Identifying the Main Uncertainties in the Agri-Food Supply Chain

Change in products, process, technology and markets are significantly contributing to an increase in the uncertainty level of the Supply Chain. The result is that the companies must take decisions with less information or more ambiguous, on shorter times and with higher penalty costs. In the agri-food sector, managing the uncertainty is especially important, not only to control the effects of these factors, but also because it is a sector characterized by the existence of large sources of uncertainty throughout the process, from the growing in the countryside to the conservation in the retailers' shelves, with perishable products, special transport requirements or treatment of products that can suppose health risks. In this paper, a framework of analysis is presented to evaluate the impact of the sources of uncertainty on three key aspects (quantity, quality and time) for each of the stages of AF-SC and at each decision level (strategic, tactical and operational).