While sifting through headlines a few mornings ago I stumbled across an article entitled, “Wisconsin farmers forced to dump milk as coronavirus slams a fragile dairy economy” from USA Today. Prior to this, I had been hearing about food shortages and had failed to consider that there may be food going to waste. When discussing the effects of coronavirus, a farmer in Wisconsin said, “Everybody’s rushing to the grocery store to get food, and we have food that’s literally being dumped down the drain.” This is an issue that is seen across the board in our food industry as it struggles to adapt to changing demands. 

Consumer behavior has shifted and left our food system scrambling to meet demand in grocery stores while food meant for restaurants is going to waste. This is creating food shortages and driving up costs for consumers. I see many people focusing on short term fixes as we wait for things to go back to normal. In my opinion, now that we have witnessed this issue, we have no choice but to find the means to solve it. It is unclear how long this pandemic will last and we now know that our food system is not as resilient as we would like to think.

For now, I see solutions in restaurants that are offering produce boxes and selling their food deliveries in order to keep up demand for farms. Long term, it is my opinion that we need to see the government step in and help manage our food supply. If we want our system to come out of this intact, we should be donating food to low-income people, finding ways to distribute food that would otherwise go to waste and make sure that food remains affordable and accessible for all.