Protectionist measures by governments during the coronavirus crisis could provoke food shortages around the world, the UN’s food body has warned.

How are you coping in this state of emergency?  Governments are trying in their own ways to combat the spread of Covid  19. This means that our Government is authorised under the Civil Defence and Emergency Management Act 2002 to provide food and shelter to those affected by the emergency, which may become important if commercial supply chains start to fail.

For a government and its associated agencies to have unprecedented powers over its citizens is a totally foreign concept to many of us. [1]We have never lived like this. But here we are into week 1 of what we truly hope at worst is only one of 4 weeks. Some very big decisions are being made and we have to hope that they are the right ones.

Who wouldn’t hope that every decision the authorities make today will be in our best interests for tomorrow.  But, just how back to normal will look is really dependent upon how long we are shut down. We always talked about the need for a resilient food system.  Well that time is now. Faced with the stark reality that Government decisions have meant we have no other option than to get our food from the supermarket is challenging to say the least.  

The response to the pandemic was so quick it caught many off guard. Businesses that feed us were forced to literally shut their doors. Markets which provided local fresh foods closed, online services provided access to specific foods and health products were shut down.[2] Trade has effectively stopped.

Foodstuffs and Woolworths now have a complete monopoly over the distribution of food that otherwise would be sold by smaller businesses. 

We don’t want the virus to spread and we don’t want people to die. But at the same time we need to have access to good food.  The restrictions in place risk destroying many small food businesses if they go on for too long. For reasons not totally understood we have suddenly become totally dependent upon supermarkets at the expense of the small food producers.  The globalised food system which we have enjoyed to some extent was always unsustainable. Now we get to see how resilient it really isn’t.

Supermarkets are part of the globalised food system and look to be buckling under the strain.   The bones of industrialisation are laid bare. The highly centralised commodity based supermarket sourcing system means that our food system is now in a state of crisis and we are left dependent upon two companies. The Food and Grocery Council who represents Foodstuffs and Woolworths and their supplier processed food companies also provides advice to the Government.  We can only conclude that the Government is not listening to other independent food retailers and certainly not those voices that represent the local food movement. In fact many of been lumped in the non essential basket. Supermarkets have in the past been unashamedly competitive in the way they go about their business; competing with each other and with great effect putting any smaller independent businesses out of business.

We are however finding out how unsustainable the system is. The most immediate problem we are experiencing is supply. The ‘just in time’ system that supermarkets and many businesses operate under cannot sustain us through this crisis.  Supermarket spokespeople have referred to this inappropriately as an unexpected early ‘Christmas’ rush before Christmas.  But it’s not Christmas. [3]

The Medias positive spin on ample supermarket supplies comes in the wake of customers experiencing social incrimination for buying too much and empty shelves.  In times of crisis governments consolidate resources. One week into this state of emergency we have rationing by supermarkets and sorry sold out online services. This contradicts the ‘plenty of food’ mantra.  We have heard that ‘essential workers’ will have priority to food at Supermarkets that are already experiencing shortages of some lines of food.[4]

The other significant problem is trade. Trade is and always will be important for our economy. Trade affects supply. There is the risk that countries will enforce trade restrictions on food as they did during the 2007-08 food crises. Restricting trade of some foods may seem a totally reasonable thing for Governments to do to ensure they can feed their own populations. But trade restrictions mean those who need food may go without. [5]This will impact on our small businesses dependent on imported ingredients and products.   [6]

When we hear Food Spokespeople say New Zealand has plenty of its own food it is unclear what that diet may consist of. [7][8][9]  [10]  Empty shelves indicate another problem. We import a lot of food we have come to take for granted. As a result of this Pandemic decisions are being made globally that will have enormous impact on our access to food. This only makes local food production and access to it even more essential.

We can expect to see a spike in food prices as a result of  COVID-19 disruptions, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. We can expect food shortages. How the government decides to manage the regional and local access to food is at this point not clear. But we know they have extraordinary powers to do so and will take advice from Business leaders.

Under the State of Emergency Governments have the power to consolidate and redistribute commodities and resources like food.  Many of the businesses associated with the relatively recent local food movement and all the small independent artisan businesses that operate in shops have been hit so hard by this consolidation of food distribution that they may not recover.

Resilient food communities were based around the foods readily available locally. Businesses that were part of those communities strengthened those communities.  It is the small local food producers who immortalised the food resilience concept.  Food resilience was supposed to be all about very short distribution networks; trace ability. The latest reasoning that prevents other food retailers like butchers, bakers, vege shops  to operate because ‘alternatives are available’ at the supermarket may possibly apply in the short term response to the Covid 19, but any long term use of this  reasoning would be illogical.  Attempts to reducing the potential spread of the virus are obviously commendable even if supermarkets unfortunately become the source of the clusters.

