Regional food system resilience in Ireland: a 'Potato Effect'

Fruit and vegetables (F&V) are nutritionally important for human health, and their perishability means that they are particularly vulnerable to supply chain delays. Ireland is a net importer of F&V. Brexit potentially heightens food system vulnerabilities for Ireland. Mapping is used to visualize the diversity of Ireland's F&V supply across four regions of Europe and the UK. It appears that Ireland is highly reliant on the UK for F&V imports. However, when fresh potato imports, which contribute a small portion of Ireland's potato consumption, are excluded from the analysis, Western Europe is more important for vegetable imports, and a significant supplier of other fresh food types. Options to build local food system resilience are discussed for Ireland. A graphical representation is a useful approach to investigate the impact of food system vulnerabilities and shocks such as Brexit.