WEBVTT - How Coronavirus Disrupted the U.S. Food System

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<v Speaker 1>It's Monday, May eleven. I'm Oscar Ramirez from the Daily

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<v Speaker 1>Dive podcast in Los Angeles, and this is your daily

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<v Speaker 1>coronavirus update. Coronavirus has upended the US food system. It

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<v Speaker 1>was always a delicate balance of demand from consumers at

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<v Speaker 1>grocery stores and restaurants and the supply chain from farmers

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<v Speaker 1>and food processors. But illnesses, shutdowns and stay at home

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<v Speaker 1>orders changed everything. Farmers had crops spoil without any buyers,

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<v Speaker 1>meat processors closed due to outbreaks, distributors lost sixty of

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<v Speaker 1>their business volume, and food banks who relied on grocery

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<v Speaker 1>stores and restaurants are struggling as the need has surged.

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<v Speaker 1>Kevin Rector, reporter at the l A Times, joins us

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<v Speaker 1>for the chaotic food system. Thanks for joining us, Kevin,

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks for having me. I wanted to talk about the

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<v Speaker 1>US food system throughout this whole coronavirus pandemic. It's really

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<v Speaker 1>been upended starting on March sixteen, when the governor basically

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<v Speaker 1>asked restaurants to shut down. I mean, it just created

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<v Speaker 1>this whole ripple effect on how delicate the food supply

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<v Speaker 1>chain really is in the state and in the country. Really,

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<v Speaker 1>this is happening all over the place. Obviously we're gonna

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<v Speaker 1>talk about California specifically, but it's particularly crazy here in California.

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<v Speaker 1>There's a third of the country's vegetables and two thirds

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<v Speaker 1>of the fruits and nuts are grown here in this state.

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<v Speaker 1>So things that are happening here are affecting the entire country, really,

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<v Speaker 1>And you've spoke to dozens of people farmers, truckers, grocery

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<v Speaker 1>store executives, restaurateurs, food service providers, and food bank administrators

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<v Speaker 1>to get a sense of what's going on with the

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<v Speaker 1>supply chain here. So Kevin, tell us a little bit

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<v Speaker 1>about that. In conversations with all of those folks, it

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<v Speaker 1>was made clear here to me that there's really no

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<v Speaker 1>sector in the US food system that han't been struck

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<v Speaker 1>by this. A lot of those sectors work sort of

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<v Speaker 1>hand in hand with one another. They have sort of

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<v Speaker 1>stood up where they had stood up, these very complex,

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<v Speaker 1>precise supply chains for serving the residents of the state

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<v Speaker 1>in the ways that they were accustomed to eating and

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<v Speaker 1>dining out things like that. But like you mentioned, when

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<v Speaker 1>the governor sort of asked all the restaurants closed down,

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<v Speaker 1>it totally shattered a lot of that system and forced

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<v Speaker 1>people to find new ways to match the supply of

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<v Speaker 1>food with the demand. One of the biggest changes right

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<v Speaker 1>out of the gate at that point was the food

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<v Speaker 1>service sector, which supplies not only restaurants, but schools and hotels, etcetera.

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<v Speaker 1>With a ton of food totally shut down. Some distributors

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<v Speaker 1>lost their business overnight. It did depend on what sort

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<v Speaker 1>of diversification they had among their customers, so some providers

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<v Speaker 1>for a lot of fast food restaurants and things like

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<v Speaker 1>that that kept on with their drive through and carry

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<v Speaker 1>out options maintained a larger centage of their business, but

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of the industry was just decimated. At the

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<v Speaker 1>same time, grocery store demand shot up, as everyone knows

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<v Speaker 1>a lot more people we're flowing into grocery stores. Particularly

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<v Speaker 1>in the beginning there there was a lot of hoarding

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<v Speaker 1>going on. Essentially, people stockpiling food based in part on

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<v Speaker 1>their uncertainty as to whether or not it would remain available.

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<v Speaker 1>I think some of that was due to earlier signs

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<v Speaker 1>that people were seeing that supplies of other things like

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<v Speaker 1>toilet paper and paper products weren't necessarily on the shelf,

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<v Speaker 1>and then it was sort of a vicious cycle. So yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>it started that way and it's rippled out into a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of other portions of the system. And that's a

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<v Speaker 1>huge part of it. That the retail demand went up

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<v Speaker 1>as people were trying to stockpile very early, honest, like, hey,

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<v Speaker 1>you gotta be quarantined for two weeks, So people were

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<v Speaker 1>trying to buy enough food for those two weeks and

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<v Speaker 1>longer if they had to. And while that demand went up,

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<v Speaker 1>the demand on the restaurant side went down. But that

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<v Speaker 1>rise in the retail demand was not enough to offset

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<v Speaker 1>what was being lost on the restaurant side, and farmers

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<v Speaker 1>were hit especially hard to with a bunch of their

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<v Speaker 1>crops went rotten and they had to kind of restart

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<v Speaker 1>all over again when the restaurants weren't buying up the

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<v Speaker 1>bulk of that food. And even still now for them

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<v Speaker 1>is I have to imagine as tough as restaurants are

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<v Speaker 1>going to start reopening, it's still unclear what the demand

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<v Speaker 1>is going to be. Even if a restaurant opens up,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm sure they're not going to be a capacity right away.

