UC Davis

A foodshed is a concept analogous to a watershed, describing the catchment of the sources of food for a region. As such, it portrays linkages ranging from local communities out to the global food system. Inefficiencies exist at all stages of the food supply chain, resulting in the challenges of inequitable access to healthy and safe food. Many of these inefficiencies are informational; for instance, food being wasted that could be donated to food banks were there communication of the need. These informational inefficiencies can be ameliorated by a stronger semantic characterization of the links between actors and resources in the food system, allowing for the development of smarter software technologies to facilitate interconnections. We discuss an iterative process to improve informatics frameworks for the foodshed by engaging with regional stakeholders to identify important issues and information needs. Key Words: food systems, ontologies, semantic web, smart foodsheds, stakeholder engagement.