US farmers are destroying crops due to reduced demand, stoking concerns of future food shortages

This appears in The Millennial Source

Farmers in the United States are having to make the difficult decision to destroy their own crops as demand drops nationally due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Though the US still has the ability to produce enough food for its citizens, some experts fear that the food supply chain’s inflexible infrastructure could lead to a food shortage in the commercial sector.

The US federal government has acted to create a multi-billion dollar aid program to assist farmers. This follows aid that President Trump’s administration has already been giving farmers as a result of a trade war with China.

Farmers face lack of demand

On Thursday, April 16, Reuters reported on yet another side effect of the COVID-19 pandemic: farmers destroying their own crops in response to a drop in demand.

With restaurants across the country closing or, at best, being reduced to delivery services, much of farmers’ agricultural supply is no longer needed.

Reuters interviewed a California farmer named Jack Vessey who reports that he’s already destroyed over a million dollars’ worth of food.