Integrating freshness and profitability in horticultural supply chain design

The freshness at sale for horticultural products sold in retailers is increasingly valued because of its impact on the environmental and social sustainability of the agri-food sector. To ensure this maximum freshness, it is necessary to consider it when planning planting, harvesting, packing, holding, and transporting of horticultural products. These tactical decisions are constrained by the configuration of the supply chain, which makes it relevant to ascertain if maximising the freshness at sale for horticultural products during chain design influences its configuration. Given the gap in the literature in this area, this paper proposes a mathematical programming model with multiple objectives that supports the design of agri-food supply chains by simultaneously maximising their economic benefits and the average freshness at sale for horticultural products. To this end, the model incorporates strategic decisions concerning supply chain design and tactical decisions concerning the production and transport planning of horticultural products to ensure their freshness. The model’s validity is confirmed through its application to a realistic case study of Argentina, considering scenarios with different weight distribution among the optimized objectives. The results reveal that the distribution of weights among the objectives significantly determines the design of the supply chain and its subsequent management, showing the relevance of considering the freshness of the horticultural products in this process. In addition, the impact this has on the supply chain economic benefits, the average freshness at sale for horticultural products, the wastage of products and the unsatisfied demand are analysed, finding interesting trade-offs among these factors.