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"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.
Tony Thompson, sheriff for Black Hawk County in Iowa, told the New York Times that Tyson’s disregard for workers in its Waterloo, Iowa pork plant “shook me to the core.” Thompson asked the Times reporter:
“Which is more important? Your pork chops, or the people that are contracting Covid, the people that are dying from it?”
The coronavirus pandemic has revealed what has always been true of the meat industry controlled by Cargill, JBS, Tyson and Smithfield: Profits are earned at the expense of slaughterhouse and farm workers’ safety, farmers’ ability to earn a decent living, animals’ rights to basic welfare, eaters’ health and everyone’s need for clean water and a stable climate.
The pandemic has also revealed another truth: As more people cook at home and seek out more local, regenerative, organic food—including grass-fed and pasture-raised meat—it’s clear that another food system is possible.
Human society faces a moment of reckoning. The coronavirus pandemic has brought humanity to its knees and bared its many faultlines. No country has been spared. As scientists scramble to find a vaccine that could rein in the pandemic, many countries have imposed lockdowns requiring people to stay at home. But for many of the poor, this is a challenge.
Njeri Harris likes to hold and feel the produce she buys regularly at the Clark Park Farmers Market, which operates year-round in West Philadelphia. Farmers and food vendors at the market usually display their bounties for people passing by to smell and even try — fresh fruits, vegetables, flowers, eggs, milk, mushrooms, baked goods and wine produced right here in Pennsylvania.
Alexandra Jones knew that this growing season was going to be different when the leaders of her West Philadelphia community garden held their annual membership meeting via Zoom. "Usually we all go to someone's house in early March, everyone brings food and we hash out all our plans for the year," Jones said.
From restaurant closures to empty grocery-store shelves, it’s obvious that the food system has been taking a hit in the new global reality of COVID-19. This pandemic has exposed the fact that many of our country’s food supply-chain workers have zilch in the way of a safety net.
I have been working in the fair trade movement for over 20 years. In 2010, I co-founded the non-governmental organization, Fair World Project, to promote the fair trade movement and watchdog the fair trade industry. I have visited many fair trade projects, from India to Ghana to Guatemala, and have found that organized farmers in long-term commercial partnerships with committed buyers not only fare the best, but are more likely to be implementing regenerative organic practices. These are the most exciting projects to visit and they are what gives me hope for the future.
