Can Cloud Computing Hubs Alter Food Distribution?
Consumers are increasingly interested in purchasing products from local markets. As people’s palettes yearn more and more for garden products fresh from the farm, the waiting list is getting longer at places where these are readily available. With decreasing numbers of local producers, there is only one solution for the customers to search them without using a fuel guzzler to trek the country: cloud computing hubs.
Recent publications from the United Kingdom have shown how cloud computing is bringing vendors and customers together—they can discuss exclusive deals over the Internet. This is eliminating the much-loathed middlemen, namely large grocery stores and retail chains, that often alter the fresh products through processing before consumers can purchase them.
Now customers only need to join a forum and they can chat with the farmers about distribution logistics, such as transport bills, delivery dates, or quantities of products. Thanks to tools like Google Maps and other local directory resources, it will also be possible to find the exact county, small town, or village where the supplier is located. Cloud hubs are also the next big stage towards helping local farmers to overcome the competition of the large grocery stores. Producers will be able to contact potential customers directly.
Analysts are saying that the consumer will be the biggest beneficiary of this arrangement. The consumers will be able to enjoy healthy meals because the products will come right from the farm. They will no longer have to wait to purchase the products in a supermarket in the questionable package form.
Through hub distribution, cloud computing will alter the economical part of farm produce. Food will now be coming to the table as a calculated product with all the mathematics that went to its making. This is because producers and distributors alike will be monitoring food prices closely through the Internet. The same case applies to the buyers who can follow market deals in real-time and select products from the cheapest sources.
There is also an ecological aspect of this technology. Distributing food through hubs will reduce waste. Produce will no longer go to waste for lack of a buyer. Also, the availability of fresh food will reduce storage and processing costs.
All these will ultimately lead to an exciting situation where food will be sourced across the planet in its complexity right from one’s computer. Even if a product is only available in a certain continent, it will only be a click away for the food connoisseur.
By John Omwamba