Distribution Systems and Growing Demand for Local Food

Posted by on April 02, 2012

Distribution Systems and Growing Demand for Local Food
(Courtesy of Sustainable Food News)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Friday released a new report on the distribution practices of eight producer networks and their partners distributing locally or regionally-grown food to retail and foodservice customers.

The report, entitled “Moving Food Along the Value Chain: Innovations in Regional Food Distribution,” shows how these networks tap into the growing commercial demand for local and regional food products while creating additional economic opportunities and expanding healthy food access.  The study details how these organizations help local and regional producers overcome bottlenecks in the food marketing system through collaborative and transparent planning and adherence to a shared set of operating principles.

To compile the report, USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) studied each of the eight network models over a three-year period. The agency looked at network organization, product branding and labeling, infrastructure management, and price negotiation. The eight models were:

La Montanita (New Mexico)
Oklahoma Food Co-op (Oklahoma City, Okla.)
The Wedge Coop (Minneapolis, Minn.)
Red Tomato (Boston, Mass.)
California Alliance of Family Farms (David, Calif.)
New North Florida Cooperative (Marianna, Fla.)
Appalachian Sustainable Development (Abingdon, Va.)
Minnesota Food Association (Marine on St Croix, Minn.)

The report identified four factors that influenced performance across all the case studies:

The amount and timing of investments made in infrastructure are vital to the success and survival of food value chains;
Preserving the identity of growers on product labels is critical for connecting with consumers, distinguishing the product from the competition and providing traceability;
Informal farmer networks can offer additional flexibility for suppliers and buyers and allow food value chains to be highly responsive to the shifting demands of specialty food markets; and
For-profit businesses, nonprofits and cooperatives all have unique strengths. By partnering with each other within food value chains they can leverage organizational competencies and reduce the risk of failure.

http://www.cias.wisc.edu/farm-to-fork/scaling-up-meeting-the-demand-for-local-food/