The Role and Importance of Logistics in Agri-Food Supply Chains: An Overview of Empirical Findings

This paper presents a survey of empirical literature on the role of logistics in the agri-food sector. The main objective of the paper is to systemise and comprehensively describe the knowledge and information derived from a large number of sources about the specifics of food supply chains in terms of logistics, with particular emphasis on agricultural enterprises. Moreover, taking into account the increasing environmental, social and ethical demands concerning Agri-Food Supply Chains, the article formulates challenges for logistics and future trends in its development. In conclusion, it proposes a definition of logistics for the agri-food sector.