Food Distribution and Transport

Question 1

Economies of Scale

Answer 1

The gain in efficiency that comes with doing something on a larger scale, such as mass production
or buying in bulk.

Question 2

Field to plate

Answer 2

The span of activities from food production through consumption. See supply chain.

Question 3

Field to retail

Answer 3

The span of activities from food production through food retail. See supply chain.

Question 4

Food distributors

Answer 4

Middlemen who pickup food from producers or processors, temporarily store it in large (often
refrigerated) warehouses and transport it to supermarkets, restaurants and other retailers.

Question 5

Food miles

Answer 5

The distance food travels from where it is grown or raised to where it is purchased by a consumer.

Question 6

Food Processing

Answer 6

The practices used by food industries to transform raw plant and animal materials, such as grains,
produce, meat and dairy, into products for consumers.2-4 Examples include freezing vegetables,
milling wheat into flour and frying potato chips. Slaughtering animals is sometimes considered a
form of food processing.

Question 7

Industrial Food animal production (IFAP)

Answer 7

A model of breeding, feeding, raising and processing animals and animal products for food. It is
characterized by housing large numbers of animals under confinement in densely packed, highly
specialized facilities. Animals receive specially formulated grain-based feeds that often contain
growth-promoting drugs.5-8 See concentrated animal feeding operation.

Question 8

local food

Answer 8

Food that was produced within roughly 100 to 250 miles of where the consumer lives, or food that
is sold directly from a farmer to a consumer or nearby retailer.10 The term is not strictly defined

Question 9

Peak oil

Answer 9

The point at which global oil production begins to decline.11

Question 10

Regional food

Answer 10

Food that was produced within the same region as where the consumer lives. A region can be
defined by geographic, cultural or political boundaries—for example, the Chesapeake Bay
Watershed, New England and the Northeast12—rather than size. Regional food systems include, but
are not limited to, local food systems.

Question 11

Soill

Answer 11

The top layer of the earth’s surface

Question 12

Sustainable

Answer 12

Able to be maintained in the long term. It has been argued that for agriculture to be sustainable, it
must be ecologically sound,14,15 practiced in ways that minimize harms to the natural environment;
economically viable, allowing farmers to make an adequate living and produce sufficient food
supplies; and socially just.
15 Sustainability has been described more broadly as “meeting the needs
of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their
needs.”16