Paper towels, disinfectant spray and hand soap have often been scarce since the pandemic began. But as year three of COVID-19 arrives, a new issue is affecting stores nationwide: a shortage of meat, poultry and seafood. The availability of these items has been drastically reduced in recent weeks, largely attributed to problems along the supply chain.
- Buy local and you won’t have this problem. — Justin Brant
- Plus, if you hunt deer, duck, geese ... You have to work if you want to eat. — Howard Gaines III
- Like enough is grown in cities to feed the cities? — Steve Durnan
- If the demand is high enough, these businesses and those like them can expand. In addition to that, the more people who want these kinds of products or the more people who turn away from the food system as we have it now, the more businesses and small farms will start up to help support. It’s not instant. It takes time, and not everyone has the patience or time to do it. For those of us that do (I’m a first-generation farmer and business owner), through education and slowly changing people’s habits, we can seek to eliminate large portions of the challenges highlighted over the past couple of years. If someone can’t start growing or farming, they can support those that do. If someone can’t afford to buy from a farm, strive to adjust your habits so that you can but, until you do, spread the word. Spreading the word is equally as important as spending your money on farmers. — Justin Brant
- Do you really think they all get everything local? I can tell you, they don’t. Local is considered U.S.-made at this point. — Brandi Macedo
- They’re farms that raise the animals and grow the produce. I know half of them. Two of them are my businesses. Again, that’s literally the point. People complain about “lack of,” and yet, there are hundreds of places to get anything they want, grown or raised by the people they buy it from. And local is not the same as U.S.-made. You’re misinterpreting what I’m saying. I’m not knocking that stores sell products that come from elsewhere. I’m saying the pork you get from me doesn’t get hung up on shipping delays. I raise the animal and can sell it right to you. — Justin Brant
- They should have shipped all the food with the Valentine’s Day stuff — Sandy McDermott Lewis
- I’ve been involved in transportation/logistics for 15 years. There is no shortage of drivers. There is a shortage of proper pay, respect, good benefits, vacation/home time, plus overburdensome government regulations. Then, we had the threat of being forced to vaccinate in an industry where many have made it perfectly clear they have no intention of doing so. This has led a lot of drivers to just sit home or take early retirement. The pandemic decisions of both the Biden and Trudeau administrations regarding logistics and transportation has only added to the delays at the ports and borders, and lack of interest for drivers to get back into the job market. — Farmboy Shawn
