“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” -Alvin Toffler

Sunday, September 27, 2020

Food Insecurity. From March 2020 to March 2021. Will we make it?

 


 

 

https://www.npr.org/2020/03/18/816644358/covid-19-threatens-food-supply-chain-as-farms-worry-about-workers-falling-ill

COVID-19 Threatens Food Supply Chain As Farms Worry About Workers Falling Ill

March 18, 20206:19 AM ET

Heard on Weekend Edition Saturday

Dan Charles

DAN CHARLES

 



Workers pick apples in a Wapato, Wash., orchard last October. U.S. farms employ hundreds of thousands of seasonal workers, mostly from Mexico, who enter the country on H-2A visas. The potential impact of the coronavirus on seasonal workers has the food industry on edge.

Elaine Thompson/AP

As Americans scattered to the privacy of their homes this week to avoid spreading the coronavirus, the opposite scene was playing out in the Mexican city of Monterrey. 

A thousand or more young men arrived in the city, as they do most weeks of the year, filling up the cheap hotels, standing in long lines at the U.S. Consulate to pick up special H-2A visas for temporary agricultural workers, then gathering in a big park to board buses bound for farms in the United States.

"I spoke with people going to North Carolina, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi," says Justin Flores, vice president of the AFL-CIO's Farm Labor Organizing Committee, who was in Monterrey for meetings. "[They were] headed to destinations all over the country to provide really important labor that supports the backbone of our economy, which is the agricultural industry." 

About 250,000 workers came to the U.S. on H-2A visas last year, the majority of them from Mexico. They've become an increasingly important piece of America's food industry.

Late in the day on Monday, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City announced that it is suspending nonemergency visa appointments because of concerns for the health of its employees and visitors.

At the same time, though, the embassy notified farm employers that many — perhaps most — of these farm workers still can get their visas, because they participated in the program last year and don't require an in-person appointment at the consulate. 

Ryan Ogburn, visa director at wafla, which helps farms manage the flow of H-2A workers in the Pacific Northwest, says that 85-90% of their workers will qualify for this exemption. Meanwhile, influential farm organizations in the U.S. are pushing the Trump administration to ease the entry of more guest workers. 

The continuing availability of agricultural workers illustrates the paradox of America's food supply in the age of COVID-19.

One end of the food supply chain has been completely upended as restaurants go dark and consumers prowl half-empty aisles of supermarkets. Food producers, though, are operating almost as normal — at least for now.

Slaughterhouses, dairies and vegetable producers say that they are open for business, ready to feed the nation. Howard Roth, president of the National Pork Producers Council, wrote in a statement that "telecommuting is not an option for us; we are reporting for work as always." 

Food distributors and wholesalers in the middle of that supply chain, meanwhile, are trying to perform logistical miracles, redirecting truckloads of food from shuttered businesses toward places where people now crave it — mainly grocery stores.

"There's nothing 'as usual' anymore," says Mark Levin, CEO of M. Levin and Co., a fruit and vegetable wholesaler in Philadelphia. Levin normally sells lots of bananas to schools and restaurants, and "unfortunately, all those people, last minute, say, 'I'm sorry, I can't use this fruit. You must take it back, or don't deliver it.' And that's tough, because we've already got it in the system ripening and ready to sell," Levin says.

Can he send those bananas instead to grocery stores that are out of stock? "Yes, but at a reduced price," Levin says.

The problem, Levin says, is that different customers want slightly different things. Schools and other institutions buy boxes of loose "petite" bananas, with 150 bananas in a box. "Grocery stores don't want those," he says.

At least people are still eating. Drinking is a different story.

"We're losing a lot of occasions, regular things like birthday parties or weddings, where people normally get together," says Stephen Rannekleiv, who follows the beverage sector for RaboResearch Food & Agribusiness.

"For the beverage world, those are occasions for consumption. We're losing some of those," Rannekleiv says. He notes that in China, overall demand for alcoholic beverages has fallen by about 10% during the coronavirus crisis.

There's an even bigger worry hanging over the food industry: The prospect of workers testing positive for COVID-19. 

When it happens, the response likely will go beyond sending that individual home — although that alone can be catastrophic to field workers who are paid, in part, based on their production. This week, the United Farm Workers union called on employers to expand paid sick leave for workers.

Vegetable growers are considering policies that would require quarantine for everyone who worked in close proximity to the infected person. That could easily include two dozen or more people. Workers on H-2A visas often live together, sharing kitchens and bedrooms and traveling together on buses. The virus could spread quickly, and measures to stop it will be extremely costly.

According to Steve Alameda, a vegetable grower in Yuma, Ariz., losing an entire 30-person work crew overnight will be extremely disruptive. Farmworkers already are hard to find, and replacing so many people immediately could prove impossible.

"We've got enough disruption," Alameda says. "We don't need to disrupt our food supply, that would be really catastrophic."

 

 


Thursday, September 24, 2020

BEMA International does not...... The National Infrastructure Bank. September 2020/

BEMA International out of good conscience at this time cannot endorse the NIB.

The NIB is not entertaining nor addressing all perspectives.

BEMA


Excerpts:

City of Providence Endorses H.R. 6422

City of Providence

STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

 

RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL

  NO. 285

Approved September 14, 2020

 

 

WHEREAS, There is widely acknowledged a shortfall in infrastructure spending in the United States, which was further highlighted by the Army Corps of Engineers 2017 Report Card grade of D+ and a call for $4.6 trillion in infrastructure spending to repair the nation’s existing infrastructure. At least $2.1 trillion is unfunded, and the remainder is inadequately funded; and

 

WHEREAS, The United States Chamber of Commerce reports that there is a current shortfall in infrastructure spending of approximately $3.7 trillion; and

 

WHEREAS, According to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Rhode Island’s 2020 grade for infrastructure was C-; Bridges were graded D-, Drinking water C+, Energy C+, Ports C, Roads, D and Wastewater C; and

 

WHEREAS, Citing a state by state analysis conducted by First Street Foundation and Columbia University, Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) recently published and Op-Ed stating that Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island have lost $403 million in coastal property value due to sea level rise; and

 

WHEREAS, Governor Raimondo has prioritized investment in roads and bridges to improve safety and reliability; and

 

WHEREAS, A new National Infrastructure Bank (NIB) could partner with the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank and work in conjunction with the Rhode Island Department of Transportation RhodeWorks program to provide necessary funding for the state’s roads, bridges, water systems and other major infrastructure projects throughout our local communities; and

 

WHEREAS, A new National Infrastructure Bank could directly aid in fostering an economic recovery and build the infrastructure projects our city, state and nation have neglected, while spurring massive economic growth; and

 

WHEREAS, H.R. 6422-National Infrastructure Bank Act of 2020 has been introduced in the United States House of Representatives, which proposes the creation of a National Infrastructure Bank, which would be capitalized at $500 billion and invest $3-4 trillion with no new federal appropriation.

 

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the Members of the Providence City Council hereby endorse and urge Congress to pass House Bill H.R.6422 the National Infrastructure Bank Act of 2020.

 

BE IT FURTHER RE.SOLVED, That, upon passage, copies of this resolution be sent to each member of Rhode Island’s congressional delegation. the Rhode Island Building and Construction Trades Ccuncil, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation, and to the President of the United States.

 


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