Hidden in Plain Sight: Learning from Chinatown’s Produce Distribution System

ew York’s Chinatown has a century-old produce distribution system that supplies the city with more than 200 types of extremely lowcost fresh fruits and vegetables that are sourced from hundreds of smalland midsize biodiverse farms and distributed to a network of vendors and restaurants. Yet this remarkable supply chain has been overshadowed by the gigantic Hunts Point terminal market and the distribution channels operated by the major supermarket chains. It is also overlooked by advocates of direct farm-toconsumer food retail. Valerie Imbruce’s From Farm to Canal Street unmasks this “alternative” food network, offering important lessons for policymakers interested in increasing access to healthy, affordable, culturally appropriate food. Imbruce shows that decentralization is a key characteristic of Chinatown’s produce supply chain. At its heart is a cluster of very small and competitive wholesalers. Most of these businesses are individually owned and operated, virtually all with fewer than 20 employees and the majority with four or fewer staff. This wholesale network sources from a distributed set of farms, warehouses its produce in and around Chinatown, and supplies some 88 produce retailers, many of them “microenterprises,” on a frequent basis. The entire system is neither vertically nor horizontally integrated, nor dominated by large retailers or distributors. This distribution system is composed of highly networked small businesses, with relationships between wholesalers and farmers that are often N