Farmers and Food Markets feed a significant percentage of the population; usually from the food grown and produced locally. Markets are outside and generally market customers choose market food from their growers because they cannot get the quality or variety from the supermarkets. Growers also supply cafes, restaurants and other small businesses.   Customers know who their producer is and the producers know who their customer is. Handling of food is minimal. Traceability is obvious.  One would hope that these markets will be able to resume business as usual for their local producers as soon as it is safe to.     

The local food movement is an entire food chain, it is a distribution network and it is in complete shutdown.  Food is right under our noses and yet it is largely inaccessible. At the same time we are faced with limited alternatives at the supermarket. Home resilience is really kicking in.      

As long as this situation of shut down is short, we can I think hope to show just how resilient this local food economy in New Zealand is.  Once we are free to do business we can hope that there will be a greater appreciation of local food. But there will be implications for independent food producers & small business because of the break in trade and supply distribution. [11]How we handle this as individuals will call on some resourcefulness and hopefully Government assistance. We need the  Government  to prioritised small local food production by way of subsidising the growers and producers who produce for local economies. This would be a step towards creating greater food resilience.   

Our food system is undergoing a challenging time and what we do after the virus has gone could help make it stronger and more resilient or we could make the same mistakes again. To do the latter would be business as usual.  This should be the time for deglobalisation.  [12]

It would helpful to be hopeful in the face of such potentially challenging times.  If the Government values the local food movement and wishes to make our country more sustainable in food production and create a more vibrant food culture then financial assistance to those independent small food producers would be a great start.[13] If not we can only hope that people will wake up to the fact that it is no fun being dependent upon the supermarket for food. It may change their shopping preferences. It needs to be said that the supermarket model of business is part of the food system problem. The focus needs to be on the local.    

Our food communities need to be resilient more than ever. Right now they are in peril. We cannot live on supermarket alone.  Nor do we need to. Let’s do it better this time round.

Barb Warren OFM

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[1] https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/03/coronavirus-what-emergency-powers-the-government-will-get.html

[2] Our Government has said that: [2]Butchers, bakeries and similar small-scale food retailers are considered non-essential, as similar products are readily available in supermarkets

Farmers markets are not considered to be an essential service, as alternatives are available

 

[3] https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12319450

[4] https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/03/supermarket-shelves-cleaned-out-as-new-zealand-hits-20-covid-19-cases.html

[5] Current examples of trade restrictions taking place involve Kazakhstan who according to a report from Bloomberg has banned exports of wheat flour, of which it is one of the world’s biggest sources, as well as restrictions on buckwheat. Vietnam, the world’s third biggest rice exporter, has temporarily suspended rice export contracts.

 

[6] https://www.economist.com/china/2020/03/14/covid-19-is-making-it-harder-to-grow-food-in-china

[7] According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture there are currently, some 820 million people around the world experiencing chronic hunger – not eating to live normal lives. Of this, 113 million are coping with acute severe insecurity – hunger so severe that it poses an immediate threat to their lives or livelihoods and renders them reliant on external assistance to get by.  Then there are the children. In Latin America and the Caribbean, school meal programmes benefit 85 million children. Some 10 million children depend on them as the meals constitute one of their most reliable sources of food each day. Here in New Zealand children in 30 primary and intermediate schools receive a free lunch every school day, the lunch programme is part of a trial, extending to 21,000 children in 120 schools by the beginning of 2021. How can we be sure these kids are eating enough if they are not able to go to school?

 

[8] The food supply chain is a complex web that involves producers, agricultural inputs, transportation, processing plants, and shipping. It includes small food producers, and businesses, restaurants and charities that feed homeless, vulnerable, school lunches. It includes transport, labour, agricultural supplies, animal feed, slaughterhouses, machinery, packaging and distribution networks and every person who is involved in some shape or form in food. 

 

[9] https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/a-glance-at-nz-trade-after-the-coronavirus-outbreak-25-march-update

[10] https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/03/supermarket-shelves-cleaned-out-as-new-zealand-hits-20-covid-19-cases.html

[11] Where will our coffee, tea, pasta, oils, olives, peanuts, beans, almonds, flour, wheat, rice, soy, come from if the normal trade routes are non-existent?  These shortages affect not only customers but also the producers.

[12] https://www.localfutures.org/coronavirus-and-the-death-of-connectivity/

[13] https://www.farmaid.org/blog/how-will-covid-19-affect-my-local-farmers-and-food/

https://covid19.govt.nz/government-actions/covid-19-alert-level/essential-businesses/?utm_source=business.govt.nz&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=special_cv_edition