Community Chat

[software]

It's an accurate story and it is about distribution.

Too tedious to explain here.

Locally, produce & meat suppliers only sell to restaurants.

They are not set up to sell to the general public.  It's generally either or, you sell to restaurants or you sell to the public.

The government gets in the way too.   In some cases the food regulations are so strict there are no alternatives.

One of the local meat distributors managed to sell curbside if you order in advance.   The grocery stores are keeping up so not sure how much business is going to wholesale.  So far, I've found everything I need at the grocery store,

I'm just glad that in this case donation was allowed.

When the restaurants finally open up, it will take a chunk of change to restock coolers, etc, because everything was lost when they were ordered to close.

[Lipstickdiva]

Makes perfect sense.  Schools don't need food.  Restaurants aren't up and running like they were.  No sporting events where food is served.  Hotels aren't running like they were.  No cruise ships running.  

I just said in another thread I have no idea why supermarkets are limiting milk. There is no shortage.  Again, no milk going to all those businesses that normally buy milk.    

[Alison Wonderland]

What a terrible waste.

Some of the restaurants where I am and where my parents are have become popup grocery stores. One catering company here offers boxes like a breakfast box of eggs, bacon, and cheese. Others are set up like farmer's markets, selling vegetables, meat, fish, and dairy.

They're making money and helping to keep the supply chain intact.

And a lot of the schools here are closed, but the cafeterias are still cooking and making meals available to the students who rely on school lunches. They have curbside pickup at locations all over town.

It would be great if farmers could donate that food to food banks. Maybe they can set up a way for the state, counties, or cities to buy the food wholesale for the food banks.

[tansy]

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@Alison Wonderland wrote:

What a terrible waste.

Some of the restaurants where I am and where my parents are have become popup grocery stores. One catering company here offers boxes like a breakfast box of eggs, bacon, and cheese. Others are set up like farmer's markets, selling vegetables, meat, fish, and dairy.

They're making money and helping to keep the supply chain intact.

And a lot of the schools here are closed, but the cafeterias are still cooking and making meals available to the students who rely on school lunches. They have curbside pickup at locations all over town.

It would be great if farmers could donate that food to food banks. Maybe they can set up a way for the state, counties, or cities to buy the food wholesale for the food banks.

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One of the local steakhouses is doing that.  

Local produce selection has been hit and miss at the markets.

[Anonymous032819]

What surprised me when I read the article was just how much of our food is imported.

i can see not getting avocados, since they don't grow in the U.S., but tomatoes, zucchini, etc that we do grow here?

Something is wrong with that.

[novamc1]

If we want fresh produce year-round, we need to import it from warmer climates.  I've bought shrimp that comes from Viet Nam. Our favorite Campari fresh tomatoes are grown in Canada (probably in hot houses, because we get them from Costco  and sometimes from Kroger all year).

The story I originally posted on this thread showed photos of a Florida field of what seemed to be very nice zucchini and yellow squash that would have to be plowed under for lack of market.  Another Florida photo showed a farmer staring sadly at a field of tomatoes that can't be optimized in the marketplace.

The  pandemic took hold fast, economic change has happened fast, and farmers can't easily turn on a dime to create new customers for their goods.  It's sad but apparently true.

[pigletsmom]

Grocery stores already have agreements with suppliers and when it comes to produce it probably isn't going to jump up that much from this. People who never ever cook are probably still ordering takeout a lot. 

And remember restaurants doesn't just mean dinners. There's cancelled parties, weddings, conventions etc, where people would have been fed