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Abstract:The modern industrial food supply system faces many major environmental and social sustainability challenges. Regional food systems, in which consumers prefer geographically proximate food producers, offer a response to these challenges. However, the costs associated with distributing food from many small-scale producers to consumers have been a major barrier to long-term regional food system success. Logistics best practices from conventional supply chains have the potential to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of regional food supply chains (RFSCs). This paper provides a structured and in-depth review of the existing literature on RFSC logistics, including recommended and implemented best practices. The purpose of the review is to provide RFSC researchers and practitioners with convenient access to valuable information and knowledge derived from years of experimentation and research. This information will help to inform practitioners' implementation decisions and to increase researchers' awareness of the existing work on RFSC logistics, the unmet needs of practitioners, and topics that have not been fully explored, yielding insights into potential future directions for RFSC research. The overarching aim of the paper is to facilitate improvements in RFSC logistics, thereby improving regional food system viability.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework for a hybrid simulation model that can be used to study the decision making and behaviors of humanitarian logistics actors to determine how/whether certain coordination mechanisms enable better relief chain efficiency and effectiveness over time. Design/methodology/approach – The agent-based portion of the model is used to represent human decision making and interactions in a more realistic way than has been done previously, and the discrete-event simulation (DES) portion of the model allows the movement of vehicles, materials, and information throughout a supply network to be represented in a way that allows for dynamic and stochastic behavior. Findings – Coordinated efforts by actors in humanitarian logistics operations involve complex interactions and adaptations over time, which can be capture and explored via hybrid agent-based model (ABM)-DES modeling. Research limitations/implications – This paper describes a framework for a hybrid ABM-DES model. The actual development and implementation of the model, including input data collection and analysis, model development, experimentation, and output data collection and analysis, will be the subject of future work. Practical implications – The hybrid model framework provides other researchers with a starting point for model development. Social implications – This paper provides a basis for future modeling and assessment of coordination in humanitarian logistics, an area that is in need of research. Originality/value – The hybrid simulation modeling framework presented in this paper is a novel application of a new modeling methodology to the problem of coordination in humanitarian logistics.