Farmers across America are now being forced to pour out milk, crush eggs, toss fresh fruits and vegetables, euthanize livestock and plow under perfectly robust crops...All due to the ongoing crippling effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
At the same time, unemployed Americans are lining up at food banks in unprecedented numbers, humanitarian leaders fear a global starvation pandemic is burgeoning, and grocery store shelves are sparsely filled.
The causes?
Economic experts point to a dramatic drop in overall demand, weak links in the highly consolidated supply chain, and decades of industry monopolization.
Dan Glickman, Executive Director of the Aspen Institute and former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, told Fox News, “A large portion of our food is now produced for restaurants, hotels, schools, and institutional users, about 50 percent. Those markets have effectively closed up, and there is not enough demand for home use now. Nor is the supply chain set up for this rapid transformation.”
Glickman says the supply chain has also become very centralized, especially in meat and poultry.
Read more: FoxNews.com