Covid-19 and sustainable food systems: a shared learning resource

Uncertainty, pragmatism, the futilities of control and neoliberal economics

• Great article by Andy Sterling on uncertainty and futures (accessed: 11.04.2020).
• This blog https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/articles/relinquishing-the-quest-for-certainty-in-the-social-sciences-or-learning-from-the-coronavirus-crisis/, by Jane Wills, introduces a new edited book about pragmatism and argues we should ditch the quest for certainty (in social science and the COVID-19 crisis) (accessed 09.05.2020).
• Multiple uncertainties that are hard to predict and plural prespectives re. preparedness  https://www.ids.ac.uk/opinions/a-natural-disaster-on-top-of-a-pandemic-preparedness-in-the-face-of-cascading-uncertainties/ (27.06.2020).
• COVID-19 and the Futility of Control, Issues in Science and Technology (Andy Stirling and Ian Scoones) (care rather than control may be a better way of managing disease) https://issues.org/covid-19-and-the-futility-of-control-in-the-modern-world/ (via @GarethEnticott) (30.07.2020).
  
• Control in Crisis, Issues in Science and Technology (comments to the piece from Scoones & Stirling by G. F. De Martino, I. Grabel, H. Nowotny, Andrea Saltelli and B. Wynne) https://issues.org/control-in-crisis-scoones-stirling-forum/ (09.10.2020).
  
• Science and the breakdown of trust, The Lancet https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0140-6736(20)32064-X (editorial by Richard Horton reflecting on the disintegration of consensus on the science to manage COVID-19 in the UK and the implications this uncertainty creates for politicians and publics) [did we ever have scientific consensus?] (02.10.2020).
• A “Sedative” for Science Policy, Issues in Science and Technology https://issues.org/endless-frontier-sedative-for-science-policy-pielke/ (interesting article about COVID-19 science in the US and how it challenges the 'Endless Frontier' metaphor; 'We scientists need to understand ourselves not as individual explorers freely colonizing an empty frontier, but as members of a team that goes well beyond science') (09.10.2020).
• Trouble in the trough: how uncertainties were downplayed in the UK’s science advice on Covid-19, Humanities and Social Sciences Communications https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-020-00612-w (useful paper by Warren Pearce; science advisors as 'knowledge producers' (their epi models) and 'knowledge users' (developing advice); conflation of experts' roles led to contradictions re. representations of uncertainty) (14.10.2020).
  
• Neoliberal economics, planetary health, and the COVID-19 pandemic: a Marxist ecofeminist analysis https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(20)30252-7/fulltext (interesting paper in The Lancet by Simon Mair on why neoliberalism struggles with COVID-19, and what economic system is needed to achieve planetary health; we need other economies/multiple values - very relevant to food system analysis) (thanks @Anna K_speaking for sharing) (05.12.2020).

Post-normal pandemics

• Post-normal science is an important concept to understand the Covid-19 response (generally and in relation to food system planning). This article is excellent  (accessed: 11.04.2020). It also links to the article below by Steve Hinchliffe in legitimising a more inclusive mix of expert and lay perspectives to manage the crisis. If you are on Twitter, give Silvio Funtowicz a follow.
• Science for a Proper Recovery: Post-Normal, not New Normal (great piece by Jerome R. Ravetz in Issues in Science and Technology, spelling out why Covid-19 is post-normal; nice link to resilience thinking too (system robustness)) https://issues.org/post-normal-science-for-pandemic-recovery/ (20.06.2020).
• Pandemics: why a new science is needed (useful review of On Pandemics: Deadly Diseases from Bubonic Plague to Coronavirus) https://steps-centre.org/blog/pandemics-why-a-new-science-is-needed/ (08.07.2020).
• Science for the Post-Normal Age (Funtowicz and Ravetz's seminal 1993 paper, republished with a new COVID-related foreword) https://commonplace.knowledgefutures.org/pub/6qqfgms5/release/1?access=ysble07x (30.08.2020).
• Translations from the STEPS centre, Post-Normal Pandemics (thanks @SFuntowicz for sharing):
  • Italian https://www.recentiprogressi.it/articoli.php?archivio=yes&vol_id=3347&id=33181;
  • Spanish http://democraciasur.com/2020/04/06/pandemias-postnormales/;
  • Portugese https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341426139_Pandemias_pos-normais (30.08.2020).
• Podcast @ShobitaP & @Jackstilgoe (thanks @SFuntowicz for sharing). Episode 6: COVID Knowledge, Technology, and Politics: Dispatches from Around the World https://shobitap.org/the-received-wisdom/2020/4/19/episode-6-covid-knowledge-technology-and-politics-dispatches-from-around-the-world (30.08.2020).
  

Modelling, social science and animal health links

• What Happens Next? COVID-19 Futures and playable simulations https://ncase.me/covid-19/ (accessed: 16.05.2020).
• This article by Steve Hinchliffe gives a useful overview of models, including their use in Covid-19, and the need for social science (accessed: 10.04.2020). We should not problematise the models per se, but combine models, which offer ‘a reality-based social heuristic’, with ‘on the ground’ field experiences. Links to past work on foot and mouth, H1N1 Swine flu and Ebola. For other links to Covid-19 and animal health management (FMD, bTB and One Health) follow Gareth Enticott on Twitter.
• This short article by Hinchliffe and Law on the social aspect of models/R0 is also useful (accessed: 20.04.2020).
• Blog by Brigitte Nerlich discusses the R number re Covid-19 (link also to FMD) https://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2020/05/15/what-r-we-talking-about-pandemics-and-numbers/ (accessed: 16.05.2020).
• Zoonoses: beyond the human–animal–environment interface (recognises the role of social drivers and calls for cross-speciality, interdisciplinary, international collaborations (via @SJHinchliffe01)) https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31486-0/fulltext?dgcid=raven_jbs_etoc_email (06.07.2020).
• Bias in ‘the science’ on coronavirus? Britain has been here before, The Guardian (argues we've forgotten lessons from the BSE crisis about the need for scientific transparency) https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/23/bias-science-bse-coronavirus-crisis (23.07.2020).
• UN report on zoonotic diseases. Argues we are currently treating symptoms but not the environmental cause of pandemics - we need a one-health approach and better surveillance of disease threats and associated food systems to prevent future outbreaks https://www.unenvironment.org/resources/report/preventing-future-zoonotic-disease-outbreaks-protecting-environment-animals-and (20.07.2020).
• Science paper calls for investment to protect wildlife and prevent disease spillovers. Notes significant investment in One Health biosecurity plans to prevent farmed animal spillovers. Need investment also in wildlife trade spillovers, as well as reducing deforestation https://science.sciencemag.org/content/369/6502/379 (25.07.2020).
• Missed Opportunities? Covid-19, Biosecurity and One Health in the United Kingdom (new paper with @GarethEnticott and me in Frontiers in Veterinary Science) https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2020.00577/full (past lessons from animal health outbreaks in the UK have been ignored; Covid-19 represents a failure of One Health) (29.08.2020).

Past (and future?) studies of pandemics, including networked disease

• The STEPS Centre has a great list of resources on past research on epidemics and pandemics. I’ve cited two of them above, but the full list is here (accessed: 11.04.2020).
• This is another very useful article by the STEPS team, outlining five lessons from past pandemics, including the need to address the political economy and ecology of the food system https://steps-centre.org/blog/five-lessons-from-past-global-influenza-outbreaks-for-covid-19/ (accessed 04.04.2020)
• Intelligencer interview with Mike Davis https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/04/coronavirus-next-pandemic-mike-davis-avian-flu-covid.html (04.05.2020), reflecting on his famous avian flu book (Monster at the Door), the current pandemic and future ones (he's not very optimistic re the future!).
• This Foreign Affairs article argues we must learn from the COVID-19 failure before the next outbreak arrives https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2020-05-21/coronavirus-chronicle-pandemic-foretold?amp&__twitter_impression=true (accessed: 23.05.2020).
• LSE blog about what past pandemics can tell us about public trust in science. Key finding: formative-year epidemic exposure has a consistently negative and significant effect on trust in scientists (but interestingly not the importance of disease-related science research) https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/2020/06/01/what-past-epidemics-tell-us-about-public-trust-in-science-and-scientists/ (06.06.2020).
• Bruno Latour interview in The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/06/bruno-latour-coronavirus-gaia-hypothesis-climate-crisis (Gaia and COVID as a problem from within (network theory)) (14.06.2020).
• COVID-19, Crystal Balls, and the Epidemic Imagination ('epidemic intelligences—how health authorities imagine crises, and which crystal balls they use to enact them' (past public health cases from Brazil and Argentina) http://www.americananthropologist.org/2020/07/02/covid-19-crystal-balls-and-the-epidemic-imagination/ (04.07.2020).
• Excellent Boston Review article examining the uneven temporalities of epidemics (thanks @SJHinchliffe01) http://bostonreview.net/science-nature/jeremy-greene-dora-vargha-how-epidemics-end (04.07.2020).
• ‘Beyond the pandemic’ – a new series of evidence-based opinion articles by researchers at Cambridge University https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/BeyondThePandemic_introduction (30.07.2020).
• The Virocene Epoch (interesting paper by Jude Fernando; argues COVID-19 has ushered in a new planetary epoch—the Virocene [better than Anthropocene?]) (thanks @EMelanieDuPuis for sharing) https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/JPE/article/view/23748 (29.08.2020).
• Epidemic temporalities: A concise literature review, Anthropology Today  https://rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1467-8322.12590(interesting short paper by Roth; reviews the medical anthropological literature on epidemics; 'epidemics are acute disease ‘events’ which problematize time') (16.11.2020).
• Learning from Pandemics: 3 Rs and 7Ds, blog by David Waltner-Toews https://davidwaltnertoews.wordpress.com/2020/12/06/learning-from-pandemics-3-rs-and-7ds/ (thanks @SFuntowicz for sharing) (06.12.2020).
  
• COVID-19: a dashboard to rebuild with nature, World Business Council for Sustainable Development https://www.wbcsd.org/Programs/Food-and-Nature/Resources/COVID-19-a-dashboard-to-rebuild-with-nature (scientific paper examines links between nature and COVID-19; highlights the need to conserve nature to reduce risks of future pandemics) (21.12.2020).
• Think like a virus, Public Books https://www.publicbooks.org/think-like-a-virus/ (fascinating piece by Warwick Anderson about medical history and the need to apply disease ecology and social medicine thinking to COVID and future (and past) pandemics; thanks Ray Chan (@RayChanKW1) for sharing) (12.01.2021).

The Covid-19 vaccine and vaccines (selective items)

• The Covid Vaccine and Learning to Love the Technological Fix https://rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/the-covid-vaccine-and-learning-to (interesting piece by Roger Pielke Jr. on the Covid-19 vaccine as a technological fix that we need and summarising Alvin Weinberg & Dan Sarewitz's paper on techno fixes and non-techno fixes; thanks @SFuntowicz for sharing) (05.01.2021).
• Vaccines: Between hope and hesitancy, Making Science Public https://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2021/01/30/vaccines-between-hope-and-hesitancy/ (Brigitte Nerlich on emerging COVID vaccine discourses in the UK, from 'vaccine wars and vaccine envy' to 'vaccine hope') (01.02.2021).
  

The psychology of 'together apart'

• Free e-book looking at how we live 'together apart' for the foreseeable (psychology and behaviour change perspectives - not just individual behavioural science, also collective; social structures, etc.) https://socialsciencespace.com/2020/05/addressing-the-psychology-of-together-apart-free-book-download/ (20.062020); review of collective psychology https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/bjso.12393 (06.09.2020).
• For psychologists, the pandemic has shown people’s capacity for cooperation, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/02/psychologists-pandemic-cooperation-government-public-britain (Stephen Reicher; 'what we have seen is a psychology of collective resilience supplanting a psychology of individual frailty') (04.01.2021).
  

Academic expertise - across disciplines, beyond 'science' and interdisciplinarity; plus the gender gaps in COVID-19 decision-making

• Article by Dominic Abrams, the British Academy’s vice-president for social sciences, in The Guardian  https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/apr/29/to-solve-the-problems-of-this-pandemic-we-need-more-than-just-the-science (29.04.2020).
• Symptoms of a broken system: the gender gaps in COVID-19 decision-making, BMJ Global Health https://gh.bmj.com/content/bmjgh/5/10/e003549.full.pdf (analysis of 87 COVID-19 task force; 85.2% are majority men) (03.10.2020).
• What COVID-19 may teach us about interdisciplinarity, BMJ Global Health https://gh.bmj.com/content/bmjgh/5/12/e004375.full.pdf (excellent article by Annemarie Mol and Anita Hardon; 'interdisciplinarity does not accord with the metaphor of the jigsaw puzzle in which each discipline adds a piece until ‘the whole picture’ is laid out on the table ... different disciplines engage with reality each in their own way ... good interdisciplinarity requires paying attention to the diverse concerns of different disciplines and incorporating responsive negotiation') (24.12.2020).
  

Metaphors

• Brigitte Nerlich has written some interesting blog posts about coronavirus. In particular, the blog about metaphors is useful (but see also the image and music ones): http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2020/03/17/metaphors-in-the-time-of-coronavirus/; http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2020/04/10/being-on-a-journey-while-staying-at-home-more-about-corona-metaphors/ (both accessed 10.04.2020); and reflection on 'pandemic blogging' https://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2020/07/24/pandemic-blogging-taking-stock/ (25.07.2020).
• A short history of the 'bubbles' metaphor (originated in New Zealand apparently) http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2020/07/06/bubbles-a-short-history/(07.07.2020).
• Fire metaphors and why they work well for Covid-19 http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2020/07/31/a-fire-raging-why-fire-metaphors-work-well-for-covid-19/ (01.08.2020).
• Matilda Gillis article on the shortcomings of war metaphors in legislative responses to Covid-19 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17521483.2020.1801950 (08.08.2020).
• Dimmer switches and circuit breakers, Making Science Public blog https://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2020/09/25/dimmer-switches-and-circuit-breakers/ (26.09.2020).
• Firebreak metaphor, Making Science Public https://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2020/10/20/firebreak/ (21.10.2020).
  
• The social and metaphorical life of viruses, Making Science Public https://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2020/10/30/the-social-and-metaphorical-life-of-viruses/ (30.10.2020).
  
• Another excellent blog by Brigitte Nerlich (genomics and metaphors): Genetics and genomics – when metaphors begin to matter, Making Science Public https://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2020/12/28/genetics-and-genomics-when-metaphors-begin-to-matter/ (29.12.2020).
• Lockdown fatigue: A tale of two discourses, Making Science Public (great stuff as always from Brigitte Nerlich on Covid language, framing and policy) https://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2021/01/22/lockdown-fatigue-a-tale-of-two-discourses/ (22.01.2021).
  

Contexualising Coronavirus Geographically

• Editorial by Matt Sparke and Dimitar Anguelov introducing a TiBG special virtual issue "aimed at providing online access to articles that can contribute to the work of coming to geographical terms with the COVID‐19 pandemic2" https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/tran.12389?campaign=woletoc (geographies of infection, vulnerability, resilience, blame, immunization, interdependency, care) (19.08.2020).
• Geo-visualising the pandemic https://blog.geographydirections.com/2020/05/07/geo-visualising-the-pandemic-how-geography-is-helping-to-tell-complex-stories-with-data/ (16.05.2020).
• July 2020 Issue of Dialogues in Human Geography examines the geographies of the COVID-19 pandemic (40+ commentaries, & free to view). https://journals.sagepub.com/home/dhg (11.06.2020); here's the introduction to the special issue by DiHG editors https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2043820620936050 (08.07.2020).
• Journal of Economic and Social Geography [TESG] Special Issue: The Geography of the COVID‐19 Pandemic https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14679663/2020/111/3 (15.07.2020).
• Maps and data on Covid-19: global data https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/geographical-distribution-2019-ncov-cases ; European dashboard (cases by country) https://covid-statistics.jrc.ec.europa.eu/QlikDashboard?sheet=multidim (24.07.2020).
• Covid realities: using mapping and photography to think about space and place remotely (to capture lived experiences of food) https://covidrealities.org/researching-poverty/researching-remotely/(24.08.2020).
• The worst virus outbreaks in the U.S. are now in rural areas, The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/22/world/the-worst-virus-outbreaks-in-the-us-are-now-in-rural-areas.html (hot spots are now in rural areas; shift is a stark contrast to earlier in the pandemic) (thanks @GarethEnticott) (27.10.2020).
• The social meaning of masks – Geography Directions (interesting blog by Cheryl McEwan on mask wearing in public spaces and meanings associated with them in the pandemic) https://blog.geographydirections.com/2020/11/23/the-social-meaning-of-masks/ (26.11.2020).
  
• Want to understand the Covid map? Look at where we live and how we work, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/29/want-to-understand-the-covid-map-look-at-where-we-live-and-how-we-work (interesting article by Danny Dorling on the geography of Covid in England; argues we need to understand social and economic geographies to interpret the changing medical geography of the pandemic) (29.11.2020).
  
• ‘Geography Matters’: A year in review – Geography Directions https://blog.geographydirections.com/2020/12/23/geography-matters-a-year-in-review/ (nice blog by Phil Emmerson and Emily Earnshaw, RGS-IBG, which reviews the GD blogs, most of which related to COVID and its associated geographies, including food geographies; yep, Geography Matters folks!) (23.12.2020).
• Risk and Responsibility in Popular Responses to COVID-19, Geography Directions https://blog.geographydirections.com/2021/01/11/risk-and-responsibility-in-popular-responses-to-covid-19/(article introducing Nick Clarke and Clive Barnett's new COVID--19 project, which should tell us much about the complex practices of risk and responsibility during the pandemic) (12.01.2021).
• After the anthropause: Lockdown lessons for more‐than‐human geographies, The Geographical Journal https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/geoj.12373?campaign=wolacceptedarticle (Adam Searle, Jonathon Turnbull, Jamie Lorimer document 'the ways in which the COVID‐19 anthropause has brought into focus human‐animal relations') (13.01.2021).

Human infectious disease and global population

• This paper, written before Covid-19, is useful in linking global food production and emerging human infectious diseases. It argues that the risk of pathogen spillover increases as food production expands and given projections will thus require proactive management (e.g. more effective biodiversity conservation) (accessed: 11.04.2020).

Viewing the pandemic impact through the lens of the SDGs

• This piece argues the SDGs are irrelevant in the Covid-19 pandemic, which although they weren't devised to deal with a pandemic, argues are failing too re. preparedness as countries retreat to national planning https://www.globalstudies.ugent.be/the-coronavirus-pandemic-and-the-irrelevance-of-the-sdgs/2/ (accessed 09.05.2020).
• See also this (more positive) article by David Nabarroand and Joe Colombano https://4sd.info/wp-content/uploads/200526-COMPLEXITY-AND-FRAGILITY-REALIZING-THE-SDGS-IN-THE-FACE-OF-COVID-19-.pdf (14.06.2020).
• To counter the above, good piece about how Just Sustainabilities, embedded within the SDGs framework, can help to re-orientate and clarify thinking, both during and in post-Covid-19 ‘new normal’ times (via Julian Agyeman) http://www.lead-journal.org/content/a1609.pdf (06.09.2020).
• Agricultural Systems SI: Impacts of COVID-19 on Agricultural and Food Systems Worldwide and on Progress to the Sustainable Development Goals (special issue examines impacts of COVID-19 on agricultural and food systems, encouraging papers to view the impacts through a lens of the SDGs) https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/agricultural-systems/special-issue/10D1KTPPCQ5 (09.01.2021).

Disaster resilience

• This paper by Riyanti Djalante et al https://collections.unu.edu/eserv/UNU:7614/n1-s2.0-S259006172030017X-main.pdf examines responses to COVID-19 at the global, regional and national levels, and how we can apply disaster resilience strategies  (04.05.2020).

The Slowdown Papers and Times of COVID-19

• Series of observations on COVID-19 re. cities, systems, technologies, infrastructures, etc. (inspiring resource - thanks Julie Smith for sharing; includes pieces about gardening, green spaces and soil) https://medium.com/slowdown-papers/latest (26.09.2020).
• Times of COVID-19 – Documenting / Reflecting http://timesofcovid19.temporalities.no/ (temporalities) (19.10.2020).
  

The fruit and vegetable harvest, labour shortages and automation

• One of the big impacts is a lack of labour to pick the fruit and vegetable harvest, due to a normal reliance on European seasonal pickers. Useful link on this theme include this article from BBC business (accessed: 10.04.2020); and this from Sky news (accessed: 11.04.2020)
• The Guardian reports on recruitment of hospitality staff to solve agricultural labour shortages in this article (accessed: 11.04.2020); of Romanian workers being flown in to to further reduce the shortage (20.04.2020); and a very low uptake of applications to the British veg. and fruit pickers scheme (04.05.2020) https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/04/27/112-50000-uk-applicants-fruit-pickers-take-jobs-amid-farmers/
• Uncertainty in food supply, including labour shortages, could fast track automation in agriculture? https://www.agri-tech-e.co.uk/uncertainty-in-food-supply-drives-interest-in-fast-tracking-automation/ (09.05.2020).
• Lincolnshire students urged to help pick fruit and veg - BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-52605547 (accessed 16.05.2020).
  
• Useful Financial Times article (thanks to Gareth Enticott for sending it) about horticulture's dependence on Eastern European workers https://www.ft.com/content/860d8651-455b-4012-8f60-8b1ba7afca32 (20.06.2020).

