As the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S., restaurants and bars closed or were limited to takeout and delivery. Offices closed, keeping workers home and changing normal lunch stops. Schools closed, changing where students ate breakfast and lunch. Millions lost jobs and found themselves with less income to purchase food.
Those changes meant more people in grocery stores and fewer in restaurants. It meant reduced quantities of some items on grocery store shelves and higher prices for others. And it meant big changes for those who raise, process and serve food, as well as those who consume it.
âYou see people lining up for donations at food banks. You see empty grocery store shelves. At the same time, you see farmers who are dumping milk, plowing under fields of onions and squash, and most recently reports of having to euthanize hogsâ â the result of âmismatches in our food supply chain,â said Darci Vetter, former chief agricultural negotiator with the Office o
COVID-19 pandemic revealed problems and pushed lasting changes in the food chain
The pandemic revealed “mismatches” in the nation’s food chain but also pushed changes that may last long after the pandemic ends.
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Agweek Staff | ×
Options like online ordering, pickup and delivery of food are likely to continue even after the pandemic. Photo taken Dec. 16, 2020, in Jamestown, N.D. Jenny Schlecht / Forum News Service
As the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S., restaurants and bars closed or were limited to takeout and delivery. Offices closed, keeping workers home and changing normal lunch stops. Schools closed, changing where students ate breakfast and lunch. Millions lost jobs and found themselves with less income to purchase food.
for The Fence Post
With a record 800 attendees, and farmers making up one-fourth of the audience, the recent 2020 virtual Sustainable Agriculture Summit hosted by five organizations representing the beef and pork industries, commodity crop, specialty crop and the checkoff-founded Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy provided an awakening to insuring a sustainable global food supply. Living through a pandemic was a key discussion topic to create the path to sustainability.
“We all need to work together to transform the way the world produces, consumes and even just thinks about food,” said keynote speaker Beth Bechdol, deputy director-general at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations during the ag summit Nov. 18-19. She also previewed the 2021 Food Systems Summit and its implications for U.S. agriculture. “The Food Systems Summit, which will be held in New York City in September, will be an opportunity for the U.S. food and agriculture community to ensure its