The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on food system sustainability are being discussed in a myriad of ways. These diverse narratives expose the complex mix of understandings and priorities that we bring to discussions about sustainability, and they also shine a light on the complexity of both local food systems and global food supply chains. This month’s blog teases out and explores some of the many ways that the pandemic is intersecting with, and shining new light on, food sustainability issues.
Before I dive in, I want to make a short detour to define sustainability, a term that suffers from vague definitions and is fraught with misuse. For the purposes of this blog, I follow the lead of Béné et al. (2019) and others who adhere to a holistic and multi-dimensional definition of sustainability, consisting of four core elements: pursuit of social equity, creation of human welfare, the maintenance of environmental integrity, and a commitment that the sustainability of today should not be achieved at the expense of the sustainability of tomorrow. With this holistic definition of sustainability in mind, a number of observations can be made about how the COVID-19 crisis is bringing visibility to food system sustainability concerns. Future blogs will delve into more detail about the environmental dimensions of food system sustainability. This blog focuses on the human dimensions.
Let’s begin with the novel coronavirus itself. It has been argued that current agricultural practices, which consolidate animals in high densities, may have contributed to the transmission of SARS–CoV 2 (the virus which causes COVID-19) from intermediate animal hosts. Others have implicated habitat destruction and human encroachment (both for urban expansion and conversion to agriculture), which increases contact between humans and the wild species that act as disease vectors. Still others have pointed a finger at the sale of wild animals at wet markets, prompting Wuhan to ban the consumption of wild meat. Whether SARS-CoV 2 spread to humans through contact with domestic or with wild animals, it is clear that intensive animal agriculture increases our risk of new infections and future pandemics. In fact, according to the FAO more than 70% of the infectious diseases that have emerged in humans since 1940 have been traced back to animals.
An estimated four-fifths of the world’s nearly eight billion people rely on imported food for part of their diet, and COVID-19 has exposed vulnerabilities within complex food supply chains, as the crisis applies pressure at every node of the chain, from production to processing to retail, as well as transportation between nodes. Opinions vary about how resilient food supply chains are in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, with some arguing that adaptation has been mostly successful and others pointing to systemic failure. But regardless of how analysts think we’ve fared so far, there is widespread agreement that things may still get much worse, with some going so far as to call for rationing.
For this journey through food supply chains, let’s start with a quick look at food production. Inputs to farms – in the form of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, fuel, equipment, etc. – are traded globally and farms may be at risk of losing sources of inputs depending on how easily these inputs are moving into their country. More urgently, farms around the world are experiencing labour shortages due to restrictions on the travel of foreign workers. These grossly under-recognized workers do a large portion of the world’s essential farm work, often without benefits and for too little pay, and the effects of their absence is being felt the world over, including across Canada and in our home province of Nova Scotia. Without sufficient farm labour, the planting, growing, and harvesting of food crops is put at risk.
Labour shortages are also impacting the food processing sector. The meat packing industry provides an excellent example. In addition to labour losses due to restrictions on the movement of foreign workers, crowded conditions and insufficient employee protections have resulted in significant COVID-19 outbreaks within meatpacking facilities, and several large meat processing plants in the US, Canada, and Germany have experienced temporary closures. Crowded working conditions, insufficient wages, a lack of benefits (including sick leave) and the exploitation of racialized, foreign, and immigrant labour means that meatpackers are at much higher risk of becoming sick with COVID-19 than the general population.
There are also imbalances, intentional and unintentional, between where food is needed and where it’s being delivered (or not). Intentional systemic imbalances stem from two phenomena. The first is overconsumption in the global north, which drives social, economic, and environmental degradation in the global south. The exploitation of people and landscapes in the global south to feed our insatiable hunger is a problem that existed well before COVID-19, of course, but its effects will be felt more profoundly in this time of crisis. Secondly, as trade becomes more precarious, both because of travel restrictions and trade restrictions imposed by countries wishing to place limits on the exports of staples (we’ve seen this with rice), high-income countries may look to stockpile larger supplies of food commodities such as grains. This could mean an increase in food insecurity and starvation for low- and mid-income countries who cannot compete.
The unintentional imbalances stem from the fact that food service (restaurants, institutional food provisioning etc.) and direct–to–customer food retail (grocery stores etc.) markets have separate supply chains. This is fine when everything is up and running, but it’s a big problem when restaurants and many large institutions all close down at once. It is very difficult to re-route food from the food service market to the retail market, which means that while grocery stores and food banks struggle to keep their shelves stocked, food meant for restaurants and institutions is going to waste in storage or in farmers’ fields.
Aside from the staggering number of long illnesses and fatalities that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused, one of the most distressing impacts has been the rapidly growing number of people who are hungry and food insecure. In low- and middle-income countries, the picture is grim, with directors of the UN’s food relief agency and the World Food Programme forecasting widespread famine of “biblical proportions”. With fewer opportunities to work from home, sheltering in place has meant that poverty and food insecurity are on the rise, and these countries are doubly at risk, because they are also disproportionately impacted by global food supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19. With the number of COVID-19 cases now increasing dramatically in poorer countries, especially in South America, it is clear that the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over and the world’s most vulnerable people face compounding health risks.
While those of us fortunate enough to live in high-income countries may be faring better in general, our communities are also experiencing an increase in food insecurity. According to Food Secure Canada, experts are predicting that the number of food insecure people in Canada could double as a result of COVID-19, and here at home Feed Nova Scotia reported a 30% increase in food provided compared to the same period last year. Other countries are reporting the same trend, as people all over the world lose their jobs. Across the world, pervasive systemic racism means that marginalized and racialized people are at greater risk of experiencing hunger and food insecurity due to COVID-19, as are women and children. These unacceptable inequities existed before this crisis hit, and they will continue until the racism and sexism baked into our society are dismantled.
As COVID-19 restrictions begin to ease, it is important that we resist the urge to rush back to the comfort of the old “normal.” The old normal was not sustainable, and its inadequacies have been made abundantly clear to us. Now is the time to learn from the successes and failures of our current food system, and to begin the work of re-making a better one. My future blogs will pivot back to focusing mainly on the environmental impacts associated with food systems, but, as this blog shows, our current food systems are not fully resilient in times of crisis and are also failing to meet the needs of all people equally. True sustainability addresses these inequities, works to ensure the rights and well-being of all life (human and non-human), and strives to conserve a healthy planet for future generations. We need a new normal.
For an excellent clearing house of resources about COVID-19 and food sustainability, check out this site pulled together by the University of Gloucestershire.
