<
https://theconversation.com/supermarket-shelves-were-empty-for-months-after-the-lismore-floods-heres-how-to-make-supply-chains-more-resilient-207982>
"From the outside, the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales seems idyllic.
Rainforests, mountains, beaches and Byron Bay. But the past few years have made
life harder for many who live there, with Black Summer bushfires, the COVID
pandemic and intense flooding.
These disasters have exposed a key vulnerability: food. While it’s often
assumed Australia’s strong agricultural sector means we are secure, these
successive disasters show the danger of this assumption.
Much of this region’s food is trucked in from cities and food grown in the
region transported out. The 2022 flood crisis damaged farms, cut off roads and
freight lines, and inundated cool storage facilities. This, in turn, led to
empty supermarket shelves. And not just for a day. In Lismore, they were empty
for weeks or up to four months for major supermarkets.
Our new research found that shortening supply chains will be vital to make
regions more resilient to these shocks – as well as drawing on community
efforts such as farmers’ markets."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
