Industrial Food Supply Chain

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Polyface Productivity

Polyface received most of its cost benefits from all natural composting and mineralization. The team member worked together in a multidisciplinary fashion, filling in when and where help was needed. About 80% labor hours were spent on farming activities and 20% on necessary administrative and distribution tasks. For processing activity such as slaughtering of birds. Typically it took 2 workers to process 50 birds per hour. Moreover, Polyface ran broilers in batches of 8. Every new batch was introduced every 3 weeks. Exhibit#5 show the annual revenues generated by Polyface and Industrial farm.

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Recommendations

Polyface has created a demand for its products, now is a good opportunity to expand its operations and introduce automation in some processes which will increase productivity. Following are the list of recommendation for polyface:

- Polyface has successfully created a brand on which customers can rely on quality and willing to pay extra for it.

- The beef market is expected to increase by 35% by2050. Customers are willing to pay at least $0.26 above the prevailing wholesale market. Moreover, gross margin on Polyface beef is the largest and stands at $450 per head.

- Polyface can go into partnership with other small farmers in the community and create a corporation similar to Amul in India. In addition they can work together with small farmers in different region to expand distribution coverage and the reach of their products.

- Maintain ratio of hens to cows in Polyface to 16:1. Chicken should be increased correspondingly subject to a max of 20,000 hens as per the Wholesome Poultry Products Act.

- According to the value chain finance, Polyface can easily acquire loans for expansion. They satisfy the the 5C’s; character, capacity, capital, collateral and condition.Character: Have establish a celebrity status with good reputation and image.Capacity: There is growth potential. Borrowing can increase Polyface competitiveness.Capital: Increased attention will be given to capitalization within the value chain.Collateral: Strong brand image which can used to secure finance for future expansion.Condition: Borrowing fits the needs of Polyface, it can support them towards greater success.

- Increase manpower. As scale of production will increase, so more employees will be required to look after the processes and make it more efficient.

- Invest in automatic equipment, to fasten few activities, which are time consuming and best done by machine. Like a conveyor belt can be used transport eggs to processing and packaging.

- Improve sales and distribution to cater the demand by investing in latest cold storage technologies to increase the shelf of the products and open more Metropolitan Buying Club.

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Conclusion

Joel had demonstrated the effectiveness of many permaculture principles and strategies: polyculture, functional relationship, biological resources, observation, direct marketing. That he’s done so using primarily grass and animals which makes his work an important example for all farmers around the world.

Exhibit#1 – Guiding principles of Polface (Polyface Farms, n.d.)

Principles

Description - How they achieve it

Transparency

Anyone is welcome to visit the farm anytime. No trade secrets, no locked doors, every corner is camera-accessible.

Grass-Based

Pastured livestock and poultry, moved frequently to new paddock, offer landscape healing and nutritional superiority.

Individuality

Plants and animals should be provided a habitat that allows them to express their physiological distinctiveness. Respecting and honoring the pigness of the pig is a foundation for societal health.

Community

We do not ship food. We should all seek food closer to home, in our foodshed, our own bioregion. This means enjoying seasonality and reacquainting ourselves with our home kitchens.

Nature's Template

Mimicking natural patterns on a commercial domestic scale insures moral and ethical boundaries to human cleverness. Cows are herbivores, not omnivores; that is why we’ve never fed them dead cows like the United States Department of Agriculture encouraged (the alleged cause of mad cows).

Earthworms

We’re really in the earthworm enhancement business. Stimulating soil biota is our first priority. Soil health creates healthy food.

Exhibit#2 – Polyface operating model.

[pic 1]

Exhibit#3 – Industrial farm operating model.

[pic 2]

Exhibit#4 – Difference between Polyface and Industrial farms.

Criteria

Polyface farms

Industrial farms

Motivation

A small family farming for their own livelihood and the community.

Driver by MNCs who were motivated to create a channel to earn huge profits, by making a demand for their products. Like Monsanto wanted to maintain selling of their corn products. Corn was the largest crop in the industrial food chains. Moreover, industry dominated by large producers who controlled all the steps to ensure selling of their products to the consumers.

Focus

Understanding natural inclinations and physiology of different animals.

Maximize production through automated systems.

Scope

Polycultural configuration.

Specialization to single product operations.

Scale

Small