# Food System Digitalization as a Means to Promote Food and Nutrition Security in the Barents Region
## 1 Introduction  
The food system encompasses all different stages of food production, including harvesting, processing, distribution and storage. Pre-production and post-harvest processes within the food and agriculture sector have witnessed tremendous changes with the application of science and technology. The first industrial revolution of the early nineteenth century had a remarkable impact on agriculture and food processing. It has been labor intensive, and multinational companies have gained profits through value addition to local foods, which are often packaged, stored, and distributed over long distances [1]. The second industrial revolution witnessed mass production from manufacturing plants [2]. Science and technology have also brought about innovation with food products that respond to consumers' demands, leading to the third industrial revolution with machine intelligence, computers, and digitalization [3]. Currently, we live in an increasingly connected society that revolves around the internet, signaling the fourth industrial revolution [4]. The current fourth industrial revolution combines digital, physical and biological systems, and it will encourage local processing with less need for long distances, which can reduce the miles covered by food. Such a revolution can shift the balance towards local and distributed manufacturing in rural communities and sparsely populated regions, such as the Barents region. The Barents region comprises the northern parts of Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Northwest Russia. The Barents region within the Russian Federation extends geographically into the EuropeanArctic, but its socio-economic characteristics differ from those of the Nordic countries [5]. The region is not as homogeneous as the European High North (EHN), since it includes Northwest Russia. The traditional foods that are available in the Barents region include fish, potatoes, meat, and berries. Meat mainly consists of reindeer meat but it can also include cow and moose. In many communities of the Barents region, fish is deemed the second most important local food, for the women in some villages it can also be the most important [6]. Wild berries e.g., cloudberry (_Rubus chamaemorus_), bilberry (_Vaccinium myrtillus_), linguonberry (_Vaccinium viitis-idaea_), raspberry (_rubusidaeus_), cranberry (_Oxytoccus_) are widely collected and eaten, and could be available fresh or conserved all year during good seasons [7] (p. 40). In the family gardens of many communities in the region they grow potatoes, strawberries (_Fragari avesca_) and blackcurrants (_Ribes nigrum_), as well as some onions and root crops. Mushrooms and herbs are often picked from the forest and incorporated into meals. Animals such as moose (_Alces alces_), rabbit (_Oryctolagus cuniculus_), fowl (_Gallauserae_) and waterfowl (_Aix galericulata_) are not as important because of the low number of wild animals available [8] (p. 347). Dairy farming also exists to produce a wide range of dairy products including milk, cheese, yoghurt, butter and other fermented dairy products [6]. The processing of these foods, in terms of adding value to them, is mainly done by small and medium enterprises in the Barents region. There are some processed products from these traditional foods and herbs in the region. In Finnish Lapland, these include fresh and cold pressed juices made from crowdberries, linguonberries and bilberries. Extracts from herbs such as angelica, golden root (_rhoidola rosea_) and nettle are available in the Lapland market. There is also small-scale processing of snack bars from berries and chocolate, spruce sprout syrup and sauces, as well as smoked reindeer chips. When these foods are processed, they are better preserved and can be stored or distributed for longer periods of time. Currently, the value addition to traditional foods in the region can improve with digitalization that targets increased production, better harvesting methods, less waste, as well as better storage and distribution.