Identity preservation, waste solutions, new consumer tastes and other considerations are shaping a new breed of food plants.
While many projects are underway to develop farm-to-fork traceability, the complexity of today's distribution system and the fragmentation of supply sources pose huge and, possibly, insurmountable challenges to identity preservation. Add in the need for better waste management, control of water use and growing consumer concerns about the nature of processed food, and the argument for localized sourcing and distribution grows stronger. To a large extent, consumer demand for greater accountability drives growth in natural and organic products: the nutritional content may be the same, but certified sourcing is a value more and more consumers are willing to pay a premium to get.