Feed The Nation campaign

• Concordia is running a new Land Army-style ‘Feed The Nation’ campaign (20.04.2020)
• Concordia coordinated a similar campaign in 1943 to recruit volunteers to feed the nation (volunteers were famously described as ‘The Land Army’). The new scheme needs 80,000 workers. The challenge will be to find the right people (particularly in terms of skills, because picking fruit and vegetables is skilled and increasingly specialist work).
• Useful list of agencies that link workers with farms (20.04.2020).

Pick For Britain

• There's now a dedicated 'Pick For Britain' website https://pickforbritain.org.uk/ for potential workers to visit to find out more re what it is like to work on fruit and veg farms, etc. (accessed 16.05.2020).
• UK residents made up just 11% of harvest 2020 workforce, FarmingUK News https://www.farminguk.com/news/uk-residents-made-up-just-11-of-harvest-2020-workforce_56861.html (despite #PickForBritain campaign huge dependence on non-UK labour for 2020 harvest (and post-Brexit?)) (02.11.2020).
  
• Seasonal Overseas Labour & a New UK Entrants Scheme, Food Foundation https://foodfoundation.org.uk/seasonal-overseas-labour-and-a-new-uk-entrants-scheme/ (the horticulture sector urgently needs a Government plan for seasonal overseas labour and a new UK entrants scheme) (25.11.2020).

Labour shortages (New Zealand dairy, veterinary workforce and strawberry farms, Costa Rican coffee, UK poultry (Christmas turkeys))

• Worker shortage crisis in New Zealand's dairy sector https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12335334 (30.05.2020).
• New Zealand's pandemic controls strain veterinary workforce https://news.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=210&Id=9841505 (New Zealand's success in dealing with COVID-19 has contributed to a shortage of veterinary labour as a significant proportion comes from overseas and exacerbating long-standing worries about a labour shortage) (thanks @GarethEnticott) (09.10.2020).
• Strawberry farm anticipates losing one-third of its crops due to lack of pickers ​https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/agribusiness/123179398/strawberry-farm-anticipates-losing-onethird-of-its-crops-due-to-lack-of-pickers-?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter (thanks @GarethEnticott) (23.10.2020).
• Costa Rican coffee may go unharvested as pandemic creates migrant worker shortage https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-costa-rica-coffee/costa-rican-coffee-may-go-unharvested-as-pandemic-creates-migrant-worker-shortage-idUSKBN2411W9 (04.07.2020).
• UK farmers call for EU workers to bypass Covid quarantine https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/oct/21/uk-farmers-warn-of-christmas-turkey-shortage-unless-eu-workers-exempt-covid-quarantine (poultry industry experts anticipate Christmas turkey shortage if specialist EU turkey pluckers are not allowed to travel to the UK to fill jobs) (thanks @GarethEnticott) (22.10.2020).

Workers' rights

• https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/rights-workers-eu-food-supplies-risk-200407070604903.html (20.04.2020)
• Valuing life differently https://www.socialeurope.eu/valuing-life-differently-migrants-and-the-coronavirus-crisis (accessed: 09.05.2020). Good piece on migrant workers and regimes of segregation on farms in the Netherlands and Germany.
• Agricultural worker conditions in a settlement in the Andalusian province of Huelva, southern Spain https://qceablog.wordpress.com/2020/06/01/no-one-left-behind-the-rhetoric-and-reality-of-keeping-our-supermarkets-stocked/ (06.06.2020).
• This Civil Eats article reports on the precaurious situation for undocumented migrants working in restaurant chains in the US https://civileats.com/2020/05/28/undocumented-restaurant-workers-have-held-the-industry-together-now-they-stand-to-lose-the-most/ (06.06.2020).
• Migrant workers in Canada https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-essential-workers-are-heroes-so-why-are-we-ignoring-migrant-farm/?utm_medium=Referrer:+Social+Network+/+Media&utm_campaign=Shared+Web+Article+Links (14.06.2020).
• Article about Asda's Kober Ltd meat processing plant in West Yorkshire - useful material on worker conditions (thanks for sharing @GarethEnticott) https://inews.co.uk/news/real-life/coronavirus-covid-19-asda-kober-cleckheaton-meat-factory-processing-plant-cases-safety-452466?ito=twitter_share_article-top (27.06.2020).
• Workers at 2 Sisters tell of fear and terror at coronavirus struck factory - Wales Online  https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/coronavirus-chicken-factory-anglesey-wales-18469347 (28.06.2020).
• COVID-19 in Iowa: Letter warns meatpacking workers of excess absences https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/business/2020/06/17/covid-19-iowa-letter-warns-meatpacking-workers-excess-absences/3202317001/(28.06.2020).
• Link between migrant worker exploitation and Covid-19 meat processing outbreaks ‘must be addressed’ https://unitetheunion.org/news-events/news/2020/june/link-between-migrant-worker-exploitation-and-covid-19-meat-processing-outbreaks-must-be-addressed/ (04.07.2020).
• Inside a UK factory hit by coronavirus outbreak where workers can't afford time off sick https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/inside-uk-meat-processing-plant-22292920 (04.07.2020).
• British Meat Processors Association (BMPA) report offers solutions to workforce challenges and is calling on the Home Office to include Butchers on the Shortage Occupation List https://britishmeatindustry.org/industry-news/new-bmpa-report-offers-solutions-to-workforce-challenges/ (04.07.2020).
• Claims about COVID-19 in meat plants and worker exploitation are ‘false and misleading’ – BMPA http://www.pig-world.co.uk/news/claims-about-covid-19-in-meat-plants-and-worker-exploitation-are-false-and-misleading-bmpa.html (04.07.2020).
• 200 farm workers quarantined in Herefordshire outbreak, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/12/coronavirus-200-farm-workers-quarantined-herefordshire-outbreak; see also this BBC News article https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-53381802#
  (13.07.2020).
  
• Ottawa didn’t enforce rules for employers of migrant farm workers during pandemic, The Globe and Mail https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-how-ottawas-enforcement-regime-failed-migrant-workers-during-the/ (14.07.2020).
  
• ‘There's a direct relationship’: Brazil meat plants linked to spread of Covid-19, The Guardian ('The focus was cows not employees') https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/15/brazil-meat-plants-linked-to-spread-of-covid-19 (15.07.2020).
• Agricultural workers of the Primex pistachio plant in San Joaquin Valley ask the California attorney general for support https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2020/07/coronavirus-workers-pistachio-plant/ (27.07.2020).
  
• Meatpacking and food processing workers in the US are fighting back (lawsuits and civil rights complaints), Eater https://www.eater.com/21350087/meatpacking-food-processing-workers-coronavirus-lawsuit-civil-rights-complaint-covid-19 (04.08.2020).
• 'We pick your food': migrant workers speak out from Spain's 'Plastic Sea', The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/sep/20/we-pick-your-food-migrant-workers-speak-out-from-spains-plastic-sea (migrants pick food on farms in Almería which ends up on UK supermarket shelves; essential worker status but poor housing and lack of PPE) (21.09.2020).
• Meatpackers deny workers benefits for COVID-19 deaths, illnesses | Reuters https://uk.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-jbs-colorado-insight/meatpackers-deny-workers-benefits-for-covid-19-deaths-illnesses-idUSKBN26K29Y (02.10.2020).
• After Meat Workers Die of Covid-19, Families Fight for Compensation - The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/06/business/coronavirus-meatpacking-plants-compensation.html (more than 100 meat-processing plants in the US have reported COVID-19 outbreaks, 44,000 meatpacking workers have tested positive for the coronavirus, more than 200 have died and families are now in a legal battle with meat companies to get compensation) (08.10.2020).
  
• Lawsuit: Foster Farms Plant Operating in 'Naked Disregard' of COVID-19 Safety Rules, KQED https://www.kqed.org/news/11851959/lawsuit-foster-farms-plant-operating-in-naked-disregard-of-covid-19-safety-rules (United Farm Workers of America and two employees of a Foster Farms poultry processing plant in California have filed a lawsuit against the company, seeking an emergency court order to force Foster Farms to improve safety protocols) (26.12.2020).
  
• Whole Foods worker demands hazard pay, COVID benefits in mass email, Business Insider https://www.businessinsider.com/whole-foods-worker-demands-hazard-pay-covid-benefits-mass-email-2020-12?r=US&IR=T (27.12.2020).

• The debate about farm labour and workers' health and safety over the need to supply meat to US consumers during Covid-19 was reported in various articles last weekend. Here's a couple of articles I found useful. One from Cival Eats rejecting Tyson Foods claims the food chain is breaking https://civileats.com/2020/04/30/as-tyson-claims-the-food-supply-is-breaking-its-workers-continue-to-suffer/ (04.05.2020) and this one in The Guardian ttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/30/trump-executive-order-meat-processing-workers-coronavirus about Trump's executive order to keep meat plants open, plus Financial Times report https://www.ft.com/content/2c7e1a34-2cd7-4b80-ae2d-a8549f565423 (both accessed 04.05.2020).
• Battling Coronavirus in an Iowa Meat Plant - The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/10/business/economy/coronavirus-tyson-plant-iowa.html (accessed: 16.05.2020). [See processing thread for other articles].
• Harvesting crops in California’s eastern Coachella Valley during Covid-19 (worker perspectives) https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/28/undocumented-farmworker-us-immigration-california (06.06.2020).
• Immokalee, Florida is 'America’s tomato capital', and has one of the highest coronavirus infection rates. It has 25,000 agricultural labourers / farm workers (mostly Latino and Haitian immigrants) https://thecounter.org/immokalee-florida-farmworkers-covid-19-cases-coronavirus-testing-contact-tracing/ (13.06.2020).
• Analysis of meat and poultry processing facilities in different countries shows the influence of the working environment, plus a low-paid workforce, who may be under pressure to keep working https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/what-explains-the-high-rate-of-sars-cov-2-transmission-in-meat-and-poultry-facilities-2/
• New outbreak data from @CDPHE shows growth in COVID-19 cases throughout food processing in the US https://covid19.colorado.gov/data/outbreak-data (20.06.2020).
• Coronavirus outbreaks on apple and cherry farms in Washington county (how to keep farmworkers safe) https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-hits-nations-key-apple-cherry-farms-11594027802 (07.07.2020).
• BuzzFeedNews investigation into how workers all along the food chain are affected by Covid-19 (key message: power dynamics put agri-food workers at risk despite being deemed “essential”) https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/albertsamaha/july-4th-barbecue-food-coronavirus (10.07.2020).
• Speeding up poultry lines in a pandemic puts workers’ lives in danger, Civil Eats (puts workers in danger of injury and increases risk of COVID-19 infection because workers have to stand very close to one another) https://civileats.com/2020/07/17/speeding-up-poultry-lines-in-a-pandemic-puts-workers-lives-in-danger/ (20.07.2020).
  
• Frontline film "Covid's Hidden Toll" - examines the impact of C-19 on vulnerable immigrants and undocumented workers in US agri-food and the lack of mandatory protection for farmworkers https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/covids-hidden-toll/ (accessed: 22.07.2020).
  
• 'Everyone tested positive': Covid devastates agriculture workers in California's heartland https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/08/california-covid-19-central-valley-essential-workers?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other (thanks @GarethEnticott) (10.08.2020).
• Michigan orders farms and meatpacking plants to test workers for Covid-19 https://thecounter.org/covid-19-michigan-food-farming-worker-testing/ (15.08.2020).
• 'An extraordinary summer of overlapping crises for California’s farmworkers', National Geographic https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/09/extraordinary-summer-crises-california-farmworkers/ (06.09.2020).
• 15 Stories About How the Pandemic is Impacting Food and Farm Workers, Civil Eats https://civileats.com/2020/09/07/15-stories-of-the-challenges-food-and-farm-workers-are-facing-during-the-pandemic/ (common message: food and farmworkers are essential but critically under-supported) (09.09.2020).
  
• Dispatches from America's workforce: @TheCounter's interviews with workers on the front line of the Coronavirus https://mailchi.mp/newfoodeconomy/no-one-wants-filet-mignon-right-now-2057874?e=f9ec7abfab (09.09.2020).
• With no guaranteed protections from COVID-19, agricultural workers face tough decision: protect their lives or retain financial security, Investigate Midwest https://investigatemidwest.org/2020/09/21/with-no-guaranteed-protections-from-covid-19-agricultural-workers-face-tough-decision-protect-their-lives-or-retain-financial-security/ (28.09.2020).
  
• Coronavirus infections spike as seasonal farmworkers are blocked from testing, The Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/09/24/seasonal-farm-workers-coronavirus/ ('fruit growers blocked testing of seasonal farmworkers and told those who caught the coronavirus to keep it quiet. County and state officials were largely unable to stop them') (29.09.2020).
  
• Acknowledging the migrant hands behind local food this harvest season, Medium (good piece by Shane Martínez: 'denying the existence of migrant farmworkers is to deny the humanity of those risking their lives to bring local food to our tables') https://medium.com/@shanemartinez/acknowledging-the-migrant-hands-behind-local-food-this-harvest-season-133028511343 (29.09.2020).
  
• Now the President and Frontline Workers Have Something in Common, The New York Times (good opinion piece about the coronavirus health gap in the US, including farmworkers) https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/03/opinion/sunday/latinos-coronavirus.html (05.10.2020).
  
• Trader Joe's releases COVID-19 stats, reports 1.2K positive cases among employees,  Grocery Dive https://www.grocerydive.com/news/trader-joes-releases-covid-19-stats-reports-12k-positive-cases-among-emp/588540/ (overview of the scrutiny US national chain Trader Joe’s has faced, especially early on, re protecting workers) (11.11.2020).
• Meatpacking Giant JBS Denies Workers' Coronavirus Claims, NPR https://www.npr.org/2020/11/11/933754519/meatpacking-giant-jbs-denies-workers-coronavirus-claims (13.11.2020).
• Virus Cases Rise, but Hazard Pay for Retail Workers Doesn’t, The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/19/business/retail-workers-hazard-pay.html#click=https://t.co/jruLj0eFJD ('They were hailed as heroes during the first wave of the pandemic, but wage increases were fleeting, and companies [Amazon, Walmart, Kroger], whose businesses are booming, have been slow to pay out more') (22.11.2020).
• Farmworkers should be prioritized for COVID-19 vaccine, coalition of advocacy groups says, The Desert Sun https://eu.desertsun.com/story/news/2020/11/20/covid-19-vaccine-farmworkers-should-prioritized-advocates-say/3768829001/ (“It is incumbent on California to prioritize farmworkers in vaccine distribution and to have a specific plan for reaching agricultural workers and their families ...”) (26.11.2020).
• Useful article by Victoria Bouloubasis about how farmworkers in North Carolina are left behind by broken labour and disaster aid systems, Southerly (via Civil Eats) https://southerlymag.org/2020/12/02/farmworkers-left-behind-by-broken-labor-and-disaster-aid-systems/(05.12.2020).
  
• Covid and California's farmworkers: study lays bare disproportionate risks, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/02/california-farmworkers-covid-19-infections (findings from University of California, Berkeley study of Covid prevalence among agricultural workforce; surveyed 1,091 farmworkers in the Salinas Valley; workers go to work even when sick (due to concerns about losing their job); many are food insecure; education campaign should go beyond English and Spanish (indigenous languages too); need for rapid testing of farmworkers and mistrust in vaccine, linked to mistrust in government) (06.12.2020).
  
• Should Food and Farm Workers Be Next in Line for the COVID Vaccine?, Civil Eats https://civileats.com/2020/12/22/should-food-workers-be-next-in-line-for-the-covid-vaccine/(excellent article about farm, food & retail workers, their status as 'essential workers' during the crisis, the risks they face and the need for them to get vaccinated, but the challenges this poses given migrant status, distrust of government, etc; another example of agri-food workers now in focus who were previously 'hidden') (23.12.2020).
  
• Yuma County, Arizona, Becomes Fertile Ground for Covid-19, The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/22/us/coronavirus-arizona-yuma-covid.html (Yuma County, Arizona (aka as “America’s salad bowl”) has had the highest case rate during the pandemic compared to other US regions, which in part at least is linked to seasonal migration to harvest crops there) (26.01.2021).
  

Vaccination of key workers in the food chain (UK and US articles)

• Meat factories warn Covid absences could hit supplies https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55578974 (call for early vaccination of workers to keep food supplies running smoothly during the coronavirus crisis; some are calling for key workers in the food industry generally and not just the meat industry) (09.01.2021).
• Call to vaccinate meat workers, The Grocer https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/meat/meat-industry-calls-for-covid-19-vaccine-priority-after-factory-outbreaks/650640.article (This piece was published in November, so making the case early on. Notes that 'out of 20 outbreaks reported at food processing facilities since May, more than a dozen have been at meat-related factories'; thanks @GarethEnticott for sharing) (09.01.2021).
• Meatpacking Workers Get Priority for Vaccine Under CDC Guideline, Bloomberg https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-21/meatpacking-workers-get-priority-for-vaccine-under-cdc-guideline (meatpacking and poultry processing workers should be among front-line workers next in line for coronavirus vaccines; new outbreaks also emerging in meat processing plants in the US) (09.01.2021).
• This Business Insider piece about vaccination in Nebraska reports that, according to the state's governor, undocumented workers in meatpacking plants will not be part of the state's vaccination plans https://www.businessinsider.com/nebraska-gov-ricketts-undocumented-people-not-included-vaccine-rollout-2021-1?r=US&IR=T (Nebraska is the largest meatpacking hub in the US and 66% of the workers are migrants and 14% are undocumented; thanks @GarethEnticott for sharing) (09.01.2021).
• Aldi, Trader Joe's and others are paying workers to get a vaccine, CNN https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/19/business/aldi-trader-joes-dollar-general-covid-vaccine/index.html (a growing number of large US chains are offering their workers incentives to get Covid-19 vaccines) (26.01.2021).

Humanitarian crisis in ag. commodity chains (Fairtrade Foundation)

• The crisis behind ag. commodities - economic and humanitarian impacts feared under new working conditions https://wickedleeks.riverford.co.uk/features/fairtrade-environment-ethics-health/crisis-behind-commodities (accessed: 16.05.2020).

International Labour Migration to Europe’s Rural Regions

• Great new open access book about labour migration, including excellent agri-labour chapters. Edited by Johan Fredrik Rye and Karen O'Reilly; great chapter on agri-labour issues in the UK by Keith Halfacree https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781003022367 (thanks @GarethEnticott for sending the link) (09.11.2020).

• Has coronavirus made us more ethical consumers?, BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55630144 (argues 'coronavirus has focused our minds on helping to create a better, healthier world') (14.01.2021).
  
• FSA COVID-19 Consumer Tracker (waves five to eight): latest report (mid-August to mid-November), monitoring attitudes, experiences and behaviours of consumers in relation to food in England, Wales and Northern Ireland during the pandemic https://www.food.gov.uk/news-alerts/news/covid-19-consumer-tracker-waves-five-to-eight-report-published (in November 1 in 5 respondents (19%) reported cutting down on meals for financial reasons) (18.12.2020).
• Weight Gain and Stress Eating Are Downside of Pandemic Life, The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/04/well/live/pandemic-weight-gain.html (reports on a paper published in Obesity https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby.23066 which surveyed 7,753 adults and assessed lifestyle changes across different BMI classifications; 'The COVID-19 pandemic produced significant health effects, well beyond the virus itself') (11.12.2020).
  
• New EIT report reveals impact of COVID-19 on food behaviours https://www.eitfood.eu/news/post/eit-food-report-reveals-lasting-impact-of-covid-19-pandemic-on-european-food-behaviours (survey of 5,000 consumers in 10 European countries; "Buying locally produced food" on a bar with "access to food at low prices", which is quite a shift, but the key question is whether this trend is sustained beyond the pandemic) (05.12.2020).
  
• Poor public health made pandemic worse, BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55134496 (reports on comments made by Sally Davies, former chief medical officer for England, that poor public health (high obesity rates, high levels of deprivation, overcrowded housing) had cost lives during the pandemic; structural health inequalities) (01.12.2020).
  
• How Covid-19 is changing consumers’ relationships with food, Speciality Food Magazine https://www.specialityfoodmagazine.com/news/covid-19-is-changing-consumers-relationships-with-food (local food shopping trends) (01.12.2020).
  
• COVID-19 and our food: Temporary change or a new normal? Food Dive https://www.fooddive.com/news/covid-19-and-our-food-temporary-change-or-a-new-normal/587902/ (the pandemic has made significant changes in what consumers in the US eat (more packaged foods, more cooking at home), how they buy it (more shopping online) and their feelings about food safety) (11.11.2020).
  
• Beyond Meat posts surprise loss as stockpiling eases, restaurant sales falter, Reuters https://www.reuters.com/article/us-beyondmeat-results-idUSKBN27P2VW (11.11.2020).
• A barter way of life: Covid crisis fuels swapping of goods and skills, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/oct/31/barter-covid-swapping-goods-skills (swapping of food, especially early on in the pandemic, plus other consumer items; bartering economy enabled through Facebook and WhatsApp groups, apps and cloud-based barter platforms e.g. Kindtrader, Barter United Kingdom) (06.11.2020).
  
• Nutrition responses from food and beverage companies to the Covid-19 pandemic - Report 2: An acute response https://accesstonutrition.org/app/uploads/2020/10/Second-Covid-19-Quarterly-Report-Final-Version.pdf (Access to Nutrition Initiative report analyses how the 39 largest food manufacturers in the world are responding to COVID-19; companies are adapting but responses are short-term and limitied evidence of nutrition-sensitive strategic response) (04.11.2020).
• Chocolate sales soar as UK shoppers comfort eat at home amid Covid, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/oct/31/chocolate-sales-soar-uk-shoppers-comfort-eat-at-home-covid (esp. multipacks) (03.11.2020).
  
