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As COVID-19 swept through U.S. meatpacking plants (slaughterhouses currently account for almost half of the country’s hotspots), plants closed, leaving farmers with millions of animals they couldn’t get to market. This prompted Tyson to take out an ad in the New York Times, warning that the “food supply chain is breaking.”
But COVID-19 didn’t break the food system. The four Big Meat titans—Tyson, Smithfield, JBS and Cargill—broke the supply chain. They did it by forcing consolidation in the meatpacking industry, which ultimately created another “too big to fail” industry.
Congress has a plan to save Big Meat, by taking an old law intended to help family farmers in times of crisis, and turning it into a rescue plan for big corporations.
This Friday, May 22, marks the International Day for Biological Diversity. Every year, the United Nations uses this day as an opportunity both to celebrate the Earth’s stunning biodiversity and to recognize our task to protect it.
Long before the virus, Americans had become socially isolated, retreating into sprawling suburbs and an online world of screens. When we emerge from our pandemic-mandated separation, can we reconnect with each other and reconsider how the way we live impacts the natural world?
As the owner of a small farm, I’m frequently amazed at how little Washington understands the work that goes into putting food on our plates, but coronavirus has made it impossible to ignore the labor of grocery store employees, farmers, processors and food producers.
Two weeks ago, we asked you to “Tell Congress: No more COVID-19-contaminated factory farm slaughterhouses!”
Members of Congress listened!
On May Day, Reps. Annie Kuster (D-N.H.), Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) and Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) introduced legislation o help small farmers during the COVID-19 crisis by, among other things, making it easier for them to get grants to process grass-fed and pasture-raised meat.
Will Harris is at odds with the way most producers get meat to the American public. The Georgia farmer shuns the large production plants that dominate the protein supply chain in the country, raising his “athletes” — hens, pigs and cattle and seven other species — on 3,200 acres near the Alabama border.
"Multinational corporations have concentrated our food system to its breaking point," said Jake Davis, a Missouri farmer, and national policy director at Family Farm Action, in a statement backing the measure. "Mega meatpackers have extracted profits from farmers, workers, and consumers for too long," he said. "This pandemic has shined a bright light on those abuses."
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a plan this week to purchase $470 million in surplus food from farmers and ranchers to be donated to communities nationwide, Politico reported.
Farmers markets in the Twin Cities and across the upper Midwest will open soon, but as the Minnpost reports, they are definitely going to look different this year.
Nearly 30 farmers markets and mini-markets operate in the Twin Cities, featuring foods that traveled an average distance of only 39 miles from farm-to-market, according to a city of Minneapolis study. Overall, roughly 650 Minneapolis farmers market vendors grossed more than $13 million in sales in 2018.
For many local and regional producers, the COVID-19 crisis has posed huge challenges. But the pandemic has also triggered unprecedented consumer demand for local and regional foods.
Each weekday during the COVID-19 pandemic, food and agriculture expert guests are joining Food Talk Live for discussions on some of the most pressing issues in the food system. Our live conversations have focused on the resiliency of regional farmers, the importance of speaking out for food justice, and the need to improve wages and working conditions for farm workers and restaurant staff, in addition to many other topics.
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