b'The World is Getting Used to Abnormal Supply ChainsAs transportation and unexpected events turn supply chains upside down, consumers are getting used to the wait.Alex MartinSUPPLY CHAINSface disruptionswhelmed the railways, the trucking indus-from different sides of our globaltryeverything moving goods.society. In North America, most consum- From the transportation industry, ers would think supply chain disruptionsPrentice says theres a lot of places prob-initially started with the pandemic, but inlems can arise due to long distances to get reality, supply chains have been affectedsupply to the coast. The industry cant pre-by more than COVID-19. dict where problems are going to pop up. From an economic perspective, weWe also have a situation right now would say that theres a misalignment where oil prices are very high, and the we have too many of some inputs and notsystem has been short of oil for various enough demand, and too much of otherreasons, he says. We see a lot more oil inputs, says Michelle Klieger, owner ofmoving by rail than would otherwise be Stratagerm Consulting. Were just notthe case. aligned with what is needed. How did thisThe rise in oil prices isnt the only issue, happen? though. Theres also been a spike in diesel Klieger says that one of the key fac- fuel priceswhile most of your average tors starting disruptions began with theconsumers will be more concerned with U.S.-China Trade War in 2018, whichhigh gas prices, Prentice says its important caused an initial shock to supply chainsCynthia Stanton says supply chains willto remember the world runs on diesel.by stopping the flow of goods in somehave a slow recovery.Equipment for the fields, the trucks, directions. Not only did that slow tradeaviation, the ships its all run by diesel, down, but prices got higher, and it cre- Consumers have been used to thehe says. Ive already seen evidence that ated uncertainty around sourcing toAmazon Effectthe desire for goodsthe diesel price and the gasoline price are avoid backlash from tariffs.to be shipped at an increasingly fast rategoing to widen. When you crack a barrel Then the pandemic hit the globe.with two-day shipping or even two-hourof crude oil, you get a certain proportion The pandemic led to lockdowns,pick up.of diesel, a certain portion of gasoline. which suddenly killed supply andConsumers are returning more toWere going to have a demand for more demand, she says. As global locktraditional patterns of consumption, butdiesel, which means were probably going downs eased, we saw that demandthe real story has been one of conges- to get more gasoline. We may see lower come back and some of the supply cometion, says Barry Prentice, professor ofgasoline prices but rising diesel prices back. Weve really realized that our goalSupply Chain Management, at the I.H.which will have a bigger impact on the with globalization has been to have anAsper School of Business, Universitysupply chain, both for ocean freight but extremely efficient supply chain. of Manitoba. Weve just simply over- also for tactors and combines. 14/ SEEDWORLD.COMDECEMBER 2022'