The changing landscape of groceries kai yoshida As the world shut down, the grocery industry thrived with more customers than ever before and the landscape of the food industry was transformed. The food industry is swayed dramatically by supply and demand. With the arrival of the pandemic, drastic effects have taken place. Perhaps surprisingly, the demand for many food items have actually gone down, and producer prices, prices paid to the producer for their goods, have dropped significantly. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the producer prices of eggs and raw milk have decreased the most. From January to June 2020, their prices fell by 36.2% and 35.1%, respectively. Furthermore, dairy products have also been reduced by 2.2%. Why is this? When the world went into lockdown, the dairy farmers’ biggest consumers stopped buying: restaurants, cafes, and coffee shops all
closed. Unsurprisingly, there became a vast milk oversupply, and only so much could be donated to the food banks. Raw milk spoils quickly and cannot be preserved unless it is turned into cheese or other dairy products. Before shops partially reopened, the Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) estimated that 3.5 million gallons of milk went to waste every day. The newfound surplus of milk led to a drop in milk and dairy producer prices. Unfortunately, the producer price does not correlate with the consumer price, which are the rates people pay at grocery stores. On the other end of the spectrum, grocery products are in high demand as people stock up on food, following the lockdowns. “I do the shopping for two households now since I do not want my elderly parents to have to venture out to a grocery store. I also pay more attention to sales,” Carolyn Wallace, an English teacher at Carlmont, said. Increased demand for products means increased prices. The
consumer price of food rose by an average of 3%, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). In contrast to the producer price, the consumer price of dairy products increased by 2.1%. However, the most drastic price increase was seen with beef and veal. This can be traced back to the closure and limited production of meatpacking factories. In the early stages of the pandemic, several outbreaks occurred in the processing plants. In July, the CDC estimated that 9% of the total U.S. COVID-19 cases consisted of workers from meat processing plants, and eventually led to a price jump where beef and veal prices increased by 20.4% at supermarkets. “I definitely have noticed an increase in prices, and I do look for sales in order to keep my food costs down. These days, more than before, if I find a sale on something I need or enjoy, I will buy more than one of the products. I do admit that even though meat prices have gone up, I still buy the occasional steak,” Wallace said. The pandemic has not only affected the prices of foods and let traditional grocery stores prosper but has also been a boom for a complete-
Art By Kai Yoshida
28 HIGHLANDER FEATURE
