By Adam Behsudi and Ryan McCrimmon

The coronavirus pandemic is leading the food industry and regulators to change policies as they grapple with empty shelves, a glut of fresh produce and milk, and sudden shifts in consumer buying habits.

The problem isn’t a shortage of food and commodities. If anything, food waste is becoming a bigger issue as traditionally big, bulk buyers — like college dorms and restaurant chains — suddenly stop receiving deliveries. As a result, millions of gallons of milk are being dumped, and farmers have no alternative but to turn fresh vegetables into mulch.

Federal agencies are scrambling to keep up with the altering landscape by easing rules governing trucking, imports, agricultural visas and labeling requirements for restaurants and manufacturers.

“The way a client described it is they’re seeing a tsunami of demand shift from foodservice to food retail,” said Bahige El-Rayes, a partner who co-leads the consumer and retail practice at Kearney, a consulting firm. “If you’re a manufacturer today of food, it’s basically how do you adapt? How do you actually take what you sent to restaurants then sell it now to retail?”

New alliances are being formed as demand from restaurants dry up and consumers look for new ways of delivery. Kroger, the largest U.S. supermarket chain, has partnered with foodservice giants Sysco and U.S. Foods, which normally supply the restaurant industry and large institutions, to share labor and keep store shelves stocked.

The partnerships offer employment to foodservice workers that would otherwise be furloughed or laid off as a result of a near shutdown of the restaurant sector. It also provides much needed manpower to the overwhelmed food retail industry.

Rewiring the U.S. food network, however, comes with logistical headaches.

“Since we’re buying more at the grocery store, it means [food items] have to be in that form,” said Pat Westhoff, director of the University of Missouri’s Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute. “We have a bunch of stuff that’s still stuck with restaurants, and they’re trying to decide what to do with it at this point.”

Farmers are also scrambling to recalibrate their production.

Richard Guebert Jr., Illinois Farm Bureau president, said his state’s meatpacking companies have fewer employees showing up because of concerns of being too close to other workers.

“The industry is backing up on bacon and other products that they put together as cut-outs, so they’re slowing down and not doing the volume that they had,” Guebert said.

“There’s a concern for pork producers because they just can’t turn their buildings on or off like you can an assembly line,” he added. From the time sows give birth to slaughter, “it’s a nine-month process that started nine months ago. Pigs continue to be born every day, whether they keep the whole capacity.”

In the meantime, major food distributors including U.S. Foods and Performance Food Group are begging the Treasury Department to prioritize loan applications from their sector as companies shift operations to supply retailers.

“This kind of transition, even if temporary, takes time and investment as we adjust our warehousing, logistics and purchasing processes to meet a consumer-facing market,” they wrote in a letter to the Trump administration.

A group of food worker associations also made an appeal to congressional leaders that any future aid package should “include support for America’s essential critical industry workers” through tax exemptions or direct payments.

In the U.S., an excess supply of food production is forcing some sectors to take extreme measures and ask for extra creative solutions from the government.

“Clearly we’re in a time of crisis,” said Gordon Speirs, owner of Shiloh Dairy in Brillion, Wis. “We’ve lost 25 percent of our income just through the crashed market. Now we face the reality of having to dump milk on top of that.”

John Umhoefer, executive director of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association, said the foodservice sector accounts for half of all cheese sold in the U.S., while only one-third is sold at grocery stores. Without that critical market, milk producers need the government to “immediately begin to purchase dairy products” and distribute them to food pantries and school feeding programs, he said.

Westhoff, of the University of Missouri, said the drop in restaurant dining will eventually hamper demand for high-end meat products like steaks.

“Even though we have a short-run rush to the grocery store that gave us a run-up in prices very temporarily, we don’t think that’s going to last very long,” he said.

The radical change in the age of the pandemic is a seismic shift for the food industry. In 2018, Americans spent more on food from full-service and fast-food restaurants — about $678 billion — compared to the roughly $627 billion spent at grocery stores and warehouse clubs, according to USDA data. Spending on food away from home is even higher when counting meals at schools, colleges, sporting events and other entertainment venues.

Now, the National Restaurant Association expects the industry will shed $225 billion over the next few months, along with some 5-7 million jobs.

“Grocery stores just aren’t set up to restock shelves to meet that kind of demand,” said Joseph Glauber, a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute.

