Impacts of COVID-19 on US agri-food supply chain businesses: Regional survey results

Abstract

Visible disruptions of appropriate food distribution for end consumers during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic prompted calls for an urgent, renewed look at how the U.S. agri-food system is impacted by and responds to pandemics, natural disasters, and human-made crises. Previous studies suggest the COVID-19 pandemic yielded uneven impacts across agri-food supply chain segments and regions. For a rigorously comparable assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on agri-food businesses, a survey was administered from February to April 2021 to five segments of the agri-food supply chain in three study regions (California, Florida, and the two-state region of Minnesota-Wisconsin). Results (N = 870) measuring the self-reported changes in quarterly business revenue in 2020 compared to businesses’ typical experience pre-COVID-19 suggest significant differences across supply chain segments and regions. In the Minnesota-Wisconsin region, restaurants took the largest hit and the upstream supply chains were relatively unaffected. In California, however, the negative impacts were felt throughout the supply chain. Two factors likely contributed to regional differences: (1) regional disparities in pandemic evolution and governance and (2) structural differences in regional agri-food systems. Regionalized and localized planning and the development of best-practices will be necessary for the U.S. agri-food system to enhance preparedness for and resilience to future pandemics, natural disasters, and human-made crises.

Extreme risk spillovers between US and Chinese agricultural futures markets in crises: A dependence-switching copula-CoVaR model

“…Furthermore, the risk spillovers from the US to China also rely heavily on supply-side shocks. Production and supply chain shortages due to blockades, travel restrictions, and quarantines after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic have reduced the availability of food [ 79 – 81 ]. This exacerbates the fluctuations and risk spillovers in these two countries’ markets.…”

“…quarantines after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic have reduced the availability of food [79][80][81]. This exacerbates the fluctuations and risk spillovers in these two countries' markets.…”

Diversification and resilience of firms in the agrifood supply chain

“…Our data come from a survey developed and conducted by a multi‐institutional research team of which we are a part (Peterson et al, 2023). The survey was administered using the online platform Qualtrics between February 1 and April 15, 2021.…”

Applying Digital Technology to Understand Human Experiences of Climate Change Impacts on Food Security and Mental Health: Scoping Review

“…As a result, human food security is directly connected to climactic conditions and the global food supply, with people living in geographically vulnerable areas (i.e., rural, remote, coastal or northern arctic regions) [16][17][18] and those whose livelihoods are closely connected to the land (i.e., farmers, Indigenous communities) experiencing the greatest risks to their food security [9,14,19,20]. The Coronavirus pandemic reminded the world of the global interconnectedness of its food supply [21], as it affected all populations -and not only those previously deemed to be living in areas geographically vulnerable to adverse climate change events [22][23][24]. Increasing frequency of extreme weather events [24]also directly affects mental health [21,22], with the term 'solastalgia' coined to refer to the specific mental distress caused by environmental degradation and climate change [25].…”

“…However, a key gap persists when we consider digital resource access issues among vulnerable communities, particularly in the global south, which are also facing the brunt of adverse climate change impacts [23,40,[66][67][68]. This gap -referred to as the global digital divide -is characterized by the 'first-level' digital divide (i.e., differences in digital access among citizens), as well as the 'second-level' digital divide (i.e., differences in citizens' usage of computers and the internet) [69].…”