The summer of 2021 includes a long to-do list as restrictions have been lifted and people take to the roads for vacations and family reunions.
While we missed many events in 2020, we also learned a lot in our 15 months of being cooped up.
Now is a good time to reflect. What did you learn throughout the pandemic? What did you miss, and what could you live without?
Had it not been for the pandemic, would families have rediscovered time to prepare a home-cooked dinner, sit together at the kitchen table and make conversation over a delicious meal?
Or open up family cookbooks and actually learn how to make grandma’s famous cinnamon rolls and realize that it takes time to let the dough rise?
The common denominator of each of these scenarios: Food.
And it all starts with a farmer.
In the U.S., we never ran out of food. We may have tightened supplies on certain items, but by no means are we doing without. Farmers have continued to grow and restock the food supply chain.
A complex food supply chain worked day and night to keep the flow of goods moving as quickly as possible.
We continued to farm, keep people fed and clothed and helped those who couldn’t feed themselves.
Some people needed assistance accessing food because they lost their job or couldn’t work, but we never experienced a food shortage.
People stepped up to make sure food banks and pantries were stocked. And we developed a way to distribute food in a way that didn’t involve contact.
You don’t know what you’ve got until it is not accessible. We, as a society, have become accustomed to “if you want it, go get it and buy it.” Almost 16 months later, there are some instances of car lots that don’t have the inventory we expect. As consumers stocked up on meat, deep freezers became hard to come by.
Every week another story about inflation concerns or rising prices make headlines. Beef and bacon prices, for instance, have reached new record retail highs.
The good news? Just as farmers grew and restocked the food supply chain during the pandemic, they will continue those efforts in the future.