For the most part, food analysts say consumers don’t need to worry about other countries that are putting in place export restrictions on food and agricultural goods. Vietnam, the third-largest exporter of rice, has temporarily suspended exports of the grain. Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, major wheat producers, have capped exports of the commodity.

“The signs are all disturbing on the foreign side, but if you look at all the actions taken they don’t seem at least yet to have very big ramifications,” said Glauber, who previously served as chief economist for the Agriculture Department.

So far, the U.S. appears to have faced fewer hurdles to transporting food and farm goods than other countries. Border checks across Europe, for example, have snarled trucking and at one point backed up traffic as far as 50 miles.

The European Union has tried to ease the congestions by opening so-called green lanes for trucks carrying farm goods. U.S. highway regulators, for their part, have lifted driving hour limits for essential products including “food for emergency restocking of stores.”

Some governments have asked their citizens to help pick fruits and vegetables and considered designating special planes and buses to transport workers from Eastern Europe to farmlands in the West.

Andrew Walmsley, director of congressional relations for the American Farm Bureau Federation, said there haven’t been widespread transport disruptions yet. But he said flexibility on trucking rules could be crucial over the long term if there’s an eventual shortage of drivers, to ensure “that those who are healthy can continue to move products as safely as possible for as long as possible.”

In the U.S., strict border controls have disrupted farmers’ access to migrant labor, exacerbating what was already a massive problem for the industry, with harvesting right around the corner for some sectors.

If produce is stuck decaying in fields in the coming months, it could potentially drive up retail prices and cause shortages at grocery stores.

Meanwhile, the lack of commercial flights is also crushing the capacity to bring in perishable foods, like berries from South America, which often hitch a ride in the belly of passenger planes.

“Anytime you go to the grocery store in the winter, you see that most of the fresh fruit and vegetable is not coming from the U.S.,” said Peter Friedmann, executive director of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition. “This continues year-round. A lot of the processed foods, canned food, etc. are imported.”

Jim Alderman, a vegetable farmer in Palm Beach County, Fla., said the lack of big buyers has cut off growers in his area from critical buyers including cruise lines and Disney World.

He started dumping his tomatoes. Nearby farmers are doing the same with zucchini and yellow squash, which now fetches market prices far below the cost of picking and packing.

“They’re cutting their squash every day and throwing it on the ground, hoping the market will turn around,” Alderman said.

Link to article in Politico

By Liz Crampton

Farmers who sell boxes of meat, dairy, fruits and vegetables directly to consumers are seeing a huge spike in orders as the coronavirus outbreak changes how people buy food.

Food delivery businesses run by local farmers across the country are flourishing as people grow wary of making frequent trips to the grocery store and choosing to cook at home instead of eating out. It’s emerged as a bright spot in the agriculture industry while other types of small to midsize farms are struggling due to many farmers markets shutting down and restaurants and schools scaling back contracts.

The spike in traffic for businesses that have been delivering to customers for years has also prompted other farmers to consider adapting their own business models. And many farmers are hoping that it will result in long-lasting shifts in more people buying from local producers rather than commercial grocery stores.

“It’s great for farmers and ranchers, we all hope it continues after this is over but I believe it will on some level,” said Mary Heffernan, who runs a cattle ranch with her family in Fort Jones, Calif.

“I think it was a wake-up call for consumers to realize they can easily go directly to the source and buy from farmers who ship right to doorsteps all over the U.S. as easily as an Amazon package.”

Five Marys Farms, Heffernan’s operation, typically ships about 15,000 pounds of beef, pork and lamb per month, Heffernan said. But that amount has jumped to more than 35,000 pounds in the last two weeks, and the farm has received orders from both returning customers and a flood of new ones.

“Business has been very active,” said Hannah Neeleman, who raises pork and beef at Ballerina Farm in Kamas, Utah. “With people staying in and cooking more of their meals, as well as being concerned with food storage, the uptick in our online meat sales has been significant. We ship nationwide and the trend has been true across all states.”

Yet local farming operations have also been plagued by shortages like the big-name grocery delivery companies that are rushing to hire more workers to keep up with skyrocketing demand.

Instacart, Amazon and Walmart grocery delivery services have also seen a boost — each saw at least a 65 percent sales increase in the past week compared to the same time last year, according to estimates from Earnest Research.

But many of those companies are paralyzed by supply chain delays, and now, are confronting worker strikes as employees demand better safety protections and pay.