• Sickly sweet: Junk food and COVID-19 in Mexico, Sustainable Food Trust  https://sustainablefoodtrust.org/articles/sickly-sweet-junk-food-and-covid-19-in-mexico/?utm_source=SFT+Newsletter&utm_campaign=2e84b310c5-Newsletter+214_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_bf20bccf24-2e84b310c5-105088289 (obesity levels and vulnerability to Covid-19 in Mexico; US trade deals) (02.11.2020).
• How a more price conscious consumer affects product choices, AHDB https://ahdb.org.uk/news/consumer-insight-how-a-more-price-conscious-consumer-affects-product-choices ('While consumers are becoming more price conscious, it isn’t the only driver of food choice') (02.10.2020).
  
• Will COVID-19 change our relationship with meat?, Thomson Reuters Foundation Long Reads https://longreads.trust.org/item/pandemic-climate-eat-green-food-COVID-19 (COVID19 as the tipping point in our relationship with meat?; sales data from the US and Asia show increased demand for plant-based alternatives during the pandemic) (25.09.2020).
• Obesity and COVID-19: A renewed call to address a growing crisis (World Bank blog) https://blogs.worldbank.org/health/obesity-and-covid-19-renewed-call-address-growing-crisis (25.09.2020).
  
• Broken Plate report, Food Foundation https://foodfoundation.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/FF-Broken-Plate-2020-DIGITAL-FULL.pdf (need to change the food environment; the UK’s poorest households struggle to afford to meet the Eat Well Guide. Mean price of fruit & veg – £9.39 per 1,000kcal, while the price of food & drinks that are high in sugar, salt and/or fat is £3.54 per 1,000kcal i.e. healthy foods are roughly three times as expensive as less healthy food per kilocalorie) (21.09.2020).
• Coffee, coronavirus and the uncertain future of high street cafe culture https://blog.geographydirections.com/2020/09/09/coffee-coronavirus-and-the-uncertain-future-of-high-street-cafe-culture/ (10.09.2020).
• UK organic food and drink sales boom during lockdown https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/03/uk-organic-food-and-drink-sales-boom-during-lockdown (organic food and drink sales grew by 6.1%; growth reaches highest rate since 2016; high demand for organic bananas, chicken, eggs and wine) (03.09.2020).
• How will the COVID-19 pandemic shape the future of meat consumption? (Sophie Attwood and Cother Hajat, Public Health Nutrition; 'one possible opportunity to emerge from the current pandemic may be a shift away from over-consumption of meat') https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/public-health-nutrition/article/how-will-the-covid-19-pandemic-shape-the-future-of-meat-consumption/1E58577A80363EF5DD3AE7E2C47ED860# (30.08.2020).
• Obesity increases the risk of death from Covid-19 by nearly 50% (new study) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/26/obesity-increases-risk-of-covid-19-death-by-48-study-finds (26.08.2020).
• This British Medical Journal paper raises concerns Covid-19 has exacerbated nutritional problems associated with food insecurity, including obesity, undernourishment, nutrient deficiencies, and mental health; also notes a lack of quantitative data on nutritional problems families are facing during lockdown https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3193 (22.08.2020).
• Joanna Blythman, The Grocer: Our underlying epidemic is chronic junk diets. It’s time to eat real food https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/health/our-underlying-epidemic-is-chronic-junk-diets-its-time-to-eat-real-food/647463.article (19.08.2020).
• Linked to the FSA lived experience report below, see also this excellent piece by Caitlin Connors, summarising some of the main findings from their research (reality of food insecurity, the impact of income loss ... ) https://medium.com/@BrightHarbour/when-a-pandemic-hits-and-the-fridge-is-empty-food-in-the-time-of-covid-19-68e149094c80 (17.08.2020).
• Interesting Covid-19 and food consumer data from FSA https://www.food.gov.uk/research/research-projects/the-covid-19-consumer-research (thanks Anna_K_speaking for sharing) (includes qualitative lived experience of food insecurity and quantitative research on the impact of Covid-19 on food insecurity for people) (15.08.2020).
• Turning the Tables. New Demos report https://demos.co.uk/project/turning-the-tables-making-healthy-choices-easier-for-consumers/ (key argument: before lockdown, 20m people couldn't afford healthy food. "During COVID-19 we've seen the spotlight on poor diets and how they're affecting the nation" (thanks @ReedMtweet for sharing). (10.08.2020).
• Kantar data shows that for the 12-week period up until 12 July, consumer spending on lamb across all GB retailers increased by 19.2% to £139.6 million, when compared to the same period in 2019 https://meatpromotion.wales/en/news-industry-info/british-shoppers-finding-new-lockdown-love-for-lamb  (via @GarethEnticott) (08.08.2020).
• Kantar data shows spikes in sales of core dairy items through the peak of lockdown  https://www.dairyuk.org/blog/dairy-sales-soar-lockdown/ (Milk Your Moments campaign) (08.08.2020)
• GB household beef purchases, AHDB dashboard (beef sales are up: e.g. volumes are up 16.1% year on year) https://ahdb.org.uk/beef/consumer-insight-gb-household-beef-purchases (06.08.2020); see also this Meat Management piece https://meatmanagement.com/strong-increase-in-retail-beef-sales/ (Livestock and Meat Commission for Northern Ireland - references Kantar data re. consumer spend on beef in the UK) (06.08.2020).
• Bloomberg article argues the pandemic has finally halted demand for animal protein (esp. beef), using FAO meat production data as a proxy [not convinced but at least some data to support headlines linking meat consumption trends to Covid-19 - need more robust data] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-30/good-news-for-climate-change-as-world-loses-its-taste-for-meat (01.08.2020).
• The silent pandemic: How lockdown is affecting future health (according to COVID Symptom Study app data, almost a third (29%) of survey participants gained weight since March 2020 (1.6 participants in the UK took part) https://covid.joinzoe.com/post/lockdown-weight-gain (via @ReedMtweet) (01.08.2020).
• Excellent blog by Corinna Hawkes on why limiting food marketing is an important step towards healthy food systems, in a context of inherent uncertainty (arguments are not black and white, but we still need to act) https://www.thebetterfoodjourney.com/blog/acting-despite-uncertainty-restricting-food-marketing-to-kids (29.07.2020).

Obesity Strategy

• New Obesity Strategy. Excess weight puts individuals at risk of worse outcomes from COVID-19. Measures include crackdown on unhealthy food promotions in retail, a ban on TV and online advertising before 9pm and a public campaign https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-obesity-strategy-unveiled-as-country-urged-to-lose-weight-to-beat-coronavirus-covid-19-and-protect-the-nhs (27.07.2020).
• As part of the new Obesity Strategy, useful Public Health England report on the relationship between excess weight and Covid-19 (UK and international data) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/excess-weight-and-covid-19-insights-from-new-evidence (27.07.2020)
• Guardian commentary in response to the Obesity Strategy https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/aug/09/poverty-causes-obesity-low-income-families-need-to-be-better-off-to-eat-well ("If obesity is linked to poverty – which is what the evidence suggests – then the way to reduce obesity is to reduce poverty.") (10.08.2020).
• To fight obesity, we must first raise incomes | Letters | Society | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/aug/12/to-fight-obesity-we-must-first-raise-incomes (accessed: 15.08.2020).

• Obesity increases risks of coronavirus-related hospitalisation, intensive care and death (new study; Public Health England call for government action on obesity) https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jul/25/public-health-england-calls-for-action-on-obesity-in-covid-19-fight?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=twt_gu&utm_medium&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1595657397 (25.07.2020).
• Consumer co-operatives: Solve the food crisis by bringing farmers and communities closer together (useful article from South Africa) https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-07-19-consumer-co-operatives-solve-the-food-crisis-by-bringing-farmers-and-communities-closer-together/ (21.07.2020).
  
• Pandemic to spark biggest retreat for meat eating in decades, Bloomberg News https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-07/pandemic-set-to-spark-biggest-retreat-for-meat-eating-in-decades (11.07.2020).
  
• Covid-19 Consumer Tracker Waves 1 and 2 (FSA and Ipsos) (Covid-19 has changed how consumers access food; reports continued trend towards more localised food purchasing behaviours) https://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/media/document/covid-19-consumer-tracker-report.pdf (08.07.2020).
• COVID-19 as a catalyst for collaboration in the consumer goods sector https://nutritionconnect.org/resource-center/blog-36-turbocharging-collaboration-covid-19-catalyst-collaboration-consumer-goods (08.07.2020).
• Snacking and family meals increase in lockdown (60% of young people thought more shared family meal times were positive for health and wellbeing but inequality gaps re. access to nutritious food) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-53238366 (04.07.2020).
• UberEats lauches new meal sharing tool https://www.perthnow.com.au/lifestyle/food/ubereats-lauches-new-meal-sharing-tool-on-app-ng-b881561041z (04.07.2020).
• COVID-19: safeguarding food systems and promoting healthy diets (presents 10 priority actions) https://www.glopan.org/resources-documents/covid-19/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Twitter&utm_campaign=COVIDBRIEF (04.07.2020).
• Is the UK on the brink of a revolution in how we buy food? (shorter chains, digitalisation and new buying habits) https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/articles/food_revolution (28.06.2020).
• Changes in dietary behaviours during the COVID-19 outbreak confinement in the Spanish COVIDiet Study. Data show adoption of healthier dietary habits/behaviours in the studied population, via a higher adherence to the MedDiet https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/6/1730/htm (28.06.2020).
• The effects of Covid-19 on the alcohol industry (Marion Nestle) https://www.foodpolitics.com/2020/06/the-effects-of-covid-19-on-the-alcohol-industry (20.06.2020).
  
• How Covid19 has changed our relationship with food https://www.1843magazine.com/food/panic-at-the-supermarket-how-covid19-rewrote-the-shopping-list (20.06.2020).
• This piece notes that food companies are using clever ways to sell us 'junk food' during the pandemic https://www.sustainweb.org/blogs/may20_junk_food_marketing_covid/ (30.05.2020).
• Financial Times article reports an increase in sales of ultra-processed foods  https://www.ft.com/content/2a8b011a-60e0-4bd7-bdac-c22c6a210ea5 (30.05.2020).
• Consumer price inflation data for March-April 2020 show a slight drop in food prices overall but veg prices rose (via Food Foundation) https://foodfoundation.org.uk/covid_19/cpi-aprils-data/ (accessed 23.05.2020).
• Jonathan Safran Foer article in The New York Times linking Covid-19 to wider questions about animal agriculture and meat consumption http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/coronavirus/the-coronavirus-and-a-world-without-meat/ar-BB14pRur?ocid=ientp (accessed 23.05.2020).
• Boons, F.A. et al. (2020). Covid-19, changing social practices and the transition to sustainable consumption and production. Version 1.0; (May 2020). Manchester: Sustainable Consumption Institute. http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=49196 (accessed 09.05.2020).
• Consumers in Florida are shopping online https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/05/opinion/sunday/farmers-florida-coronavirus.html (14.06.2020).
• Obesity and Covid-19: the role of the food industry, BMJ editorial (argues the pandemic shows why addressing obesity is now even more urgent - obesity is an independent risk factor for severe illness and death from Covid-19) https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m2237 (13.06.2020).
• Useful blog by Corinna Hawkes https://nutritionconnect.org/news-events/healthy-diets-human-resilience-age-covid-19 (29.04.2020) arguing for healthy diets to build human resilience in the new Covid-19 reality. the 'new normal' is one that rejects unhealthy food environments.
• COVID-19 and Obesity/NCDs - World Obesity Federation resources page https://www.worldobesity.org/resources/resource-library/covid-19-obesity-resources (23.05.2020).
  
• Dietary impacts (US perspective) https://time.com/5827315/coronavirus-diet/ (accessed 04.05.2020)
• There was quite a lot of articles about panic buying in supermarkets (early phase of the pandemic). Most were relating it to individual consumer actions/behaviours. This article is one of the more interesting, recognising it not to be a consumer problem but a food system problem.
• Stephen Reicher’s reponse to this article, linking it to psychologisation, is also useful:
  

• Consumer behaviour evolution linked to the usual spending out of home (Kantar Worldpanel):
  
  

Dairy farming crisis and milk waste

• Covid-19 has severely impacted the food service and hospitality supply chains and this has had a knock-on impact on the demand for milk, with dairy farms forced to dispose of unwanted milk on their farms. Various articles on this theme, including:
  • https://www.nfuonline.com/news/coronavirus-updates-and-advice/coronavirus-news/coronavirus-nfu-seeks-crisis-meeting-with-defra-secretary-to-save-uks-iconic-dairy-sector/
  • https://twitter.com/BBCBreakfast/status/1248129263724724225 (10.04.2020)
  • https://www.fginsight.com/news/dairy-industry-sees-thousands-of-litres-of-milk-dumped-due-to-covid-19s-impact-on-supply-chains--107550 (09.04.2020)
  • Reduction in milk outputs from farms - https://www.fginsight.com/news/muller-farmers-told-to-cut-production-by-3-per-cent-immediately-107555 (09.04.2020)
  • https://www.gov.uk/government/news/dairy-industry-to-join-together-to-manage-milk-supply (20.04.2020)
  • Useful AHDB podcast on how Covid-19 is impacting UK dairy markets https://audioboom.com/posts/7569431-covid-19-special-the-impact-of-coronavirus-on-the-dairy-industry (04.05.2020); shows the differential impact between retail and food service sales; this link includes impacts on dairy markets and consumption https://audioboom.com/posts/7544852-covid-19-special-what-s-happened-to-dairy-markets-and-consumption (27.12.2020).
  • This AHBD link looks at impacts to key dairy regions (globally) https://ahdb.org.uk/news/how-are-the-key-dairy-regions-coping-with-coronavirus (16.05.2020).
  • Useful blog by CCRI PhD student, Théo Lenormand, about the milk crisis and COVID-19, including data/analysis from his MSc research in South Pembrokeshire https://rgrg.co.uk/covid-19-crisis-short-part-3-short-of-milk-short-of-cash (11.06.2020).
  • Arla Foods CEO Peder Tuborgh discusses Covid-19 and the outlook for the global dairy industry https://www.cnbc.com/video/2020/07/10/we-will-be-ready-when-we-get-back-to-the-new-normal-arla-ceo.html?&qsearchterm=peder%20tuborgh (11.07.2020).

Milk Your Moment Campaign and positive dairy sales

• Kantar data shows spikes in sales of core dairy items through the peak of lockdown  https://www.dairyuk.org/blog/dairy-sales-soar-lockdown/ (08.08.2020).
• Business booming for milk doorstep delivery, FarmingUK https://www.farminguk.com/news/coronavirus-business-booming-for-milk-doorstep-delivery_56647.html ('Though numbers have fallen back slightly as Covid restrictions lifted, many customers have retained the service, at 671,809 in mid-August compared to 526,876 in February, a 27.5% rise') (05.10.2020).
  
• Lockdown brings boost for milkmen, Farmers Guardian https://www.fginsight.com/news/news/lockdown-brings-boost-for-milkmen-113780 (doorstep sales were about 3 per cent pre-Covid 19 but during lockdown numbers increased "from 527,000 to 716,000, according to data from Kantar" (22.10.2020).
  
• Dairy ad helps drive 11.2m litres of additional milk sales, FarmingUK News https://www.farminguk.com/news/dairy-ad-helps-drive-11-2m-litres-of-additional-milk-sales_56867.html ('The first UK dairy TV campaign for 20 years [Milk Your Moments] helped drive an estimated 11.2 million litres of additional liquid milk sales during the pandemic') (31.10.2020).
  
• AHDB podcast about the Milk Your Moments dairy campaign https://audioboom.com/posts/7723114-milk-your-moments-marketing-campaign-delivers-for-dairy (contributions from Judith Bryans, Paul Flannagan, Rebecca Miah & Susie Stannard) (06.11.2020). 

Vending machines, direct selling and networked dairy farm models

• For some time small dairy producers have been experimenting with vending machines, including this example and this (14.03.2020)
• Direct selling/short chains: selling milk from the farm http://sustainablefoodtrust.org/articles/milk-fresh-from-the-farm/ (23.05.2020).
• For a more global / international dairy perspective, see McKinsey and Company  (20.04.2020).
• Interesting article in The Conversation about how small, networked dairy farms in New Jersey are a model for a more resilient food system https://theconversation.com/new-jerseys-small-networked-dairy-farms-are-a-model-for-a-more-resilient-food-system-137881 (06.06.2020).
• Vending machines help Welsh dairy farms, Farmers Weekly https://www.fwi.co.uk/farm-life/feedthenation-vending-machines-help-welsh-dairy-farms (30.07.2020).
  

Hardship fund for dairy farmers

• The launch of the fund, which allows dairy farmers to supply for up to £10,000 in cash payments, was reported by the BBC,6th May 2020 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-52567858# (accessed 09.05.2020).
• Does Defra's Dairy Response Fund address the problems faced by farmers during C-19? Some farmers were ineligible yet suffered large income falls according to this EFRA Committee letter to Defra https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/2063/documents/19673/default/ (25.07.2020).

Artisan cheese producers

• Similar to milk, due to impacts on food service/restaurants, many artisan cheese producers are suddenly without a buyer for their product. (accessed: 11.04.2020)
• Mary Quicke has written an open letter to food lovers in Britain about the impact on her family cheese making business (accessed: 14.3.2020)
• Coping with Covid-19 - Struggles and resilience of small-scale cheesemakers in Italy https://www.arc2020.eu/coping-with-covid-struggles-and-resilience-of-small-scale-cheesemakers-in-italy/(accessed: 29.04.2020)
  
• Covid-19 and the battle to save Britain’s farmhouse cheeses, Financial Times https://www.ft.com/content/32f8475e-da43-4f50-ad36-0078c3bb463c (04.08.2020).
  
• Excellent article by Jenny Linford about the impact Covid-19 on British artisan cheese producers (and wholesalers) https://jennylinford.co.uk/british-cheese-crisis/ (most sell to food service supply chains, so sudden and sustained impacts) (thanks @ReedMtweet) (17.08.2020).
  

Farmers as ‘hidden heroes’

• One of the early narratives to emerge in the Covid-19 response was farmers as ‘hidden heroes’ who would ‘feed the nation’. This article in Farmers Weekly reports how “Defra minister George Eustice … described farmers as “hidden heroes”, as the government considers extra help to feed the nation during the coronavirus pandemic”(accessed: 11.04.2020).
• The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Select Committee writes to George Eustice, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, as part of its inquiry into COVID-19 and food supply (24.04.2020): https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/52/environment-food-and-rural-affairs-committee/news/146126/covid19-coronavirus-and-food-supply-mps-seek-assurances-from-secretary-of-state/

Valuing and supporting farmers

• James Rebanks argues we need to value British farmers more. (accessed: 11.04.2020).
• Some tips on how we can support farmers are provided by SUSTAIN (accessed: 20.04.2020).
• Eat steak not mince! Call to support British meat producers. Interview with Minette Batters (NFU) in The Telegraph covers this and the general message is to 'buy British' and support British farmers https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/05/03/eat-steak-not-mince-keep-beef-industry-afloat-nfu-president/ (accessed: 04.05.2020).
• Finanical Times article https://www.ft.com/content/b94b85cf-1321-4ec8-aae5-22a128440eba (accessed: 04.05.2020) on the European steak, chips and cheese glut (encouraging consumers to eat more of these products - in the UK, the glut is steak; chips in Belgium; cheese in France; not sure this is the 'sustainable diet' to aim for, but there you go)
• Waitrose promotion to buy/eat more steak https://www.farminguk.com/news/waitrose-launches-biggest-ever-steak-promotional-push_55541.html and support British livestock farmers (accessed: 04.05.2020).
• Pig farmer perspective (Pig World) http://www.pig-world.co.uk/news/npa-highlights-importance-of-keeping-supply-chain-moving-during-covid-19-epidemic.html (accessed: 09.05.2020).
• County farms - public land for public goods. Blog by Graham Willis, CPRE https://www.ateamfoundation.org/blog-1/2020/6/23/emergency-response-fund (27.06.2020).
• Fibres of the future? Covid-19 caused wool prices to plummet as low as 15p p/kg. This articles reports on a fledgling movement that connects sheep farmers with local weavers to value British wool. https://wickedleeks.riverford.co.uk/features/farming-local-sourcing-ethical-business/fibres-future (04.07.2020); see also this blog (the worth of wool) https://sustainablefoodtrust.org/articles/the-worth-of-wool/ (25.07.2020).
• UK levy boards (Quality Meat Scotland (QMS), Hybu Cig Cymru (HCC) and AHDB) hail the success of their lockdown red meat campaigns, which were launched to help farmers find new markets when food service chains suddenly closed https://www.farminguk.com/news/lockdown-lamb-and-beef-marketing-hits-million-mark_56176.html (26.07.2020).
• UK beef exports, April 2020 - FarmingUK News (UK fresh and frozen beef exports suffered a 15 percent drop in April due to impacts of the Covid-19 crisis) https://www.farminguk.com/news/coronavirus-uk-beef-exports-suffer-april-slump_55923.html (28.06.2020).
• It’s time to back progressive farmers, opinion piece by Dan Crossley (Food Ethics Council), Footprint https://www.foodservicefootprint.com/opinion-its-time-to-back-progressive-farmers/ ('over seven in 10 of those surveyed [public survey of 2,095 people in the UK] said they had taken action to support UK farmers in the last 12 months) (20.11.2020).
• Feeding the Nation How Nature Friendly Farmers are Responding to Covid-19, Nature Friendly Farming Network https://www.nffn.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/NFFN-Report-15_04.pdf (20.11.2020).
• Growing food: Call to give vegetable growers public cash - BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55650274 ('A taskforce set up by the Welsh Government to ensure a green recovery from the coronavirus pandemic has recommended boosting horticulture' (14.01.2021).

