The freight village as a pathway to sustainable agricultural products logistics in China

This paper aims to develop an appropriate agricultural products logistics (APL) scheme that is sustainable and addresses the identified challenges considering the necessity of freight villages (FVs). In coordination with FVs, two other transformations are proposed, i.e., farmers' co-ops and supermarkets/chain stores. A causal relationship diagram is provided depicting the interactions among the three critical components in terms of sustainability. Key findings indicate that FVs are able to break logistics bottlenecks which are hindering the implementation of farming-supermarket linking in China. On the other hand, as a special kind of FV, dry ports are highlighted due to their functions in providing a series of services similar to seaports, which can greatly promote the export of agri-products from inland areas. This paper provides practical guidelines and insights for researchers and practitioners dealing with APL issues in the face of sustainability challenges. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.