How Small Farms Using Big Data Can Improve Food's Global Supply Chain
By Isaac Fletcher, contributing writer, Food Online
In recent years, there have been shortages of many food products. However, thanks to improvements in technology, the global food supply chain is becoming more secure and sustainable than ever before.
For manufacturers that rely on ingredients that only grow in specific climates, issues of sustainability and food security are becoming more prevalent. For example, roughly 40 percent of the world’s cocoa comes from the Ivory Coast from just a few hectares of cocoa trees. With a burgeoning demand for chocolate — roughly 60 percent growth is expected between 2014 and 2019 — scarcity raises some concerns.
Other important ingredients, such as vanilla, palm oil, tea, and coffee, are vulnerable as well. A drought in Brazil during 2014 caused coffee shortages, prompting Starbucks to acquire 600 acres of Arabica coffee plants in Costa Rica so that sustainability issues could be researched first hand. Due to a 2011 shortage of palm oil in Thailand, the government had to begin importing the product from neighbors to mitigate the crisis.
The point is that many critical products and ingredients are very susceptible to supply shortages. This is partly due to the fact that production in these particular supply chains is often based on a large number of small farms, usually working on different types of land and using different farming techniques. In other industries, there are global networks of information among various supply chain members, which play a significant role in reducing costs, improving reliability, and fostering sustainability. Since the food industry’s supply system is very fragmented, the full integration of suppliers and producers is far more challenging.
However, thanks to new technological advances in the realm of crop sensors, coupled with an increase in the number of satellites that are capable of monitoring fields and farms, improving supply chain efficiency is a goal that can now be realized. Satellite-based monitoring to assess the use and management of land is a practice that has been widely used since the 1970s. With improvements to satellite sensor quality, this practice can go beyond just providing a general overview of crop production and instead provide near-daily, high-resolution images and information.
By using a combination of various remote-sensing data systems, along with detailed information from the ground, a more accurate picture of current and future production can be created. The availability of big data analysis allows more variable factors to be taken into account, making future yield trends and risks easier to spot and prepare for.
Although great progress is being made toward improving vulnerable supply chains, there are still some improvements that can be made. For example, a better understanding of soil degradation and water scarcity would provide essential information for guiding farming practices and boosting sustainability. It is difficult to say whether or not this level of micro-information will be reached, but with continued investment and research, a better global food supply chain may ultimately be realized.