COVID-19 reveals deep problems and possible solutions to our food supply chains

Earlier this morning, I received what must have been the seventh article about COVID-19 in the past week from my grandfather in Texas. And I love it. He is so enthusiastic about finding the information. We need to apply this same new-found enthusiasm to solving more systemic problems in our society, most notably the lack of resiliency within the food system.

The articles he sends are data-centered and written to inform everyday citizens and policy decisions about COVID-19. I have never seen such an influx of science-driven articles, or a more effective translation of all sorts of science – epidemiology, statistics, biology – into laymen’s terms.

Why does this matter? I’m not a policymaker. Why should I care about this sudden influx of (slightly stressful) information?

Take a look at the large-scale problems being solved because of it. A potential coronavirus vaccine only took 63 days from first exposure to human clinical trials, a process that usually takes years. Could we solve other, more systemic problems with the same recipe: increased flow of information and an invested citizenry?

This pandemic has made several of these usually stealthy system-level problems seem glaring – most visible perhaps the lack of resiliency in food systems – but it has also showed us that we have the collective capability and know-how to solve them. A large piece of that is a well-informed, brainstorming, hungry-for-the-truth population.

We see that grocery store shelves are low. The current crisis is showing us that our food systems are not resilient. If we work together like we are now in the face of COVID-19, we have a real shot at solving this problem.

The current food system is efficient, but not resilient. The virus may cause disruptions to the flow of production or trade of foodstuffs, resulting in a sharp increase in food prices. This is partially because the current system relies on a “just enough, just in time,” approach, which results in abundant, low-cost food, but also leaves the system susceptible to collapse. This approach and the complex system of international trade that we rely on for food supply mean that any one city has only 3-4 days of food stored at a time. This is not enough, at least not to weather any mild economic blow. We need to increase food stores and shift to a more regionally-based supply system , but this can’t happen without a citizenry that recognizes the need and demands the change. This in turn requires easy-to-understand literature about food systems and structure.

It will be tempting to let our thirst for knowledge and aggressive problem-solving tactics fade after the worst of the pandemic is over and the world slowly returns back to normal. I know this is difficult to imagine now, and to be sure, we should focus all our current energies on meeting the immediate needs that the virus has so rudely caused.

However, the problems revealed within the food system will not disappear. We as citizens need to bring the same urgency to learning about and brainstorming solutions for our food system as we do to understanding and problem-solving for COVID-19.

It is also important to note that COVID-19 does not discriminate based on income. The food system can, and COVID-19 displays this perfectly, as our neighbors that are already food insecure are being hardest hit. This further increases our moral imperative to be a well-informed citizenry.

Keep in mind the responsibility is two-fold: we should all do our research, but it is also the responsibility of researchers and scientists to provide digestible information to the public. Cooperation on this scale is the only way to truly make change. If this type of information about food systems was available, and we spread and discussed that information with the same enthusiasm as my grandfather, we would go a long way in fixing a problem that is less immediate, but just as scary.

Michael Reinhart majors in chemistry and public policy at Duke University and is back home in Georgetown because of COVID-19.