CONCEPTS AND CONCEPT SELECTION 

The concepts in this project are used to round out the food security plan. The diet problem is useful because it highlights the most nutrient dense foods at the lowest cost. The highlighted food items can then be focused on and suitable production methods can be implemented locally to create a supply chain capable of resisting international shocks to the food sector. the logistical issues being faced by the suppliers in the U.S. highlight the need to produce our own food. The most suitable foods obtained form the diet problem  can form the core food supply, thereby limiting the what crops need to be grown and the required infrastructure needed to grow them. When international supply chains are working fine, the nation would be able to have a large variety of food. if the international supply chain breaks down, we can rely on our core food items to ensure the country remains food secure. 

Most Food items range between livestock, crops and fishes. By focusing efforts on crop production for this paper, instead of livestock or fishery, a variety of nutritious foods can be grown while incorporating automation systems. If the Paper was to focus on livestock or fish, there would be the problem of lacking nutritional variety which counteracts the food security pillar of utilization.  The advantages of having less financial upkeep with crops than with live animals can also be seen to be practical. 

Considering the various new methods of farming, vertical farming, automated greenhouses and automated traditional farming seem to have the most promise. These methods aren't so new as to not have existing research done on them, which is a major help if problems were to arise while implementing one of the techniques. 

Hydroponics tends to be a sub part to allot of new modern methods due to its ability to reduce water consumption (depending on the setup) and also help isolate crops from pests. The reduction in the use of pesticides when practicing hydroponics proves to be good for the environment, as less harmful chemicals are washed away as runoff into streams or seeps into the water table. Monetary savings are also a benefit as there is little or no need to purchase pesticides. Crop suitability is also an issue though, because not all crops are suitable to be grown hydroponically. 

Concept selection through the sue of a concept selection matrix, compares the +'s and -'s of each concept against a refence, and by comparing the net scores, the best concept is chosen.