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Holistic Food Supply Chain Planning

The food industry connects producers on one end and consumers on the other, and is an important livelihood industry that "seeks benefits for farmers and brings blessings to eaters." In recent years, facing frequent issues such as the downward trend in agricultural product prices, product backlogs, food quality and safety, unreasonable dietary structures among residents, and severe food waste, there is an urgent need to accelerate the construction of a diversified food supply system. It is necessary to plan from the entire industry chain, fully develop the multiple functions of agriculture, extend the food industry chain, enhance the value chain, and create a supply chain. Emphasis should be placed on the "grain head and food tail," "livestock head and meat tail," and "agriculture head and industry tail" to increase value, enhance the resilience and flexibility of the entire food production, supply, storage, processing, and sales industry chain, and strengthen agriculture to provide industrial support for the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas.

Agricultural products can be preserved and added value through processing, packaging, storage, transportation, and distribution from the field to the consumer's table. Faced with low economic benefits in local agriculture and the backlog of agricultural products, the comparative advantages of agricultural resources in each region should be fully leveraged. Food processing enterprises should be guided to layout processing capacity in the main producing areas, strengthen preliminary processing such as pre-cooling and drying at the place of origin, fresh-cut packaging, and develop intelligent, clean deep processing to enhance the local processing and transformation capacity of agricultural products and increase their added value. The Northeast region is known as the "Chinese granary," but the difficulty in selling grain is particularly severe. Support should be provided for the development of a full industry chain processing of agricultural products such as soybeans in the Northeast region, to create food and feed industry clusters, and promote the transformation from a "granary" to a "kitchen." In response to the surplus of fresh milk, support should be given to dairy enterprises to develop cheese, whey, and other product processing, enhancing the resilience of the industry chain.

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The dilemma faced by agricultural products is that they are "not wanted" at the place of origin and "unaffordable" at the place of sale. Fresh agricultural products have a short shelf life and are prone to spoilage, making them unsuitable for long-distance transportation. A large amount of agricultural products, once they backlog, will rot in the field without cold storage. The implementation of a construction project for agricultural product storage, preservation, and cold chain logistics facilities, building storage and preservation facilities at the place of origin, and planning and building cold chain distribution centers, staple food processing bases, etc., around large and medium-sized cities, can effectively reduce post-harvest losses of agricultural products, improve the quality of agricultural products, and allow fresh agricultural products to overcome the limitations of time and space, resolving the backlog issue and alleviating concerns about the development of regional characteristic agriculture.

The clustered development of the food industry is an effective way to expand and strengthen the industry. In recent years, a number of characteristic food industry clusters have emerged in various places, becoming an important engine for regional economic development. Each region should cultivate a batch of advantageous characteristic industry clusters, modern agricultural industrial parks, and strong agricultural towns according to local conditions, guide the clustered development of upstream and downstream industries such as production, packaging, logistics, and sales, promote the integrated development of rural primary, secondary, and tertiary industries, create regional public brands for agricultural products, and enhance the overall competitiveness of agriculture, but avoid homogenized competition among products. The development of an industry cannot be separated from the drive and radiation of leading enterprises. Support should be given to create a number of competitive food groups, establish and improve mechanisms that link farmers and lead farmers, and drive farmers to increase their income and wealth. Traditional Chinese foods and local specialty foods should be explored, and the development of food and medicine homologous industries and forest medicine industries should be scientifically promoted to better meet the health needs of different groups.

Food quality and safety are related to the health of the people. In recent years, food quality and safety incidents such as "rat head duck neck," mixed use of oil tankers, excessive sulfur in goji berries, trough meat in braised pork with preserved vegetables, and expired raw materials in yogurt have been common, posing a serious threat to "food safety on the tip of the tongue." In the development of the food industry, the bottom line of quality and safety should be adhered to. A standardized system for agricultural products should be improved, and the whole process supervision of food, especially new types of food safety, should be strengthened to ensure that the quality and safety of agricultural products are traceable throughout the process, and to enhance the level of quality and safety protection for the entire food chain, so that the people can eat with confidence and safety.

Consumption is the last link in the entire food industry chain. Nowadays, people are eating better, but the dietary structure of residents is unscientific, with too much cooking oil per capita, low annual consumption of dairy products, and low intake of soybeans and bean products, leading to nutritional imbalances that can easily cause health problems. Enterprises should be encouraged to develop nutritious and healthy foods, carry out scientific popularization of food nutrition and health consumption, guide residents to reduce oil and increase soybeans, increase poultry and dairy, and increase the consumption of fruits, vegetables, aquatic products, and whole grains. E-commerce platforms should be encouraged to carry out production and sales linkage activities, allowing consumers to conveniently purchase green and high-quality agricultural products. In response to the shocking issue of food waste, continuous progress should be made in grain saving and anti-food waste work, starting from the dining table and public canteens, promoting savings and loss reduction in food production, processing, and consumption, which is equivalent to increasing the effective supply of food.

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