Power representation in food systems – Nature

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Nature Food (2026)
Systems modelling and power mapping illuminate different dimensions of power in food systems but are rarely used to interrogate one another. This Comment proposes recursive representational revision, a methodological approach that organizes iterative engagement between the two so that each becomes a resource for revising assumptions about power embedded in the other.
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Department of Sociology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Michael Carolan
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Correspondence to Michael Carolan.
The author declares no competing interests.
Nature Food thanks Paul Behrens and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.
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Carolan, M. Power representation in food systems. Nat Food (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-026-01423-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-026-01423-z
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