Governments Coordinate to Keep Food Moving to Consumers
By Ag Council President Emily Rooney
State Capitol
As COVID-19 cases increase across California, state government and local jurisdictions leapt into action with a variety of measures to manage the crisis, minimize its impacts and protect the wellbeing of state residents. Funds have been dedicated to assist hospitals and health professionals, support schools and mitigate the economic hardships already impacting so many businesses.
At the same time, local jurisdictions were starting to implement “shelter-in-place” orders for residents and similar health-related measures, directing residents to stay home except to conduct essential business. As we saw these regulations rollout earlier in March, we immediately noticed that food and agricultural activities were treated inconsistently, potentially creating a patchwork of mismatched policies, which could impact the way food moves across our state and nation.
Ag Council, along with other agricultural advocates in California, instantaneously raised this concern to officials at all levels within Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration. And, they responded with the best-case scenario — on all fronts.
First, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Secretary Karen Ross issued a public guidance document clarifying that the food and agriculture sector is “critical infrastructure” as defined by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Subsequent to CDFA’s action, Governor Newsom issued an Executive Order, directing Californians to “stay home or at their place of residence” except to perform work in one of the 16 sectors deemed by the federal government as “critical infrastructure.” Again, one of those 16 sectors is food and agriculture. His Executive Order was the first in the nation to direct an entire state to stay at home – a request made of 40 million people – not a small task.
With the federal and state governments recognizing the food and agriculture sector as “critical infrastructure,” our hope is this will help with local level coordination and improve our efforts to get food to grocery stores, schools, food banks and other entities.
The food system still has significant challenges – much of the workforce is in Mexico and agriculture faces issues with the H-2A system. Further, transportation and trucking remain tight and, due to panic buying, many supplies are on backorder. Issues with food availability at the retail level stem from overzealous consumer buying practices and coordination problems, which are challenges we can overcome.
Our promise from Ag Council is to continue to work to address issues as they arise. That promise is easier to deliver when everyone works together.
Thus far, many of our political officials at the highest levels have managed to put politics aside in an effort to protect the health of citizens and their recent actions underscore this to date. We are thankful to political leaders at all levels for recognizing that food starts at the farm and moves through many channels before it arrives in the grocery stores and on our kitchen tables.
Many thanks to our members and all employees involved in the food and agriculture sector working to provide a safe and secure food supply amidst uncertain times. From the farmworker, to the farmer, to the food processors, and everyone in between, we appreciate you.
Letter to Governor Newsom
Ag Council and other agricultural organizations signed a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom this week requesting a formal pause in regulatory proceedings and regulatory stakeholder processes such as public comment periods for agriculture-related regulations not yet approved by the Office of Administrative Law.
This is a temporary request specific to the COVID-19 pandemic while shelter at home orders are in place. We believe this request is necessary given the extraordinary demand on the food and agriculture sector at this time.
To read the letter, click HERE.
UnitedAg Presentation
Ag Council’s member, UnitedAg, posted a presentation with its Chief Medical Officer Dr. Rosemary Ku on YouTube entitled “HealthChats: Stopping COVID-19.”
The pre-recorded session is a candid conversation about the latest facts and advice regarding how to prevent transmission of the virus. Questions are also answered during the presentation.
Click HERE to watch the presentation on YouTube.
COVID-19 Resources
Do you have questions about COVID-19 and our food supply? Extensive state and federal resources are available on California Department of Food and Agriculture’s (CDFA) website HERE.
Information on CDFA’s site includes:
- Governor Newsom’s stay at home executive order citing the federal critical infrastructure sectors, which includes the food and agriculture sector;
- CDFA guidance document reinforcing the importance of the food supply chain as critical infrastructure;
- Key federal documents from the Centers for Disease Control, the White House Coronavirus Task Force and the Department of Homeland Security, all relating to the food supply chain as critical infrastructure; and
- Employee health and safety guidelines, among other resources.
U.S. Food & Drug Administration
Food safety guidance specific to food production and processing is provided by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) HERE, including a detailed Q&A section developed by FDA this week.
CDFA Secretary Karen Ross posted a COVID-19 video update on March 25, and it is available HERE. This link HERE takes you to CDFA’s COVID-19 website.