Consumer spending (lamb, beef, dairy and meat-free products)

• Consumer spending on lamb across all GB retailers increased by 19.2% to £139.6 million (12-week period up until 12 July compared to the same period in 2019) https://meatpromotion.wales/en/news-industry-info/british-shoppers-finding-new-lockdown-love-for-lamb  (via @GarethEnticott) (05.08.2020); see also this Western Telegraph article https://www.westerntelegraph.co.uk/news/farming/18685021.lambs-lockdown-love-story/ (01.09.2020).
• GB household beef purchases, AHDB dashboard (beef sales are up: e.g. volumes are up 16.1% year on year) https://ahdb.org.uk/beef/consumer-insight-gb-household-beef-purchases (04.08.2020); see also this piece in Agriland https://www.agriland.co.uk/farming-news/retail-figures-show-27-increase-in-uk-retail-beef-sales/ (27% increase in UK beef sales) (29.08.2020); and this one in Farming UK (same consumer panel data) https://www.farminguk.com/news/beef-sales-boost-as-families-turn-to-roasts-and-steaks_56468.html (09.09.2020).
• Spikes in sales for core dairy items through the peak of lockdown  https://www.dairyuk.org/blog/dairy-sales-soar-lockdown/ (01.08.2020).
• How the coronavirus lockdown has impacted sales of meat-free products, AHDB (based on Kantar data for the four weeks ending 19 April 2020; growth of meat-free products slowed ) https://ahdb.org.uk/news/consumer-insight-how-the-coronavirus-lockdown-has-impacted-sales-of-meat-free-products (29.08.2020).
  
• Public spending more money on meat and dairy, FarmingUK News https://www.farminguk.com/news/coronavirus-public-spending-more-money-on-meat-and-dairy_56903.html (red meat, dairy and potatoes have all seen postive retail sales offsetting food services closures; based on analysis by AHDB) (05.11.2020).
• Sharp rise in beef import figures https://www.fwi.co.uk/business/markets-and-trends/meat-prices/coronavirus-beef-imports-figures-show-sharp-rise?fbclid=IwAR1u1zaHjAReEAhMIaFh8ZnEq1wwhM3XelgnEnjHAL0gBfELmhACBUrQO28 (AHDB: 'imports reached 26,200t in September – up 5% on the August total and 12% higher than the same month in 2019' (mostly from Ireland) (20.11.2020).

Unwanted potatoes (food hospitality supply chain closure) and cider apples

• The closure of takeaways, restaurants and food service has left farmers with unwanted potatoes (including comment from AHDB) https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-potato-farmers-face-supply-crisis-after-fish-and-chip-shops-close-2020-5?r=US&IR=T (23.05.2020).
• Apples from 'perfect harvest' rot on the ground as demand for cider slumps, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/27/apples-from-perfect-harvest-rot-on-the-ground-as-demand-for-cider-slumps (29.09.2020).
  

Venison sales and wild deer management

• Wild deer set to wreak havoc in UK woodlands as venison demand plunges, The Observer https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/10/wild-deer-set-to-wreak-havoc-in-uk-woodlands-as-venison-demand-plunges (article about the impact on venison sales in terms of wild deer numbers and the management of UK woodlands; thanks @GarethEnticott) (12.01.2021).

#FeedTheNation

• Farmers Weekly has an awareness campaign [#FeedTheNation ] 'to show the public how farmers are working tirelessly to produce the food we all need to live and stay healthy' https://www.fwi.co.uk/feedthenation (various articles on the main page, including farm shops, veg box schemes and vending machines) (22.08.2020).
• Eat Out to Help Out scheme benefits farm shops with restaurants and cafés (some have now opted out), Farmers Weekly https://www.fwi.co.uk/farm-life/feedthenatin-eat-out-scheme-benefits-farm-shops-and-cafes (22.08.2020).

'Self-sufficiency day' (August 21)

• If we only ate UK-grown food, we'd have run out today. Covid-19 shows that UK's home production must increase and food security must be central to 'building back' (@Minette_Batters @NFU 'self-sufficiency day' campaign) https://www.nfuonline.com/news/media-centre/press-releases/food-security-must-be-key-part-of-green-recovery-from-covid-19/ (22.08.20).
• Here's a selection of other articles linked to the NFU self-sufficiency day campaign. The headlines are slightly alarmist and the self-sufficiency figures are not new, but give a sense of how Covid-19 is creating a new food security discourse in the UK https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8631679/Britons-run-food-Friday-country-solely-reliant-homegrown-produce.html; see also https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/farmers-union-warnings-over-self-sufficiency-day-1-6795904 (22.08.2020) and https://www.farminguk.com/news/self-sufficiency-britain-would-run-out-of-food-by-end-of-week-_56336.html (22.08.2020).
• See also this article in Countryside: What does British food self-sufficiency mean? https://www.countrysideonline.co.uk/back-british-farming/back-british-farming-our-latest-activity/what-does-british-food-self-sufficiency-mean/ (29.08.2020).

Covid-19, gender and agriculture

• Excellent blog by Hannah Budge and Sally Shortall: Covid-19, gender, agriculture, and future research https://sites.psu.edu/geareblog/2020/08/19/covid-19-gender-agriculture-and-future-research/ (20.08.2020).

Rural and farmer vulnerability and planning for 'unexpected events'

• Essential and vulnerable: implications of Covid-19 for farmers in Ireland https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1059924X.2020.1814920 (14.09.2020).
  
• Resilience or how do we enable agricultural systems to ride the waves of unexpected change?, Agricultural Systems https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308521X20308581 (useful paper by Ika Darnhofer about how agricultural systems deal with unexpected events, including learning from COVID-19) (09.01.2021).

Farm diversification and producer collaboration

• Covid-19 impacts on diversified farm businesses (NFU survey of 224 South West of England farmers and growers with diversified enterprises; tourism and accommodation-based business were the hardest hit, with positive sales for farm businesses offering direct sales (box sales, etc.) https://www.nfuonline.com/about-us/our-offices/south-west/south-west-news/survey-shows-effects-of-coronavirus/(09.09.2020).
• Collaboration for innovative routes to market: COVID-19 and the food system, Agricultural Systems https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0308521X20308994?dgcid=author (paper by Luke Prosser, Eifiona Thomas Lane and Rebecca Jones; innovative examples of producer collaboration in Wales (producer and organisation-led models), which created new markets) (05.01.2021).

Covid-19 and UK-EU trade talks (Brexit)

• Excellent Financial Times piece which shows how Covid-19 has highlighted food security issues and tensions for the UK and these are now playing out in UK-EU trade talks https://www.ft.com/content/1db1dfcc-09b4-4c6a-94a8-0442b037d557 (06.06.2020).

Agri-food support packages and 2020 agricultural accounts (Eurostat)

• Here's the list of exceptional measures introduced to help the agri-food sector through Covid-19 crisis https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_20_788, including private storage aid to assist the dairy sector (04.05.2020).
• Here's a related article https://www.fwi.co.uk/business/payments-schemes/coronavirus-eu-proposes-e80m-meat-and-dairy-aid-package (04.05.2020) and EU press release on transnational measures (including farmer and fisher support) https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_20_582
• Ecosystem markets for a green recovery: Policy challenges and opportunities, N8 AgriFood Food Systems Policy Hub https://policyhub.n8agrifood.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ecosystem-markets-for-a-green-recovery-policy-brief.pdf (this policy brief has great ideas to support a green recovery in farming, including ecosystem markets to support climate adaptation and a farm soil carbon code) (22.11.2020).
• COVID-19 leaves limited traces in preliminary 2020 agricultural accounts (Alan Matthews CAP Reform blog) http://capreform.eu/covid-19-leaves-limited-traces-in-preliminary-2020-agricultural-accounts/ (Eurostat has published preliminary 2020 estimates for economic accounts for agriculture. Alan 'finds limited COVID-19 impacts in the figures, confirming resilience of the farm and food sector' but 'the big puzzle is where has all the assistance to farm sector gone?') (05.01.2021).
  

US relief packages:

• This article examines the US relief package (farm aid) for farmers impacted by Covid-19 https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/30/congress-relief-package-farmers-155687; see also https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/07/us/politics/virus-trump-aid-farmers.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage (14.06.2020).
• NBC News: Small farmers left behind in Trump administration COVID-19 relief package https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/small-farmers-left-behind-trump-administration-s-covid-19-relief-n1236158 (the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program[me] has favoured large, industrialised farms over smaller, diversified ones) (12.08.2020).
  
• USDA’s Food Box Program[me] Shuts Out Small Farmers, Eater (via Civil Eats) https://www.eater.com/21850793/usda-food-box-program-black-garmers-small-farm-contracts (03.12.2020).
  

Farming Health Hub: COVID-19 Support and Advice

• The Farming Health Hub works with the public, private and voluntary sector to provide support, advcie and guidance to farming and rural communities http://socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/media/universityofexeter/research/microsites/centreforruralpolicyresearch/pdfs/Farming_Health_Hub_COVID_-_19_Support_and_Advice.pdf. The list of organisations are mostly from Cornwall, but include national links too. Great initiative/resource. (accessed 09.05.2020).
• Coronavirus: advice for farmers and growers, AHDB (information, guidance and support around Coronavirus) https://ahdb.org.uk/coronavirus (27.12.2020).

Demand for lifestyle and amenity farms

• Demand for lifestyle and amenity farms picks up post lockdown, FarmingUK News https://www.farminguk.com/news/demand-for-lifestyle-and-amenity-farms-picks-up-post-lockdown_56171.html (25.07.2020).
  

Covid-19 is a demand rather than a supply shock?

• Short-term Agricultural Outlook report. Suggests Covid-19 is a demand rather than a supply shock, with European ag. sectors resilient to the crisis and food service re-opening likely to make a big difference https://ec.europa.eu/info/news/short-term-outlook-good-production-prospects-many-agricultural-sectors-overall-sector-should-benefit-reopening-foodservice-2020-jul-06_en (06.07.2020).

Digitalisation of agriculture and rural economies

• COVID-19 crisis could ‘kick off digital revolution in agriculture’ (but some important more critical comments too re ownership of these new forms of agri-tech) https://www.euractiv.com/section/agriculture-food/news/covid-19-crisis-could-kick-off-digital-revolution-in-agriculture/ (20.06.2020).
• Artificial Intelligence in the Agri-Food System: Rethinking Sustainable Business Models in the COVID-19 Scenario https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/12/4851?utm_source=releaseissue&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=releaseissue_sustainability&utm_term=titlelink42 (04.07.2020).
• Digitising the Solidarity Economy – Desira http://desira2020.eu/2020/04/30/article-digitising-the-solidarity-economy/ (04.07.2020).
• Gianluca Brunori: How will COVID-19 affect the digitalization of rural areas? https://page.agr.unipi.it/2020/06/12/blog-series-prof-gianluca-brunorihow-will-covid-affect-the-digitalisation-of-rural-areas/ (20.06.2020).
• Digitalisation and agritourism in Garfagnana, Italy http://desira2020.eu/2020/07/24/article-digitalisation-and-agritourism-in-garfagnana-italy/ (28.07.2020).
  
• This article by @JenSheridan on the Open Food Network in Australia (how it started and Covid-19 impacts: 'existing Open Food Network shops’ turnover increased threefold, sign-ups increased tenfold, and turnover through the platform overall increased tenfold across our local and global networks') https://www.dumbofeather.com/articles/the-open-food-network/ (28.08.2020).
• Farm robots given Covid-19 boost, Financial Times https://www.ft.com/content/0b394693-137b-40a4-992b-0b742202e4e1 (may need subscription to read; highlights the potential of farm robots to work at the plant level (precision ag.)) (01.09.2020).
• Digital agriculture: key to helping small-scale producers overcome COVID-19 challenges https://www.ifad.org/en/web/latest/blog/asset/42279983 (18.01.2021).

Small-scale farmer incomes / resilience (global)

• Impact of Covid-19 on small-scale farmer incomes (examples from Bangladesh, Kenya, Ghana and Asia) and how supply chains can support them https://views-voices.oxfam.org.uk/2020/04/coronavirus-is-jeopardizing-the-incomes-of-small-scale-farmers/ (accessed: 06.05.2020).
• Excellent article about COVID-19 and Syrian livelihoods in agriculture (thanks @GarethEnticott for sending it). The virus may not have reached displaced communities in the Middle East, but its domino effects have https://www.routedmagazine.com/covid-19-syrian-communities (27.06.2020).
• Small-scale farmers can help build resilient food systems in a post–COVID-19 world https://www.ifad.org/en/web/latest/blog/asset/41903536 (10.07.2020).
• Covid-19: A gamechanger in attracting youth to agribusiness (commentary from owner of Soilless Farm Lab, Nigeria) https://medium.com/enabling-sustainability/covid-19-a-gamechanger-in-attracting-youth-to-agribusiness-2b2fd0ee13e6 (18.07.2020).
• Digital models from Kenya’s small-scale agriculture could help South Africa's pandemic-stricken farmers https://africa.com/digital-models-from-kenyas-small-scale-agriculture-could-help-sas-pandemic-stricken-farmers/ (30.08.2020).
• Keeping food on the table and preventing food loss when business is not as usual, IFAD (small scale producers in Asia and the Pacific and keeping food chains functioning, including digital platforms) https://www.ifad.org/en/web/latest/story/asset/42101575 (05.10.2020).
• Risk perception and determinants in small‐ and medium‐sized agri‐food enterprises amidst the COVID‐19 pandemic: Evidence from Egypt, Agribusiness https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/agr.21676 (Abu Hatab et al argue COVID disrupted several activities for small and medium agrifood enterprises; “just‐in‐time” approaches reduced resilience; operating in both domestic and export markets lowered COVID risk perceptions) (18.01.2021).

• Sustainable Fish Cities - SUSTAIN: How can we help our fishing fleet through coronavirus? accessed 20.04.2020).
• You can source fresh fish directly through this innovative website (accessed: 20.04.2020).
• Much of the catch from British waters is sold to continental markets, while British consumers tend to eat fish from other waters. COVID-19 is impacting markets and reports suggest fishers are turning to food banks as their businesses collapse. E.g. Scottish fishermen turn to food banks
• Fish flourish under lockdown — but fishermen flounder – POLITICO https://www.politico.eu/article/so-long-and-thanks-say-all-the-fish-that-roam-free-because-of-the-coronavirus/ (accessed: 16.05.2020).
  
• Excellent resource/maps of fishmongers selling fresh local fish in the UK http://fishonfriday.org.uk/sales-locations/ (14.06.2020).
• Small boats and female workers hardest hit by Covid-19 fisheries impact https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/08/small-boats-women-workers-hardest-hit-covid-19-fisheries-impact (14.06.2020).
• Direct selling fresh fish (Pesky Fish) https://www.peskyfish.co.uk/ ; see also Ready Fish Box https://www.readyfishbox.co.uk/about (20.06.2020).
• Good article about the significant impacts Covid-19 (and climate change) are having on fishers in the US. A new order which will boost offshore aquaculture and a relaxation of fishery regulations threatens wild fisheries https://civileats.com/2020/06/25/fishermen-hope-for-change-as-the-seafood-industry-faces-a-crisis/ (28.06.2020).
• A San Diego pier-to-plate seafood market is a lifeline for fishermen, Civil Eats https://civileats.com/2020/07/02/a-san-diego-pier-to-plate-seafood-market-is-a-lifeline-for-fishermen/(07.07.2020).
  
• COVID-19 implications for seafood and nutrition (global overview of production and trade impacts on aquatic food systems and nutritional impacts; rightly notes that fishing is sidelined in discussions, with the emphasis on agriculture), Nutrition Connect https://nutritionconnect.org/resource-center/blog-39-covid-19-implications-seafood-and-nutrition-keep-eye-production-and-trade (01.08.2020).
• Fishers in Northern Ireland offered money to stop fishing, BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-54424830 (£1.7m pot available to fishers to stop fishing for six weeks, as markets diminish due to Covid-19) (06.10.2020).

Global supply chains and market systems

• This World Economic Forum perspective argues for the need to protect global supply chains that rely on the sea/fisheries https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/05/global-supply-chains-are-under-imminent-threat-from-the-covid-19-pandemic/
• Lancet Planetary Health: COVID-19 reveals vulnerability of small-scale fisheries to global market systems https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(20)30128-5/fulltext (27.06.2020).
• Labour vulnerability in the UK fishing industry https://neweconomics.org/2020/06/beneath-the-surface (04.07.2020).

• Will Covid-19 lead to long-term food shortages and price rises? (accessed 13.06.2020).
• Food shortages because of a lack of transport (20.04.2020).
• This article by Tim Lang, in the early stages of the crisis, called for food rationing in the UK (accessed: 11.04.2020).
• The Lang, Millstone and Marsden article in The Independent is also useful, calling for a national food plan to manage the crisis rather than over-reliance on market responses  https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/food-coronavirus-wake-food-system-uk-government-a9480811.html (accessed 04.05.2020), plus here's a link to their letter sent to George Eustice and Duncan Selbie on 1st April 2020 https://foodresearch.org.uk/download/15003/.
• This letter by Caroline Lucas to the Secretary of State at DEFRA is also well worth a read (accessed: 11.04.2020).
• Excellent article on COVID-19 and food inequalities in Emerald Open Access https://emeraldopenresearch.com/articles/2-11 by Madeleine Power, Bob Doherty, Katie Pybus and Kate Pickett, with commentaries by Peter Jackson, Rachel Loopstra, Alex Murdock, Diane Holt and Andrew Williams (29.04.2020).
• The Food Foundation are reporting on household food security during the crisis. One week in, they commissioned a YouGov poll which indicated that 1.5m people were worrying about hunger (accessed 11.04.2020) and also here (20.04.2020) and here from the Food Foundation (11.04.2020).
• This article, in the Financial Times, reports data from their second YouGov poll, which indicates that 3 million households in the UK are now food insecure (20.04.2020).
• Here's the third Food Foundation poll https://foodfoundation.org.uk/vulnerable_groups/new-poll-data-more-than-five-million-people-in-households-with-children-have-experienced-food-insecurity-since-lockdown-began/ and shows that more than five million people in households with children are experiencing food insecurity (04.05.2020); findings also reported in this Guardian article https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/may/03/exclusive-fifth-of-uk-homes-children-hungry-lockdown (04.05.2020).
• Here's the fourth YouGov poll from the Food Foundation https://foodfoundation.org.uk/vulnerable_groups/new-food-foundation-data-food-insecurity-and-debt-are-the-new-reality-under-lockdown/ (accessed 23.05.2020). Nearly five million adults in the UK (4.9 million1) (9%) are still experiencing food insecurity; 1.7 million1 (12%) children live in these households; four million adults borrowing money; ethnic minorities most at risk of food poverty.
• See also this article reporting data from April 2020 (first month of lockdown) that showed record numbers used food banks due to inadequate social security safety net measures https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jun/03/record-numbers-used-uk-food-banks-in-first-month-of-lockdown (06.06.2020); and here's the link to the Independent Food Aid Network work, comparing Feb-April 2019 and Feb-April 2020 data https://uploads.strikinglycdn.com/files/c181ce8c-2309-43a0-8fbf-05193a0a2d4c/INDEPENDENT%20FOOD%20BANK%20EMERGENCY%20FOOD%20PARCEL%20DISTRIBUTION%20IN%20THE%20UK_FINAL.pdf.
• Unprecedented demands on food banks in the UK https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/may/01/uk-food-banks-face-record-demand-in-coronavirus-crisis and  https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/coronavirus-lockdown-help-the-hungry-campaign-food-poverty-warning-experts-a9490536.html (04.05.2020).
• The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Select Committee also launched an online survey (9 April 2020), inviting the public to share their experiences of accessing food during the outbreak. For full details see https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/52/environment-food-and-rural-affairs-committee/news/145887/mps-launch-online-survey-into-coronavirus-and-access-to-food/  (24.04.2020).
• Here's the response to the EFRA survey https://twitter.com/CommonsEFRA/status/1260875577084588033 (16.05.2020). Some interesting responses e.g. support that retail chains (supermarkets) adapted quite well considering pressure on the system.
• This article in The Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/help-the-hungry-national-food-service-coronavirus-covid-19-a9483171.html?fbclid=IwAR2VYrLOrQxf7ptz7NKLmz-FWKQvitDTth4AuncfEQXu5Oh4uulZvWxPNMo reports on a campaign to establish a National Food Service (accessed: 29.04.2020; thanks to Peter Jackson for sharing).
• Tim Lang's (2020) Feeding Britain https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/308/308380/feeding-britain/9780241442227.html is a useful and timely reference point too as a we try to make sense of the pandemic.
• Link to food charities grant fund https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-apply-for-the-food-charities-grant-fund (16.05.2020).
• Coping with a tsunami of need and the Government’s £16m aimed at food charities https://www.foodaidnetwork.org.uk/blog/between-the-devil-and-the-deep-blue-sea (accessed: 16.05.2020).
• Important article in The Guardian (15.05.2020) https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/may/15/food-banks-warning-government-poor-families-coronavirus making it clear that food banks' alone can't deal with the scale of the food insecurity problem in the UK - people need basic income not free food! (accessed: 16.05.2020) (see also the article by Valerie Tarasuk and Lynn McIntre, from Canada, in the global food access thread, which makes a similar point re. basic income support).
• Kath Dalmeny, Sustain, spelling out what we need to make sure vulnerable households get the food they need - a national food plan! https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/community/a-national-food-plan-is-the-only-way-to-ensure-the-uk-feeds-the-vulnerable/604795.article (16.05.2020).
• This article in The Grocer, by Ian Wright (CEO of FDF), urges government to appoint a 'minister for hunger' https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/people/industry-urges-government-to-appoint-minister-for-hunger/605025.article (accessed 23.05.2020).
• Uneven UK approach for Covid-19 doesn’t guarantee children’s right to food https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/05/28/uk-children-england-going-hungry-schools-shut (30.05.2020).
• New Food article by Chris Elliott arguing Covid-19 has exposed inequalities in the UK food system (food poverty) https://www.newfoodmagazine.com/article/111558/a-tale-of-two-food-systems/ (06.06.2020).
• Wicked Leeks article. Refugees and asylum seekers are the hidden vulnerable, struggling to access basic support/food during the crisis https://wickedleeks.riverford.co.uk/features/inequality-health/hidden-vulnerable (11.06.2020).
• This Examiner article describes the pressure a food bank in Huddersfield is experiencing, as well as the generosity and kindness of people to help others during the crisis. https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/huge-pressure-covid-19-put-18391011 (11.06.2020).
• Government data reveals up to 7.7m adults reduced or missed meals and 3.7 used food banks in the first months of UK lockdown https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jun/26/millions-went-hungry-during-first-months-of-uk-lockdown-figures-show-coronavirus (27.06.2020).
• Government attacked for ignoring expert advice on nutrition in food parcels, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/21/government-attacked-for-ignoring-expert-advice-on-nutrition-in-food-parcels (28.06.2020).
  
