LESSONS FROM COVID-19: POSITIONING REGIONAL FOOD SUPPLY CHAINS FOR FUTURE PANDEMICS, NATURAL DISASTERS AND HUMAN-MADE CRISES

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted food supply chains in the U.S. We need our food system to continuously provide adequate nourishment to the people and support the livelihood of people who supply food. Yet, we witnessed empty shelves in supermarkets, food rotting in fields, economic hardship of farmers and restauranteurs, and workers exposing themselves to health risks to supply us our food. The overall goal of this project is to generate science-based knowledge and resources to enhance preparedness of the U.S. food supply chains for future disruptions. We are a multidisciplinary team of researchers and extension specialists from five universities in the Midwest, West, and South regions, collaborating with many stakeholder organizations toward this goal. We hypothesize that disruptions in the food supply chains from COVID-19 stemmed from structural characteristics of mainstream food supply chains that have historically evolved to pursue economic efficiency through economies of scale, lean procurement practices, and specialization. Shorter, more localized food supply chains are suggested to be more flexible and well-positioned to meet localized food needs, but these are also naturally constrained by scale and seasonality. We will explore the extent to which regional food systems can effectively augment mainstream supply chains to meet the nation's food needs, with a focus on ensuring the economic security of our small-scale operations. Specifically, we will (1) survey farm and food supply chain business operators in our study regions (upper Midwest, California, and Florida) and individuals nationwide to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and what changes we should expect in our food supply chains moving forward, (2) examine capacities and structural vulnerabilities of regional food systems to support their population needs in our study regions, (3) brainstorm strategies with supply chain stakeholders and experts for our food system to cope with current and future disruptions, and (4) offer training programs for university cooperative extension personnel and others to strengthen support for local and regional supply chain participants at times of disruptions. We will build a COVID-19-dedicated website for food and agricultural stakeholders, which include the general public. We will share the project findings in various media and deliver training programming via this communication platform. We anticipate our work to increase our collective understanding of the COVID-19 impacts on our food system, capacities of regional foodsheds, structure of regional food flows, and how people obtain (or become unable to obtain) food during "normal" times and times of disruption. In a longer term, stakeholders in our food system could make informed decisions about their practices to prepare for future disruptions and show an increased capacity of cooperative extension and other professionals to facilitate food system changes. Ultimately, our food systems could navigate future disruptions more deftly.