Food Supply Chain

Task 1: Define the term ‘Food Supply Chain’

How the food supply chain works

In the food supply chain, food moves from producer to consumer via the processes of production, processing, distribution, retailing and consumption; thus, food moves from farmer to consumer in a domino like fashion. At the same time, money that consumers pay for food‐ moves from consumers to producers in the reverse process, again in a domino like fashion‐ from consumer to retailer to distributor to processor to farmer. Thus, the two sided causality‐ that connects farmers and consumers is mediated by these two sets of domino causalities (see Figure 1).

In addition, both movements of food and money are facilitated by “pulls” and “pushes.” In a food supply chain, producers and processors push or supply food and consumers pull or demand food thereby facilitating the dominoes (food) to fall (move) towards the consumers. Similarly, producers and processors pull money and consumers push money to facilitate the movement of money from consumers to producers. Thus, if consumers’ pull for food or push for money is weak or absent, the producers’ push for food or pull for money would have to be strong in order to keep the food supply chain moving.

Task 2: Match the member of the food supply chain with its definition

Member of food supply chain Definition

Farmer A business or person that sells goods to the consumer

Processor/Manufacturer Is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials

Distributor A person who purchases goods and services for personal use.

Retailer An agent that sells goods to retailers

Consumer Entity that makes a good through a process involving raw materials, components, or assemblies, usually on a large scale with different operations divided among different workers.

1

The Supply Chain for Chocolate

As with many other manufacturing industries, creating chocolate products involves a chain of production with many links.

It starts with cocoa bean growers and ends when retailers sell us the final product. This may be in a small shop, supermarket, vending machine or some other retail outlet. Some obvious links in this chain are shown in the diagram.

At each stage of the chain there will be additional services that help producers to operate more effectively. These include banking and insurance services, packaging firms and transport specialists.

The supply is actually far more complex than the simple diagram suggests. The illustration shows the complexity of the cocoa supply chain in the Cote d'lvoire.

2

Task 3: Go through the interactive exposition of how chocolate goes through a 12-step process from when it is a flower on the cacao tree to when it is ready to be put into a mold.

http://archive.fieldmuseum.org/Chocolate/manufacture_interactive/manufacture.html

Task 4: Summarise the activities undertaken in each of the 12 steps and then identify which member of the supply chain is involved in each respective step

Step Summary of activity Member of supply chain1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

3

Complete Supply Chain of Chocolate

Task 5: You are given 11 pictures and 11 explanations of activities connected to the pictures. You must place the activities in order and correctly identify the actions being undertaken

Activity ActivityCacao trees grow twenty degrees north and south of the equator. These trees bear a fruit — cacao pods.

The farmers will cut open the pods and remove the beans, which are surrounded by white, fruity mucilage.

Consumers buy chocolate from the retailers and bring the product home to enjoy. Chocolate is one of the world's favorite foods and its popularity is rising!

The cool bars are then popped from the molds and passed to a machine that wraps them with precision. They then roll down the production line to join a waiting case. Workers ship the cases to distributors and retail stores throughout the country.

Manufacturer buys beans from the local buyers and cocoa beans arrive at the chocolate factory in burlap sacks. Workers load the beans into large cylinders for roasting.

Local buyers collect cocoa beans from many farmers, either just after harvest or after they have been dried and/or fermented. Buyers vary in size and complexity from region to region.

4

Local buyers collect cocoa beans from many farmers, either just after harvest or after they have been dried and/or fermented. Buyers vary in size and complexity from region to region.

Next grind the cocoa nibs in stone grinders for 24 to 36 hours. During this time in the chocolate making process, cocoa butter is pulverized out of the nibs, and the mixture begins to liquefy

To stop fermentation, the beans are left over several days, warming the beans and causing them to lose their bitter flavor; they are then dried out in the sun.

The beans are then removed and put into large wooden boxes to ferment. Fermentation is the precursor to the more intense flavor development that begins once the beans have been roasted.

At last, the chocolate is poured into molds of all shapes and sizes, from bite-size minis to 10-pound blocks used by confectioners.

Stage 1

5

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4

6

Stage 5

Stage 6

Stage 7

7

Stage 8

Stage 9

Stage 10

8

Stage 11

9

The Chocolate Trade Game

This activity highlights the fact that the major cocoa-producing countries are in the poorer South and the major chocolate-producing countries are in the richer North.

The following graphic illustrates the top cocoa producers in 2007

10

The following are the top 13 consumers of chocolate per capita

Task 6: Using the following world map, make annotations to identify where the top producers of cocoa and top consumers of chocolate are located. Indonesia is done for you.

11

Indonesia

12

A fair Share?

The following table describes the different stages in the production of a chocolate bar in relation to the UK market.

Task 7: You will get into groups of five; each student will take one function in the cocoa-trading chain. The purpose of this exercise is to determine how much of the price for a Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate Fruit & Nut (chunky, 50g) which costs £1.50 should go to each member of the chain.

To prepare yourself for the discussion, you should write down 3-4 arguments as to why you believe your function should get the bigger part of the £1.50 (but keep in mind that the total amount has to equal £1.50 and that all members of the chain must receive some money.

13

Task 6 Reflection

1: Explain how a food supply chain works

2: What do you think would be the consequences if one member of the supply chain is removed?

3: How is it possible to make the supply chain for chocolate more sustainable?

14