• The Conquest of Bread (comments on the national food strategy and the need to take control of our food system in the UK) https://tribunemag.co.uk/2020/06/the-conquest-of-bread (28.06.2020).
• One in four adults struggling to afford food during coronavirus pandemic. Households struggling to pay bills and put food on table due to loss of earnings (data from Feeding Britain and Northumbria University’s Healthy Living Lab) https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/coronavirus-hunger-food-banks-poverty-a9575121.html (28.06.2020).
• From panic buying to food banks: how Britain fed itself in the first phase of coronavirus, The Guardian (good overview; devolvement of responsilbity to supermarkets and the food industry by government) https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/jun/21/from-panic-buying-to-food-banks-how-britain-fed-itself-in-the-first-phase-of-coronavirus (28.06.2020).
• Food access in the Liverpool City Region (Policy Brief by Grace Patterson and Jonathan Rushton) https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/media/livacuk/publicpolicyamppractice/covid-19/PB015.pdf (27.06.2020).
• Good article about food poverty by John Harris, The Guardian: 'There's another pandemic stalking Britain: hunger' https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/28/pandemic-britain-hunger-boris-johnson (04.07.2020).
• Food charity organisations call for the Scottish Government to end reliance on food banks (direct monetary relief not free food) https://www.foodaidnetwork.org.uk/blog/calling-on-the-scottish-government-to-end-reliance-on-food-banks (04.07.2020).
• Online donations to foodbanks showing signs of ‘compassion fatigue’ https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/online-donations-to-foodbanks-showing-signs-of-compassion-fatigue-research-finds.html (04.07.2020).
• Rethink food and farming essay by Henry Dimbleby. Sets out a vision of a future foodtopia (diversity) and pressures on supplies during lockdown https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000kfx7 (04.07.2020) or https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08k0jj0 (07.07.2020).
• See also this Food, Poverty, Health and the Environment Committee session with Henry Dimbleby, Tuesday 10 March 2020. Before the UK lockdown. Useful food system context, especially changes needed to address diet and health inequalities https://parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/3dcb8ee0-9a59-4877-ad9a-9d2c8134da34 (07.07.2020).
• Lords Committee: time to fix the failures in food https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/408/food-poverty-health-and-environment-committee/news/147210/time-to-fix-the-failures-in-food-says-lords-committee/ (07.07.2020).
  
• Record numbers of people in Britain can’t afford food – lifting lockdown won’t change that (New Statesman) https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/welfare/2020/07/record-numbers-people-britain-can-t-afford-food-lifting-lockdown-won-t (07.07.2020).
  
• Food we can trust - making it happen. Transcript of FSA Chief Executive Emily Miles' address to the Westminster Food & Nutrition Forum (argues Government needs to tailor regulatory effort to the reality the food system is a network) https://www.food.gov.uk/news-alerts/news/food-we-can-trust-making-it-happen-address-to-the-westminster-food-nutrition-forum (08.07.2020).
  
• Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN) data on food banks, published 9.7.20. (177% increase in the number of emergency food parcels distributed, comparing May 2019 to May 2020). https://uploads.strikinglycdn.com/files/0f6e2f2c-8b8a-4149-8eab-053693cc3104/INDEPENDENT%20FOOD%20BANK%20EMERGENCY%20FOOD%20PARCEL%20DISTRIBUTION_FEB-MAY_2019_20_FINAL_PUBLISHED_9.7.20..pdf (09.07.2020).
• New Children's Right2Food Charter (updated in light of the problems exacerbated by the Covid-19 lockdown) https://foodfoundation.org.uk/new-childrens-right2food-charter-young-people-across-the-uk-call-for-government-action-on-childrens-food-insecurity/ (13.07.2020).
• Cases of child malnutrition in England double in last six months, The Guardian (almost 2,500 children admitted to hospitals in England suffering malnutrition in 2020) https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jul/12/cases-of-child-malnutrition-double-in-last-six-months (13.07.2020).
• Hungry for Change Report, Bite Back 2030 (significant changes in young people’s eating habits and attitudes to food since lockdown; experiences different depending on socio-economic background) https://biteback2030.com/real-story/hungry-change-giving-children-food-system-works-them (15.07.2020).
  
• UK food and drink industry post-Covid recovery proposals (three areas of focus: the balance of trade and resilience; move to healthier diets; and integrity gains (CO2, environment, and animal welfare)) https://nifda.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Building-a-Path-to-Recovery-260520.pdf (15.07.2020).
• Why food banks shouldn’t be responsible for fighting poverty (Sufra Food Bank NW London) https://www.sufra-nwlondon.org.uk/2020/07/14/why-food-banks-shouldnt-be-responsible-for-fighting-poverty/ (15.07.2020).
  
• Meals on wheels for the 21st century, Sustain (report examines meals on wheels services in London before, during and after Covid-19) https://www.sustainweb.org/publications/meals_on_wheels_for_21st_century/# (16.07.2020).
• The UK’s food strategy cannot be left to the market, Financial Times (@Tesco's CEO calls for a food strategy which doesn't leave it to private regulation; need regulations and other measures to deliver a healthy, sustainable, resilient food system)  https://www.ft.com/content/acfd1251-24e9-478b-b8db-c6cc70d64b39 (18.07.2020).
• What is the National Food Strategy going to do? (blog by Ben Reynolds, Sustain) (good points about building farm and retail diversity) https://www.sustainweb.org/blogs/jul20_what_is_the_national_food_strategy/ (22.07.2020).
  
• Food Supply Chains and Production ... What has Covid-19 Taught us? Excellent virtual Royal Welsh Agricultural Show 2020 discussion with Bob Doherty, Kevin Morgan, David Morris and Gwyneth Ayers (useful analysis re. what we can learn from Covid-19 in terms of food system resilience and warnings too about post-Brexit trade impacts) https://royalwelsh.digital/food-supply-chains-and-production-global-outlook-with-a-local-strategy-what-has-covid-19-taught-us/(22.07.2020).
  
• Policy Scotland: Issues in recovery – food insecurity and learning loss. Key quote: “By ensuring income is maximised first, the number of people seeking assistance from food banks can and could be significantly reduced” https://policyscotland.gla.ac.uk/evidence-round-up-food-insecurity-and-learning-loss/ (24.07.2020).
• How are London councils responding to rising food insecurity during lockdown and as it lifts?, Sustain https://www.sustainweb.org/blogs/jul20_london_council_covid_response/ (28.07.2020).
  
• Food banks report ‘unprecedented demand’ during Covid crisis as unemployment predicted to rise to 10% by the end of 2020, ITV News https://www.itv.com/news/2020-07-28/food-banks-report-unprecedented-demand-during-covid-crisis-as-unemployment-predicted-to-rise-to-10-by-the-end-of-2020 (29.07.2020).
  
• Five ideas to put sustainable food at the heart of a green recovery (blog by Ruth Wescott, Sustain) https://greenallianceblog.org.uk/2020/07/29/five-ideas-to-put-sustainable-food-at-the-heart-of-a-green-recovery/ (30.07.2020).
  
• How local authorities can support recovery and resilience (outlines different ways local authorities can help different groups facing financial insecurity to access food) https://www.sustainweb.org/publications/food-and-covid-19-report/  (thanks @Anna_K_speaking for the link) (30.07.2020).
• Bob Doherty and Madeleine Power discuss how Covid-19 has exposed inequalities in the UK food system, Emerald Podcast Series https://podfollow.com/emerald-podcast-series/episode/39db682bbc0c715584c6d6bdff62e4cc12b305fc/view (30.07.2020).
  
• Useful article by Sabine Goodwin, Independent Food Aid Network, on food bank demand during Covid-19, the food strategy and EFRA report recommendations and why we need income-based solutions to address foor poverty https://www.foodaidnetwork.org.uk/blog/as-covid-19-pop-up-food-banks-prepare-for-the-long-haul-what-now-for (04.08.2020).
• Chelsea Marshall explains IFAN's work in Scotland to promote a cash-first response to food insecurity https://www.foodaidnetwork.org.uk/blog/promoting-cash-first-responses-at-local-level-ifan-s-work-in-scotland (06.08.2020).
• Eat Out To Really Help Out wants you to use discount to support foodbanks, The Big Issue https://www.bigissue.com/community-partnerships/eat-out-to-really-help-out-wants-you-to-use-discount-to-support-foodbanks/ (10.08.2020).
  
• BBC One - Panorama, Has Lockdown Changed What We Eat? https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000lq2j/panorama-has-lockdown-changed-what-we-eat (too early to answer their question but worth a watch and interesting that Panorama dedicate a programme to food as part of their analysis of Covid-19 impacts) (12.08.2020).
  
• Report by Hannah Lambie-Mumford, Rachel Loopstra and Katy Gordon: Mapping Responses to the risk of rising food insecurity during the Covid-19 crisis in the UK http://speri.dept.shef.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/First-project-report-Mapping-responses-to-the-risk-of-rising-food-insecurity-.pdf (12.08.2020).
  
• Food insecurity and Covid-19 in Stoke-on-Trent (blog by Alison Briggs) https://breadlineresearch.coventry.ac.uk/2020/07/22/food-insecurity-and-covid-19-in-stoke-on-trent/ (12.08.2020).
  
• Auckland City Mission (food bank): 175% rise in demand for food parcels between March and June 2020 https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300077507/coronavirus-auckland-city-mission-faces-175-rise-in-demand-for-food-parcels (15.08.2020).
• Covid-19 and food consumer data from FSA https://www.food.gov.uk/research/research-projects/the-covid-19-consumer-research (thanks Anna_K_speaking for sharing) (includes qualitative lived experience of food insecurity and quantitative research on the impact of C-19 on food insecurity for people) (15.08.2020).
• Linked to the FSA lived experience report above, see also this excellent piece by Caitlin Connors, summarising some of the main findings from their research (reality of food insecurity, the impact of income loss ... ) https://medium.com/@BrightHarbour/when-a-pandemic-hits-and-the-fridge-is-empty-food-in-the-time-of-covid-19-68e149094c80 (17.08.2020).
• UK's poorest 'skip meals and go hungry' during coronavirus crisis, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/aug/12/coronavirus-lockdown-hits-nutritional-health-of-uks-poorest (article is based on data from the latest FSA report (above) tracking consumer behaviour during Covid-19) (15.08.2020).
• Feeding the food insecure in Britain: learning from the 2020 COVID-19 crisis, Food Security SI paper https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12571-020-01080-5 (15.08.2020).
• Great piece from Sufra (Food Bank and Kitchen, SW London), including photos from their Instragram page (#MoreThanAFoodBank): Why Food Banks Shouldn’t Be Responsible For Fighting Poverty https://www.sufra-nwlondon.org.uk/2020/07/14/why-food-banks-shouldnt-be-responsible-for-fighting-poverty/ (15.08.2020).
  
• The pressure points in Britain’s food supply chain (useful graphics from The Economist; hopefully folks can access) https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/08/16/the-pressure-points-in-britains-food-supply-chain (08.08.2020).
  
• British Medical Journal paper raises concerns Covid-19 has exacerbated nutritional problems associated with food insecurity, including obesity, undernourishment, nutrient deficiencies, and mental health; also notes a lack of quantitative data on nutritional problems families are facing during lockdown https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3193 (22.08.2020).
• Food Foundation has been tracking food prices during Covid-19 https://foodfoundation.org.uk/covid_19/11011-2/ . (CPI data shows a fall in retail prices of fruit and veg in July compared to June) (22.08.2020).
• 'Self-sufficiency day' (August 21):
  • If we only ate UK-grown food, we'd have run out today. Covid-19 shows that UK's home production must increase and food security must be central to 'building back' (@Minette_Batters @NFU 'self-sufficiency day' campaign) https://www.nfuonline.com/news/media-centre/press-releases/food-security-must-be-key-part-of-green-recovery-from-covid-19/ (22.08.20).
• Eight in 10 poorer UK families feel worse off since lockdown (new report from Child Poverty Action Group and the Church of England (online survey of 264 low-income families and 21 household interviews) https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/aug/25/eight-in-10-poorer-uk-families-feel-worse-off-since-lockdown-survey (26.08.2020).
• The Lockdown Chef - Volunteering In a Pandemic, Jellied Eel https://www.sustainweb.org/jelliedeel/articles/aug20-the-lock-down-chef/ (29.08.2020).
• How digital helps Alexandra Rose Charity supply food vouchers during COVID-19 https://www.thecatalyst.org.uk/blog/how-digital-helps-alexandra-rose-charity-supply-food-vouchers-during-covid-19 (30.08.2020).
• Calls to raise child benefit in UK to help struggling families, The Guardian (Child Poverty Action Group; families forced to use benefit to pay household bills, including food) https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/aug/31/calls-to-raise-child-benefit-in-uk-to-help-struggling-families (01.09.2020).
  
• IFAN’s latest figures collated from Scotland’s independent food banks https://uploads.strikinglycdn.com/files/e790b418-8c4c-4e86-b123-81e16690c017/IFAN%20Scotland%20Independent%20Food%20Bank%20Food%20Parcel%20Distribution%20Report_FEB_JULY_19_20_8.9.20..pdf (108% rise in food distributed in July compared to the same month last year; the main reason for food bank use related to the benefits system (not sufficient to afford food and/or linked to payment delays) (09.09.2020).
• Food Foundation household food security data (new YouGov poll (sixth poll), 24th August to 1st Sept 2020) https://foodfoundation.org.uk/new-food-foundation-data-sept-2020/ (14% of UK families with children have experienced food insecurity in the past 6 months) (10.09.2020).
• Covid-19 Weight Gain Is Flip Side of Covid Food Crisis in Richer Nations, Bloomberg https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-09-08/weight-gain-is-flip-side-of-covid-food-crisis-for-richer-nations (why we need to support people on low incomes with interventions to eat better/healthier) (10.09.2020).
  
• Covid-19 and food insecurity: what research evidence does the frontline need? And what can we learn? Part 2, ENUF https://enuf.org.uk/research-blogs/covid-19-and-food-insecurity-what-research-evidence-does-frontline-need-and-what-0 (10.09.2020).
• Covid-19 and Children’s Food: Parents’ Priorities for Building Back Better (Sustain Briefing paper of Children's Food Campaign & Food Active report; insights from over 750 parents across the UK; 9 in 10 parents say Government should provide healthy free school meals for all children in poverty, regardless of immigration status) https://www.sustainweb.org/resources/files/reports/Childrens_Food_Covid19_Briefing.pdf (10.09.2020).
• Universal Credit: the £20-a-week benefits increase stopped me going hungry at the end of every month https://inews.co.uk/opinion/universal-credit-the-20-a-week-benefits-increase-stopped-me-going-hungry-at-the-end-of-every-month-641054 (14.09.2020).
  
• Briefing report for Food Foundation by @rloopstra et al. on the impacts of furlough and unemployment on food security https://foodfoundation.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/BriefReport_Unemployment_v5.pdf ('there is an urgent need to address the inadequacy of income protection for the newly unemployed') (14.09.2020).
  
• What food-insecure children want you to know about hunger, The Conversation https://theconversation.com/what-food-insecure-children-want-you-to-know-about-hunger-146140 (15.09.2020).
• Time to Reset report (people want a fairer, greener Britain after Covid) https://reset-uk.org/static/TimeToReset-3a6ee92ce4fff64d024c62404f53fe5c.pdf (appetite for change across age, sex, class or ethnicity; emphasis on well-being, community and nature; food section:  '31% of people made more food from scratch, 27% tried to shop locally and 22% noted they had to plan what they ate more carefully'; 'For many, the experience of the pandemic has shifted the way they think about food');
• See also this article in The Guardian about the inquiry findings https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/sep/16/people-want-a-fairer-greener-britain-after-covid-inquiry-reveals (19.09.2020); cf. @FFC_Commission Learning from Lockdown survey; + if you want to compare UK data with global perspectives see this World Economic Forum survey (21,000 people in 28 countries) https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/09/sustainable-equitable-change-post-coronavirus-survey/ (23.09.2020).
  

• New Trussell Trust report reveals how coronavirus has affected food bank use https://www.trusselltrust.org/2020/09/14/new-report-reveals-how-coronavirus-has-affected-food-bank-use/ (the analysis 'forecasts a 61% increase in food parcels needed across its UK network in October to December – six parcels given out every minute'); see also https://www.trusselltrust.org/heriot-watt-research-2020/ (15.09.2020). Selection of newspaper articles reporting on the new food bank use data:

  • Tens of thousands forced to turn to food banks for first time as demand soars during pandemic, The Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/food-banks-uk-demand-coronavirus-covid-trussell-trust-latest-figures-b433921.html (15.09.2020).
    
  • Foodbanks prepare to hand out six emergency parcels a minute to desperate Brits, Mirror Online https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/foodbanks-prepare-hand-out-six-22675172 (15.09.2020).
    
  • Extreme poverty 'will double by Christmas' in UK because of Covid-19, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/sep/14/coronavirus-extreme-poverty-in-uk-will-double-by-christmas-trust-predicts (15.09.2020).
    
  • Big Issue article on The Trussell Trust analysis https://www.bigissue.com/latest/foodbanks-could-give-out-six-food-parcels-every-minute-this-winter/ ('Mass unemployment will result in 300,000 more emergency food packages needed if ministers don't act on pandemic poverty now') (19.09.2020).
• ‘Magic pop-up allotment’ at CoFarm offers community food security  https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/business/magic-pop-up-allotment-at-cofarm-offers-community-food-security-9121920/ (community land, horticulture, food banks, community food security) (21.09.2020).
  
• Broken Plate report, Food Foundation https://foodfoundation.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/FF-Broken-Plate-2020-DIGITAL-FULL.pdf (need to change the food environment; the UK’s poorest households struggle to afford to meet the Eat Well Guide. Mean price of fruit & veg – £9.39 per 1,000kcal, while the price of food & drinks that are high in sugar, salt and/or fat is £3.54 per 1,000kcal i.e. healthy foods are roughly three times as expensive as less healthy food per kilocalorie) (21.09.2020).
• Structural inequalities and the growing need for food aid (webinar hosted by IFAN and the University of York) https://www.foodaidnetwork.org.uk/22-09-webinar-recording (23.09.2020).
• Letter: Fighting hunger requires community self-help, Financial Times https://www.ft.com/content/6c8b4bd6-4276-4258-bdaa-baf18c56592f?segmentid=acee4131-99c2-09d3-a635-873e61754ec6 ('Much of this hunger has arisen among newly vulnerable families on the fringes of the labour market, whose earnings have either diminished or been lost entirely as a result of Covid-19. This is in addition to those whose existing vulnerabilities were exacerbated by the pandemic') (25.09.2020).
• Use of shopping vouchers instead of or alongside food provision, Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN's Cash First Project in Scotland) https://uploads.strikinglycdn.com/files/46d3a45f-37b9-45b3-bb21-ffc90e410d16/Use%20of%20Vouchers%20by%20Food%20Banks%2030.09.20.pdf ('offering shopping vouchers provides a more flexible and dignified way of supporting people') (02.10.2020).
  
• Feed Britain Better Report, Bite Back 2030 https://biteback2030.com/real-story/feed-britain-better-report (this is a new report by teen campaigners, setting out five challenges to government and businesses to create better food futures in Britain (free school meals, healthier food options ...) (15.10.2020).
  
