COVID-19 & Food
The COVID-19 pandemic has unique and wide-ranging implications for the U.S. farm and food sector that are still developing. But it has become painfully clear that the federal government is not allocating resources efficiently or appropriately – and that the Trump administration is doing nowhere near enough to protect at-risk communities or provide them with other needed support.
Farmworkers and other food workers are indisputably essential to the healthy functioning of our society and economy, and have continued to work throughout the pandemic to feed the rest of us. Unsurprisingly, farmworkers and workers at slaughterhouses and meat processing facilities are falling ill in worrying numbers, though many have no sick leave, no health insurance and little access to adequate health care. Yet rather than provide hazard pay, the administration has proposed to lower their wages.
And even though most of these workers are immigrants and refugees, President Trump continues to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico and enforce deportations, and is now even proposing to suspend all immigration.
Small farms and farm businesses, already struggling in a marketplace that rewards consolidation, may be eligible for COVID-19 aid via the Small Business Administration and the Department of Agriculture. But numerous loopholes, special interest provisions and poorly planned rollouts are likely enabling the largest, richest corporate farm operations to rake in the majority of federal assistance – just as they have for many years.
And because Trump fired the inspector general responsible for overseeing the distribution of trillions of dollars in coronavirus stimulus payouts, there’s little to no accountability for those who game the system.
Supply chains are stretched to the breaking point. Schools that provide important meals to impoverished children remain closed. Food banks are facing unprecedented demand. But the administration has done nothing to rectify the cuts it has made over the past three years to SNAP, better known as the food stamps program, which feeds millions of families who struggle in or on the edge of poverty during normal times – not to mention during an economy-tanking pandemic.
Congress must pass emergency legislation to provide hazard pay, healthcare and other measures to support essential food workers and farm workers who are in harm’s way during the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring the rest of us are fed.
This page includes all of our COVID-19 food- and farm-centric work. Check out our other COVID-19-related work here.
EWG applauds the inclusion of funds for Covid-19 protections for farm and food workers in the pandemic relief package congressional leaders agreed to on Sunday. The package, which awaits a final vote before being sent to President Trump for his signature or veto, authorizes the Department of Agriculture to pay for protections for farm and food workers.
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The Covid-19 pandemic – worsened by the Trump administration’s woefully anemic response – has taken the lives of more than 300 food and farm workers and sickened tens of thousands more, turning the nation’s food-processing plants and farms into virus hot spots.
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The following is a statement from Scott Faber, EWG’s senior vice president for government affairs, on the Covid-19 relief package released today by a bipartisan group of senators.
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More than 22 million American households now qualify for federal food assistance, according to the Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service – an increase of almost 3.4 million households since last year. From April 2019 through July of this year, that’s an 18 percent increase in the number of households struggling with hunger.
Read MoreSeven months into the Covid-19 pandemic, most states still have not issued mandatory protections for farmworkers, even as cases continue to rise, according to an updated EWG analysis of state regulations
Read MoreToday the House unveiled the HEROES 2.0 Act. Here is a statement from EWG Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Scott Faber
Read MoreThe Covid-19 virus has infected more than 125,000 U.S. farmworkers, according to the latest estimates in an ongoing study by Purdue University.
Read MoreThe devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic has never been clearer.
One in five American children are struggling with hunger. Thousands of food and farm workers have contracted COVID-19 and hundreds have died. Thousands of small family farms are facing economic ruin.
Read MoreThe following is a statement from Scott Faber, EWG’s senior vice president for government affairs, on the COVID-19 relief package released today by Senate Republicans.
Read MoreEWG News Roundup (8/6): Here’s some news you can use going into the weekend.
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There’s only one word to describe Senate Republicans’ proposal to shower even more COVID-19 relief funding on the nation’s largest farmers while providing none to protect farm workers or help hungry families.
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The following is a statement from Scott Faber, EWG’s senior vice president of government affairs, on the COVID-19 relief package released today by Senate Republicans.
Read MoreOnly eight states have wide-ranging mandatory protections for farmworkers from the coronavirus, an Environmental Working Group analysis of state regulations reveals. Some states have issued recommendations for farmworker protections, but most states have issued no guidance at all.
Read MoreBailout payments aimed at relief for farmers from the impacts of President Trump’s trade war and the COVID-19 pandemic likely pushed 2019 federal farm spending beyond subsidy caps set by an international trade agreement, potentially inviting retaliation from trading partners.
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Although not yet as pervasive as outbreaks at meatpacking facilities, COVID-19 is on the rise at America’s food processing facilities. EWG’s search of news stories published from March 14 to June 8 found that almost 1,200 food processing workers at 60 plants have been infected by the coronavirus.
Read MoreTo protect farmworkers from the risks posed by COVID-19 and support food supply chains, Congress should tap funds from the Commodity Credit Corporation to ensure farmworkers are protected.
Read MoreThis week the Department of Agriculture unveiled a pandemic relief initiative that will give farmers $16 billion in direct payments. Just like the Market Facilitation Program, or MFP, which gave $23 billion in subsidies to farmers in response to President Trump’s trade war, most of the money won’t go to small family farmers but to the largest and wealthiest farms, which need the money the least.
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Meat and poultry processing plants are hot spots for COVID-19 outbreaks, constricting the supply chains for beef, chicken and pork – and sending their prices soaring.
Read MoreToday the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a $19 billion COVID-19 farm and food relief initiative, including $16 billion in direct payments to farmers. These new payments come on top of at least $14 billion in payments made to offset the effects of the Trump administration’s trade war with China and more than $15 billion in ongoing, annual taxpayer-funded farm subsidies.
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WASHINGTON – Today the House passed the HEROES Act, a $3 billion coronavirus stimulus package. Here is a statement from EWG Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Scott Faber:
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