COVID-19 pandemic and its influence on food supply chains

In a new article published in Applied Economic Perspectives & Policy, agribusiness professors show how firms can increase their value by maintaining the flexibility to market fresh produce into either foodservice or retail channels.

In a new article published in Applied Economic Perspectives & Policy, agribusiness professors show how firms can increase their value by maintaining the flexibility to market fresh produce into either foodservice or retail channels.

In this press release published Oct. 15, 2020, in Times Union:

We find that the lack of resilience that we document could have been avoided if firms in the U.S. fruit and vegetable supply chain had invested in flexibility, or the ability to move distribution quickly between the retail and foodservice sectors. We show that these investments make financial sense, given the likelihood of another shutdown of this sort.

– Timothy Richards, Marvin and June Morrison Chair in Agribusiness