• New Statesman report about the poor nutritional quality of food in the free weekly food box from the government; the report refers to it as 'The £208m food box rip-off' https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2020/10/208m-food-box-rip-off-private-outsource-government-contract-covid-corona-virus (19.10.2020).
• Food banks in Scotland call for cash first approaches in the face of uncertain future, Independent Food Aid Network https://www.foodaidnetwork.org.uk/blog/food-banks-in-scotland-call-for-cash-first-approaches-in-the-face-of (21.10.2020).
• COVID-19 and Poverty: further fragmentation? — UK Poverty https://www.whatstheproblem.org.uk/blog/covid-19-and-poverty-further-fragmentation (useful blog by Stephen Crossley, Ruth Patrick and Kayleigh Garthwaite, including links to food poverty during the pandemic) (21.10.2020).
• Local lifelines - new research on local welfare schemes in England, The Trussell Trust https://www.trusselltrust.org/2020/10/29/local-lifelines/ (important report on Local Welfare Assistance Schemes (LWAS) to enable a cash-based support rather than the current free food via food banks system) (29.10.2020).
• Growing numbers of 'newly hungry' forced to use UK food banks, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/nov/01/growing-numbers-newly-hungry-forced-use-uk-food-banks-covid (useful @patrickjbutler piece, based on joint Independent Food Aid network and Feeding Britain briefing which reveals food banks are providing support to a new influx of middle-income families) (02.11.2020).
  
• 'It should be me giving food': people made poor by Covid turn to Devon charity, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/nov/01/it-should-be-me-giving-food-people-made-poor-by-covid-turn-to-devon-charity (follows on from the piece above; food poverty and rural deprivation; the role of food hubs) (02.11.2020).
  
• From food poverty to community resilience, A Team Foundation (excellent blog by Anna Cura on the need to shift the language and framing towards empowerment and food citizenship) https://www.ateamfoundation.org/blog-1/food-poverty (11.11.2020).
  
• What happens when you live in one of the UK's 'food deserts' https://inews.co.uk/opinion/comment/what-happens-when-you-live-in-one-of-the-uks-food-deserts-215705 (Megan Blake on 'why Geography plays an important role in the affordability of food') (11.11.2020).
• Half-term, hardship and heartbreak: one month in the life of a food-bank manager,  The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/nov/10/half-term-hardship-and-heartbreak-one-month-in-the-life-of-a-food-bank-manager (13.11.2020).
  
• Food banks a 'sticking plaster' as UK demand skyrockets, warns charity head, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/nov/12/food-banks-a-sticking-plaster-as-uk-demand-skyrockets-warns-charity-head (13.11.2020).
  
• Witness to hunger: ‘People just aren’t paid enough’, New Internationalist https://newint.org/features/2020/10/06/witness-hunger-food-poverty (powerful first-hand account of food poverty in the UK; clear policy message: 'The government is talking about obesity now but nothing will change unless you either reduce the cost of fresh food or increase people’s ability to buy it') (13.11.2020).
  
• Staving off hunger with statistics and humanity, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/nov/11/staving-off-hunger-with-statistics-and-humanity (Feeding Britain; need granular data to support reforms that can end food banks) (13.11.2020).
  
• The economic crisis and food insecurity, N8 AgriFood's Food Systems Policy Hub https://policyhub.n8agrifood.ac.uk/2020/11/12/the-economic-crisis-food-insecurity/ (13.11.2020).
  
• Inside the Cornwall foodbanks of national hero Don Gardner featured by Simon Reeve on BBC Two, Cornwall Live https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/inside-cornwall-foodbanks-national-hero-4699940 [Don is the director of Transformation Camborne, Pool and Redruth (CPR) Foodbank] (16.11.2020).
  
• Hunger and the need for food banks March-Sep 2020 https://www.foodaidnetwork.org.uk/blog/reflections-on-a-joint-briefing-from-the-independent-food-aid-network-and (blog by @sabineegoodwin of @IFAN_UK and Andrew Forsey of @Feeding_Britain; reflections from joint briefing in Oct 2020; evidence shows deeper poverty is driving the need for charitable food aid) (17.11.2020).
  
• The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated food insecurity among young people, I-SPHERE https://www.i-sphere.hw.ac.uk/the-covid-19-pandemic-has-exposed-and-exacerbated-food-insecurity-among-young-people/ (excellent report by Charlotte McPherson; "Young people found using food banks stigmatising given their strong desire to be independent" and "young people’s lives are disproportionately underpinned with precariousness") (18.11.2020).
  
• So, is FOOD political? https://linktr.ee/untelevised (@Untelevised_tv podcast with Chris Mould and Dee Woods; explores how the politics of food has resurfaced because of COVID-19 and especially the Marcus Rashford free school meals campaign) (20.11.2020).
• ‘Families like mine were starving before the pandemic’, Metro https://metro.co.uk/2020/11/20/in-focus-the-truth-about-food-poverty-and-the-pandemic-13607317/ (‘You have to be earning less than £7,400 a year before benefits to be entitled to free school meals [...] ‘Meaning there are many children living in poverty who don’t get them simply because they’re just not quite poor enough.’) (25.11.2020).
  
• Letter from 60+ organisations [published in The Sunday Times] to express deep concern at the failure to make the £20 uplift to Universal Credit permanent (a number of food organisations have signed it) (the press release is available on the Joseph Rowntree Foundation website https://www.jrf.org.uk/press/coalition-warns-it-would-be-terrible-mistake-cut-20-uplift-universal-credit; Sunday Times article is here (if folks can access it) https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/rishi-sunaks-festive-gift-to-families-is-fear-rp6bldsfn (29.11.2020).
• Powerful piece about members of a Burnley church group as they struggle to support their local community; highlights the realities of social deprivation and food poverty https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/18910809.the-need-burnley-unprecedented-upsetting-poorest-hit-hardest-coronavirus-pandemic/ [story also covered by BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-55133081] (01.12.2020).
  
• Redistribution of food surplus, social supermarkets, and food insecurity https://www.foodaidnetwork.org.uk/blog/redistribution-of-food-surplus-social-supermarkets-and-food-insecurity (great blog by Lopa Saxena, Coventry University on social supermarkets and redistributing surplus food for food insecurity, including reflections on the neglect of local food systems) (02.12.2020).
• UK food bank trust says half of users repaying universal credit debts https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/dec/01/uk-food-bank-users-more-commonly-debt-government-trussell-trust?CMP=share_btn_tw (Trussell Trust reports that 'Half of food bank users struggle to pay for basic essentials because they are repaying universal credit debts'; full report is here https://www.trusselltrust.org/2020/12/01/almost-half-of-people-at-food-banks-have-money-taken-by-government-from-benefit-payments-during-economic-crisis/) (02.12.2020).
• DWP debt drives people to food banks – exposing the Orwellian nature of Universal Credit, New Statesman https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/welfare/2020/12/dwp-debt-drives-people-food-banks-exposing-orwellian-nature-universal (great piece by Anoosh Chakelian on “advance payments” that in reality are loans claimed back from future payments; reports on the Trussell Trust report above; exposes another limitation of our social security system) (04.12.2020).
  
• Why The BMJ is partnering with the Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN) for The BMJ Appeal 2020-21 https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2020/12/01/why-the-bmj-is-partnering-with-the-independent-food-aid-network-ifan-for-the-bmj-appeal-2020-21/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_term=hootsuite&utm_content=sme&utm_campaign=usage ('Ultimately food poverty isn’t about the absence of food but rather the absence of the means to buy that food and to be able to afford a healthy and nutritious diet') (04.12.2020).
• The BMJ appeal 2020-21: “Without good nutrition, children’s health outcomes worsen, as do their life chances", The BMJ https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4758 ('food poverty didn’t start with Covid-19 but the pandemic has exacerbated the problem—putting children’s health at risk and dramatically increasing demand for food banks')(16.12.2020).
  
• The impact of COVID-19 on the UK fresh food supply chain https://arxiv.org/abs/2006.00279 (paper by Rebecca Mitchell and colleagues; analysis indicates that 'despite significant disruption, the retail dominated fresh food supply chain has demonstrated a high degree of resilience'; however, 'stuck in a rigidity trap', businesses were 'unable to exploit more radical innovations that may also assist in addressing other drivers for change') (04.12.2020).
• 1.3 million families to rely on food parcels this Christmas, figures suggest, The Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/families-children-food-poverty-christmas-b1765788.html (reports new research by Save The Children which indicates that about 1.3 million will turn to food parcels over the festive period, while 760,000 will rely on donated gifts) (05.12.2020).
  
• Exploitation of the poor borders on evil, say clerics driven to tears by debt crisis, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/dec/05/exploitation-of-the-poor-borders-on-evil-say-clerics-driven-to-tears-by-debt-crisis (coalition of almost 500 church leaders have written to Rishi Sunak calling for urgent action on the household debt crisis; Covid has driven more people into debt and to use food banks; references BBC film about two community leaders in Burnley (see links above)) (06.12.2020).
  
• More than 1m people in UK regularly struggle to afford food, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/dec/07/million-people-uk-regularly-struggle-afford-food-report-poverty (new data from the Centre for Social Justice reinforces the argument that we need a long-term systemic solution to food poverty; charitable emergency food aid alone will never be enough) (08.12.2020).
• Destitution in the UK 2020, Joseph Rowntree Foundation https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/destitution-uk-2020 (pre-COIVD-19 destitution in the UK was growing in scale and the pandemic has intensified the problem; report calls on UK and devolved governments for series of permanent actions to address distitution; see also this Patrick Butler piece which refers to the report findings https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/dec/09/destitution-is-rising-fast-due-to-covid-and-flaws-in-the-benefit-system?CMP=share_btn_tw) (09.12.2020).
  
• Independent Food Bank Emergency Food Parcel Distribution in the UK, December 2020 https://uploads.strikinglycdn.com/files/aca26e70-de5a-4a2e-bc1a-75b1d5fe42cf/IFAN%20data_11.12.20_FINAL.pdf (latest IFAN data comparing February to October 2020 with the same period last year using figures from 134 independent food banks operating in the UK; 'increases in emergency food parcel distribution figures from across the UK soared in the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, and they have remained at least 61% higher than those of the previous year') (11.12.2020).
• The food bank paradox, Prospect https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/food-bank-pandemic-poverty-uk (excellent piece by Jem Bartholomew about the emergence of food banks in the UK and the need to end charitable food aid; 'the conspiracy of compassion between business, the state and charities masks [doesn’t solve] the underlying problem: people’s incomes aren’t enough to cover the cost of living') (11.12.2020).
• Food bank founder sees surge in young people needing help after losing hospitality jobs in Covid pandemic, i https://inews.co.uk/news/uk/food-bank-young-people-help-uk-jobs-restaurants-pubs-covid-pandemic-791425 ('food banks had become “classless” in terms of the demographic of those facing food poverty') (12.12.2020).
• I don't want food banks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE86r8IkWlk&feature=youtu.be (poem by @DavidJBeckFood about the current state of UK food banks) (14.12.2020).
• Strengthening the role of local welfare assistance schemes, Greater Manchester Poverty Action https://www.gmpovertyaction.org/strengthening-role-lwas/ (useful report on how to improve responses to people facing a financial crisis; LWAS 'have the potential to play an even greater role in responding to the needs of people facing a financial crisis, and in helping prevent people reach a crisis in the first place') (18.12.2020).
• Monitoring responses to risk of rising food insecurity during the COVID-19 crisis across the UK, Institute for Sustainable Food, The University of Sheffield https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/sustainable-food/news/new-report-monitoring-responses-risk-rising-food-insecurity-during-covid-19-crisis-across-uk (a previous report by  Hannah Lambie-Mumford and colleagues mapped the wider landscape of interventions; this report looks specifically at: replacement school food provision, emergency finance, emergency food provision and the grocery box scheme for people who were on the shielding list; excellent report) (18.12.2020).
  
• Sabine Goodwin, IFAN on the need to plan an exit strategy from food banking https://www.foodaidnetwork.org.uk/blog/now-more-than-ever-before-we-need-to-be-planning-an-exit-strategy-from-food (good overview of food bank usage numbers and the need to see the Right to Food incorporated into legislation) (19.12.2020).
• Covid-19 and everyday experiences of hardship: why charitable provision is not enough, The BMJ https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2020/12/21/covid-19-and-everyday-experiences-of-hardship-why-charitable-provision-is-not-enough/ (useful post from the Covid Realities project team; their work is revealing 'the shortcomings with the social security system before the pandemic, but also the profound limitations of the government’s economic response to covid-19', plus the need to a cash-first approach to food poverty, as advocated by IFAN; empowerment through a better social security system not charity!) (22.12.2020).
• Scrap benefit cap to lift 150,000 children out of poverty, says charity [Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG)], The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/dec/22/scrap-benefit-cap-to-lift-150000-children-out-of-poverty-says-charity (22.12.2020).
  
• Building back better: How can we increase the resilience of the UK food system? https://www.foodsecurity.ac.uk/news/building-back-better-how-can-we-increase-the-resilience-of-the-uk-food-system/ (workshop report about how we '#BuildBackBetter'  and create a more resilient post-COVID-19 food network) (22.12.2020).
• Independent Food Bank Emergency Food Parcel Distribution in the UK - February to November 2019 and 2020, IFAN https://uploads.strikinglycdn.com/files/f94e04eb-00ff-4ab1-99ae-6a901ee885b4/IFAN%20REPORT%2022.12.20%20FINAL.pdf (here's the latest report from IFAN, which as per previous reports, shows unprecedented increases in need for independent food banks; for example, Comparing November 2019 with November 2020 the number of 3-day emergency food parcels given out by independent food banks increased by 123%) (23.12.2020).
• Wandsworth Foodbank - their new report Covid-19: A view from the Foodbank looks back at 2020 https://wandsworth.foodbank.org.uk/2020/12/23/a-brief-look-back-at-2020/ (in one of London’s wealthiest boroughs food poverty was a Covid reality; ‘Half of parents skipped meals so their children could eat’ (24.12.2020).
  
• How food banks in Kirklees have become a symbol of 2020, Dewsbury Reporter https://www.dewsburyreporter.co.uk/lifestyle/family/how-food-banks-kirklees-have-become-symbol-2020-3076531 (29.12.2020).
  
• The new Covid-19 variant and impossible choices for food aid providers https://www.foodaidnetwork.org.uk/blog/the-new-covid-19-variant-and-impossible-choices-for-food-aid-providers (important piece by Dee Woods, Granville Community Kitchen, on the impossible choices facing food aid providers as Covid-19 cases surge; "Food bank teams have shouldered Covid-19 risks for months but now those risks are becoming too much to bear both practically and morally") (04.01.2021).
• IFAN letter to the Prime Minister calling for urgent action to prioritise a 'cash first' approach to growing food insecurity https://uploads.strikinglycdn.com/files/f2659244-fb8b-4ee2-bfc1-02eed12850b7/IFAN_LETTER_FOR%20THE%20PRIME%20MINISTER_4.1.21..pdf?id=3362322 (04.01.2021); IFAN's letter also featured in the BMJ https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n27 (06.01.2021).
  
• Government must reduce the need for food banks and protect public health, Big Issue https://www.bigissue.com/opinion/government-must-reduce-the-need-for-food-banks-and-protect-public-health/   (Sabine Goodwin: lockdown restrictions, continued job losses and school closures are certain to increase the need for food banks yet further; also includes a link to IFAN's letter to the Prime Minister) (05.01.2021).
• A day in the life of a London food bank, Al Jazeera https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/1/6/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-london-food-bank (useful insight into Sufra, a food bank in Brent, northwest London, which has seen demand rise sharply during the pandemic from both working and unemployed people) (06.01.2021).
• Discipline and Feed: Food Banks, Pastoral Power, and the Medicalisation of Poverty in the UK https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1360780420982625 (interesting paper by Christian Möller in @SocresOnline) (07.01.2021).
  
• The bigger picture: the UK Government must legally protect the right to food, Just Fair https://justfair.org.uk/the-bigger-picture-the-uk-government-must-legally-protect-the-right-to-food/ (we need more than an emergency food response; urgent need for legal recognition of the right to food in domestic law and adequate protection of related rights, including social security and financial assistance) (09.01.2021).
• Community support that’s more than a sticking plaster, The BMJ Appeal https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.m4959 (need for structural change; 'handouts from food banks should be seen never as a permanent solution but as temporary emergency responses') (09.01.2021).
• Government outsourcing of food parcels forced clinically vulnerable to shield without food, Good Law Project https://goodlawproject.org/news/food-parcels/ (Shielding parcels from March-July 2020: Gov. awarded £208million without tender to Bidfood and Brakes; Gov. paid £44 per box – almost double the normal retail value; thanks Andrew Williams (@apjwilliams) for sharing) (12.01.2021).
• Lidl moves before Government to help families with Healthy Start vouchers https://www.bigissue.com/latest/lidl-moves-before-government-to-support-families-with-healthy-start-vouchers/ (Lidl has increased the value of Healthy Start vouchers [£1.15 rise will bring the weekly value to £4.25]; Government will increase the value in April; still issues to fix to make the scheme easier to access) (12.01.2021).
• Call for action as food bank use surges in Scotland, The National https://www.thenational.scot/news/19000074.call-support-food-bank-use-surges-scotland/ ('It’s critical that both the Covid-19 transmission rate and the need for charitable food aid are reduced') (12.01.2021).
• Poor families' living costs have surged during pandemic according to a new briefing by The Resolution Foundation, which draws on data from the Covid Realities project https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/app/uploads/2021/01/Pandemic-pressures.pdf, also reported in The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jan/11/poor-families-living-costs-have-surged-during-pandemic-uk-study-finds and also reported in this BBC News item https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55618528 (basic living costs have surged, particularly rising food costs) (12.01.2021).
  
• UK Poverty 2020/21, Joseph Rowntree Foundation https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/uk-poverty-2020-21 (important new report from JRF; shows how the impact of a decade of deprivation coupled with COVID19 has impacted people trapped in poverty the hardest, reiterating the need for a 'cash first' approach to food insecurity) (13.01.2021).
  
• Pandemic has exposed UK’s threadbare safety net, Financial Times https://www.ft.com/content/e531b77c-0322-43fa-9d9f-33747f8659ad (the govt needs to maintain the £20 a week uplift in universal credit, prior to the annual budget review, and replacing free school meals with money would ensure the full value reaches parents) (13.01.2021).
  
• How doctors can help end food insecurity, The BMJ https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n53 (Professor Valerie Tarasuk: "I’d like to see the medical profession fighting to end food insecurity with the same vigour that they stood up against the tobacco industry”; doctors should screen for hunger) (14.01.2021).
  
• Universal Credit claimants need certainty, not 'alms for the poor', Anela Anwar, Big Issue https://www.bigissue.com/opinion/universal-credit-claimants-need-certainty-not-alms-for-the-poor/ (21.01.2021).
• The problem is poverty, however we label it, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/21/poverty-food-child-fuel-britons-action (excellent piece by Aditya Chakrabortty; 'Food poverty. Fuel poverty. Child poverty. Clothing poverty. Transport poverty. Period poverty... [all hide one true commonality] ... It is poverty: the condition of not having enough money to live your life') (22.01.2021).
• Beyond 'vouchers versus hampers', Food Research Collaboration https://foodresearch.org.uk/foodvoices/beyond-vouchers-versus-hampers/?utm_source=FRC+Membership&utm_campaign=8d2e71c1df-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_BeefHormones_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_40723f909e-8d2e71c1df-514376561 (Charlotte Gallagher Squires and Dr Anna Isaacs argue for a systemic approach to household food insecurity i.e. a welfare system that does not require emergency food aid) (22.01.2021).

Liverpool - England's first 'right to food' city

• Liverpool to become first 'right to food' city in country, Liverpool Echo https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/liverpool-become-first-right-food-19649725 (Liverpool to become the first city in England to officially back a call for the right to food to be enshrined into law in order to meaningfully start to tackle food insecurity; excellent!); see also this post by Ian Byrne, MP for Liverpool West Derby about the right to food campaign and information about how to join the campaign to make access to food a legal righthttps://www.ianbyrne.org/righttofood-campaign (21.01.2021).

• Eradicating food poverty—it is our duty to care and to advocate, The BMJ https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2021/01/26/lindsay-graham-eradicating-food-poverty-it-is-our-duty-to-care-and-to-advocate/ (Lindsay Graham on the work of IFAN and the need to move beyond charity to address food poverty, with a note at the end to the 'Build Back Fairer' report; thanks Rebecca Sandover for sharing) (26.01.2021).
• Build Back Fairer: The COVID-19 Marmot Review http://www.instituteofhealthequity.org/resources-reports/build-back-fairer-the-covid-19-marmot-review (useful material on food poverty; health and wellbeing should be at the centre of building back fairer (26.01.2021).
• It also worth checking out their February 2020 report: Health Equity in England: The Marmot Review 10 Years On https://www.health.org.uk/publications/reports/the-marmot-review-10-years-on (contains a section on food insecurity; the overarching message: where you live matters for health equity); see also this blog in The BMJ about the two reports and the original one https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2020/12/15/michael-marmot-post-covid-19-we-must-build-back-fairer/ (26.01.2021).
• UK’s independent food banks: a lifeline in a year of crisis, The BMJ https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2021/01/29/kartik-raj-uks-independent-food-banks-a-lifeline-in-a-year-of-crisis/ (Kartik Raj argues that '...fighting hunger and poverty during crises requires immediate, front-line aid alongside long-term, structural rights-based solutions') (30.01.2021).
  
• Open Letter on the food emergency to the Prime Minister and Government https://foodresearch.org.uk/open-letter-on-the-food-emergency-to-the-prime-minister-and-government/ (Tim Lang, Erik Millstone and Terry Marsden set out long term steps needed to 'build back better' from the emergency of Covid and Brexit; '[t]his is a crucial moment of national challenges and changes. Our argument is that more high-level attention must be paid to the multifarious fault-lines in the UK’s food system') (30.01.2021).

