FAQs.

By 2030, UK emissions of greenhouse gases must fall by 45% if we are going to reach our net zero target by 2050. Given 1 in 5 tons of greenhouse gases in the UK is generated by our food system, it is clear that tangible progress is required now to transform the food we eat. Agriculture accounts for around 56–75% of UK land use. It is our land use and production approach that has the biggest impact on the carbon footprint of food, typically much more so than the distance food has travelled.

Biodiversity loss, in part as a result of the intensification of farming, has reached alarming levels with more than half of species in the UK wiped out completely and many species that were once common place a few decades ago now critically endangered.

A critically important reason for adopting short supply chains is to enable transparency that highlights the differences in food production approaches. Only then can informed choices be made. Dynamic Food Procurement is an established approach to shortening supply chains and EM's AgileChain technology is proven to deliver Dynamic Food Procurement in the public sector.

Dynamic procurement enables more effective trade between procurers and primary food producers of all sizes and facilitates a richer data set to be considered when making buying decisions than conventional procurement. It enables flexible adjustments in response to real-time changes in the market, supplier capabilities, organisational needs, availability, and price fluctuations.

We pioneered dynamic food procurement with our AgileChain software that can either replace or plug into existing systems.

Short supply chains do not only bring local food. They enable food to pass through fewer intermediaries and bring transparency so that information and data flows unimpeded in both directions.

Short supply chains can bring resilience to withstand geo-political or environmental disruption affecting long chains. They enable more informed choices to be made by the procurer. When effectively implemented, they can also generate profitability for all members of the chain. Short supply chains can operate effectively alongside longer supply chains.