Structural chokepoints determine the resilience of agri-food supply chains in the United States

The disruption of hubs connecting production, processing and consumption locations may seriously impact agri-food supply-chain networks and affect food security. Using complex network statistics, this study identifies structural chokepoints that accumulate agri-food commodities from their production regions to be further processed and redistributed to final consumption points across the United States. The agricultural and food systems of the United States are critical for ensuring the stability of both domestic and global food systems. Thus, it is essential to understand the structural resilience of the country's agri-food supply chains to a suite of threats. Here we employ complex network statistics to identify the spatially resolved structural chokepoints in the agri-food supply chains of the United States. We identify seven chokepoints at county scale: Riverside CA, San Bernardino CA, Los Angeles CA, Shelby TN, Maricopa AZ, San Diego CA and Cook IL; as well as seven chokepoints at freight analysis framework scale: Los Angeles-Long Beach CA, Chicago-Naperville IL, New York-New Jersey NJ, New York-New Jersey NY, Remainder of Texas, Remainder of Pennsylvania, and San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland CA. These structural chokepoints are generally consistent through time (2007, 2012, 2017), particularly for processed food commodities. This study improves our understanding of agri-food supply-chain security and may aid policies aimed at enhancing its resilience.