Abstract
Food hubs can provide a viable solution to the many logistical challenges faced by small-scale food producers to get their (often perishable) goods to consumers, writes Dr Arijit De, Assistant Professor, University of Manchester.
By gathering products from various local and regional producers in one place and fulfilling customer orders placed on the internet, they can contribute to local economic development while benefiting from economies of scale in transportation. This, in turn, can reduce logistics costs and environmental footprint for suppliers while increasing convenience for customers and reducing their travel. But it isn’t all win-win. Several factors determine the extent to which a food hub can function well in fulfilling last-mile delivery and decreasing operational and environmental costs, such as coordinating product and delivery aggregation and logistics efforts, and the nature of vehicles used.
By gathering products from various local and regional producers in one place and fulfilling customer orders placed on the internet, they can contribute to local economic development while benefiting from economies of scale in transportation. This, in turn, can reduce logistics costs and environmental footprint for suppliers while increasing convenience for customers and reducing their travel. But it isn’t all win-win. Several factors determine the extent to which a food hub can function well in fulfilling last-mile delivery and decreasing operational and environmental costs, such as coordinating product and delivery aggregation and logistics efforts, and the nature of vehicles used.
Original language | English |
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Publisher | NICRE Blog |
Publication status | Published - 30 Aug 2023 |