Reimagining Resilient Agri

The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting supply chain disruptions revealed the challenges of a national food system that depends on production concentrated in a few geographic areas and requires many steps to get from farm to fork.

Recognizing the need to identify ways to develop a more robust and resilient national food supply chain, as well other issues created by the pandemic, USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) funded more than 30 projects through various competitive programs.

“It was critically important for NIFA to quickly fund research, education and Extension projects to meet the needs of the agricultural community during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dr. Angelica Van Goor, NIFA national program leader in the Institute of Food Production and Sustainability. “The projects funded through the AFRI Rapid Response to Novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) Impacts Across Food and Agricultural Systems program quickly enhanced and filled knowledge and information gaps, strengthened and supported critical cross-cutting issues that protected the food and agriculture supply chain, health and security of livestock, safety of our foods, as well as the well-being of farm, food service providers and rural Americans.”

Lessons from COVID-19: Positioning Regional Food Supply Chains for Future Pandemics, Natural Disasters and Human-made Crises was one of those projects and was a multi-region, multi-institution effort. Professionals with Kansas State University, University of California-Irvine, University of Florida, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and University of Wisconsin-Madison approached the issue from several research angles: farmer and supply chain businesses and workers; consumer behavioral changes; and regional food flow/food shed networks.

The team learned that while many consumers have returned to pre-pandemic, in-store purchases, many intend to retain the preference for online ordering and curbside pickup, but to a lesser degree. Alternative food acquisition appears to be a permanent change in consumer preference.

The researchers discovered that some consumers consider local, regional foods a safer option during a crisis. However, shifting is difficult for producers and suppliers.

The team concluded, to ease this transition, it is vital that Extension professionals and commodity associations work to make the process easier and the innovations less complex by developing resources, factsheets and training opportunities during “blue skies” (times without major crises). They also noted it is crucial that producers and suppliers take advantage of these learning opportunities and develop relationships with local and regional markets during non-crisis times.

The research team built resources to share the data and information gathered with the public. Over the last two years, they have hosted four webinars, been guests on multiple podcasts, developed project factsheets and published journal articles. These resources are all available in an online toolkit. Additionally, they developed an online course to train Extension professionals and others to strengthen support and improve local and regional supply chain participants’ abilities to respond during disruptions.