Category Archives: COVID-19 News

The Opportunity Presented by Covid-19

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While scrolling through this blog this past weekend the post “On the Behalf of All Americans, I Am Sorry” jumped out to me. I have always been focused on the environment. I am vegetarian, take public transportation whenever possible, and made my family switch to energy-saving light bulbs. Initially, I was excited when my social media was full of posts praising the changes to the environment that are coming out of this quarantine.

Pollution is decreasing in the canals of Venice as tourists clear out

However, I can’t but wonder if these changes will have any lasting effect. People have been applauding our food system for remaining resilient and there is a focus on our food system weathering coronavirus. I don’t think that we should aim to return to how our food system functioned “before”. The American food system, with its dependence on underpaid workers and animal agriculture, is an environmental nightmare. Our food system gives us a lot to say sorry for. Coronavirus presents an opportunity for us to create a better food system.

In order to achieve a food system that will not leave Americans saying “sorry” for their contributions to climate change, we must implement policy changes. We need to restructure our system to be centered around regional supply chains, support farmworkers, and focusing on making sure that everyone has access to food. I also hope that the meat shortages that we are starting to experience may push Americans to re-evaluate their meat consumption as animal agriculture is the leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions. Policymakers are starting to push for these changes. Furthermore, my action group is working with Our Climate to draft a green new deal that will push for change. As long as we take this opportunity, we can come out of this crisis with a stronger and more sustainable food system. 

Contemplating Climate Complexity

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Tonight, as I sit re-listening to “Climate Complexity”, I am feeling unusually contemplative for recent times. Here in the corner of my living room I am surrounded by the sound of rain pouring and splattering. It’s late, I’ve had a long day and I feel quiet and thoughtful. 

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How I have been feeling lately, not conducive to contemplating

I have been struggling through the contemplative practice element of our class. Not because I do not buy into them, purely because I have been avoiding contemplation in general. Painful events in my personal life and the fear of this pandemic’s unknowns have left me avoiding introspection. There are so many forces beyond me at play, I feel small and hopeless. I suppose this is how I’ve always felt about climate change… scary forces beyond my control. But these forces have never directly affected me as the forces of the universe seem to be affecting me now. 

Guided by Karen’s voice, I suddenly realize that my reaction to climate change is so dull. I have been in too many classes, heard this overwhelming information too many times. I feel numb to the tragedy and need for action. Who am I to climate change? I am part of the problem. By all accounts I am in the most privileged sect of the global population in terms of this issue. My home is in a region which will not face extreme climate consequences, a region where agricultural production may actually be enhanced by climate change. I am on the benefiting side of each piece of the triple inequality. In all likelihood I will not suffer the worst climate consequences. I benefit from living in a nation and region thriving due to vast energy consumption which exacerbates the climate crisis. This same nation and region is far better equipped to respond to climate catastrophes than those globally where people will suffer far greater tragedies, such as Central America, where farmers are even now being forced off their land and out of their way of life. 

Attack on the Clean Air Act - Public Citizen

Contemplating anthropogenic climate change

I am part of the problem because I willingly accept all the benefits of my privilege yet I make myself numb to the dark side. I avoid contemplating the realities of suffering, future peril, ecosystem loss, etc. It is not as though I am not trying on an individual level to do my part. I grow much of my own food right here in the city, I held out on getting my driver’s license until less than a year ago (in-part to protest car-dominated culture) and still travel almost everywhere on bike or foot. But my individual attempts to have a smaller footprint do nothing to really address climate change, they mostly make me feel better in the face of overwhelming information.

If I want to go beyond individual actions, I suppose I must start with practicing greater contemplation. I won’t be motivated to do anything beyond myself if I feel numb. Yet on the other hand, no one individual can handle internalizing the whole reality of climate change. So what is the right balance, and where can I begin?

-Aisling Doyle Wade

The Future with Urban Farming!

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This post is a response to the article: “Urban Farms’ Rapid Response to COVID-19”

This blog post talks about the benefits of urban farming and how local farms play a critical role in bringing food onto people’s tables, especially during a time like the global pandemic we are in today. The post does a great job of bringing up the point that urban farms are very effective, but there are many more benefits that come with Urban Farms, and hopefully, this post can build on that!

Photo of an Urban Farm on a city rooftop

Urban farms are a great way to shorten the whole process of farm to table and often would cut out the huge delivery process needed of getting produce from an industrial farm to a grocery store close to you. This makes urban farms much more beneficial to the environment, as this would cut down fossil fuel consumption during the transporting of food. Urban farms could also assist with sequestering carbon into these plants and the soil, absorbing some of the carbon that otherwise would be released into the atmosphere.

