Purpose

Short food supply chains have the potential to facilitate the transition to more sustainable food systems. Related distribution processes, however, can be challenging for smallholder and family farmers. To extend the market reach of farmers without the need for extensive investments, crowd logistics (CL) can be used. The purpose of this paper is to explore the benefits and trade-offs of implementing CL platforms in short food supply chains (SFSCs).

Design/methodology/approach

A decision support system (DSS) based on agent-based and discrete event simulation (DES) modelling is developed, which closely approximates the behaviour of customers and distribution processes at outlets. Different scenarios are explored to evaluate the potential of CL in rural and urban settings using the example of regions from Bavaria, Germany.

Findings

Results show that CL can be used to increase the reach of farmers in SFSCs at the cost of minor food quality losses. Moreover, a difference between urban and rural settings is noted: An urban scenario requires less investment in the driver base, whereas the rural scenario shows a higher potential to increase market reach.

Originality/value

Platform-based food delivery services are still mostly unexplored in the context of SFSCs. This research shows that platform services such as CL can be used to support local agriculture and facilitate the distribution of perishable food items, introducing a simulation-based DSS and providing detailed results on various application settings; this research serves as a steppingstone to facilitate successful real-world implementations and encourage further research.

中文翻译：

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调查当地食品配送的人群物流平台运营

目的

较短的粮食供应链有可能促进向更可持续的粮食系统过渡。然而，相关的分配过程对于小农和家庭农民来说可能具有挑战性。为了在不需要大量投资的情况下扩大农民的市场范围，可以使用众包物流（CL）。本文的目的是探讨在短食品供应链 (SFSC) 中实施 CL 平台的好处和权衡。

设计/方法论/途径

开发了基于代理和离散事件模拟 (DES) 建模的决策支持系统 (DSS)，该系统非常接近顾客的行为和网点的分销流程。以德国巴伐利亚地区为例，探索不同的场景来评估 CL 在农村和城市环境中的潜力。

发现

结果表明，CL 可用于扩大 SFSC 农民的覆盖范围，但代价是轻微的食品质量损失。此外，城市和农村环境之间存在差异：城市场景需要对驾驶员基础的投资较少，而农村场景则显示出更大的增加市场覆盖范围的潜力。

原创性/价值

基于平台的食品配送服务在 SFSC 的背景下仍未得到探索。这项研究表明，CL 等平台服务可用于支持当地农业并促进易腐食品的分配，引入基于模拟的 DSS 并提供各种应用设置的详细结果；这项研究是促进现实世界成功实施并鼓励进一步研究的垫脚石。