From Farm to Fork: Ways to Revolutionize the Food Supply Chain

The journey food takes from farm to fork is a complex one, and it’s changing every day. By the time your favorite food reaches the table, it’s gone through all the stages of growth, harvest, production, and processing. Even one interruption in the food chain can impact everything from pricing to availability or freshness.

There are actions the average consumer can take to make sure they have access to the best food products on the market. It’s time to revolutionize the food supply chain using a full wealth of knowledge to gain access to the highest-quality local food on the market, leading to a more sustainable and food-secure future.

Community Action

One way the food chain can be simplified is by encouraging coordinated efforts to grow crops locally in both urban and rural settings. Here are a few ways regular citizens and community programs have taken the food supply chain into their own hands:

• Community gardens can make it easy for citizen farmers to cultivate a few crops using limited space and swap with other gardeners to create a varied supply.
• Urban dwellers can utilize vertical space to grow their own produce using smaller and smaller areas – think rooftop gardens, vertical patio growing, and using patches of grass for growing consumable items.
• Community programs provide cooking classes and expert tips, rain barrels, and compost systems to help cultivate the local food movement and spread the joy of sharing great food.
• Households can prepare more food from scratch using locally sourced ingredients. Investing in a blender for smoothies or a noodle-making machine makes food healthier and increases the number of fresh ingredients that can be added.

Creating a more sustainable food supply chain is a group effort – and one the whole community can work on together. Reach out to local food organizations and see what resources are already available in your area.

Food Education and Access

Revolutionizing the food supply chain starts at the community level. Not everything needs to be produced on a large scale. Creating a supply chain that works means coming up with local solutions for complex food problems. Here are some ways you can start to educate your family and community:

• You can become the local source for global food trends with the right tools and business model to get you started.
• Establishments can integrate technological advances to automate transactions between consumers and products – creating broader access in a variety of settings.
• You can become a food ambassador in your own community and bring the joy of growing and cooking your own food to your neighbors and beyond.

Starting locally is a great way to bring a shift in thinking about where food comes from and how to improve access to it in your local area.

Direct-to-Consumer Sales

From farm stands to online platforms, one way to achieve a more seamless food supply is by encouraging a more local and direct supply. Here are some examples of methods that give consumers quick access and aim to reduce both waste and the time spent in transit:

• Farmers can leverage online platforms to create spaces for selling imperfect foods or smaller crop yields that won’t make it into the grocery store. This helps increase usable food items and create more avenues for consumers to access discounted produce.
• Some fee-based platforms charge a minimal amount for consumers to make use of restaurant and bakery food that may be disposed of that day.
• Local markets are still a popular way to encourage sales directly to consumers – and they have a broader reach with online advertising.

All of these platforms should aim to connect directly with consumers so that the time it takes to access a product is reduced significantly. There’s a huge opportunity to cut down on food waste by using this method as well.

Join the Movement

Begin your journey by learning how you can get involved in revolutionizing the food supply chain in your local area. Create learning spaces and access to the tools needed to fight supply interruptions and end food waste and hunger. With the right tools, we can change our thinking about food and how we access it every day.