But most importantly, urban farms are a place that brings the community together. I personally have taken part in volunteering at an urban farm and was able to see this in action. Urban farms provide a place that many people in the community care about, and they all work together to create a space they are happy with. This creates many interactions between members in a community and provides an opportunity for people to create connections through these interactions. People could be more educated about the food they are eating, all while creating a green space that they are proud of.

There are many more benefits to urban farming, like combatting food security. Urban Farming is a sustainable method of producing food and something more communities should take on!

 

Boxed in a Paradox

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Not everyone seems to be in agreement to following the guidelines of the stay at home order, reports of protest and sheer defiance of these safety precautions have been surfacing across the US. And with tensions rising, as well as anxieties building to reopen economies, many states are beginning to lift restrictions. But, there are still many who are not yet prepared to dive back into everyday life, aware that COVID’s threat still lingers, and wish to minimize their exposure and maintain healthy boundaries. A common practice many Americans have partook in, even in the thick of the stay at home order, has been the use of online and delivery platforms. Having their groceries and other essentials delivered,  can be seen as a much safer alternative – and it can be assumed that many will stick to this mode of action even as states begin to reopen. Unfortunately, only a few states such as New York and Washington have made this option available to those who rely on the federally funded SNAP program. And with the majority of SNAP beneficiaries being households with disabled individuals and/or individuals ages 60+, these demographics hold those most at risk to COVID, and would benefit the most from home delivery. This being said, wouldn’t be ideal for all states to adopt this option in the face of our current crisis, and beyond?

But let’s take a deeper dive into this topic, because as much as I am a supporter of making doorstep delivery an accessible option to these millions of Americans, it is not something should be mistaken as an easy fix. Let’s take into account that states who have included SNAP benefits through online platforms, have limited these available services to Amazon and Walmart; in other words corporations large enough to quickly and efficiently take on this new “infrastructure.” And this is where we find ourselves boxed in a paradox, which is ever present within our food system along all lines of production and consumption. Much like we can accredit big agriculture for its efficiency in mass production, a necessity seen to feed the world’s population, we also struggle to simultaneously hold this system accountable for its countless negative social and environmental impacts. A paradox parallel to this current situation. While Amazon and Walmart hold the capacity and capital to adopt platforms that can support SNAP beneficiaries, and meet the needs of at risk populations, this capacity has been made possible through the exploitation and mistreatment of their employees. Not unfamiliar to the reality before the COVID crisis, Amazon and Walmart have made major headlines related to labor strikes in response to the companies’ mistreatment of their workers. Low wages, long hours, unsafe working conditions, and heightened risks during this pandemic are all characteristics that are shared not only among these corporations but also among many of our essential farm workers.

Migrant farm worker and Amazon worker protest working conditions among the COVID crisis. Protest sign translation from Spanish to English: “Without peasants THERE ARE NO APPLES”

Just as the exploitation of migrant farm workers play their role in making cheap food a “possible” option for us all, the exploitation of Amazon and Walmart workers have made it “possible” to quickly adjust to the inclusion of SNAP payments. And so, we wake up to another groundhogs day of maddening paradoxes that many are fighting to break down. I believe it is viable for us to have affordable food and growing technologies that help to meet the needs of those living in disadvantaged states without exploitation and mistreatment making it “possible.” But, in order for us to achieve this we must go farther back down the chains of events and commands, around and through the loops and feedbacks, which all act as mechanisms within our complex food system. As maddening as these paradoxes are, we may only achieve breaking them down by stepping out of the box, and focus on restructuring our systems as a whole. 


In Response to “We Are Told Not to Cry Over Spilled Milk” by Carbam

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By focusing on dumped milk, you showed concern in your blog about the food waste before and amid the COVID-19 pandemic. I agree with you that as the coronavirus spread rapidly across the world, it is disrupting our supply chains and making farmers grappling with low prices and an abrupt drop in demand. Because of the lockdown, restaurants and grocery stores are shutting down and farmers are forced to destroy their crops, throw out perishable items, and dump excess milk. According to estimates from the largest dairy cooperative in the US, dairy farmers are dumping out approximately 3.7 million gallons of milk per day due to the pandemic.

Florida dairy farmers dump excess milk amid coronavirus

With restaurants and schools closed because of the stay-at-home order, it is inevitable that we will experience a hard time managing soaring food waste. One way to alleviate this problem, from my perspective, is to donate the excess food to food aid programs such as SNAP. Also, the government should allocate compensation fairly to farmers to help them go through this hard time. As we’ve discussed in class, inequalities in the food system over time are magnified and are especially obvious during this pandemic. While coronavirus is devastating agriculture, the most vulnerable and impacted groups are low-income families and undocumented workers. As they rely more heavily on SNAP and other food aid during the pandemic, donating excess food can not only ensure enough food supply for SNAP but also abate food waste pressures.

Economic Vulnerabilities Among Migrant Farmworkers in the U.S.