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<v Speaker 1>They're limiting how many people are going to be in there.

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<v Speaker 1>So for farmers, it's a tough game right now. On

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<v Speaker 1>matching that demand. One thing I heard from almost everyone

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<v Speaker 1>I talked to is that this was not just the

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<v Speaker 1>market was one way one day, and then it was

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<v Speaker 1>a different way the next day, and everyone could start

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<v Speaker 1>sort of getting in shape and getting in line for

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<v Speaker 1>the new way the markets worked. It was just that

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<v Speaker 1>every day, day after day, the markets were changing, and

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<v Speaker 1>supply was changing and demand was changing, such that they've

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<v Speaker 1>been on this whirlwind roller coaster of logistical gymnastics day

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<v Speaker 1>after day trying to figure out what they can do

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<v Speaker 1>to sort of shore up their bottom line and also

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<v Speaker 1>make sure that food supply doesn't go to waste. So

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<v Speaker 1>before the pandemic, there was this elaborate system by which

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<v Speaker 1>grocery stores would sort of kick out excess produce and

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<v Speaker 1>product to food banks, and then the food banks would

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<v Speaker 1>supply these sort of local community pantries or stoop kitchens

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<v Speaker 1>or folks who are providing meals to meet residents. But

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<v Speaker 1>when the world changed, all of those supply chains were disrupted.

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<v Speaker 1>Groceries were selling more stock off their shelves, and so

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<v Speaker 1>they had less to provide to the food banks. Here

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<v Speaker 1>in California, in Hollywood, the Hollywood Food Coalition, which has

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<v Speaker 1>for thirty three years, served hot meals to folks on

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<v Speaker 1>the street each night. They received a lot of food

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<v Speaker 1>from studio productions, television and movies. They could speed hundreds

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<v Speaker 1>of people on night just based on leftover food. All

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<v Speaker 1>of that shutdown, so suddenly they didn't have that product.

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<v Speaker 1>And at the same time, like you said, a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of the farmers suddenly had a ton of produce that

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<v Speaker 1>they were having in the old world, gobbled up each

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<v Speaker 1>day by restaurants no longer having a market. And it

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<v Speaker 1>talked to one lettuce grower who said they're considering shifting

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<v Speaker 1>what they grow to grow more iceberg in Romaine, which

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<v Speaker 1>is what grocery store buyers purchased, and less of the

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<v Speaker 1>sort of boutique leafs that chefs used in fancy salad.

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<v Speaker 1>So it was an array of disruptions that all hit

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<v Speaker 1>at once. And like you mentioned, some restaurants are coming

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<v Speaker 1>back online or learning how to do delivery, or working

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<v Speaker 1>with the apps that people are using more and more,

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<v Speaker 1>and so the demand on the food service sector hadn't

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<v Speaker 1>just dropped off a cliff and then stayed there forever.

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<v Speaker 1>It's it's climbing back up. I think it's shifting a

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<v Speaker 1>day to day basis of people are having to evolve.

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<v Speaker 1>Going back real briefly to what you mentioned about the

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<v Speaker 1>food banks, I made a note on my article or

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<v Speaker 1>on the notes, and it just simply wrote, Wow, I

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<v Speaker 1>didn't know that a single day of production on a

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<v Speaker 1>film or TV set could have enough leftover meals for

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<v Speaker 1>hundreds of people on any given day. That's crazy. And

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<v Speaker 1>and as you say, you know, things shut down almost immediately.

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<v Speaker 1>That's all those people are left without nothing. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>in the first three weeks of April, there was nearly

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<v Speaker 1>two d hundred thousand people that applied for government food

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<v Speaker 1>assistant under the cow Fresh program. Food banks were seeing

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<v Speaker 1>thousands of people in increase that needed food. So it's

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<v Speaker 1>very tough out there. And one of the ones that

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<v Speaker 1>we've been hearing a lot when we hear about food

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<v Speaker 1>supply chain is in danger our meat processors. We've seen

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<v Speaker 1>a bunch of plants closed down due to coronavirus outbreaks.

