# Supply chains and disruption

Explainer · Updated 2026-09-07 · Third in the reading path  
Canonical: https://waronfood.org/articles/supply-chains-and-disruption/

Most food that reaches a city has already changed hands several times. The chain is ordinary until one node fails. This page names the failure types. It does not invent a “food miles” average or a share of world calories that cross a border.

## The path, stripped down

1. Production and first assembly.
2. Storage and transformation.
3. Long-haul movement.
4. Last-mile retail or institutional catering.
5. Household preparation — where utilization, from the [security pillars](https://waronfood.org/articles/food-security-and-food-sovereignty/), actually happens.

A harvest can be intact while the chain is not.

## Ordinary ways the path breaks

- **Weather and water.** Yield, roads, and storage.
- **Energy and fertilizer.** Corridor context: [oilroutes.org](https://oilroutes.org).
- **Ports and chokepoints.** Bulk grains and oils move like other cargo.
- **Export and sanitary rules.** Policy instruments, not weather.
- **War and violence.** Cite [armedconflicts.org](https://armedconflicts.org); political-violence context: [politicalviolencemap.com](https://politicalviolencemap.com).

**Uncertainty is the honest default on shares.** If this desk cannot point to the series, it will not print the number.

Commodity and freight reactions: [globalmarketupdates.com](https://globalmarketupdates.com), [usmarketupdates.com](https://usmarketupdates.com).

Next: [food as policy and conflict](https://waronfood.org/articles/food-as-policy-and-conflict/).