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Undocumented farmworkers in the U.S. (roughly 50 percent of crop agricultural workers) are already disproportionately impacted by health and economic vulnerabilities in the U.S. In addition to the challenges raised in  Undocumented farmworkers are left at high risk for COVID-19  authored by jingz2, COVID-19 will pose unique economic challenges to migrant farmworkers, highlighting the extreme vulnerability of global economies as they rely on U.S. migrant farmworker income. 

The article highlights the lack of legislative inclusion for undocumented migrant farmworkers under labor laws like the Fair Labor Act of 1938 and the National Labor Relations Act of 1835. However, these laws are already exclusionary to migrant farmworkers; far worse impact during COVID-19 will be the decline in migrant workers’ economies as agricultural supply chains grind to a halt, and migrant farmworker remittances decline. As we discuss farm vulnerabilities in the global south due to poverty, low agricultural yields, and warming global temperatures, migration may no longer be as much of a solution for struggling farmworkers abroad.

While the agricultural sector makes up more than USD$1 trillion of the U.S. economy and 5.5 percent GDP, the economic vitality for migrant farmworkers remains in the form of remittances sent externally to family members in migrants’ countries of origin. Last year, the World Bank cited a record USD$554 billion in remittances generated from migrant workers to low and middle-income countries (LMICs). As COVID-19 exacerbates worker vulnerabilities, the World Bank expects a sharp 20 percent decline in remittances, disrupting the livelihoods of families globally. 

Data Source: World Bank via Forbes

Not only will the health of migrant farmworkers disrupt the U.S. food supply, but it will also disrupt the economies of millions that rely on remittances, limiting their ability to purchase food and other essentials. As we consider the impact of COVID-19 on migrant farmworkers in the U.S., we must also remember the direct effect it will have on families abroad. 

For resources on protections for migrant farmworkers, please visit the following: 

Farmworker Justice COVID-19

Georgetown Law: COVID-19 Resources for Workers

Center for American Progress: Protecting Farmworkers From Coronavirus and Securing the Food Supply

Economic Policy Institute: Coronavirus and farmworkers, Farm employment, safety issues, and the H-2A guestworker program

FAQ: Immigrant Workers’ Rights and COVID-19—A Resource for Workers and Their Advocates

Food Security, COVID-19, and the Future of Land Ownership in Yemen

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In response to: “Womxn, Food, and Security Amid COVID-19 in Yemen” by Amber Torell

Amber’s post addressed the impact of COVID-19 on a group of under-represented and vulnerable people in one of the least developed countries in the world. Sadly, Yemen was a country in crisis before COVID-19. To gain a deeper understanding of the food-aid dimension of the global response to the Yemeni crisis, I visited the USAID website. USAID contributes to the UN WFP and supports NGOs in Yemen. Citing the same geo-political concerns as the WFP, USAID announced their reduction in aid to Yemen, specifically in Houthi dominated regions. Food aid represents an immediate desperate need and signifies a systemic failure in the region. Productive assets, including labor and land, are simply not being used to produce food. To be sure, “Land so pervasively underpins human activity that it usually plays some role during war and civil violence.” (Land and Conflict)

Yemen’s civil war is a factional conflict that has evolved into a humanitarian crisis. For civilians, a sustained state of conflict will put the focus on survival and meeting basic human needs, including food and shelter. Disenfranchised groups may be further marginalized and will need to achieve significant gains politically in order to establish power. Specifically, the role of women in poverty-ridden communities connects to my NGO – Landesa. My group is exploring the impact of COVID-19 on women’s land rights, as it is creating additional economic uncertainty. An imbalance we observe is that women farmers comprise a large majority of those who work directly in agricultural, yet only a fraction of those women are actual landowners. While in the short-run, advocating for women’s involvement in the Yemeni government could result in political unrest, having more women as stakeholders could help stabilize the country and its response to the crisis and lay the groundwork for future changes in rural land rights.

From FAO of the United Nations http://www.fao.org/gender/resources/infographics/the-female-face-of-farming/en/

 

 

Climate Change Triple Inequalities: A Worldwide Crisis

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Cameron McElmurry’s blog post describes the locust swarms currently ravaging farms in the Horn of Africa. While reading, I recognized the injustice that many face as they experience crises caused by climate change and are forgotten while the world focuses on COVID-19. Worldwide, millions will face food insecurity and depleted agricultural incomes because of disasters such as this.

Cameron’s post reminded me of the “triple inequality” topic discussed in class. In terms of the current climate crises that are affecting the world, developing countries most often take the brunt of the short term effects. The triple inequality concept includes asymmetric impacts (follow the link for examples), responsibility (those who are most affected by climate change often have the least to do with it), and less capacity to adapt (less infrastructure and ability to rebuild or respond to disasters). 

