Supply chain resiliency in the food industry

Food supply chains. In an era of unpredictable weather and increased consumer expectations, grocery banners and food processors and manufacturers need more than commodity suppliers. They need partners who can guarantee supply by farming growing, year-round, in multiple areas. Partners who deliver what they promise, come what may—be it a pandemic, pestilence, drought, storms, forest fires, floods, and other disasters.

While the pandemic represents obvious supply change disruption, climate change continues to represent the biggest long-term challenge for farmers and other food producers. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recognizes its potential to adversely impact agricultural productivity through changes in rainfall patterns, temperature extremes, and altered pest pressures. With the potential to drive up the cost of food, fuel, clothing, and other products, modern farmers must adapt quickly and embrace innovative technology and practices to keep costs manageable.

Supply chain innovations

Fortunately, modern farming businesses like Canam Fresh keep innovating to meet the needs of our clients. While not as slick as the average Silicon Valley technology company, farms are the original tech businesses. From the earliest days of human settlement, farmers have always embraced ingenious new tools to achieve success, preserve resources, and protect harvests. These days, farmers use a lot of high technology, including the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, analytics, and the cloud, to maximize yields and minimize waste.

While most farmers intuitively gravitate to sustainability for ethical reasons, reducing waste, water, and land usage translate into good business and increased production and profits. Certainly, we make sustainability a business priority at Canam Fresh and can point to products like imPASTA! Foods, as an example of where we see a market for innovation.

Economies of scale

Modern farms also need to expand and partner to mitigate risk. Guaranteeing produce items for food processors, retailers, and other companies compelled us to expand our operations. We grew from Canada into the United States, Mexico, and increasingly across North America. As we acquire farms into the Canam Fresh Network, we introduce technology, management, and sustainability best practices. In this way, we represent a movement to modernize and empower farmers and workers everywhere we go.

Importantly, physically expanding our operations by acquiring farms across North America enables us to deliver on a year-round grow season. This expansion allows us to ensure diverse harvests 365 days a year. On any given day, Canam Fresh farms diverse produce items for customers on farms somewhere in North America. But really that’s just the start of what we do.

Modern farming businesses like Canam Fresh do a lot more than just farm. From retailers with precise packaging needs to food processors in search of wholesome ingredients, we also provide customers with diverse value-added services. Every bit the vertically integrated company, we clean, cut, pack, and deliver our produce items as a turn-key solution to our many customers across North America. Handing the logistics expertly by road, rail, and sea provides our customers with convenience and added confidence that quality produce will arrive on time.

The supply chain secret ingredient

What is the secret of hardening supply chains? Food enterprises in need of smart, sustainable, and resilient supply chains need to look for farming partners, not just produce suppliers. Farming partners like Canam Fresh provide strategic value and peace of mind by delivering the quality harvests and services you need, consistently, without excuses or exception. Above all, that partner needs to have enough scale and year-round capacity in their operations to keep the promises they make.

Vertically integrating our business to offer services of high value to clients, such as integrated logistics, helps us keep our promises at Canam Fresh. Our logistics facilities and fleet in Canada, the US, and Mexico have grown in tandem with our farms, enabling us to deliver freshness everywhere.

While it’s tempting to commodify your decision-making and let the lowest price from suppliers rule, farming partners like Canam Fresh offer the stability, consistency, and accountability most enterprises rightfully expect. While no person, organization, or partner can prevent natural disasters for you, we can anticipate and plan for them to ensure your business continuity and success.