Future of Food Supply Chain - Essay Example

s: Future of food supply chain Introduction World economics and affairs are changing rapidly. For this reason, the players within the food industry will need to take action, towards improving the sustainability of the food supply chain, in the world where business, agencies and governments are acknowledging different changes (Fafchamps, Vargas-Hill and Minten 257). These changes include that the food produced globally must increase by 50 percent by the year 2050 and rainfall patterns and the span of the growing seasons will continue to become and more unpredictable. Another important area of change is that more and more people are moving to the urban areas, and many will continue to occupy urban slum areas (Marsden, Banks and Bristow 426-427). The aspects that must be incorporated into the food supply chain of the future include that knowledge should be disseminated and applied throughout the food supply chain – information should flow smoothly from the farmer to the end consumer and in the reverse channel. Through the continual dissemination and the application of information, more value will be created through the alignment of highly sustainable consumption and production. This paper will discuss the changes that will characterise the food supply chain of the future. Discussion Improvements in information and knowledge flow Money and materials flow across supply chain networks, but the biggest challenge is ensuring that information and knowledge flows along with it – throughout these established networks. In the future, businesses and regulators will be compelled to use a wide array of tools, so as to understand the areas where the highest environmental and the social impacts of the food supply lie – so that they can channel efforts and interventions towards the areas that require it the most. The food supply chain of the future will be characterised by the intensive understanding of water and land use, due to the increasing scarcity of these two resources. The effects of the increasing awareness and knowledge about these resources include the development of conservation techniques like water footprinting, which has been explored by Sellahewa and LCA. The different businesses covered by the food supply chain will collect more information and data from their suppliers, including the farmers, so that they can serve the internal demands related to risk assessment, strategic decision-making and the monitoring of progress towards future-looking targets (Mattoo, Mishra and Narain 56). The forces shaping the food supply chain, which will greatly influence the systems of the future, include dependency on ecosystem services, forest footprinting, and the production of greenhouse gases – irrespective of the fact that the different players within the supply chain will employ their methodologies across the varied business areas (Marsden, Banks and Bristow 426-427). Some of the companies that have been acting in ways that are similar to the outlook of the future food supply chain include LEAF and Landcare as well as commercial players like Unilever; these companies have been gathering information about the sustainable nature of their supply chains, which has helped them to make strategic decisions (Fafchamps, Vargas-Hill and Minten 257). Farmers will need the information required to support the changes that will make their production more attractive in the market. Further, the end consumer will exercise more control over the production systems and the technologies of the producer, due to changes in preferences and lifestyles – among them the increasing demand for organic foods. The power of farmer groups and Land-management The flow of knowledge, on itself is not sufficient to ensure hat farmers and other players within the supply chain improve their output, efficiency in the use of resources and quality (Marsden, Banks and Bristow 426-427). Regulatory, cultural and organizational changes will become more necessary, in fostering the implementation and the maintenance of positive actions. Examples in the present – which can demonstrate the future outlook of the supply chain – include Marriott and Magwanda, which showed that the grouping of farmers and rural communities can improve access to knowledge, especially the one related to training for affordability and accessibility. The future of the business of farmers will represent the outlook of the Farmer Field school movement, which offers training to farmers and allows them to experiment on their own farms, and then group together to chart the way forward for their farming outlook (Fafchamps, Vargas-Hill and Minten 257). Through the grouping of farmers into groups, there will be a more strategic realization of strategic partnerships between them and the companies that consume their produce (Farina 445-446). One example of such a strategic partnership is that of Unilever and its suppliers – the company has strategically positioned itself with the primary processor suppliers. The role of innovation and transformation Some agencies that are already studying the system applied to agriculture and their impacts include LCA. Irrespective of the fact that innovation in agriculture is difficult, the future outlook of the members of the supply chain will be more conscious of the changes of land use required.The different areas that will be explored at greater depths include food safety, water footprinting, social impacts, biodiversity, and legality. The innovative systems that are in use at present include chilling and dehydration, and these have been used to reduce quality loss and the wastage of food, especially during the distribution of food around the world. Through the transformational role of innovation, farmers will employ more advanced technologies at their farms as well as those available at neighboring farm produce collection outlets (Marsden, Banks and Bristow 426-427). Due to the increasing development of policies about environment-consciousness all innovations and transformations will be influenced by the need to reduce pollution, increasing social responsibility and increasing the efficiency of resource use. The culmination of the future food supply chain in the present The future outlook of the food supply chain can be evidenced from the operations of Wal-Mart (Doherty 1). The success of the company can be traced to its use of information technology: IT has helped Wal-Mart to deliver cheaper products and in a way which is faster than that of other industry players. The company uses real-time information across the different members and the parts of the supply chain, which allows it to maintain an inventory accuracy of 96 percent, unlike other industry players who do not exceed 70 percent (Doherty 1). Price, availability and variety is another edge for Wal-Mart, which has pushed the company ahead of its competitors. The characteristics of the future supply chain, which are evident from Wal-Mart include the unique and discrete management of every supply chain node, store-level demand forecasts for different products, market intelligence, tying store-level forecasts to inventory plans and the driving of product flow according to consumer demand (Doherty 1). Conclusion World business and economics are changing swiftly, and that is calling for the constant improvement of the food supply chain. The changes anticipated in the future supply chain include improvements in information and knowledge flow, the increasing command of farmer groups and Land-management and innovating according to market needs. Many of the supply chain changes anticipated for the future are evident from the business of Wal-Mart, which uses IT to monitor its supply chain from the store to the farm. Works Cited Doherty, Katherine. Supply Chain of the Future. Food Logistics, 2006. Web. 9 Dec 2013. Mattoo, Aaditya, Mishra, Deepak, and Narain, Ashish. From Competition at Home to Competing Abroad. Washington, DC: World Bank, 2007. Farina, Elizabeth. “Consolidation, Multinationalization, and Competition in Brazil: Impacts on Horticulture and Dairy Product Systems.” Development Policy Review, 20.4(2002): 445-446. Print. Fafchamps, Marcel, Vargas-Hill, Ruth, and Minten, Bart. “Quality Control in Non-staple Food Markets: Evidence from India.” Agricultural Economics, 38.3(2008): 257. Print. Marsden, Terry, Banks, Jo, and Bristow, Gillian. “Food Supply Chain Approaches: Exploring their Role in Rural Development”. Sociologia Ruralis, 40. 4(2000): 426- 427. Print. Read More