Climate change is known to increase inequality, so, as developing countries experience more agricultural failure (droughts, pests, etc.) due to new climate disasters, they will have even less money and resources to make further changes, continuing the cycle of this triple inequality. 

Another topic we have discussed in class is the racial disparities present in the food system. A recent article describes the increased inequality of minority Americans during the COVID-19 crisis. It discusses how industrial regions of the country have high populations of minority workers and are disproportionately hit by hurricanes, fossil fuel pollution, cancer and other diseases as result of chemical and pollutant exposure, and now, coronavirus cases. This reveals the reality of triple inequality in America, where particular people groups are systematically affected by the means of production and climate changes that occur as a result of the environmental degradation supported by big business.

It is evident that at home and abroad, we must advocate for those affected by climate change and forgotten during the COVID-19 crisis. 

In response to “How Industries Individualize Responsibility Amid the Covid-19 Epidemic”

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COVID-19 has revealed fundamental cracks in the integrity of the food system. As outbreaks occur in meat packing plants across the country, the supply chain has broken down, revealing how reliant we are on just a few suppliers for our food. Indeed, in the face of a potential meat shortage, Costco, among other retailers, has limited members to three meat items per transaction. Kroger, and its local satellite chain Fred Meyer, temporarily placed restraints on the number of egg and dairy products available for purchase in a single transaction, as well. 

These examples are simply microcosms of the real issue at hand – a society lacking food sovereignty.

On the surface, this breakdown reveals how much agency we have been dispossessed of, as consumers. However, a more judicious inspection shows that those who produce and process the food we eat have also been adversely impacted. 

It’s true, as gstine9 writes: the burden of production and processing has been shifted onto majority minority communities (see Raj Patel:The Color of Food, “Workers of color comprised almost half of the workers in this sector… We suspect that the actual numbers may be higher”(12)). Diffusion of responsibility rides shotgun, while the protection of workers has taken a backseat, during the pandemic. A recent podcast by The Indicator from Planet Money evinces the food production paradox: low-wage farm workers (and meat packers) are essential workers, who are economically obliged to continue their work (not to mention holding the burden of trying to keep the ever fruitful American food cornucopia/system running); however, in doing so, they risk creating even greater contraction/transmission positive feedback loop (remember systems thinking?).  

My week with La Via Campesina | Global Justice Now

Via Campesina. Via Global Justice Now, https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.globaljustice.org.uk%2Fblog%2F2017%2Fjul%2F27%2Fmy-week-la-campesina&psig=AOvVaw1-9wdDaxQmpFXbEFW1clFN&ust=1589639795603000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCOCi4e-LtukCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

I think the messages of Via Campesina, and Monica White, ought to be heeded. A reclamation of food sovereignty is in line. Monica White’s prescriptions for minority communities are relevant too – regaining economic autonomy, by way of subversion of industrialized food. These might be realized in a switch to more community based farming, in which all inputs are known, and there are fewer middlemen in the production and processing of food.

Some pumpkins I’ve planted recently 🙂
Photo by me.

We Are Told Not to Cry Over Spilled Milk!

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See the source image

(Source: Jena, Bikram. OdishaTV. “Coronavirus Lockdown Impact: Odisha Dairy Farmers Dump Milk on Road”. 2020)

A few summers ago, I took a job at a well known grocery store chain, and at the end of each work day, we would log all the food waste and dispose of it. I would frequently hold the produce I was logging out of our stock (Quantity Marked Out of Stock- what we called “Q-MOS”-ing), and would ponder what good the food could do if it were able to be donated, or consumed after we logged it out of our inventory. Most of the time, the food hadn’t been recalled, or expired food, it had just been returned, or found outside of the refrigerated section. I would hang my head in dismay, pounding each code into the ten key pad, and I would lament at the amount of food we were WASTING, that was sorely needed elsewhere. Perhaps even locally!

Cranney Farms in Idaho is giving about about 2 million potatoes so they don't go to waste.

(Source: Ibrahimji, Alisha. CNN. “An Idaho Farm Is Giving Away 2 Million Potatoes Because Coronavirus Has Hurt Demand”. 2020)

Flash forward to today, where amid the coronavirus pandemic of 2020, we are seeing farmers cursed with abundant produce, that they are not able to sell due to the global pandemic. Potato farmers are donating their excess, that would ordinarily be used for French fries in restaurants, and instead losing hundreds and thousands of dollars worth of revenue. If the pandemic keeps up, people WILL lose their farms to coronavirus. Similarly, Because people are unable to sell their goods at this time, they cannot afford the feed for their livestock, and consequently, have been protesting by dumping their milk. Worldwide, we are experiencing shortages and disruptions in the food and agriculture industry. Farmers need fair compensation for their lost revenue, and loss of livelihood during this pandemic, and we need to protect our food workers at every step of the process from farm to fork so that we can prevent famine and economic depression.