A literature review of mathematical programming applications in the fresh agri-food supply chain

Abstract

This work presents a literature review of mixed integer programming (MIP) applications in the fresh agri-food supply chain (ASC). The agricultural products attract great attention because it is an issue related to public health, subject to strict regulations and inspections. Due to the strong need to increase the efficiency of the supply chain, the planning models have become of increasing importance to producers and companies. Among the concerns of ASC problems, perishability is very critical for horticultural products, whose shelf life is significantly lower than of traditional crops, like grains and other vegetables. This research comes up first with a tertiary study of ASC publications, i.e., a review of reviews to investigate the core themes that have been studied. Thus, a secondary study on the primary literature was conducted. The use of mathematical models for applications in crop planning can be found since the early 1950 years, even in a tenuous way, but it became more widespread during the decade of 1980, with growing interest in the 1990s. In particular, the perishability of fresh products and risk management are two themes which have gained importance and visibility among recent research and publications, highlighting the relevance of the present study.