• The second EFRA COVID-19 and food supply public evidence session took place on 15.05.2020 https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/52/environment-food-and-rural-affairs-committee/news/146356/covid19-and-food-supply-second-public-evidence-session-announced/. Session covered "how the coronavirus pandemic has affected the ability of vulnerable people to get sufficient healthy food, and the impact on charities such as food banks who help people facing food insecurity". Witnesses: Lindsay Boswell, Chief Executive Officer, FareShare; Emma Revie, Chief Executive, Trussell Trust; Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director, Age UK; and Fazilet Hadi, Policy Manager, Disability Rights UK. Here's the video link https://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/1b065556-825b-420d-9d1d-580deda858a6 (accessed: 16.05.2020).
• Chair raises 'pressing challenges' faced by those struggling to access food https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/52/environment-food-and-rural-affairs-committee/news/146487/Chair-comments-access-to-food-19-21 (accessed 23.05.2020).
• EFRA Committee’s COVID-19 and Food Supply Report (Covid-19 exacerbated food insecurity for millions of people; calls for a mechanism within central government to co-ordinate policy across departments on food supply, nutrition and welfare) https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/52/environment-food-and-rural-affairs-committee/news/147628/covid-19-and-food-supply-report-published-19-21/; here's an interactive summary of the report https://houseofcommons.shorthandstories.com/EFRA-covid19-food-supply/index.html (30.07.2020).
• This article reports on EFRA's main recommendation in their food supply report to appoint a food security minister and enshrine in law a right to food (to address food poverty) https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jul/30/mps-say-government-must-appoint-food-security-minister-in-wake-of-pandemic (01.08.2020).
• COVID-19 and food supply: Government Response to the Committee’s First Report  https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/2925/documents/28142/default/ (EFRA's report called for a Minister for Food Security to be appointed - the Government response avoids addressing this recommendation) (12.10.2020).
• MPs press Government to provide support for FareShare scheme https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/52/environment-food-and-rural-affairs-committee/news/132887/mps-press-government-to-provide-support-for-fareshare-scheme/ (EFRA Select Committee has 'urged the Government to provide £5 million in extra funding to support those struggling to afford sufficient food this winter') (27.11.2020).

Committee on Food, Poverty, Health and the Environment

• Committee on Food, Poverty, Health and the Environment report - argues the UK’s food system is failing and calls for Government action to reduce health inequalities https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/lords-select/food-pov-health-enviro-comm/news-parliament-2019/report-publication/(08.07.2020).

Government announcement to support food charities

• Government announcement of £16m to support food charities. Link and summary of support available here https://www.gov.uk/government/news/16-million-for-food-charities-to-provide-meals-for-those-in-need (accessed 09.05.2020).
• Here's Kath Dalmeny's response to the announcement, who argues it is simply not enough to address the scale of the problem https://www.sustainweb.org/news/may20_government_offers_crumbs_to_people_running_out_of_food/ (accessed 09.05.2020).

Community responses

• Excellent blog by Megan Blake documenting some of the ways community groups are working and organising to counter food hunger and food insecurity in communities; stark problems also outlined and the need for central government support (accessed: 10.04.2020).
• Excellent guide from Nourish Scotland for community responses to Covid-19 (accessed 10.04.2020).
• Lincoln Food Partnership. Like many other community food organisations, they are doing great work to organise food responses, including food donations (accessed: 11.04.2020); see also the Sustainable Food Places list of local food partnerships.
• Social eating: inside the supermarket surplus initiatives that could change the way we eat https://theconversation.com/social-eating-inside-the-supermarket-surplus-initiatives-that-could-change-the-way-we-eat-142613 (10.09.2020).
• Feeding Liverpool http://www.feedingliverpool.org/resources (interactive resource shows food pantries, community markets and community shops in Liverpool city) (26.10.2020).
• Food poverty, are we at a crossroads?, Wicked Leeks https://wickedleeks.riverford.co.uk/opinion/inequality-health/food-poverty-are-we-crossroads (using food aid organisations to provide food is one option or 'we could push for a ‘money first’ approach, which puts cash into the pockets of families experiencing hardship and is potentially a more dignified solution') (28.10.2020).
  
• A converted double decker “Food Bus” will provide fresh food to tackle poverty in Lambeth and Wandsworth, South London News https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/a-converted-double-decker-food-bus-will-provide-fresh-food-to-tackle-poverty-in-lambeth-and-wandsworth/ (great example of local action and community innovation) (24.11.2020).
  

School meals and school and university catering

• Call for free school meals during half-term and summer in England (The Guardian, 15.05.2020) https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/may/15/call-for-free-school-meals-during-half-term-summer-england (accessed: 16.05.2020).
• Sustain has produced a guide for local authorities and school caterers to deliver to the elderly, including four ways to adapt school kitchens and a case study for each model https://www.sustainweb.org/publications/school_caterers_put_their_meals_on_wheels/ (accessed: 23.05.2020).
• YouGov Teacher Survey, Magic Breakfast (Nearly two thirds of teachers think hunger will harm efforts to help children catch up on the learning they missed during school closures. 86% of teachers support a nationwide school breakfast programme) https://www.magicbreakfast.com/news/yougov-teacher-survey (18.07.2020).
• Metro article: 'teachers fear kids will be going back to school hungry in September' https://metro.co.uk/2020/07/17/teachers-fear-kids-will-going-back-school-hungry-september-13001597/ (21.07.2020).
  
• Feeding 1,400 children through the school holidays in Derbyshire, Feeding Britain https://feedingbritain.org/feeding-1400-children-through-the-school-holidays-in-derbyshire/(23.07.2020).
• The School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme (how it could go further when it resumes in September) http://fuseopenscienceblog.blogspot.com/2020/07/its-not-just-teaching-and-curriculum.html (04.08.2020).
• The restaurant chefs transforming school meals, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/sep/20/the-restaurant-chefs-transforming-school-meals-lockdown-coronavirus-challenges (Chefs in Schools) (21.09.2020).
  
• Student anger over 'junk' food parcels in isolation, BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54486269 (12.10.2020).
• School food has a proven track record in reducing child food poverty, N8 AgriFood's Food Systems Policy Hub  https://policyhub.n8agrifood.ac.uk/2020/11/05/school-food-track-record-reducing-child-food-poverty/ (11.11.2020).
  
• The international students struggling to feed themselves in lockdown, Channel 4 News https://www.channel4.com/news/the-international-students-struggling-to-feed-themselves-in-lockdown (@Anja_Popp report for Channel 4 News shows how Covid has left some international students queueing for food and living in virtual squalor) (30.01.2021).
  

Legal action to secure school meals over the summer months

• Sustain and Good Law project have threatended the Government with legal proceedings to secure school meals after they announced they would not extend the school meal voucher scheme over the summer months https://www.sustainweb.org/news/jun20_holidayfood/ (06.06.2020).
• Litigating for social justice with ‘one armed tied behind your back’: Why economic and social rights must be incorporated into UK law, GI-ESCR (blog by Imogen Richmond Bishop and Sara Bailey on undertaking legal action this summer to try and prevent children going hungry and the threat of judicial law) https://www.gi-escr.org/blog/litigating-for-social-justice-with-one-armed-tied-behind-your-back-why-economic-and-social-rights-must-be-incorporated-into-uk-law (06.10.2020).

Other devolved nations re. extending school meals through the summer:

• Wales was the first to agree to support summer school meals (Wednesday, April 22) https://gov.wales/wales-has-become-first-country-uk-guarantee-ongoing-funding-children-continue-receive-free-school; 
• Scotland (16 June 2020) https://www.gov.scot/news/free-school-meals-extended/ ;
• Northern Ireland Executive extends the free school meals scheme (agreed 19 June 2020) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-53111146 (accessed: 20.06.2020).

Marcus Rashford-led free school meals campaigns and child food insecurity

• 'Protect the vulnerable': Marcus Rashford's letter to MPs https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/jun/15/protect-the-vulnerable-marcus-rashfords-emotional-letter-to-mps?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
  
• The government initially rejected the campaign to extend school meals. See: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/jun/15/boris-johnson-rejects-marcus-rashfords-plea-for-free-school-meals-over-summer
• Government u-turn on summer school meals after campaign led by Marcus Rashford (16 June 2020) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53065806
• Lots of other articles on the government u-turn re. summer free school meals. See e.g.: https://www.sustainablefoodplaces.org/news/jun20_government_announces_summer_holiday_free_school_meal_provision_in_england/#; https://www.sustainweb.org/news/jun20_fsmwin/
• See also EFRA letter on the free school meal voucher scheme https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/52/environment-food-and-rural-affairs-committee/news/146984/is-the-free-school-meal-voucher-scheme-working-for-everyone/ (accessed: 20.06.2020).
• Marcus Rashford: a brief history of free school meals in the UK https://theconversation.com/marcus-rashford-a-brief-history-of-free-school-meals-in-the-uk-140896 (28.06.2020).
• Headteachers out of pocket and children hungry in England's school meals chaos, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/jun/30/headteachers-out-of-pocket-and-children-hungry-in-englands-school-meals-chaos (04.07.2020).
  
• England's free school meals scheme to close for new claims over summer, The Guardian (children who become eligible after the summer holidays have begun will miss out) https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jul/14/englands-free-school-meals-scheme-to-close-for-new-claims-over-summer (14.07.2020).
  
• Migrant children face hunger over free school meal restrictions, The Guardian (children’s groups are calling for state meal provisions to extended for low-income migrant families when schools reopen) https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/aug/14/migrant-children-face-hunger-over-free-school-meal-restrictions; see also this BBC News articles https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53766050 (15.08.2020).
• Marcus Rashford brings food brand giants together to tackle child food poverty, BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53979648 (01.09.2020).
  
• Marcus Rashford 'disappointed' by government response on food poverty, BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54309133 (and rightly so; argues food poverty is an 'issue of humanity') (29.09.2020).
  
• Food for Life Representation to Comprehensive Spending Review https://www.foodforlife.org.uk/whats-happening/schools/news-and-blogs/ffl-blog-0000/~/media/dd914473dcf245648a6cca710c5d12e2.ashx (sets out recommendations on free school meals, Healthy Start and holiday food provision) (06.10.2020).
• Chancellor must deliver on free holiday schemes for North East children, North East Child Poverty Commission (Every child deserves an equal chance in life) http://www.nechildpoverty.org.uk/news/chancellor-must-deliver-on-free-holiday-schemes-for-north-east-children (07.10.2020).
• Parliamentary Motion on tackling child food insecurity https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/57530/tackling-child-food-insecurity  (Tabled 06 October 2020, 2019-21 Session) (07.10.2020).
• Open letter - co-ordinated by Sustain - to Rishi Sunak with 100+ public health directors and charity bosses warning 2.4 million children face poverty and food insecurity https://www.sustainweb.org/news/oct20-open-letter-childrens-health-spending-review/ (09.10.2020).
• This Huffington Post piece also reports on the open letter, entitled: Use Sugar Tax Cash To Expand Free School Meals, Ministers Urged https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/sugar-tax-cash-school-meals-letter_uk_5f7cd550c5b61229a058b118?ncid=other_twitter_cooo9wqtham&utm_campaign=share_twitter&guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly90LmNvLzBZRjRsYnVaUmI_YW1wPTE&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAACJbtT5mX2RjFzeLA4q5p0dZwi-qfUDMoJUgyv5aEXEwD85mveklRBi6o-xzM8noI1IQD9R7Hfj32sJX3r7ohbgBdpmFfVNLcCo3woIwFtAu5B-7k7TxvGrF6hFUwq-8bWyDtlluUqbWBjER5cUoOXHsdcQubOdaWarSCFUt4ooj (09.10.2020).
• Surge in number of UK children applying for free school meals, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/oct/12/surge-in-number-of-uk-children-applying-for-free-school-meals (new data from the Food Foundation: 900,000 more children have sought free school meals, on top of the 1.4 million who were already claiming) (12.10.2020).
  
• Responding to the same Food Foundation data, this Big Issue article calls for Government action to avoid a 'food access crisis' https://www.bigissue.com/latest/worse-is-still-to-come-as-1m-children-rely-on-school-meals-for-first-time/ (12.10.2020).
  
• Marcus Rashford renews call for free school meal vouchers over half-term,  i https://inews.co.uk/news/education/marcus-rashford-free-school-meal-vouchers-half-term-711863 (calls for families to get free school meal vouchers over the October half term as demand for the meals has risen sharply (in response to the new Food Foundation data); and
• Marcus Rashford backs MPs’ push for free school breakfasts, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/oct/12/marcus-rashford-backs-mps-push-for-free-school-breakfasts (12.10.2020).
• End child food poverty – no child should be going hungry https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/554276/ (petition by Marcus Rashford; calls on the government to implement 3 National Food Strategy recommendations to support England's most vulnerable children) (16.10.2020); you can access the 'Jobs and hunger chapter' of the food strategy here http://www.nationalfoodstrategy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/5_NFS_Report_spv_Ch4_JobsHunger.pdf (21.10.2020).
• Henry Dimbleby has written a short note explaining the reasons behind the three policy recommendations in the NFS that are the focus of Marcus Rashford's campaign https://www.nationalfoodstrategy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/National-Food-Strategy-Childhood-Nutrition-Evidence.pdf (26.10.2020); see also this article in The Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/food-tsar-henry-dimbleby-serves-up-1bn-meal-plan-to-boris-johnson-w0hdbfjb9 (29.10.2020).
• This article in The Guardian discusses the online petition and underlying child food poverty problems in the UK https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/oct/15/marcus-rashford-urges-more-compassion-for-poorest-children (16.10.2020).
• Marcus Rashford vows to keep up free meals fight after No 10 refusal, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/oct/15/marcus-rashford-vows-to-keep-up-free-meals-fight-after-no-10-refusal (food poverty) (16.10.2020).
  
• Quarter of a million sign Marcus Rashford's free school meals petition, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/oct/17/quarter-of-a-million-sign-marcus-rashfords-free-school-meals-petition (19.10.2020).
  
• Pressure mounts on No 10 to extend free school meals holiday scheme, The Guardian https://www.whatstheproblem.org.uk/blog/covid-19-and-poverty-further-fragmentation (food poverty) (21.10.2020).
  
• Tory MPs Vote Down Labour Motion To Implement Marcus Rashford Free School Meals Plan, HuffPost UK https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/boris-johnson-no-u-turn-free-school-meals-rashford_uk_5f900e61c5b6b005f5f14d6c (22.10.2020).
• 'He does not give up': how Marcus Rashford became a hero to school kids, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/oct/23/marcus-rashford-hero-kids-school-meals (#ENDCHILDFOODPOVERTY) (23.10.2020).
• Rashford's free meal tweets made into Google map, BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-54665707 (Google map of local businesses which have pledged to support his campaign to provide free meals for children over half term) (24.10.2020).
• Free school meals campaign takes off in England https://www.theguardian.com/education/gallery/2020/oct/23/free-school-meals-campaign-takes-off-in-england-in-pictures?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=twt_gu&utm_medium&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1603476399 (stories of local businesses that have pledge to provide free food to disadvantaged children in response to MP vote) (24.10.2020).
• Councils back Rashford and pledge to provide school meals over holidays, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/oct/23/councils-across-england-pledge-to-provide-free-school-meals-over-holidays (25.10.2020).
  
• Free school meals: 200 children's authors condemn government, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/oct/23/free-school-meals-200-children-authors-condemn-government-rashford (25.10.2020).
  
• 2200 paediatricians sign open letter to Prime Minister urging Government to extend free school meals to cover holidays, RCPCH https://www.rcpch.ac.uk/news-events/news/2200-paediatricians-sign-open-letter-prime-minister-urging-government-extend-free (25.10.2020).
  
• No public money for MPs' meals (petition launched to end using public funds to pay for/subsidise MPs' meals after they voted against extending free school meals into half term) https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/stop-mps-entitlement-to-free-work-meals?bucket=&source=twitter-share-button&utm_campaign=&utm_medium=socialshare&utm_source=twitter&share=b156e63f-0f72-404f-8e64-1eaa80b3692b (25.10.2020).
• Free school meals: the lifelong impact of childhood food poverty, The Conversation https://theconversation.com/free-school-meals-the-lifelong-impact-of-childhood-food-poverty-148660 (25.10.2020).
• Organisations offering food support to families in Lincoln over half term https://lincolnfoodpartnership.org/foodbanks/ (26.10.2020).
• Blog featuring businesses and community groups offering children's lunches over half term in Cornwall, Cornwall Live https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/free-school-meal-cornwall-businesses-4633489 (28.10.2020).
  
• Indian child poverty charity offers free school meals in England, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/oct/27/indian-child-poverty-charity-offers-free-school-meals-in-uk (Akshaya Patra kitchen in Watford (hot veg. dishes); others planned in Leicester and east London) (27.10.2020).
  
• The free school meals row should open up a debate about poverty itself (Jack Monroe, The Guardian) https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/26/ffree-school-meals-row-debate-poverty-desperate-situations (27.10.2020).
  
• Government needs a rethink on free school meals, Financial Times https://www.ft.com/content/4905c36a-2ed4-4954-9c74-2578a81327cb (dealing with child food poverty is not enough; need a comprehensive approach to poverty in society; universal credit) (27.10.2020).
• Free school meals: How many children can claim them? BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/54693906 (useful article on eligibility for free school meals, relative poverty, geography, ethnicity, food insecurity) (28.10.2020).
• 1,000,000 sign Marcus Rashford’s petition to end child food poverty, Metro https://metro.co.uk/2020/10/28/1000000-sign-marcus-rashfords-petition-to-end-child-food-poverty-13493131/ (28.10.2020).
  
• Why Children Who Go Hungry Will Never Be Full Again, Huffington Post UK https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/hunger-children-free-school-meals_uk_5f96af5cc5b673c608259f71?guccounter=2&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly90LmNvL1BWcTdYY1BZcVM_YW1wPTE&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAC4AumpA8o4zZXCi89cOcEX0nJ58tZt8Q3S-xjwWZ5GHjr-HOyWZQrq9fXH9fB54qTmhg6sC4oqCcCieW9jcc0yUvXhUXyemFuM_ouVSzGA8FW-BkjwzvfiF1Kq5C7qJges236Ipo29RZ0C_jv40kS5wpgl5uLXPohjgw7KrGZi2 (reiterates the argument that child food poverty is an income/household economics problem and requires income to solve food insecurity (refers to studies in Canada) (29.10.2020).
  
• Stockton food bank: 'Dealers don't swap drugs for a tin of beans', BBC News https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-54736029 (31.10.2020).
  
• Academy for Character & Excellence in the South West provides meals in the October half term, Food for Life https://www.foodforlife.org.uk/whats-happening/schools/news-and-blogs/ffl-blog-0000/Academy-for-Character-and-Excellence-in-the-South-West-meal-provision-e110b696d6ca441899b470af74d82087 (31.10.2020).
  
• Rashford's fight must not become 'missed opportunity' to end poverty for good, Big Issue https://www.bigissue.com/latest/rashfords-fight-must-not-become-missed-opportunity-to-end-poverty-for-good/ (Sabine Goodwin argues that 'to end child food poverty, we need to address poverty first and foremost') (03.11.2020).
• Letter to Gavin Williamson from an alliance of charities, trade unions and health professionals urging he backs Marcus Rashford's plan to stop child hunger over Christmas https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/new-letter-williamson-rashford-free-school-meals-christmas_uk_5fa44b0ac5b6f21920d92af0 (copy of the letter at the end) (05.11.2020).
• Marcus Rashford: Boris Johnson relents over footballer's campaign with £396m food package, BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-54841316 (includes: extra £180 million (80% allocated for food and bills) to councils; £220 million on School Holiday Activity Clubs; Healthy Start food vouchers to young mothers increased from £3.10 to £4.25; and £16 million for food charities) (11.11.2020).
  
• Here's a response from the Food Foundation to the £396m food package https://foodfoundation.org.uk/food-foundation-welcomes-significant-step-in-support-of-endchildfoodpoverty-after-government-announcement/ (as well as their response it has a link with full details of the package) (11.11.2020).
• Shining a light on young campaigners calling for an end to food poverty, Sustain https://www.sustainweb.org/blogs/nov20-shining-light-on-young-food-poverty-campaigners/ (great story highlighting the role young campaigners with lived experience have played in the #ENDCHILDFOODPOVERTY campaign) (29.11.2020).
  
• Scottish National Party pledges free breakfast and lunch for primary pupils all year round, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/nov/28/snp-conference-free-breakfast-lunch-primary-john-swinney (child poverty) (29.11.2020).
  
• Marcus Rashford is fantastic, but no amount of food charity will end child poverty in the UK, Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/marcus-rashford-school-meals-child-poverty-b1764458.html (excellent article by Alison Garnham, chief executive of Child Poverty Action Group on the need for a strategic approach to tackle child poverty; "... as Marcus has said, food aid is a sticking plaster. The truth is that no amount of food charity is going to end child poverty.") (02.12.2020).
• Child Poverty Action Group: two in five UK children living under the poverty line are not eligible for free school meals ('people facing in-work poverty'); a further 100,000 children not eligible because of their families immigration status (Serina Sandhu, i) https://inews.co.uk/news/uk/free-school-meals-children-living-poverty-not-entitled-benefit-campaign-780320 (03.12.2020).
• Measuring and mitigating child hunger in the UK, Social Market Foundation https://www.smf.co.uk/publications/measuring-child-hunger/(excellent report and new data on child food insecurity by local authority by Aveek Bhattacharya, Jake Shepherd; nearly 2 million children food insecure during the pandemic; '16% of parents said that their children made do with smaller portions, had to skip meals or went a day without eating between March and September') (09.12.2020).
  
