The logistics of the short food supply chain: A literature review

Abstract

The sustainability of food chains is an issue consumers, policy makers, researchers, food producers and suppliers are increasingly interested in. This interest is also confirmed by the considerable development of short food supply chain (SFSC) initiatives as an alternative to the globalised food chains typical of the contemporary food industry. However, while SFSCs have grown over the recent years, their logistics is still a challenging issue affecting their performance. Previous SFSC-focused literature reviews have neglected this particular aspect, concentrating primarily on the different forms of supply chains and the benefits and limitations associated with SFSC. The goal of this paper, instead, is to increase researchers’ and practitioners’ knowledge of the role and potential of logistics in improving the effectiveness and sustainability of SFSCs. This work, in fact, focuses on this specific and relevant aspect of SFSC and highlights its possible impact on SFSC development. From a logistics perspective, it identifies a series of actions to be implemented to effectively improve SFSC: to make environmental sustainable choices during all the phases of food distribution, to optimise the location of supply chain nodes, to improve the distribution route and restructure the supply chain. In addition to these actions, farmers are required to adopt an open approach to innovative distribution systems, vertical and horizontal collaboration as well as to cooperation with researchers. The paper's conclusions provide suggestions for future research development and underline the necessity to adopt a holistic and integrated approach and abandon a retrospective evaluation analysis in favour of a more dynamic and future-orientated attitude.