{"id":22173,"date":"2020-04-11T14:12:06","date_gmt":"2020-04-11T21:12:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/?p=22173"},"modified":"2020-04-11T14:12:12","modified_gmt":"2020-04-11T21:12:12","slug":"pandemic-food-deserts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/pandemic-food-deserts\/","title":{"rendered":"Pandemic Food Deserts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nby David Yaffe-Bellany<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/strong>Michael Corkery<\/a> (4-11-20)
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\n\n\n\n\nDavid Yaffe-Bellany reports on the food industry and general business news. He graduated from Yale University and previously reported in Texas, Ohio and Connecticut. @yaffebellany<\/a>\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nMichael Corkery is a business reporter who covers the retail industry and its impact on consumers, workers and the economy. He joined The Times in 2014 and was previously a reporter at the Wall Street Journal and the Providence Journal.\u00a0@mcorkery5<\/a>\n\n\n\n\n
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\n\n\n\n\nIn Wisconsin and Ohio, farmers<\/a> are dumping thousands of gallons of fresh milk into lagoons and manure pits. An Idaho farmer has dug huge ditches to bury 1 million pounds of onions. And in South Florida, a region that supplies much of the Eastern half of the United States with produce, tractors are crisscrossing bean and cabbage fields, plowing perfectly ripe vegetables back into the soil.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nAfter weeks of concern about shortages in grocery stores<\/a> and mad scrambles<\/a> to find the last box of pasta<\/a> or toilet paper roll<\/a>, many of the nation\u2019s largest farms are struggling with another ghastly effect of the pandemic. They are being forced to destroy tens of millions of pounds of fresh food that they can no longer sell.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThe closing of restaurants<\/a>, hotels and schools has left some farmers with no buyers for more than half their crops. And even as retailers see spikes in food sales to Americans who are now eating nearly every meal at home, the increases are not enough to absorb all of the perishable food that was planted weeks ago and intended for schools and businesses.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThe amount of waste is staggering. The nation\u2019s largest dairy cooperative, Dairy Farmers of America, estimates that farmers are dumping as many as 3.7 million gallons of milk each day. A single chicken processor is smashing 750,000 unhatched eggs every week.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nMany farmers say they have donated part of the surplus to food banks<\/a> and Meals on Wheels programs, which have been overwhelmed with demand. But there is only so much perishable food that charities with limited numbers of refrigerators and volunteers can absorb.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nAnd the costs of harvesting, processing and then transporting produce and milk to food banks or other areas of need would put further financial strain on farms that have seen half of their paying customers disappear. Exporting much of the excess food is not feasible either, farmers say, because many international customers are also struggling through the pandemic and recent currency fluctuations make exports unprofitable.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s heartbreaking,\u201d said Paul Allen, co-owner of R.C. Hatton, who has had to destroy millions of pounds of beans and cabbage at his farms in South Florida and Georgia.\n\n\n\n\n
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Millions of pounds of beans and cabbage have been destroyed at R.C. Hatton farms in South Florida and Georgia.Credit…
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Paul Allen, co-owner of R.C. Hatton.<\/figcaption>\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThe widespread destruction of fresh food \u2014 at a time when many Americans are hurting financially and millions are suddenly out of work<\/a> \u2014 is an especially dystopian turn of events, even by the standards of a global pandemic. It reflects the profound economic uncertainty wrought by the virus and how difficult it has been for huge sectors of the economy, like agriculture, to adjust to such a sudden change in how they must operate.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nEven as Mr. Allen and other farmers have been plowing fresh vegetables into the soil, they have had to plant the same crop again, hoping the economy will have restarted by the time the next batch of vegetables is ready to harvest. But if the food service industry remains closed, then those crops, too, may have to be destroyed.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nFarmers are also learning in real time about the nation\u2019s consumption habits.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThe quarantines have shown just how many more vegetables Americans eat when meals are prepared for them in restaurants than when they have to cook for themselves.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\n\u201cPeople don\u2019t make onion rings at home,\u201d said Shay Myers, a third-generation onion farmer whose fields straddle the border of Oregon and Idaho.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nMr. Myers said there were no good solutions to the fresh food glut. After his largest customer \u2014 the restaurant industry \u2014 shut down in California and New York, his farm started redistributing onions from 50-pound sacks into smaller bags that could be sold in grocery stores. He also started freezing some onions, but he has limited cold-storage capacity.\n\n\n\n\n
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Recently mulched green beans.Credit…
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\n\n\n\n\nWith few other options, Mr. Myers has begun burying tens of thousands of pounds of onions and leaving them to decompose in trenches.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\n\u201cThere is no way to redistribute the quantities that we are talking about,\u201d he said.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nOver the decades, the nation\u2019s food banks have tried to shift from offering mostly processed meals to serving fresh produce, as well. But the pandemic has caused a shortage of volunteers, making it more difficult to serve fruits and vegetables, which are time-consuming and expensive to transport.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\n\u201cTo purchase from a whole new set of farmers and suppliers \u2014 it takes time, it takes knowledge, you have to find the people, develop the contracts,\u201d said\u00a0Janet Poppendieck<\/a>, an expert on poverty and food assistance.\n\n\n\n\n
