Supply and Distribution Networks

This discussion of the supply and distribution networks of food describes where food comes from and how it moves from these origins to its eventual consumers. Given how much attention is being paid to the journey that food makes from “farm to fork”—on restaurant menus, in television ads, and within the food industry itself—it is important for consumers and researchers alike to understand how potentially complicated, or surprisingly simple, this journey can be for the food products currently found in U.S. grocery stores, farmers’ markets, and restaurants. This entry describes what “supply” and “distribution” mean with regard to food, who the key players are in the journeys foods take, what types of factors can affect that journey, and what kinds of debates are currently being ...