Monday, May 4, 2020

Members in the News: Glauber, Lusk, Swinnen, Isengildina Massa, Muth, Tonsor, Anderson, Ortega, Malone, Coffey, William, Vos, Schulz... et al.

Joseph Glauber, IFPRI
Jayson Lusk, Purdue University
Johan Swinnen, IFPRI
Olga Isengildina Massa, Virginia Tech
Five threats to US food supply chains
By: The Hill - April 22, 2020
“I think we have a strong food supply system, and it’s diversified enough to provide the products to consumers,” said Olga Isengildina Massa, an associate professor of agriculture and applied economics at Virginia Tech.
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Read more on: The Hill
Mary Muth, RTI International
Focus grows on food processing plants amid new closings
By: The Hill - March 27, 2020
“I expect that more plants will continue to become hot spots and close because it’s so difficult to social distance in meat and poultry plants. Many workers in meat and poultry plants, for various reasons, can’t take sick days if they have been exposed or are having symptoms. So, they end up going to work, and with no ability to social distance, infections can spread,” said Mary Muth, a program director and research economist at RTI International, a nonprofit research institute.
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Read more on: The Hill
Glynn Tonsor, Kansas State University
David Anderson, Texas A&M University
COVID-19 Meat Shortages Could Last for Months. Here's What to Know Before Your Next Grocery Shopping Trip
By: Time - April 30, 2020
Glynn Tonsor, a professor at Kansas State University’s department of agricultural economics, says that whether or not you find meat on your next shopping trip could come down to timing — whether “you come in five minutes after the truck was unloaded, so to speak, verses 12 hours after it was unloaded,” he says.
But some meat supply issues could linger for a year or more, warns David Anderson, professor and extension economist in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Texas A&M University. That’s because meat processing facilities could struggle to keep production lines moving as workers get sick.
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Read more on: Time
David Ortega, Michigan State University
Trey Malone, Michigan State University
Craft beer revolution is in danger amid coronavirus crisis. Here’s what can help save it.
By: USA TODAY - April 22, 2020
Bingeing "Tiger King" and working on a good beer buzz are the only two things we can all agree on. Headlines across the country have made it clear — Americans are drinking their way through the COVID-19 pandemic.
But behind bloodshot eyes, craft brewers across the United States are confronting a sobering reality. Unfortunately, this boom in alcohol sales has not translated to the thousands of small, local and independent brewers we have all come to love over the past few decades. While some alcohol producers have experienced historic sales spikes in recent weeks, a survey conducted by the Brewers Association reports that most breweries have seen sales plummet by at least 70%. The pain is so drastic that well over half of breweries indicate that they will not survive the next three months if they must continue operating under current conditions. 
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Read more on: USA TODAY
Brian Coffey, Kansas State University
Olga Isengildina Massa, Virginia Tech
Farmers are throwing away fresh food and dairy. Food banks want to change that
By: TODAY - April 15, 2020
Coffey explained that we are now witnessing the truly complex nature of modern food supply chains at work, particularly the division between products packaged and distributed for the food service industry — places like restaurants, school cafeterias and entertainment venues which handle large volumes of food — versus goods meant for at-home consumption.
There are also challenges cropping up in the livestock sector, with the spread of coronavirus forcing meat processing facilities to shut down. Even temporary closures will create problems, leaving farmers stuck with a glut of livestock and no plants to break down or package that meat, Virginia Tech agribusiness professor Olga Isengildina-Massa told TODAY.
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Read more on: TODAY
David Ortega, Michigan State University
Jayson Lusk, Purdue University
U.S. PORK PRODUCTION DEVASTATED WITH MEAT SHORTAGES EXPECTED FROM THIS WEEK AS PIGS EUTHANIZED, PLANTS CLOSED
By: Newsweek - April 28, 2020
In any case, these stocks are only a "short term" solution, according to David Ortega, associate professor and food economist at Michigan State University.
"The extent of the effect on availability and consequently meat prices at the supermarket depends on how long these processing plants remain closed and how many more are affected."
Meanwhile, Jayson Lusk, professor of agricultural economics at Purdue University, in West Lafayette, Indiana, said he expected prices to rise "in the coming week, reflecting increased scarcity."
"The consequence of additional closures would be higher prices for consumers and reduced product availability. It also means lower livestock prices and economic harm for farmers," he told Newsweek.
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Read more on: Newsweek
Martin William, IFPRI
Joseph Glauber, IFPRI
Rob Vos, IFPRI
Trust – not food security – is what’s under threat from COVID-19 consumer behaviour
By: Beef Central - April 8, 2020
THE sight of supermarket shelves temporarily out of staple products is always unsettling. Combined with sweeping travel bans affecting many countries grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic, it can be tempting to think that shortages are linked to low global food supplies.
But that’s simply not the case.
Production levels and global stocks for staple foods are at an all-time high and world prices for most food commodities have been remarkably stable since 2015. There is plenty of food, globally, to go around.
