Transportation of Food: Railroads: Recent Developments

Railroads played important roles in transporting food, especially during World Wars I and II. Railroads dominated food transportation, with some thirty thousand refrigerated cars on the tracks. Then rail distribution of perishable food began to decline. During the mid-twentieth century Congress began to spend billions of dollars on the construction of all-weather highways and, eventually, the interstate highway system. Roads crisscrossed the nation, creating a free infrastructure for trucking. The advent of long-haul trucks with roof-mounted refrigeration systems, in 1948, made it possible for refrigerated and frozen foods to be easily distributed to even the most isolated communities. Trucks replaced railroads as the major means of food transport. Trucks contributed to the decentralization of food processing, enabling processing plants to be constructed where labor costs were lowest and where local and state zoning and taxing policies favored business. Finally, the invention of shipping containers and the construction of the first container ships in 1956 made it easier for many foods—particularly fruit, vegetables, grains, and meat—to be shipped between the United States and other countries, thus rapidly expanding a global food system that had been developing since before the American Revolution.