South Mountain Creamery, which delivers milk, eggs, produce and meat in the Washington, D.C. area, has “been overwhelmed with orders,” said CEO Tony Brusco. His company, based in Middleton, Md., has had to stop taking new customers and scale back meat and ice cream orders.

Still, farming operations that rely on delivery orders are just a slice of the local agriculture sector, which on average has been struggling since the outbreak began. Local and regional agriculture and food markets stand to lose up to $700 million in sales through May because of the shutdowns caused by the coronavirus, according to an analysis by agriculture economists.

Heffernan says she believes the outbreak has proven that the public can support family farms that choose to diversify how products are sold, and it’s possible more farms will start shipping instead of relying on farmers markets and other channels.

“It’s good timing for farmers and ranchers who started [shipping] earlier and good for farmers and ranchers to realize there is a direct consumer market,” she says.”It just has to be easy.”

Link to Politico web site

By CDFA Secretary Karen Ross

Thank you, farmworkers. Thank you for the physically strenuous work in all kinds of weather to bring a crop from planting to harvest.  Thank you for the daily contributions you make to bring safe, high quality food to our tables from the front lines of a food and agriculture supply chain that delivers California’s bountiful harvest to grocery stores and restaurants, farmers’ markets, community-supported agriculture programs, and food banks throughout the United States.

On this Cesar Chavez Day, we honor the legacy of  Mr. Chavez for his tireless work on behalf of farmworkers, and we reiterate our profound appreciation for the essential role of farmworkers in making California the No. 1 agricultural state in the nation and one of the most productive in the world.  

The COVID-19 crisis brings us all to uncertain times and shared anxieties. Our focus on food – how we source it, prepare it and share it brings a sense of purpose and a reminder of the importance to care for one another.  We see this every day with stories about extraordinary efforts by volunteers to shop for senior citizens; school districts finding resourceful ways to continue feeding school children who count on that meal for their nutritional needs; and restaurants creating innovative family meals for take-out and offering special services for the families of our health care profession.  Californians can be proud of every part of the food chain continuing to ensure the availability of food and ag products produced according to our state’s high standards for worker protection, food safety, and environmental stewardship.  

Our food producers have been focused on enhanced worker safety measures from the very beginning of this crisis – taking guidance and best practices from the CDC and the California Department of Public Health to introduce social distancing in fields and on production lines. And they have made sure to incorporate that guidance into training and illness prevention programs.     

Today, like every day, I am grateful to each member of the critical food and agriculture infrastructure for working to provide us with the nutrition we need to survive and thrive.  But especially today, I offer a special thanks to our farmworkers. 

CDFA’s Office of Farm to Fork (F2F) is committed to ensuring that all Californians have access to healthy and nutritious California-grown food. F2F would like to highlight the important work of partner agencies to make sure that needy school children continue to receive nutritious meals during the COVID-19 crisis.

The California Department of Education (CDE) received a special waiver from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), enabling any California school district previously approved to operate summer meal programs to also offer meals to students during a COVID-19-related closure. CDE’s Twitter account @CADeptEd offers continuing updates of school districts and volunteers offering free lunch services throughout the state. CDE also shows meal sites on its free CA Meals for Kids mobile app. Select Emergency Meal Sites in the app that is updated daily.

EdSource highlights how grab-and-go and drive-up allow families to pick up food at closed California schools, and the organization regularly posts articles about school issues related to coronavirus. 

The Dairy Council of California provides a HealthyEating.org/SchoolMeals landing page that comprehensively aggregates all feeding sites throughout California that provide children with free meals. The format is web-based and mobile-friendly, and allows users to easily self-navigate to find the closest location to their home.

No Kid Hungry is offering $1 million in immediate emergency grants to support home-delivered meals, grab-and-go meal programs, school and community pantries, backpack programs, and other steps to help reach children and families who lose access to school meals. Click here to submit interest in receiving grant funds. No Kid Hungry also offers a resource called Emerging Strategies and Tactics for Meal Service During School Closures Related to the Coronavirus.

The National Farm to School Network offers weekly updates about the latest news in the farm to school movement, including resources available to help school district nutrition specialists through the COVID-19 pandemic.

CDFA-F2F connects school districts and community members directly with California farmers and ranchers, providing information and other resources. Click here to subscribe to the California Farm to School Network newsletter.

By Benny Egel

Five upscale Sacramento restaurants have launched a program called Family Meal that’ll supply community members in need with thousands of free, pre-cooked meals each week throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

Allora, Camden Spit + Larder, Canon, Binchoyaki and Mulvaney’s B&L will assemble a combined 2,000 food kits per week starting Tuesday, nearly half of which will feed seniors in 11 Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency apartment buildings, Canon co-owner Clay Nutting said.

