Small Companies With Little Experience Delivering To Food Banks Awarded $1.2 Billion To Do So
While fast-tracking emergency aid to get more food to hungry people, the Department of Agriculture passed over several big produce companies with extensive expertise in distributing perishable produce between farmers and food banks in favor of these smaller firms. In other food supply news: euthanizing pigs; Tysons lowers beef prices; the challenges of shopping in remote areas; rotting crops; and an Atlanta drive-thru food drive.
Politico:
Multimillion-Dollar Food Bank Delivery Contracts Go To Firms With Little Experience
The Agriculture Department has awarded multimillion-dollar contracts to companies that appear to have little experience working with food banks or farmers, spurning several big produce companies with extensive expertise in food distribution. An event planning company in San Antonio, Texas, known for throwing lavish weddings and high-end conferences, was awarded more than $39 million — one of the largest contracts handed out by USDA under a new program aimed at matching up food banks with surplus produce, meat and dairy. (Evich and McCrimmon, 5/13)
The New York Times:
Meat Plant Closures Mean Pigs Are Gassed Or Shot Instead
One Minnesota hog farmer sealed the cracks in his barn and piped carbon dioxide through the ventilation system. Another farmer has considered gassing his animals after loading them into a truck. And a third shot his pigs in the head with a gun. It took him all day. These are dark days on many American pig farms. Coronavirus outbreaks at meatpacking plants across the Midwest have created a backlog of pigs that are ready for slaughter but have nowhere to go. Hundreds of thousands of pigs have grown too large to be slaughtered commercially, forcing farmers to kill them and dispose of their carcasses without processing them into food. (Corkery and Yaffe-Bellany, 5/14)
The Wall Street Journal:
Tyson Reduces Some Beef Prices As Coronavirus Pushes Grocery-Store Costs Higher
Tyson Foods Inc. is lowering some prices it charges supermarkets and restaurants for beef, after coronavirus-driven disruptions at meatpacking plants have led to a surge in meat costs. The Arkansas company, which processes about one-fifth of the nation’s beef, plans to reduce prices for ground beef, roasts and other beef products by as much as 20% to 30% for sales made this week to restaurants, grocery stores and other customers. The move will help keep beef affordable, said Noel White, Tyson’s chief executive. (Bunge, 5/13)
NPR:
14 Hours And A Costco Card: How A Grocer In Alaska Feeds His Town In A Pandemic
Think your grocery store runs are tough these days? In the remote Alaskan city of Gustavus, a small business owner, Toshua Parker, has started traveling 14 hours by boat to Juneau and back to stock up on critical supplies for his store during the coronavirus pandemic. (Bowman and Campbell, 5/13)
The Wall Street Journal:
Soaring Prices, Rotting Crops: Coronavirus Triggers Global Food Crisis
The coronavirus pandemic hit the world at a time of plentiful harvests and ample food reserves. Yet a cascade of protectionist restrictions, transport disruptions and processing breakdowns has dislocated the global food supply and put the planet’s most vulnerable regions in particular peril. “You can have a food crisis with lots of food. That’s the situation we’re in,” said Abdolreza Abbassian, a senior economist at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, or FAO. (Trofimov and Craymer, 5/13)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
A Drive-Thru Food Drive In Metro Atlanta Drew Hundreds Of Seniors
Amid the coronavirus outbreak, a big focus of local giving has been making sure neighbors and vulnerable populations have enough to eat. Across metro Atlanta, there have been efforts to distribute food to school children, workers who have lost their jobs and most recently: senior citizens. In East Point last weekend, a drive-thru food drive attracted hundreds of metro Atlanta senior citizens. (Kueppers, 5/13)
