Environmental sustainability of the agri-food chain and food miles: a literature review

Supply chain sustainability is still a subject of debate. Some researchers believe that it is based on reducing the distances food travels, while others believe that it also relates to other aspects such as production locations, processes, product types, seasonality, direct sales, regional and local transport, and customer preference for local products and carbon labels. In this review, 119 papers address the concepts of food miles (FM) and local food (LF) with the aim of summarising whether the type of product and production process, seasonality, supply chain organisation and consumer preferences affect the environmental footprint of the agri-food chain. The results show that the environmental impact of the food supply chain (FSC) is influenced by many factors beyond distance travelled, such as energy-intensive production processes, the technology used in production methods, crops and soil characteristics, harvesting time, storage time, the number of intermediaries and consumer choices. Therefore, the sustainability of the FSC relies on a combination of factors rather than just the reduction of FM. Researchers studying the sustainability of the food chain and companies committed to greening the agri-food sector may find our work useful. Finally, it provides recommendations for local authorities interested in developing policies for the distribution of goods and in guiding the logistics sector and the FSC as a whole towards practices that reduce the impact of climate change.