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<v Speaker 1>People they're getting sick and they've had to change a

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<v Speaker 1>bunch of stuff in their processing plants to accommodate that.

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<v Speaker 1>Just as there was sort of increasing demand on processors,

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<v Speaker 1>including as some processing facilities were shut down because it outbreaks.

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<v Speaker 1>There was this added need to better space out employees,

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<v Speaker 1>so you were looking at increased demand at the same

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<v Speaker 1>time you were looking at the need to have fewer

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<v Speaker 1>employees on a production line or things like that. So

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of meat processors have sort of scrambled to

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<v Speaker 1>reshape how they operate and in order to meet higher

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<v Speaker 1>demand for packaged meats and groceries, but at the same

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<v Speaker 1>time keep their frontline workers safe. And that's part of

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<v Speaker 1>this picture. It hasn't always gone that way for either

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<v Speaker 1>meat processors or for grocery stores. We are seeing employees

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<v Speaker 1>in the food sector falling sick, and there's pushback from

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<v Speaker 1>unions and other advocates for these workers to say that

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<v Speaker 1>the companies who employ them need to be doing more

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<v Speaker 1>to ensure their safety. And that does take careful consideration.

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<v Speaker 1>It's another logistical hurdle that these companies are dealing with,

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<v Speaker 1>just as they are dealing with all of these other

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<v Speaker 1>logistical hurdles in terms of matching supply with demand. And

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<v Speaker 1>it's a top to bottom thing. We've talked about the distributors,

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<v Speaker 1>the restaurants, the processors, the farmers, all that, but truck

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<v Speaker 1>drivers also there's been an ebb and flow in how

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<v Speaker 1>they've been operating. Early on, the demand for their services

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<v Speaker 1>was huge because everybody was doing all this kind of

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<v Speaker 1>panic buying, and now that's kind of leveled off a

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<v Speaker 1>little bit. So for smaller trucking companies, it's hard to

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<v Speaker 1>keep them in business. It's hard to keep the haulers

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<v Speaker 1>pulling all the freight because there's just not as much anymore.

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<v Speaker 1>Some folks in the trucking industry told me that they're

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<v Speaker 1>sending out drivers to carry certain halls at a loss

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<v Speaker 1>because before all of this happened, there was a shortage

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<v Speaker 1>of truck drivers in the country, and companies work hard

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<v Speaker 1>to build up stable staffing and have good truck drivers

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<v Speaker 1>working for them, and they don't want to lose all

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<v Speaker 1>of that now, so they've been taking jobs at a

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<v Speaker 1>loss just to keep their truckers rolling. That's another example

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<v Speaker 1>of how they rippled out. A lot of the food

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<v Speaker 1>service industry companies relied a lot on truck drivers to

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<v Speaker 1>move products across the country and from one area to another,

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<v Speaker 1>and a lot of that fell off. Folks in the

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<v Speaker 1>food sector growers and food service sector companies and food

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<v Speaker 1>banks and all sorts of different folks are trying to

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<v Speaker 1>reroute transport capacity to where it needs to be so

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<v Speaker 1>that food doesn't go to waste and people don't go hungry.

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<v Speaker 1>The government is trying to step in. USDA has put

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<v Speaker 1>up plans for billions of dollars to reroute some of

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<v Speaker 1>the supply on the produce side into the food banks because,

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<v Speaker 1>like you mentioned, the lines that these food banks are

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<v Speaker 1>getting longer and longer, so there is a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>effort out there to figure out the transportation of all

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<v Speaker 1>this food as well. I mean, it's tough to predict

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<v Speaker 1>when some like this will happen and upend the entire

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<v Speaker 1>food system, but it really just shows us how delicate

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<v Speaker 1>the balance is and how one little thing affects everything else.

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<v Speaker 1>You know. Looking to the future, we're gonna have to

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<v Speaker 1>see what type of new system maybe we can implement

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<v Speaker 1>that compare you know, people and some of these institutions

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<v Speaker 1>that need the food with those that have the food supply. So,

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<v Speaker 1>I mean, hopefully we can get this under wraps, but

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<v Speaker 1>for now, it's just a chaotic thing right now and

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<v Speaker 1>no end in sight really until things get back to normal,

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<v Speaker 1>if they ever do, so, we'll have to keep an

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<v Speaker 1>eye out for all of that. Kevin Rector, reporter at

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<v Speaker 1>the l A. Times, thank you very much for joining us. Thanks.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Ostar Ramirez and this has been your daily coronavirus Upteve.

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<v Speaker 1>Don't forget that. For today's big news stories, you can

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<v Speaker 1>check me out of the Daily Give podcast every Monday

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<v Speaker 1>through Friday, so follow us on I Heart Radio or

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