Congressional Briefing Explores U.S. Infrastructure and Hunger: Lessons from COVID-19
“It is ironic that in the beginning of this pandemic, we saw food going to waste while people were going hungry right here in America,” stated Vimlendra Sharan, Director of FAO North America in his opening remarks. The Congressional briefing, co-hosted by FAO North America and the Alliance to End Hunger on 21 April, explored the tremendous stress COVID-19 has placed on food system supply chains around the globe with a focus on the United States. The session was moderated by Eric Mitchell, Executive Director of the Alliance to End Hunger.
“The Pandemic, as we know, has been the great revealer. It has laid bare racial inequality and income disparity in our society,” said Senator Sherrod Brown, who is also the Co-Chair of the Senate Hunger Caucus. “It reminds us that hard work isn’t paying off for all that many in this country. Whether it is a working mother who has to rely on SNAP for the first time to put food on the table, or the worker in the meatpacking plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, faced with the near-impossible decision between choosing a paycheck or protecting her family from the virus.”
“We see all the pictures of farmers plowing their crops and dairies dumping milk because of the decline in demand. We had the most efficient food supply system in the world, but it's not nearly as resilient as so many told us it was,” added Senator Brown. He underlined the need to make food systems more inclusive and resilient while treating workers with dignity. Senator Brown co-sponsored the Food Supply Protection Act, which was introduced in 2020 to help strengthen the food supply chain, protect workers, reduce food waste, and support both farmers and families in need.
There are 690 million hungry people across the globe and 3 billion people who cannot afford healthy diets. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, income inequality was rising in nearly half of the countries around the world, shared Beth Bechdol, Deputy Director-General at FAO. “We are already, within just a year, seeing more childhood stunting, wasting, and obesity numbers on the rise,” underlined Bechdol. Additionally, pests and plagues, climate change, and conflict continue to threaten an increased risk in global crises. She emphasized the critical role that innovation, digitalization, and technology can play in rethinking food systems.
Kellie Adesina, Director of Government Affairs at Bayer, highlighted the USDA Farmers to Families Food Box program, which was as a solution to streamline surplus commodities from American producers to families in need during the pandemic. Throughout its run, the program has provided over 159 million food boxes. Though the program will be discontinued, as more reliance is placed on existing food assistance programs, Adesina noted that the initiative highlighted the need for quick crisis responses and for more permanent solutions. Despite USDA’s efforts to promote the program, she added that not a lot of farmers were aware of it. “One simple thing that companies can do is make sure that we are communicating and that our growers know about the programs that are available to them through the federal government,” said Adesina.
Aaron Shier, Senior Government Relations at the National Farmers Union (NFU), noted that the closure of meatpacking facilities was a stark example of the disruption that affected livestock producers and consumers. “This really highlights the fragility of our current systems for everyone across the supply chain from farmers, consumers, to workers – in part due to the trend of fewer and larger plants – just 12 plants today produce 50 percent of our country’s beef supply,” said Shier. He highlighted the need to expand local and regional processing centers, increase safeguards to protect workers’ health, and ensure that federal programs reach all farmers, particularly small-scale farmers with fewer resources.
Carrie Calvert, Vice-President of Government Relations at Feeding America, described the spike in food assistance demand and the ongoing logistical challenges. “We saw a 50-55 percent increase in demand, 40 percent of those that were coming had not needed emergency food assistance before,” said Calvert. As the demand nearly doubled, Feeding America transitioned to drive-through distribution with more boxed unperishable foods and figured out ways to put perishable and non-perishables together. Feeding America saw a 50 percent shift in where they accessed food over the course of the year.
“Our food supply chain is designed for efficiency, affordability, and just in time delivery and that is not always compatible with resiliency and flexibility,” shared Calvert. She added that the federal government should establish funding to help farmers provide food that would otherwise go to waste to people that need it through food banks or other charitable institutions, especially considering that while perishables are a lot healthier, they are costlier to distribute.
Following the panel discussion, a lively Q& A session ensued. To close the briefing, Vimlendra Sharan summarized the main takeaway of the event. He emphasized the common issues of access and equity raised by all speakers and key areas where policy-makers need to act to build back better. The session highlighted how the pandemic shocked the U.S. food supply system and the improvements and safeguards still needed to enable the food infrastructure to better respond to future crises.
Useful Links
FAO Big Data tool on Covid-19 impact on food value chains
FAO COVID-19 Response and Recovery Programme
Food Supply Protection Act of 2020
American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
Feeding America | The Impact of Coronavirus on Food Insecurity