The potential for increased emissions due to the Electronic Logging Device mandate

Abstract

Transportation accounts for only 11% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the life cycle of food but dominates food system conversations. We use national data from the 2017 Commodity Flow Survey to explore the tension between transportation, environmental, and agri-food policies to understand the potential impact of the Electronic Logging Device (ELD) mandate on agri-food transportation. We estimate the change in transportation time and energy use resulting from the ELD mandate's efforts to better enforce existing transportation regulations. Our analysis finds that there will likely be an increase in resulting GHG emissions, which may alter the sustainability of on-road agri-food transportation.