Additional deals with Sacramento City Unified School District and participating nonprofits would add up to 5,000 more kits per week once funding is secured, with each kit containing the equivalent of four meals.

“We certainly know the five of us aren’t going to be able to take care of every person in need, but that’s why we’re working hard to create a model that other people can follow and identify ways that some other restaurants can undertake their own initiatives,” Nutting said.

Allora, Canon and Mulvaney’s B&L began semi-independently rolling out about 1,000 combined meal kits in the last week, giving food to organizations such as Our Lady of Guadalupe Church and the Roberts Family Development Center, which then redistributed it among their members.

Restaurant staffers prepare, assemble and drop off the kits independent of each other to adhere to social distancing. Kits vary, but some of those assembled thus far have included chicken, mashed or roasted potatoes, chili, cooked rice, salads, tri tip, mandarins, white-bean-and-ham soup, pasta and dinner rolls.

“People are extremely appreciative,” Roberts Family Development Center co-founder Derrell Roberts said. “The food that they may have been getting prior to that was certainly not (this kind of) restaurant food … I think people taste this pork or chicken or beef and think ‘mmm, this is a little different.’”

Virtually all restaurants across California have closed their dining rooms within the last two weeks amid local and statewide stay-at-home orders designed to slow the coronavirus’ spread. Sacramento County had 164 confirmed COVID-19 cases and six deaths due to the disease as of Friday, according to county health officials. More than 86,000 cases have been identified in the United States, the most of any country.

Family Meal fulfills three needs, Mulvaney’s B&L co-owner Patrick Mulvaney said. Several small area farmers who sell primarily to restaurants have suddenly found their main clients don’t need much product; having a revenue stream and a place to offload that produce, dairy and meat helps ensure the farms will still be around once restaurants fully reopen.

Some participating restaurants are paying their employees to assemble the kits, while others rely on a few volunteer staff members. Either way provides a sense of normalcy and something to do, Mulvaney said. Add in the benefit of feeding the hungry, and it’s clear why Nutting and Mulvaney want to establish a template for other restaurants to mimic in their own communities.

“The idea is that it’s not necessarily flowing profit to our bottom line, but it is a way to keep people working and supplement our curbside business,” Nutting said. “If we can help the purveyors that provide us with this incredible bounty and take care of our community at the same time, we’re doing our small part during this crisis to keep everyone together.”

Each kit costs $20 to produce, $15 of which goes toward labor and ingredients. Similar efforts are being coordinated through Nixtaco in Roseville and Savory Cafe in Woodland, Nutting wrote in a Medium post on Thursday.

Though Sacramento has a surplus of restaurant staff and available ingredients that could feed other vulnerable populations, funding remains a hurdle in Family Meal’s potential growth. The City of Sacramento will pay for SHRA’s meals, but more money would allow the restaurants to expand on the 140 kits per week they each are now producing, Nutting said.

A private underwriter sponsored Canon’s first 300 kits, Nutting said. Mulvaney’s B&L relied on direct food donations from companies such as Sysco (300 pounds of meat for $12), Durst Organic Growers in Yolo County (2,000 asparagus stalks) and Ginger Elizabeth Chocolates (800 macarons) during the first week of service.

“Clay’s continuing to search for funding, but we said this week, ‘OK, we’re just going to start doing it,” Mulvaney said. “Someone asked, ‘well, moving forward, how are you funding this?’ I answered, ‘there’s hungry people out there. How are you not funding this?’”

All participating restaurants other than Mulvaney’s B&L remain open for takeout or delivery service, and many are now encouraging customers to donate to Family Meal under the premise of buy-one, give-one. Nutting also launched a crowdsourcing page through Spotfund on Friday morning.

“It shows the best of Sacramento when people say, ‘how can I help?’” Mulvaney said. “Each of us, in our own way, has a way to help.”

Link to story in the Sacramento Bee

CDFA Secretary Karen Ross:

“I want to thank USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue for elevating the importance of streamlining the process for eligible H2A applicants who have worked in the United States before or who are already here.  Secretary Perdue understands the challenges that farmers across the country, and especially in California, face as the work continues to plant and harvest our crops.  I have such respect for all agricultural workers who are vital to a safe, secure food supply.”