Fruit and Vegetable Supply-Chain Management, Innovations, and Competitiveness: Cooperative Regional Research Project S-222

As price increases have become largely infeasible, large retail concerns are pursuing profits through greater efficiencies in the distribution system and from suppliers. The pressures of Supply-Chain Management in the fruit and vegetable industry indeed have reached the producer/shipper level. This process is accentuated as the global economy continues its rapid evolution while upward pressures on costs are just as compelling in the form of new environmental and food safety laws. The purpose of Cooperative Regional Research Project S-222 is to provide knowledge that will lead to improved production and marketing efficiencies, improved market access strategies, better risk management strategies, and improved producer and consumer well-being.