Building foodshed resilience to disruptions: Lessons from the Lockyer Valley–Brisbane horticultural foodshed, Australia

CONTEXT Peri-urban foodsheds supply fresh produce to nearby cities, yet their supply chains are repeatedly disrupted by events such as floods, droughts, and pandemics. Understanding how these chains withstand and adapt to disruption is essential to the continuity and affordability of the food they supply. OBJECTIVE This study assessed, from a supply-side perspective, the resilience of the Lockyer Valley–Brisbane foodshed — a horticulture-focused, peri-urban system in Australia — following multiple disruptions over five years. METHODS Drawing on supply-chain mapping and interviews with primary actors in the physical supply chain and those supporting it, the analysis included the examination of the cascading and compounding effects of acute events; the gradual trends that shape a moving baseline of socio-economic and environmental conditions; and the bonding, bridging, and linking dimensions of social capital. These supported the exploration of how resilience is built or eroded across the components of the system. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Three findings of wider relevance stood out. Compounding shocks depleted financial and human resources, and their effect was shaped by a moving baseline. Social relationships among chain actors were central to resilience, yet the human resources underpinning them eroded under recurrent shocks with little recovery time between events. The foodshed operated as an open network in which cross-regional dependencies simultaneously buffer and expose the system, pointing to limitations of assessing or governing resilience within a single spatial unit. SIGNIFICANCE Beyond the case, the findings apply most directly to other horticulture-dependent, peri-urban foodsheds, while the analytical approach offers wider relevance to agri-food systems facing recurrent disruption in Australia and internationally.