SAMMARYIn the agriculture sector, globalization of food production has considerably influenced the food supply system by increasing distance the food has to be transported to reach consumers. This situation not only has increased emissions of greenhouse gases but also has reduced the relationship between local food producers and consumers, affecting local food producers, their environment and culture.In this study, local food supply chain characteristics were investigated using data from some local food producers and existing large-scale food distribution centers from entire Sweden. A coordinated distribution system of locally produced food was developed to improve logistics efficiency; reduce environmental impact; increase potential market for local food producers and to improve traceability of food origin for consumers. For this, integrated logistics networks were developed by forming clusters of producers and determining the optimum collection centers of food products for each cluster. These food collection centers could be linked to food producers, food distributors and consumers/retailers enabling coordinated distribution of local food products and facilitated the integration of food distribution from the collection centers into large scale food distribution channels.The analysis carried out using tools such as Geographic Information System and Route LogiX software indicated that integrating the logistics activities in the delivery system of local food has advantages. It reduced the transport distance and time and the number routes of food collection and distribution. The possibility of integration of local food distributions into large scale food distribution channels increased the potential market for local food producers. These indicate its positive impact on environmental issue and traceability of food quality and origin. However, in this study, the locations of the customers of each producer and the existing delivery routes from producers to customers could not be mapped due to the shortage of data. Therefore, site specific and more detailed further studies have been recommended. II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS III ABSTRACTFood supply chain is the current focus in terms of food safety and environment. The objective of this study was to investigate the local food supply chain characteristics and develop a coordinated distribution system to improve logistics efficiency, reduce environmental impact, increase potential market for local food producers and improve traceability of food origin for consumers. The study was based on data from 90 local food producers and 19 existing large scale food distribution centers (LSFDC) from all over Sweden.Location analysis was done using geographic information system (GIS), to map locations of producers and LSFDCs; to build cluster (C) of producers; and to determine optimal product collection centers (CC). The route analysis was carried out using Route Logix software, firstly for the case of produce collection from farms to CCs based on two scenarios: (1) producers transport their...
The loading and unloading of cattle for road transport is stressful but the stress is difficult to evaluate in terms of the welfare of the cattle. Over one year, 40 normal commercial journeys in northern Spain were analysed in terms of time limits and behavioural events in order to design an objective method for assessing the stresses imposed on the animals, and a scoring method was developed for assessing the welfare of the animals during loading and unloading. Several definitions of time intervals were assessed to calculate a time score per animal, and easily observable behavioural events were scored and combined with the time score to obtain a total loading/unloading score. More than half of the loadings and unloadings involved turns, slips and vocalisations. Mounts and bouts of fighting were infrequent and balks and falls were significantly more frequent during loading than unloading. The plasma concentrations of cortisol, glucose and lactate, the activity of creatine kinase and the pH of the meat 24 hours after the animals were slaughtered were also measured. The results indicated that loading was more stressful than unloading and that higher scores implied significantly higher levels of stress.
The result of the waste characterization in Kampala was found to be significantly different from that obtained for other Sub-Saharan African (SSA) cities, showing that studies assuming average values for the waste fractions are likely to result in erroneous results. Furthermore, no reduction in organic fraction of the waste was noticed when compared with a study done two decades ago in spite of greatly improved economic status of Kampala city, a finding that is not in agreement with several other similar studies done for other SSA cities.
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