The juxtaposition of images in the news of farmers destroying crops and dumping milk with empty supermarket shelves or hungry Americans lining up for hours at food banks tells a story of economic efficiency gone mad. Today the US actually has two separate food chains, each supplying roughly half of the market. The retail food chain links one set of farmers to grocery stores, and a second chain links a different set of farmers to institutional purchasers of food, such as restaurants, schools, and corporate offices. With the shutting down of much of the economy, as Americans stay home, this second food chain has essentially collapsed. But because of the way the industry has developed over the past several decades, it’s virtually impossible to reroute food normally sold in bulk to institutions to the retail outlets now clamoring for it. There’s still plenty of food coming from American farms, but no easy way to get it where it’s needed.
The industry practice of making hundreds of workers stand close together at a production line—with sharp knives and a fast line speed—endangers not only their safety, but also food safety and public health. If mistakes are made, workers can get hurt, and meat can get contaminated. The huge processing facilities run by America’s meatpacking companies are excellent vectors for spreading lethal strains of E. coli, antibiotic-resistant Salmonella , antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus , and now COVID-19.
Coronavirus continues to infect nearly every aspect of American life — on US farms, it’s led to the widespread destruction of fresh food. Take milk, for example. Dairy farmers across the country have dumped millions of gallons of fresh milk. This, at a time when millions of Americans are dealing with food insecurity. Since so many schools and businesses are now closed, dairy farmers have nowhere to direct those products. Check out the video above to learn more about this break in the food supply chain, and why it’s not easy to redirect supply that was going to schools and businesses to consumers or food banks instead.
