How The Coronavirus Crisis Is Affecting Food Supply

More wide-scale crop losses are looming in India, where a lockdown has sent masses of workers home, leaving farms and markets short of hands as staple crops like wheat near harvest.

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The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted global food supplies and is causing labour shortages in agriculture worldwide. The entire chain is being impacted. From raw materials and packaging material supply to manpower at manufacturing plants (to load/ unload/operate) to logistics, and transport to retail.

Are we facing food shortages?

Panic buying by shoppers cleared supermarket shelves of staples such as pasta and flour as populations worldwide prepared for lockdowns. Meat and dairy producers, as well as fruit and vegetable farmers, struggled to shift supplies from restaurants to grocery stores, creating the perception of shortages for consumers.

Retailers and authorities say there are no underlying shortages and supplies of most products have been or will be replenished. Bakery and pasta firms in Europe and North America have increased production.

Food firms say panic purchasing is subsiding as households have stocked up and are adjusting to lockdown routines. The logistics to get food from the field to the plate, however, are being increasingly affected and point to longer-term problems.