Inflexible Supply Chain Causes Food Destruction as Global Hunger Crisis Looms

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As the coronavirus pandemic has caused disruption to the supply chain, farms and stores across the country have been forced to dump and destroy extra food and euthanize animals at the same time a global hunger crisis looms. The rigidity of the food system has prevented farmers from being able to reallocate their produce to the right places, and they are being forced to destroy food, just as the economic downturn leaves many unemployed and under threat of starvation. 

Food waste is not exclusive to the disruptions of the coronavirus pandemic: the USDA has estimated in the past that between 30 and 40 percent of the food supply in the United States is wasted at some point in the food process, corresponding to a loss of 400 pounds of food per person annually and a total loss of $218 billion each year. Food waste and hunger have been an ongoing problem in the United States; however, as the economic shutdown puts many people out of work and income, the coordination of the food supply chain is in even greater danger of contributing to a hunger crisis.

The UN’s World Food Programme estimated in April that the number of people facing acute shortages could double in 2020, from 135 million people to 265 million people globally on the brink of starvation. This problem is not at all due to a lack of food. On the contrary, global supplies of rice and wheat are projected to reach an all-time high in the upcoming season. A great deal of food waste can be attributed instead to the inability of the food supply chain to restructure from supplying to restaurants and instead distributing to grocery stores and those in need. 

The inflexibility of the food supply chain is a result of many complex factors, including the intricate web of contracts between farmers, grocery stores, restaurants, and other institutional buyers such as schools that dictates how food is processed and distributed. For example, dairy farmers have had to dump millions of gallons of milk because specialization of dairy processing facilities means they are not able to convert the dairy that would be used for cheese in restaurants to milk that can be sold to grocery stores. Additionally, selling unpasteurized milk is illegal in many states, and a disconnect between farmers, processors, and stores results in much of this dairy going to waste. Dairy is just one of the many examples of inflexible institutions in the food system preventing those in need from receiving the affordable and healthy options they need during this time of economic stress (see our past article on the meat oligopoly forcing small farmers to euthanize animals amid meat shortages).

Another factor beyond the looming hunger crisis is the closure of schools, where students can usually rely on nutritious lunch and snacks. The World Food Programme also tracked the number of children globally missing meals due to Covid-19 closures: upwards of 350 million globally and 30 million in the United States alone. This issue recently came to a head in our local community in Chicago, as Mayor Lightfoot suspended meals for Chicago Public School students due to concerns over safety from protests in the area, before widespread pushback promptly urged her to reinstate the meals. More than three-quarters of students that rely on CPS meal distribution come from low-income families, and 17,000 are homeless. 

Though the federal government has pledged to address the food waste and provide relief to farmers, their efforts still fall prey to the complex legal structure of the food supply chain. The Coronavirus Farm Assistance Program was set up to provide a $19 billion relief package to farmers, as well as to purchase $3 billion of fresh food to distribute to those in need through the Farmers to Families Food Box program. While this is a great step in the direction of stopping both food waste and food insecurity, the threat of hunger still looms over 265 million globally and many vulnerable communities at home in the US and Chicago. Coronavirus has exposed the fragility of the food system at the hands of the corporate structure, and its role in contributing to food insecurity and hunger.