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Read more on: Beef Central
Joseph Glauber, IFPRI
Lee Schulz, IFPRI
From caviar to apple juice, coronavirus is changing the way the world feeds itself
By: Los Angeles Times, Transport Topics, & Gulf Times  - April 8, 2020
"The system has evolved to be highly efficient; able to get food from Asia or South America onto the grocery store shelves within days,” said Joseph Glauber, a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute and the former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “Now we have all these things gone from stores in the U.S. I lived in Mali for two years in the ’70s and the grocery stores were always that way. It’s striking if nothing else.”
“Biology prevents producers from instantly responding to price changes,” said Lee Schulz, a livestock economist at Iowa State University. “We don’t have the ability to slow down production.”
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Read more on: Los Angeles Times, Transport Topics, & Gulf Times
Trey Malone, Michigan State University
K. Aleks Schaffer, Michigan State University
HOW THE RETAIL MEAT SHORTAGE WILL PLAY OUT IN FOODSERVICE
By: Restaurant Business - April 28, 2020
Where the demand will be this fall is still pretty much a crapshoot. “The virus is controlling the timeline,” says Trey Malone, assistant professor and extension economist at Michigan State University. “The biggest fear is a double peak of the virus later in the year. That can have a much bigger impact on supply.”
“The demand won’t be that great in the short term,” predicts Aleks Schaefer, assistant professor of agricultural, food and resource economics at Michigan State University. “And once foodservice demand increases, the redirection of the supply chain from retail to foodservice will be smoother than it was back in March when suppliers weren’t expecting it.”
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Read more on: Restaurant Business
Johan Swinnen, IFPRI
Rajul Pandya-Lorch, IFPRI
Build inclusive food systems to fight COVID-19
By: SciDev.Net - April 23, 2020
“As the world struggles to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, economies and livelihoods are disrupted, with the poor [and] vulnerable ones likely to suffer the most,” explains Swinnen. “For instance, smallholder farmers, market vendors, women and youth directly relying on their farm activities will be hard hit.”
Pandya-Lorch explains that urbanisation, rising incomes and changing diets are aiding the expansion of food markets in Africa and South Asia, creating enormous potential for job and income opportunities along food supply chains.
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Read more on: SciDev.Net
Anton Bekkerman, Montana State University
Jayson Lusk, Purdue University
Montana crops get COVID bump, questions
By: Montana Free Press - April 29, 2020
Typically, about 56% of consumer dollars spent on food are spent at restaurants, said Jayson Lusk, an agricultural economist at Purdue University, in a FarmDoc Daily webinar April 21. As a result of the pandemic, people are spending about 10% more of their food dollars at grocery stores than at this time last year, Lusk said.
For example, people are buying baking flour and pasta, which is made from wheat. They’re spending more on alcohol, and most of Montana’s barley is used to make beer. Many people have stocked up on storable items that are high in protein, like beans and lentils, Bekkerman said.
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Read more on: Montana Free Press
David Anderson, Texas A&M University
Anton Bekkerman, Montana State University
With beef backlogged and the market in flux, Montana cattle ranchers face tough choices
By: Montana Free Press  - April 28, 2020
In other parts of the country, with packing plants slowing down, hogs and chickens are being euthanized, having become essentially worthless. But cattle are worth more and take longer to grow to market weight, said David Anderson, a professor of agricultural economics at Texas A&M. Earlier this month, Congress passed a relief bill that includes $19 billion for the agriculture industry, but which producers get what share is still being determined, Anderson said.
“We are likely going to see reductions in herd sizes,” said Anton Bekkerman, an associate professor of agricultural economics at Montana State University. “It stinks a lot, because those decisions can’t be made right now because cows are already calving.”
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Read more on: Montana Free Press
Rob Vos, IFPRI
William Martin, IFPRI
Sens. Moran, Casey, Boozman, Baldwin Urge Secretaries Perdue, Pompeo to Support Global Food Programs During COVID-19
By: U.S. Senator for Kansas, Jerry Moran - April 21, 2020
Researchers at the International Food Policy Research Institute are estimating that this economic slowdown could force another 20 to 30 million people into extreme poverty. In the case of major disruptions to global trade, food export from sub-Saharan Africa may fall by as much as 25 percent, threatening agricultural livelihoods.
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Read more on: U.S. Senator for Kansas, Jerry Moran
Ellen Bruno, University of California, Berkeley
Richard Sexton, University of California, Davis
Daniel Sumner, University of California, Davis
Why are farmers destroying crops while store shelves are empty?
By: Daily Democrat - April 25, 2020
Empty grocery store shelves are troubling enough to California consumers who are accustomed to abundant supplies.
To hear about farmers dumping milk, crushing eggs and plowing under crops when demand for food is strong just doesn’t make sense to many.
Although the coronavirus crisis has currently derailed the connection between supply and demand, “the food system in the United States is resilient and there is little reason for alarm about food availability,” writes University of California agricultural economists.
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Read more on: Daily Democrat
See other Member in the News items
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