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Shay Myers, a third-generation onion farmer whose fields straddle the border of Oregon and Idaho.<\/figcaption>\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThe waste has become especially severe in the dairy industry<\/a>, where cows need to be milked multiple times a day, regardless of whether there are buyers.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nMajor consumers of dairy, like public schools and coffee shops, have all but vanished, leaving milk processing plants with fewer customers at a time of year when cows produce milk at their fastest rate. About 5 percent of the country\u2019s milk supply is currently being dumped and that amount is expected to double if the closings are extended over the next few months, according to the International Dairy Foods Association.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nBefore the pandemic, the Dairymens processing plant in Cleveland would produce three loads of milk, or around 13,500 gallons, for Starbucks every day. Now the Starbucks order is down to one load every three days.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nFor a while after the pandemic took hold, the plant collected twice as much milk from farmers as it could process, keeping the excess supply in refrigerated trailers, said Brian Funk, who works for Dairymens as a liaison to farmers.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nBut eventually the plant ran out of storage. One night last week, Mr. Funk worked until 11 p.m., fighting back tears as he called farmers who supply the plant to explain the predicament.\n\n\n\n\n
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A field of onions in Idaho waiting to be buried. Americans eat many more vegetables when meals are prepared for them in restaurants than when they cook for themselves.<\/figcaption>\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re not going to pick your milk up tomorrow,\u201d he told them. \u201cWe don\u2019t have any place to put it.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nOne of the farms that got the call was the Hartschuh Dairy Farm, which has nearly 200 cows on a plot of land in northern Ohio.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nA week ago, Rose Hartschuh, who runs the farm with her family, watched her father-in-law flush 31,000 pounds of milk into a lagoon. It took more than an hour for the milk to flow out of its refrigerated tank and down the drain pipe.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nFor years, dairy farmers have struggled with low prices and bankruptcies. \u201cThis is one more blow below the belt,\u201d Ms. Hartschuh said.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nTo prevent further dumping, farming groups are trying everything to find places to send the excess milk \u2014 even lobbying pizza chains to increase the amount of cheese on every slice.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nBut there are logistical obstacles that prevent dairy products from being shifted neatly from food service customers to retailers.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nAt many dairy processors, for example, the machinery is designed to package shredded cheese in large bags for restaurants or place milk in small cartons for schools, rather than arrange the products in retail-friendly containers.\n\n\n\n\n
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A pit dug to dispose of unused onions. The onions will be left to rot into the soil.Credit…
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\n\n\n\n\nTo repurpose those plants to put cheese in the 8 oz. bags that sell in grocery stores or bottle milk in gallon jugs would require millions of dollars in investment. For now, some processors have concluded that spending the money isn\u2019t worth it.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\n\u201cIt isn\u2019t like restaurant demand has disappeared forever,\u201d said Matt Gould, a dairy industry analyst. \u201cEven if it were possible to re-format to make it an 8-ounce package rather than a 20-pound bag, the dollars and cents may not pan out.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThose same logistical challenges are bedeviling poultry plants<\/a> that were set up to distribute chicken to restaurants rather than stores. Each week, the chicken processor Sanderson Farms destroys 750,000 unhatched eggs, or 5.5 percent of its total production, sending them to a rendering plant to be turned into pet food.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nLast week, the chief executive of Sanderson Farms, Joe Sanderson, told analysts that company officials had even considered euthanizing chickens to avoid selling them at unprofitable rates, though the company ultimately did not take that step.\n\n\n\n\n
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Mr. Myers said there were no good solutions to the fresh food glut. \u201cThere is no way to redistribute the quantities that we are talking about,\u201d he said.Credit…
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\n\n\n\n\nIn recent days, Sanderson Farms has donated some of its chicken to food banks and organizations that cook meals for emergency medical workers. But hatching hundreds of thousands of eggs for the purpose of charity is not a viable option, said Mike Cockrell, the company\u2019s chief financial officer.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re set up to sell that chicken,\u201d Mr. Cockrell said. \u201cThat would be an expensive proposition.\u201d\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by David Yaffe-Bellany\u00a0and\u00a0Michael Corkery (4-11-20) David Yaffe-Bellany reports on the food industry and general business news. He graduated from Yale University and previously reported in Texas, Ohio and Connecticut. @yaffebellany Michael Corkery is a business reporter who covers the retail industry … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22173"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22183,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22173\/revisions\/22183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}