Misalignments in the food chain are occurring as a result of the combination of three types of hoarding and the constraints imposed by confinement. As Carme Melo points out, the first type of hoarding has been compulsive shopping motivated by collective panic. The second modality is carried out by the large supermarket chains that have speculated on basic products such as vegetables, which has caused prices to rise in the supply markets to the detriment of small and medium-sized businesses, and has thus harmed the entire society; and thirdly, some countries are holding back their exports to protect the national food chain in fear of possible shortages.

The expansion of COVID-19 shows us the vulnerability and instability of the European agri-food system, which largely depends on imports, the foreign market, large agri-food industries and foreign labour. All these factors will in all probability have a negative impact on our food security in the coming months.

In the article published in The Conversation, the researcher adds that one of the main solutions should focus on promoting local production and consumption that generate significant benefits for the local economy and small and medium-sized businesses, and allow to substitute the presence of petroaliment in our diets for zero kilometre products and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases.

Carme Melo points out that COVID-19 makes visible and magnifies social inequalities. Its effects reach especially dramatically people at risk of exclusion and the most vulnerable households. The coronavirus crisis shows what is the essential work for the maintenance of life and, especially, the fundamental role played by the agri-food sector. Therefore, measures such as the opening of routes that make food supply possible, or the mobility of people not only to supermarkets, but to all places where food is distributed, must be guaranteed to avoid worse consequences.

The researcher concludes that it is about implementing solutions that allow farmers to sell their products and avoid food waste, while opting for local agroecological consumption.

Read the original article published in The Conversation.