# Food System Digitalization as a Means to Promote Food and Nutrition Security in the Barents Region
## 3 Developing the Infrastructure for Food System Digitalization in the Barents Region  
Food system digitalization refers to the application of innovative technology to enhance harvesting, processing, distribution and storage operations along the agri-food value chain. The power of mechanization in the early nineteenth century, automation in the 1970s, and the growth of information and the internet in recent decades have had significant impacts on our day-to-day activities, including the food system. Since the current adoption of connected intelligence into the business and social fabrics is happening at an advanced speed, it will change the way we conduct business. The food business operations in the Barents region and its system will not be an exception as it develops novel food products from traditional foods. The food system has been distorted globally, mainly due to capitalism's drive for increasing profit. Some major worries for the global food system highlighted by United States climate researchers include absurd transnational lengths for supply chains, genetically modified organisms inserted into plant and animal deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), overuse of pesticides on mono-culture crops, common resources such as water privatized through legislation and patent restrictions on seeds [33]. All components of the food system are challenged to quickly adapt and keep pace with the evolution of technology, trying to evade the disruptive effects of digital Darwinism (a phenomenon where technology and society are evolving faster than businesses can naturally adapt). In doing so, it was anticipated by the World FoodSystem Centre that \"the dynamics of the whole food-value chain change, and unforeseen consequences enter the economic landscape through digitalisation\" [34]. In responding to these challenges, local food systems need to be revisited to ensure food safety and sustainability in the Barents region. Along the food and beverage supply chain, there are many involved processes, such as workers and touchpoints, which can make it difficult, not only to keep track of food but also to monitor its quality. Quality is of incredible importance in the food industry, as faulty or contaminated foods entering the market can be detrimental to human health [35]. Therefore, food must always remain traceable and safe, and this can be complex to guarantee within the food system with its many working cogs. Digitalization with accurate data on the process inputs and outputs will help to guarantee quality, safety and traceability. Food system digitalization will consider all the aspects of growing, harvesting, processing, storage and distribution of foods from the region in order to explore their potential in promoting human security. In the Barents region context, food system digitalization can help to transform the local economy by improving the supply of traditional values, increase the yield of natural products and create novel food products with health giving properties. With an improved local economy, the purchasing power of entrepreneurs will increase, leading to an improvement in food and human security in the region. Ultimately, this will result in better food sovereignty across the region as SMEs in the food sector make economic gains. In an anticipated future scenario, technological advances that are emerging from the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) will benefit the current food system in becoming greener and sustainable. Industry 4.0 harnesses uncertainties and, in their place, removes assumptions and risky forecasts, enabling a relevant level of actual knowledge and a newfound level of insight. The use of digital technologies, such as precision planting and irrigation techniques, will improve yields organically. \"The speed, efficiency, and sustainability of transport will improve radically. Mobile information technologies will improve farmers' understanding of the land they are farming and the markets they are selling to, while also allowing them to communicate with and learn from each other\" [36].