In this episode of “Life, Community, and COVID-19,” hosts Gemma Gaudette of Boise State Public Radio and Charity Nebbe of Iowa Public Radio take an inside look at the pandemic’s impact on our food system.

The effect has been significant in ways not readily seen at the grocery store.

For instance, what to do with all the turkeys? About 70% of the turkey market relies on sales outside of the consumer grocery market, which only buys them around the holidays.

Pork farmers who have built their operations on efficiency are looking at a logjam of pigs ready to be processed.

And what is the work environment like inside processing plants?

As the country moves toward a post-shutdown life, the questions we face will be around how our efficient-yet-fragile food chain will move forward. What changes should farmers and producers make? And what should consumers be prepared for?

You’ll hear from: 

• Chad Hart, Associate Professor of Economics, Crop Markets Specialist and Extension Economist, Iowa State University

• Mike Paustian, President, Iowa Pork Producers Association and a farmer in Walcott, Iowa

• Margarita Heredia, Business agent with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union in Marshalltown, Iowa.

• Madelyn Beck, Boise State Public Radio's regional reporter with the Mountain West News Bureau

• Louise and Vance Ehmke, who own Ehmke Seed Farm  in western Kansas, in audio diary by Corinne Boyer of Kansas News Service.

You can also read our Twitter thread below to see what we covered in the show.

Staff: Producers Frankie Barnhill of Boise State Public Radio and Katelyn Harrop of Iowa Public Radio.