Many producers are struggling to adapt to the tremendous uncertainty that COVID-19 has created within the food supply chain. While some reports have indicated that overall food consumption has remained relatively unchanged, the manner in which food is being consumed is causing significant disruption.
“I think it was three, four, five years ago the United States for the first time ever went to more meals consumed outside the home than inside the home. Now, that’s radically changed in the last month,” said Ryan Jacobsen, Fresno County Farm Bureau CEO. “There were crops that were in the ground that were planted for the existing supply chain that’s radically changed overnight.”
The uncertainty of when shelter in place orders will be rescinded or when schools and restaurants will reopen is making any potential forecasting for the future of the supply chain difficult. In the interim, producers are doing their best to navigate the changes and adapt as best as possible to the current conditions. “Some markets are doing extraordinarily well, other markets are very challenging right now and it’s just a matter of trying to sort and figure all that out,” Jacobsen noted.
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