Introduction

Food systems are vital for global food security, people’s well-being and long-term economic growth. Facing multiple shocks and stresses such as economic fluctuations, supply chain disruptions, resource constraints, extreme weather events and natural disasters, APEC economies recognize that strengthening food systems resilience is a priority for this region.

We offer these principles to advance innovation and digitalization, guided by the APEC Putrajaya Vision 2040 for an open, dynamic, resilient and peaceful Asia-Pacific community, and other existing APEC frameworks as appropriate, the Policy Partnership on Food Security, other relevant APEC fora and food security ministers.

We recognize that innovation and digitalization can make valuable contributions to enhance food systems resilience. By applying innovations, digital and emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), APEC economies can improve decision-making, connectivity, and responsiveness across agri-food systems. These efforts can help agri-food systems better anticipate, absorb, adapt to and recover from shocks and stresses, while supporting their efficiency and performance.

In pursuing innovation and digitalization, APEC economies recognize the importance of trusted and secure digital infrastructure and facilitation of data flows and interoperability, as appropriate, while ensuring effective and responsible data protection and privacy. We seek to foster robust, reliable, secure, and trusted digital systems, and support capacity building efforts to ensure agri-food systems resilience gains are effective, accessible and enduring.

Recognizing that there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach, we provide the following principles as options for APEC economies to focus their cooperative efforts to strengthen food systems resilience through innovation and digitalization.

Principle 1: Strengthen data-driven and science-based decision-making to improve foresight management and response capacity

Statement of Issue

Reliable, secure, and interoperable data as appropriate, underpinned by robust data protection practices, enabled by strong analytical capabilities and trusted cross-border data flows, are the foundation for identifying both challenges and opportunities, providing early warnings of shocks, assessing impacts and designing effective interventions and policy responses.

Key Actions

• Strengthen capacity building for data collection, situation monitoring, diagnostics, and analysis across agri-food systems, as appropriate, and facilitate trusted data sharing on voluntary and mutually agreed terms. Working with private sector, encourage the application of digital and emerging technologies, including for real-time monitoring of agricultural production systems, pests and diseases, supply chains, weather information and market dynamics.
• Develop digital and innovative prevention, detection, early warning and mitigation systems for disasters such as extreme weather events and pest and disease outbreaks. Use simulation models and scenario analysis for risk and challenge prediction to support forward-looking policy-making and timely response.
• Promote monitoring and early warning of the food security conditions, enhance food supply chain and critical infrastructure resilience. Enhance cooperation, as appropriate, to support market transparency, and the reliable supply of food, particularly during emergencies.

Principle 2: Promote application and integration of innovative technologies to support productivity and resilience across supply chains

Statement of Issue

Integrating technological innovations and digital solutions throughout agri-food value chains, as appropriate, can enhance productivity, biosecurity and resource use efficiency, prevent and reduce food loss and waste, strengthen food quality, safety and traceability, and support ongoing improvement of agri-food systems. Investing in research, development and extension will be critical to achieving this.

Key Actions

• Promote the development of crop, livestock and aquaculture varieties with enhanced tolerance to stresses. Scale up and promote the adoption of science-based, data-driven and precision agriculture practices, including for improved livestock and aquaculture systems, efficient irrigation, soil mapping and optimized agricultural input use to support productivity growth.
• Advance innovative and digital solutions for food quality and safety monitoring and storage management. Utilize technologies to improve how supply chain participants work together to support efficient transport, cold chain management and supply chain resilience. Encourage innovation in value-added processing and packaging to support food quality, safety and nutrition.
• Advance innovation and digitalization in paperless trade and e-certification to support the efficient cross-border movement of food and agricultural products to promote food security across APEC region. Explore opportunities to deliver innovative traceability tools and systems to achieve food safety, biosecurity and food security outcomes.
• Stimulate the research, development and adoption of innovative technologies for food upcycling, including converting food processing by-products and organic waste into feed, fertilizer, bioenergy and other valuable outputs, thereby contributing to improved productivity through the more efficient use of these resources.

Principle 3: Foster broad engagement and accessibility and advance innovation and expand adoption of emerging technologies

Statement of Issue

Actions to enhance food systems resilience should be available to everyone, including those that may face barriers to participation. These actions should be locally relevant and consistent with economies’ domestic contexts and priorities. These actions may include improving availability and access to digital and emerging technologies, and broadening digital connectivity to support multi-stakeholder engagement in agri-food systems.

Key Actions

• Encourage investment in digital infrastructure, including in underserved areas. Promote the benefits of utilizing digital and e-commerce platforms, logistics solutions, and community-based models, where appropriate, to help improve access to local, regional and global markets.
• Deliver training programs that build digital literacy and skills of all participants across agri-food systems. Support stakeholders to adopt and effectively use digital tools in their business operations.
• Adopt context-specific policies and digital solutions that are responsive to user needs and feasible to implement. Acknowledge the benefits of recognizing a range of diverse perspectives, including local and traditional knowledge as appropriate, into the design and promotion of digital technologies to improve outputs and accessibility.

Principle 4: Strengthen multi-stakeholder engagement and collaboration

Statement of Issue

Building resilient food systems requires effective partnerships, as appropriate, across public and private sectors, academia, financial institutions, industry, civil society, the technical community, producers and international organizations across the APEC region. This can improve the ability to deploy resources in a complementary way, address common concerns and share knowledge on voluntary and mutually agreed terms.

Key Actions

• Share experience on science- and evidence-based, forward-looking policy and streamlined regulatory frameworks for food security. Promote cooperation on digital systems, agricultural standards and food safety approaches, consistent with international standards.
• Create enabling environments for the responsible development, deployment and application of digital technologies and innovative products in the agri-food sector, with safeguards for privacy, security and intellectual property. Where appropriate, consider programs to attract private investment in digital innovation and infrastructure, including to assist in improving access to finance and markets for small-scale producers, MSMEs and start-ups.
• Utilize innovative and digital solutions to help administer financial, insurance and other risk management tools to support farmers, fishers, foresters, and livestock producers, thereby helping food systems better absorb and recover from shocks. Collaborate with multilateral development banks, regional risk pools, international organizations and other relevant partners to better deploy disaster risk financing solutions, as appropriate, to strengthen regional food system resilience.

Principle 5: Promote systems thinking for transformation towards a better future

Statement of Issue

The complex interactions across agri-food systems, the natural environment and socio-economic factors should be examined from systems-based approaches. Applying this integrated perspective can help to guide the transformation of food systems to improve efficiency, productivity, nutrition and health including through the targeted use of innovation and digital technologies.

Key Actions

• Support the adoption of innovative management approaches, such as precision agriculture, regenerative agriculture and circular systems, that improve the efficient use of land, water, inputs and other resources, while strengthening the natural resource base and long-term resilience of agri-food systems.
• Encourage efforts to diversify food production and supply across local, regional and global food systems. Invest in innovation, as appropriate including through the development of locally adapted crops, new crop varieties, and improved plant and animal genetics to enhance productivity, dietary diversity and nutrition outcomes.
• Leverage digital tools and innovative technologies to maintain and promote diversified production systems and market channels that enhance the capacity of agri-food systems to absorb shocks and strengthen adaptability.
• Advance the digital transformation of agri-food systems by enabling the workforce to adapt to and benefit from technological change. Use digital tools to raise awareness among producers, consumers and other stakeholders of innovative approaches that improve production, prevent and reduce food loss and waste, inform consumer choice, deliver positive nutrition outcomes, and ultimately support food systems resilience.