Abstract

Sustainable short food supply chains are emerging to provide more control over economic, social, and environmental factors by reducing the number of actors within food supply chains. Both producers and consumers influence this shift in food systems, as both stakeholders have perceived improvements related to sustainability. Producers see improvements in economic return, improved job satisfaction, and improved use of resources. The consumer shift is a result of reduced social and geographical distances between the point of production and consumption. Informational food supply chain platforms are used to improve transparency, stimulate information flow, improve traceability, to provide better control, and to enhance visibility throughout the chain. This paper explores requirements determination for informational sustainable short food supply chain platforms. A literature review is used to determine requirements of current platforms. A expert panel is used to confirm and further elicit requirements. The results show forty requirements for informational short food supply chain platforms. Sustainability indicators, track & trace, supplier information, electronic data interchange and transparency are found to be highly valued. Limitations are highlighted and areas of future work are suggested.