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Supply Chain Sparrow –Supply Chain News and Resources

The Perishables Ecosystem –Food, Wine, Cannabis & More

The Global Food Chain Needs Diversity, and Small Farmers

Lara L. Sowinski · April 2020 ·

Supply chain diversification is a good thing, particularly when it comes to food. It can reduce overreliance on a single supplier, grower or global region, and can reduce exposure to pest and disease infestations, trade wars, weather events and climate change. 

China’s small farmers are feeling the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some cannot harvest their crops due to quarantine measures, transportation options have dried up, while sales to restaurants and cafes are on hold.

Farmers without access to cold storage are among the hardest hit, and it’s forcing some to dump their produce, and others to abandon their farms and livelihood altogether. 

However, “A transition to off-grid, solar-powered cold storage systems can reduce food waste and make more food available for subsistence and sales, ensuring food security and economic development while minimizing the adverse effects of conventional, fossil fuel-based agricultural value chains,” states the Brookings Institution.

Three companies are among those with solutions that can help support small farmers: Solar Freeze, Ecozen, and InspiraFarms. 

Empowering small farmers with cold chain solutions addresses multiple issues. 

Food waste is one issue. In the developing world, including many parts of Asia and Africa, food waste occurs before the food even reaches the market, such as during post-harvest. This contributes to food insecurity and malnutrition, as well as greenhouse gas emissions and ocean acidification.

Maintaining supplier diversity is another issue. In China and other developing nations, the farming sector is made up primarily of small farmers. What happens when small farmers cannot remain viable, whether in the developing world or industrialized nations? What would fewer small farmers mean to the global food supply chain?

Lack of diversification in the global food chain due to industry consolidation is problematic. While the advent of industrialized farming in the twentieth century brought efficiencies to food production, the benefits today are overshadowed by serious concerns, including the environmental impacts related to chemical fertilizers and animal waste, and the overuse of antibiotics in animals. 

Meanwhile, Big Ag keeps on getting bigger, controlling more land, more resources, and more of the global food supply chain—what and how food is produced, and ultimately what ends up on our grocery shelves. Moreover, consider that only four companies now control two-thirds of the global seed market. 

Filed Under: Food/Beverage

Primary Sidebar

I VOTED (for cannabis)

No matter their political stripe, many Americans are in agreement with efforts to legalize recreational and medical cannabis.

On November 3, voters legalized marijuana for adult use in Arizona, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota. Initiatives to legalize medical cannabis passed in Mississippi and South Dakota. The rapid expansion of legalized cannabis throughout the U.S. has a direct impact on the supply chain.

Let’s start by considering the food supply chain–a valuable case study with COVID-19 as the backdrop. Early on, Americans experienced food shortages at the retail level. Manufacturers and distributors scrambled to realign networks to supply grocery stores where demand was spiking, while shifting away from restaurants and the hospitality sector where demand was tanking. In a matter of months, online shopping and food delivery to consumers’ homes grew dramatically. As a result, the food supply chain is in the midst of reinventing itself.

The cannabis supply chain faces some similar challenges. Most importantly, there’s an opportunity now to learn and adopt best practices from the food and pharmaceutical supply chains with which it shares key commonalities.

What are the risks to the cannabis supply chain? California’s unprecedented fires this year threatened growers throughout the state. How quickly can infrastructure scale-up to meet demand, and at what cost? Commercial and industrial real estate is currently at a premium with the proliferation of e-commerce. What about transportation, distribution and logistics capabilities, including reverse logistics in the case of product recalls? Facilities, equipment, and skilled workers are in high demand, and as competition for these various assets tightens, what does that mean for the entire perishables sector (food, cannabis, wine, beverages, pharma, etc.) that need them? Collaboration and creativity can provide critical solutions across the board.

On a related note, a small handful of American and European companies are in talks with Rwanda now about exporting cannabis to the country to meet rising pharmaceutical demand. Supply Chain Sparrow has previously identified cannabis exports as a massive opportunity for the U.S., which of course, would require legislative changes at the federal level.

Vote. And keep on voting.

Be Brave. Fly Right. And keep in touch at info@scsparrow.com.

Lara L. Sowinski, Executive Editor

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Germany is the biggest market for medical cannabis outside of North America. Companies in Canada, and even the U.S., are eyeing opportunities.

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