Food Supply Chain

Food Supply Chain

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
“Our food supply chain is very integrated, it's very sophisticated and even synchronized in a way that gives American consumers the lowest cost food anywhere in the developed world”

, which is why Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue believes that once the Covid- 19 pandemic subsides and conditions normalize, “we'll go back in that efficient system because that makes the lowest cost for our consumers. It’s is significantly lower than any other developed country in the world. And I don't think we want to give it up.

Yet the secretary also understands our nation's food supply chain needed a readjustment to resolve potential issues regarding available food supplies. He explains that the efficiency of the U.S. food supply system, in fact, produces two separate supply chains. One for grocery stores and one for restaurants?

“When the restaurants shut down, it caused really a backup in that supply chain and a misalignment of where the product was and where it needed to go. And it's taken us a few days and weeks in order to help a realignment” or explaining the supply chain misalignment another way, “grocery sales are up over 40 percent, while our restaurants obviously been closed and that food service has been cut significantly.”

The food supply chain realignment Secretary Perdue is talking about has occurred on several levels. One contributor has been the Family to Farmer Food Box program.

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