification tool to identify similarities and differences among food systems, while reducing this analytical complexity.