CAST releases report on COVID-19 impact on food, agricultural marketsCAST releases report on COVID-19 impact on food, agricultural markets
Authors discuss trade, consumer behavior, meat processing, food insecurity, major commodity crops, agricultural labor, rural health care and more.
June 29, 2020

The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology and the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association have partnered together on a new paper, Economic Impacts of COVID-19 on Food and Agricultural Markets. This publication contains insights from 31 experts and is now available for download.
COVID-19 disrupted nations around the world in 2020. People have had to alter their typical lifestyle, and the measures put into effect to reduce the spread of COVID-19 have had an immense impact on economic activity, employment, food consumption and workplace environments.
The paper's authors discuss the following topics: macroeconomics, trade, supply chain, consumer behavior, food service/grocery, meat processing, forestry and wood products, local food systems, food waste, food insecurity, major commodity crops, agricultural finance, agricultural labor, rural health care, and research and outreach priorities.
Keith Coble, the department head for agricultural economics at Mississippi State University, says, "Between food producers and consumers lies a complex and often-ignored food supply chain. It is ignored in part because it has consistently provided safe and plentiful food supplies." Most of the time people's attention is on food-borne illnesses instead of looking at shutdowns that could affect the labor supply.
"The COVID-19 crisis has also shown us the danger of disregarding scientific knowledge. There is a need to reassess the regulation of new technologies in the United States and globally," says David Zilberman, a professor in the agricultural and resource economics department at the University of California, Berkeley.
Many countries shut down large segments of their economies, with most employees working remotely if possible. Doing so "led to a sharp and significant loss in gross domestic product and a rapid rise in unemployment and underemployment," says Jeffrey Dorfman, an agricultural and applied economics professor at the University of Georgia. "The challenge is to restore as much economic activity as possible while maintaining some measure of control and mitigation of the novel coronavirus."
Task force authors are:
Jayson Lusk (chair), Purdue University and AAEA past president
John D. Anderson (chair), University of Arkansas
Diane Charlton, Montana State University
Keith Coble, Mississippi State University and AAEA president
Alison Davis, University of Kentucky
Adam Dewey, Feeding America
Jeffrey H. Dorfman, University of Georgia
Brenna Ellison, University of Illinois
Emily Engelhard, Feeding America
Allen M. Featherstone, Kansas State University
Jason Grant, Virginia Tech
Craig Gundersen, University of Illinois
Monica Hake, Feeding America
Todd Hubbs, University of Illinois
Scott Irwin, University of Illinois
Ananth Iyer, Purdue University
Sarah A. Low, University of Missouri
Trey Malone, Michigan State University
Josh Maples, Mississippi State University
Jill J. McCluskey, Washington State University and AAEA past president
Brandon McFadden, University of Delaware
Rodolfo M. Nayga, Jr., University of Arkansas
Timothy J. Richards, Arizona State University
Bradley J. Rickard, Cornell University
Lee Schulz, Iowa State University
Ian Sheldon, Ohio State University
Shaun M. Tanger, Mississippi State University
Dawn Thilmany McFadden, Colorado State University
Glynn Tonsor, Kansas State University
Norbert Wilson, Tufts University
David Zilberman, University of California, Berkeley and AAEA past president
CAST is an international consortium of scientific and professional societies, companies and nonprofit organizations. Through its network of experts, CAST assembles, interprets and communicates credible, balanced, science-based information to policymakers, the media, the private sector and the public.
Source: Council for Agricultural Science and Technology, which is solely responsible for the information provided, and wholly owns the information. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset.
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