In Wisconsin and Ohio, farmers are dumping thousands of gallons of fresh milk into lagoons and manure pits. An Idaho farmer has dug huge ditches to bury one million pounds of onions. And in South Florida, a region that supplies much of the Eastern half of the United States with produce, tractors are crisscrossing bean and cabbage fields, plowing perfectly ripe vegetables back into the soil. They are being forced to destroy tens of millions of pounds of fresh food that they can no longer sell. The closing of restaurants, hotels and schools has left some farmers with no buyers for more than half their crops. And even as retailers see spikes in food sales to Americans who are now eating nearly every meal at home, the increases are not enough to absorb all of the perishable food. The widespread destruction of fresh food — at a time when many Americans are hurting financially and millions are suddenly out of work — is insane.
The nation’s largest dairy cooperative, Dairy Farmers of America, estimates that farmers are dumping as many as 3.7 million gallons of milk each day. About 5 percent of the country’s milk supply is currently being dumped and that amount is expected to double if the closings are extended over the next few months, according to the International Dairy Foods Association.
A single chicken processor is smashing 750,000 unhatched eggs every week.
“It’s heart-breaking,” said Paul Allen who has had to destroy millions of pounds of beans and cabbage at his farms in South Florida and Georgia.
Many farmers have donated part of the surplus to food banks and Meals on Wheels programs, but there is only so much perishable food that charities with limited numbers of refrigerators and volunteers can absorb. Exporting much of the excess food is not feasible either, farmers say, because many international customers are also struggling through the pandemic and recent currency fluctuations make exports unprofitable.
All around the world food systems are in jeopardy: children have been one school meal away from hunger; countries – one export ban away from food shortages; farms – one travel ban away from critical labour shortages; and families in the world’s poorest regions have been one missed day-wage away from food insecurity, untenable living costs, and forced migration. The lockdowns and disruptions triggered by COVID-19 have shown the fragility of people’s access to essential goods and services. Before COVID-19 hit, 820 million people were already under-nourished, with 2 billion people experiencing food insecurity. Many millions more are living perilously close to the poverty line: they lack the economic and physical means to procure food in light of enforced social isolation, movement restrictions, supply interruptions, lost income, and even relatively minor food price spikes. The loss of remittances from other parts of the world where the economy is in recession will deal a further blow to developing countries. COVID-19 has laid bare the massive vulnerabilities of global food systems.
All companies—even those with the most enlightened CEOs—are pushed by market competition to prioritize profits above all else. That’s why working people can’t ask “good” corporations to save us. We won’t change things by appealing to the "better nature" of business leaders. We have to save ourselves. The only way to protect the lives and livelihoods of working people is through class struggle, not snuggling up to the bosses.
https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/hot-bothered-podcast-food-doesnt-cure-hunger-with-raj-patel
The nation’s largest dairy cooperative, Dairy Farmers of America, estimates that farmers are dumping as many as 3.7 million gallons of milk each day. About 5 percent of the country’s milk supply is currently being dumped and that amount is expected to double if the closings are extended over the next few months, according to the International Dairy Foods Association.
A single chicken processor is smashing 750,000 unhatched eggs every week.
“It’s heart-breaking,” said Paul Allen who has had to destroy millions of pounds of beans and cabbage at his farms in South Florida and Georgia.
Many farmers have donated part of the surplus to food banks and Meals on Wheels programs, but there is only so much perishable food that charities with limited numbers of refrigerators and volunteers can absorb. Exporting much of the excess food is not feasible either, farmers say, because many international customers are also struggling through the pandemic and recent currency fluctuations make exports unprofitable.
All around the world food systems are in jeopardy: children have been one school meal away from hunger; countries – one export ban away from food shortages; farms – one travel ban away from critical labour shortages; and families in the world’s poorest regions have been one missed day-wage away from food insecurity, untenable living costs, and forced migration. The lockdowns and disruptions triggered by COVID-19 have shown the fragility of people’s access to essential goods and services. Before COVID-19 hit, 820 million people were already under-nourished, with 2 billion people experiencing food insecurity. Many millions more are living perilously close to the poverty line: they lack the economic and physical means to procure food in light of enforced social isolation, movement restrictions, supply interruptions, lost income, and even relatively minor food price spikes. The loss of remittances from other parts of the world where the economy is in recession will deal a further blow to developing countries. COVID-19 has laid bare the massive vulnerabilities of global food systems.
All companies—even those with the most enlightened CEOs—are pushed by market competition to prioritize profits above all else. That’s why working people can’t ask “good” corporations to save us. We won’t change things by appealing to the "better nature" of business leaders. We have to save ourselves. The only way to protect the lives and livelihoods of working people is through class struggle, not snuggling up to the bosses.
https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/hot-bothered-podcast-food-doesnt-cure-hunger-with-raj-patel
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