Road Trip Follows Strawberries Across the U.S. - by Nat. Geo.

November 11, 2014 BY David Beaudet

20141111 - Nat Geo strawberries supply

As consumers, we do not always realize what is the magnitude of the infrastructure required to support the distribution of our everyday purchases.

The various components of these transportation networks must be robust and synchronized in order to perform adequately.  This is especially critical in the case of produce (or any other product) with a very short life span.

Considering that once its journey from the field to the retail location is complete, produce will sit on store shelves, then in your fridge until you eat it - and you expect it to look/taste as good as if it was picked in your own backyard, the same day.

Talk about high expectations.

You can watch the short video below (1:48)

Video description: The average food item in the United States travels more than 5,000 miles from farm to fork. To get a berry's-eye view of this long journey, two National Geographic journalists followed a strawberry truck from a field in California to a grocery store in Washington, D.C.

[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3T-uSJpxOg[/tube]