How to Eat Right: Shorter Supply Chains Mean Greater Stability

Exposed.

That’s the one word that continues to crop up as people - from reporters to scientists - begin to take a closer look at how the U.S. food system continues to be impacted by Covid-19. The pandemic has pulled back the curtain on inefficiencies and inequality in a supply chain that was bound to snap eventually - even if we were previously unsure what would cause it to break.

Regardless, here we are. Supermarkets are raising the prices on the meat they sell and, as the Dallas Morning News reported in May, frequently limiting the number of items an individual is allowed to purchase at one time. Demand is high and supply is low, even as we see news footage of farmers euthanizing chickens and pigs.  

For anyone left scratching their head and wondering how it happened, look no further than the mergers and acquisitions that produced our current supply chain: one that is overly consolidated, dichotomous, and, now, when we most need it to be functionally in a healthy way, broken.