Farm products are crops or livestock that contribute to the global supply chain of goods such as food, fiber and fuel. They also include raw materials — things such as potatoes and tomatoes that farmers transform into processed foods or bio-diesel fuel.
Local farm produce is harvested at peak ripeness, delivering richer flavors and a higher nutritional value. It also shortens the supply chain, reducing waste and ensuring more food security. Check out more at Founder lawsuit.
Crops
Crops are cultivated plants, fungi, or algae that have been grown for sale to consumers or other industries. These crops can be as simple as a family farm selling vegetables at a local market to as complex as a multi-national corporation cultivating and marketing its own brand of crop globally. Crops are divided into different categories based on their application: oil crops from which oils are extracted for cooking and other industrial purposes, food crops that are grown to provide sustenance for the human population (e.g. wheat, rice), lumber yielding trees such as spruce, pines and firs, horticultural crops like flowers, soft fruit and berries or other vegetable products like potatoes.
Crops can also be classified by their growth habit; being annual, biennial or perennial and whether they complete one life cycle in a year or two years. Additionally, crops are also categorized by their use: direct food use, exports, processing and industrial production, and feed and fiber.
Livestock
In 2018, livestock production emitted over 3.5 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent (CO2eq). Livestock provide a wide range of foods and services that improve people’s nutrition, food security and income, and support ecosystem functions. However, a balance between the benefits and drawbacks of livestock farming needs to be struck in order to meet global demand for meat and milk.
Livestock produce a wide variety of farm products including meat, eggs, milk, wool and leather. They also help to fertilize crops and generate energy from manure and other organic waste. In addition, livestock are an important source of draught power for crop cultivation and transportation of people and goods to market.
Agricultural commodities can be subject to deterioration during their handling, storage and transportation from the farm to the consumer. This can be caused by a number of physiological, biological and biochemical factors. This can lead to a significant loss in quality of farm products. This can have a negative impact on consumer perception and confidence in the product.
Value-Added Food Products
When farmers take a raw product like fruits or grains and transform them into a more processed food like pickles, jam, or bread they are adding value. The value-added process often results in a higher sales price to the consumer and helps improve farmer profitability. It also contributes to rural and community economic development as jobs are created in the processing of food products.
Given the perishability of many crop commodities, it is difficult for producers to capture a larger share of the consumer’s food dollar without processing or adding value. Research led by UMass Amherst Resource Economist Jill Fitzsimmons and her team shows growers can profitably repurpose their crops as a frozen, canned, or dried product.
This type of marketing can open new markets, add recognition for the farm, extend the market season, and increase incomes. But the additional revenue is not free; it takes resources (time and money) to turn a commodity into something that is useful to consumers.
Distribution
The process of taking agricultural products from producers and making them available to customers is called distribution. This is a crucial stage for farmers and other food producers, as it determines how much revenue they will receive from the sale of their goods.
Large businesses such as supermarkets and chain restaurants use distributors to help them acquire the variety of foods and ingredients they need. It is not economical for these businesses to purchase from hundreds of individual farmers, and a single farmer will rarely produce enough to supply a large business’s needs.
Distributors are also important to ensure that domestic agricultural shipments are delivered in a timely manner. This is particularly true as modal split trends have changed over time for domestic agricultural shipments, with trucking now surpassing rail in many areas.
Depending on their marketing strategy, food producers can distribute their products directly to consumers through markets, on-farm outlets, and e-commerce orders. This eliminates middlemen and reduces transaction costs, but it restricts the size of the market to which farmers can sell their products.