In normal times, about half of all food in the US is consumed in group settings such as restaurants and schools. Rejigging this gargantuan food supply chain to adapt to the new, COVID-19 restricted normal isn’t easy.
Even as food producers and distributors do their best to pivot and plan for an uncertain future, America is experiencing ‘unprecedented’ food loss.
Under near-nationwide restrictions, most food service venues are closed, as are schools and sporting organisations, notes Aarian Marshall in WIRED. ‘Distributors are struggling to reroute produce before it spoils. Farmers are grappling with hiccups in the supply chain and are hunting for customers to take their crop.’
For many primary producers, getting fresh food from a to b is a complex matter at the best of times. Try getting it to new customers, along different supply chains, in a pandemic. This is far from business as usual: ‘Changing where a farm’s output goes is easier said than done,’ Marshall writes.
‘The people who plant, slaughter, process, pack, and move it aren’t sure what’s next.’
Source: Why Farmers Are Dumping Milk, Even as People Go Hungry I WIRED magazine