• Local authorities are providing free school meal vouchers over Christmas. Various examples, including this one - Kirklees Together https://kirkleestogether.co.uk/2020/12/09/more-support-on-the-way-for-vulnerable-families/ (11.12.2020).
• For the first time in its history UNICEF will help feed children in the UK, Sky News https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-for-the-first-time-in-its-history-unicef-will-help-feed-kids-in-the-uk-12163515 (this is frankly embarrassing, especially for the UK government; #EndChildFoodPoverty); see also this article in The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/dec/16/unicef-feed-hungry-children-uk-first-time-history (18.12.2020).
  
• A Child's Christmas in Wales, Bevan Foundation https://www.bevanfoundation.org/commentary/a-childs-christmas-in-wales/ (excellent blog from Katie Palmer, Food Sense Wales re. accessibility to #FreeSchoolMeals in Wales) (18.12.2020).
  
• Marcus Rashford and his Child Poverty Taskforce have launched a new End Child Food Poverty website https://endchildfoodpoverty.org/, including an interactive map of emergency food support https://ecfp.staging.89up.org/help (#EndChildFoodPoverty ) (18.12.2020); this article in the Huffington Post covers the launch of the new website https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/marcus-rashford-end-child-food-poverty-website_uk_5fdcd2f2c5b610200989f5b3 (19.12.2020).
• Marcus Rashford: Feeding Britain’s Children, BBC One (special documentary about his campaign for free school meals); lots of reviews on the documentary, which are all rightly positive and supportive of the campaign, including this one in The Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/marcus-rashford-feeding-britains-children-review-b1777041.html (22.12.2020).
• Boris Johnson’s most potent opposition: Marcus Rashford, POLITICO https://www.politico.eu/article/boris-johnson-most-potent-coronavirus-aid-opposition-marcus-rashford-manchester/ (22.12.2020).
  
• Marcus Rashford to fight for permanent rise in universal credit, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/dec/24/marcus-rashford-to-fight-for-permanent-rise-in-universal-credit (Marcus Rashford to discuss the future of the £20 a week Covid rise in universal credit with work and pensions secretary Theresa Coffey; poverty and social security safety net) (24.12.2020).
  
• Using COVID-19 funding to tackle child poverty: Guidance for local councils in England, Child Poverty Action Group https://cpag.org.uk/sites/default/files/files/policypost/Guidance-for-councils-January-2021_FINAL.pdf (Councils in England have been given funding to support local families who are struggling financially. This sets out how Councils could best use the funding to tackle child poverty) (12.01.2021).

Food parcels, the free school meals debate during February half-term and calls for long-term free school meals policy, #lockdown 3

• Ministers urged to change ‘food parcel first' policy by parents in England, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/jan/12/food-parcel-first-policy-under-pressure-after-outcry-from-parents-in-england (school meals; 'Cash first is the easiest and most effective route in ensuring families are supported with dignity, respect and freedom of choice') (13.01.2021).
  
• Free school meals: Minister demands 'urgent improvement', BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55641740 (13.01.2021).
  
• Cash should be going to families, not to big business, Legendary Community Club, Medium https://legendarycclub.medium.com/cash-should-be-going-to-families-not-to-big-business-3770d12fdb39 (useful article on the food parcel debate and the wider questions it asks about our welfare system; '[t]his is but the latest episode showcasing the absurdity of the UK welfare system that seems to have been designed to ridicule and trap people') (13.01.2021).
• Give families cash, not paltry food parcels, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jan/14/give-families-cash-not-paltry-food-parcels (great letter by John Bryant on why we need a cash first approach, which ironically the government has championed in terms of global humanitarian aid; food poverty) (15.01.2021).
  
• Covid: What free school meals are children supposed to get? BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-53053337 (summary of free school meals support and parcels and vouchers approach during the pandemic) (13.01.2021).
• Various articles report a new row over free school meals, this time during the February half-term. The govt plans to provide meals to children by councils under the Covid Winter Grant Scheme; Councils and unions say the govt should provide food vouchers instead. This BBC News article captures the debate well: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-55663564 (15.01.2021).
• Government Needs to Urgently Fix Free School Meal Policy Long-Term https://foodfoundation.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/For-the-Attention-of-PM-Boris-Johnson-pdf.pdf (Letter signed by 40+ NGOs, Health and Education leaders, @MarcusRashford @jamieoliver @HughFW @ChefTomKerridge & Dame Emma Thompson asking @BorisJohnson & @GavinWilliamson for an urgent review of free school meals policy) (15.01.2021).
• BBC News article re. the letter above: Marcus Rashford calls on PM for wider free schools meal review https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-55670096 (15.01.2021).
• Give families cash to feed their children – there's overwhelming evidence it works, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/commentisfree/2021/jan/16/give-families-cash-to-feed-their-children-theres-overwhelming-evidence-it-works ('It could not be more simple: increased cash payments will empower families struggling to feed their children, and restore their dignity') (16.01.2021).
• What Happened When the UK Privatized Covid Food Aid? Children Got Scraps, Inequality.org https://inequality.org/research/uk-privatized-covid-food/ (excellent piece by Imogen Richmond-Bishop on the govt's flawed Covid food aid model; "We must never forget there is no lack of food in the UK; there is also no lack of money. What there is, unfortunately, is a lack of political will and accountability") (16.01.2021).
  
• Jack Monroe on food poverty and fury: 'I just wake up, look at the news, and get angry', The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jan/16/jack-monroe-on-food-poverty-and-fury-i-just-wake-up-look-at-the-news-and-get-angry?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other (brilliant interview with the amazing and inspirational Jack Munroe; "the people making these decisions are stratospherically distant from the people having to live them") (16.01.2021).

• Marcus Rashford: the making of a food superhero, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/jan/17/marcus-rashford-the-making-of-a-food-superhero-child-hunger-free-school-meals ('One of the things that Rashford has discovered in the past year is that food is always an emotive issue'; 18.01.2021).
• Rashford demands a 'meal a day' for all school pupils in need, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/jan/20/rashford-demands-a-meal-a-day-for-all-school-pupils-in-need (school meals; demands a "meal a day" guarantee from government for children in low income families) (22.01.2021).
  
• Food Foundation director Anna Taylor speaks to BBC News about calls for Free School Meals Review,  YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLpcVPF3vKk&ab_channel=FoodFoundation ('The pandemic has revealed significant cracks, and in some instances holes, in our existing policy frameworks... we're calling for ... Government to do a comprehensive review into free school meals') (22.01.2021).
  
• School meals – the time for change is now, Food for Life https://www.foodforlife.org.uk/whats-happening/schools/news-and-blogs/ffl-blog-0000/4c0f3aed-562d-4cfc-851c-d4be289222b2 (interview with Food for Life’s co-founder, Jeanette Orrey; '[s]chool meals should be properly funded, with ringfenced budgets, and there should be greater oversight of contracts, spend and standards') (26.01.2021).
  
• Young people in food poverty: a lost generation?, The BMJ https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2021/01/29/young-people-in-food-poverty-a-lost-generation/ (another excellent blog as part of The BMJ series in support of IFAN; in this piece Rebecca O’Connell  and Julia Brannen argue that 'Food banks are a lifeline in the current crisis, vitally addressing the immediate needs of a growing number of families, but they are not the solution' and noting too the profound effects on young people's health and education (01.02.2021).
  

Reliance on EU food chains, Brexit and food security

• Useful blog by Tony Heron, which argues that Covid-19 is a reminder of our reliance on EU food chains for UK food security, and why we should question the logic of a post-Brexit 'cheap food' trade policy https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2020/05/21/covid-19-is-a-stark-reminder-of-how-deeply-the-uks-food-security-is-dependent-on-the-eu/ (23.05.2020).
• This article, in The National, picks up a recent Nature Food paper by Philip Garnett, Bob Doherty and Tony Heron that argues Covid19 has exposed UK over-reliance on The Netherlands and Spain for fresh fruit and veg https://www.thenational.scot/news/18496845.uk-dangerously-dependent-two-eu-countries-fresh-veg/ [it was reported in other papers too, but this article has no paywall; here's the link to the Nature Food paper https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-020-0097-7] (06.06.2020).
• Excellent Financial Times piece which shows how Covid-19 has highlighted food security issues and tensions for the UK and these are now playing out in UK-EU trade talks https://www.ft.com/content/1db1dfcc-09b4-4c6a-94a8-0442b037d557 (06.06.2020).
• A resilient UK food system https://post.parliament.uk/research-briefings/post-pn-0626/ (20.06.2020).
• What the Covid-19 crisis taught us about food chain resilience and Brexit (perspective from Arla Foods UK) https://www.politicshome.com/members/article/what-the-covid19-crisis-taught-us-about-food-chain-resilience-and-brexit (06.07.2020).
• A second wave of Covid coupled with a no-deal Brexit threatens the UK’s food security, Farmers Guardian  (article by Efra select committee chair, Neil Parish) https://www.fginsight.com/brexit-hub/brexit---politician-analysis/a-second-wave-of-covid-coupled-with-a-no-deal-brexit-threatens-the-uks-food-security-112400 ('During Covid-19, the food supply to supermarkets continued because we were able to keep food coming into the country. But a second wave of coronavirus and a WTO Brexit in January has the potential to disrupt the flow of food') (29.09.2020).
  
• Food shortages, Brexit and COVID-19: how Britain's problems converged at Christmas, The Conservation https://theconversation.com/food-shortages-brexit-and-covid-19-how-britains-problems-converged-at-christmas-152412 (Tim Lang, Erik Millstone and Terry Marsden identify six failures highlighted by Covid and Brexit) (23.12.2020).

France's Covid freight ban

• France's Covid freight ban 'will have devastating effect' on UK supplies, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/20/frances-covid-freight-ban-to-have-devastating-effect-on-uk-sector-warns (closures will impact perishable food pickups from distribution centres in France and Belgium, including winter vegetables such as cauliflower, cabbage and brussels sprouts) (21.12.2020).
  
• Supermarkets try to calm food shortage fears amid border chaos, BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55393076 (21.12.2020).
• Sainsbury's says port restrictions may lead to missing products on UK shelves, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/dec/21/sainsburys-port-restrictions-missing-products-uk (items including salad leaves, citrus fruit and broccoli are subject to shortages) (21.12.2020).
• Charities warn people risk going hungry as shutdown raises food shortage fears, Reuters https://news.trust.org/item/20201221161925-z4xqg (22.12.2020).
• How dependent is the UK on the EU for food?, BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55408788 (useful article highlighting UK dependence on the EU for food, especially fruit and veg, and useful presentation of import/export dynamics over the seasons; France's Covid freight ban has highlighted the importance of the Dover-Calais route for food supplies) (23.12.2020).

National Food Strategy

• National Food Strategy - Part One (great to see this out; at a glance it looks excellent; major focus is children's health (and related obesity and food poverty), which are emergency issues highlighted and accentuated by Covid-19; plus trade (post-Brexit standards)) https://www.nationalfoodstrategy.org/partone/ (29.07.2020).
• National Food Strategy - Part One - YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2YdpXrdOzQ (29.07.2020).
• @HenryDimbleby speaks with Tim Field [@daylesfordfarm] - The Future of Food Episode One https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=jdo_4eqypfQ (overview of Part One of NFS, including links to COVID, with wider remarks re organics/agroecology, food waste, true cost accounting, system complexity) (21.09.2020).

Selection of key media articles reporting on the strategy's main messages/ambitions:

• 'Once-in-a-lifetime' opportunity for more sustainable food, BBC News https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-53573534 (29.07.2020).
  
• Leon founder Henry Dimbleby attacks M&S in scathing food report, The Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/leon-founder-henry-dimbleby-attacks-m-amp-s-in-scathing-food-report-wzh2fx9fj (29.07.2020).
  
• National food strategy set out: banishing pollution and poverty for sustainability, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jul/29/national-food-strategy-set-out-banishing-pollution-and-poverty-for-sustainability (29.07.2020).
  
• Huge growth in free school meals urged to tackle food poverty crisis, The Guardian's Health section (reporting on free school meals NFS recommendation) https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jul/29/huge-growth-in-free-school-meals-urged-to-tackle-food-poverty-crisis (29.07.2020).
  
• More free school meals 'would stop diet disaster', BBC News (reporting on the NFS launch) https://www.bbc.com/news/education-53574164 (29.07.2020).
• Jay Rayner's commentary on the food strategy pulls no punches (argues it will be easy to sideline because it is written in the first person and is weak in terms of post-Brexit trade policy) https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/01/this-isnt-a-tough-new-food-policy-for-post-brexit-uk-its-thin-gruel-and-easy-to-set-to-one-side (04.08.2020).
• Nick Hughes commentary (food service) (supportive in terms of the vision but still waiting for food system fixes) https://www.foodservicefootprint.com/dimbleby-keeps-us-waiting-over-food-system-fix/ (04.08.2020).
• Useful review of the National Food Strategy - Part One, including a summary of the strategy's key recommendations, by Michael Winter http://sites.exeter.ac.uk/foodsystemimpactscv19/ (29.08.2020).

Sustainable food organisation responses:

• Sustain https://www.sustainweb.org/news/jul20-national-food-strategy-launched/ (29.07.2020)
• National Food Strategy: Who’s missing from the table?, Sustain https://www.sustainweb.org/blogs/aug20-national-food-strategy-missing-from-table/ (19.08.2020)
  
• Patrick Holden, Sustainable Food Trust https://sustainablefoodtrust.org/articles/if-we-want-sustainable-food-systems-its-all-about-the-money/?utm_source=SFT+Newsletter&utm_campaign=5e1d7efb25-Newsletter+214_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_bf20bccf24-5e1d7efb25-105088289 ('Henry Dimbleby’s report is evidence that the UK Government is responding, but the real elephant in the room is actually the absence of financial incentives for farmers to produce food in a more sustainable way') (24.08.2020).

• International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has put together a great resources page on COVID-19 impacts in majority world countries https://www.ifpri.org/covid-19 (last accessed 01.02.2021); see also IFPRI's Covid-19 and Global Food Security book, which brings together blog contributions on the impacts and early policy responses to Covid-19 in majority world countries https://ebrary.ifpri.org/utils/getfile/collection/p15738coll2/id/133762/filename/133971.pdf (01.08.2020); IFPRI’s COVID-19 Policy Response (CPR) Portal captures policy responses to the crisis (18.12.2020).
• The UN 'Goal 2: Zero Hunger' page has useful info and links https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/hunger/ (30.05.2020).
• The FAO has a useful page on COVID-19 and global food supplies http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/1268059/icode/ (30.05.2020); see also their policy support and governance resources page to improve emergency food assistance to vulnerable groups http://www.fao.org/policy-support/coronavirus-pandemic/en/?utm_content=bufferf4974&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer (06.06.2020); policy briefs section has resources re. impacts on trade, agriculture, food chains, markets & livelihoods (global) http://www.fao.org/2019-ncov/resources/policy-briefs/en/ (22.09.2020).
• World Food Programme analysis of the potential impact of COVID-19 on the world’s poorest people https://docs.wfp.org/api/documents/WFP-0000114205/download/?_ga=2.241337546.952775517.1586900153-341597442.1584735263(30.05.2020). Key message: the economic and food insecurity impacts of the disease could be more devastating that the disease itself.
• Committee on World Food Security (CFS) website has various C-19-related items http://www.fao.org/cfs/home/en/, including this paper on 'Building Back Better to Avert a COVID-19 Food Crisis' https://medium.com/committee-on-world-food-security-cfs/cfs-calls-for-building-back-better-to-avert-a-covid-19-food-crisis-f293a52e36ea (12.08.2020).

Other resources and articles (media, academic)

• Global food shortage prediction - The Guardian (accessed: 20.04.2020).
• Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) 2020. You can access the executive summary and full report here https://reliefweb.int/report/world/global-report-food-crises-2020 (accessed: 04.05.2020). The forecasts were made pre Covid-19 but the summary and full report include commentary re. the pandemic (impacts and action needed).
  
• The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition are preparing situation reports for low and middle-income countries that they work in re. the impact of Covid-19 on food systems https://www.gainhealth.org/resources/reports-and-publications/impact-covid-19-food-systems-situation-report (23.05.2020).
• Food insecurity warning from WFP (East Africa) https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/04/wfp-warns-food-insecurity-double-east-africa-200428150049637.html (accessed: 04.05.2020).
• Food insecurity in India (impacts on the 'working poor') https://www.ft.com/content/dec12470-894b-11ea-9dcb-fe6871f4145a (04.05.2020); also how COVID-19 is changing the livelihoods and diets of vegetable producers in India, Nutrition Connect (lower prices and less nutritious food) https://nutritionconnect.org/resource-center/blog-37-lower-prices-less-nutritious-food-how-covid-19-changing-livelihoods-and (16.07.2020).
• Video diaries from Nairobi https://medium.com/enabling-sustainability/video-diaries-from-nairobi-navigating-food-insecurity-in-times-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-296b300b0867 (09.05.2020).
• Tripoli https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/01/care-about-masks-anger-poverty-grip-lebanese-city-tripoli-coronavirus (09.05.2020).
• Forbes - COVID-19 and food security in the Caribbean (31/03/2020).
• Excellent blog https://www.ifpri.org/blog/covid-19-nutrition-crisis-what-expect-and-how-protect (accessed 24.04.2020) on the COVID-19 pandemic and the implications for global malnutrition, including practical ways vulnerable groups can be protected.
• This Economist piece argues the global food chain is responding to the Covid-19 challenge [I disagree, given food insecurity crisis, but articles like this balance the narrative, even if I don't agree!] https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/05/09/the-global-food-supply-chain-is-passing-a-severe-test (16.05.2020).
• This piece also argues that global food chains are resilient https://www.luke.fi/en/blog/the-global-food-supply-chains-are-resilient/ (20.06.2020).
• This Lancet editorial https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S2214-109X%2820%2930228-X warns 'food insecurity will be the sting in the tail of COVID-19', and women, and particularly children, could bear the brunt of the effects of food insecurity/health system disruptions (23.05.2020).
• World Food Programme warning of a food crisis in Latin America because of COVID-19 http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2020/05/30/2020053000400.html (30.05.2020).
• Enabling Sustainability has resources, reports and video diaries on responses to Covid-19 https://medium.com/enabling-sustainability (30.05.2020).
• Asia Pacific perspective: nice blog, arguing for support for small family farms and farmers' associations to address food insecurity https://nutritionconnect.org/resource-center/blog-30-wifi-weak-our-call-support-smallholder-family-farmers-strong (06.06.2020).
• Social safety nets and shorter supply chains proposed as essential mechanisms to protect smallholder farmers facing spiralling debt and bankruptcy https://www.climatechangenews.com/2020/06/01/now-time-climate-pandemic-proof-food-systems/ (06.06.2020).
• Covid-19 and the right to food (Independent Food Aid Charity Network; #rights not charity) https://www.foodaidnetwork.org.uk/blog/covid-19-and-the-right-to-food (06.06.2020).
• UN warning of a global food crisis https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jun/09/world-faces-worst-food-crisis-50-years-un-coronavirus (14.06.2020).
• Food vending and farming in Kenya - how Covid-19 is changing socio-economic dynamics https://medium.com/enabling-sustainability/from-corner-office-to-food-vendor-how-covid-19-is-changing-socio-economic-dynamics-in-kenya-12d800f5db09 (14.06.2020); see also this blog by Sharon J Cheboi on 'Restructuring the Kenyan food system post Covid-19' https://medium.com/enabling-sustainability/restructuring-the-kenyan-food-system-post-covid-19-3fa881ac99de (27.07.2020).
• COVID-19 lockdown in Zimbabwe: ‘we are good at surviving, but things are really tough’ https://zimbabweland.wordpress.com/2020/06/15/life-under-covid-19-lockdown-in-zimbabwe-we-are-good-at-surviving-but-things-are-really-tough/ (20.06.2020).
• Informal markets exploring ways to survive tough times (Lilongwe, Malawi) https://medium.com/enabling-sustainability/informal-markets-exploring-ways-to-survive-tough-covid19-times-d3c8e3b69aa5 (04.07.2020).
• With COVID-19, the challenges hampering the attainment of food security in Nigeria could deepen. The impact is already being felt in the form of rising food prices https://www.pwc.com/ng/en/publications/impact-covid-19-food-security-nigeria.html(26.07.2020).
• UN food agencies call for action to reduce COVID-19 impacts on world's hungriest population http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-06/10/c_139127202.htm (20.06.2020).
• Excellent article about COVID-19 and Syrian livelihoods in agriculture, including food security impacts [thanks @GarethEnticott]. The virus may not have reached displaced communities in the Middle East, but its domino effects have https://www.routedmagazine.com/covid-19-syrian-communities (27.06.2020).
• Latest issue of Lancet Planetary Health argues the COVID-19 pandemic is morphing into a global food security crisis (articles too on wet markets and small-scale fishers) https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/issue/vol4no6/PIIS2542-5196(20)X0007-6?ct=t(C2025_newsletter12_03152017_DO_NOT_DELET3_15_2017_) (27.06.2020).
• The Committee on World Food Security's High Level Panel of Experts call for radical transformation of the food system and extend the defintion of food security to include sustainability and agency https://www.devex.com/news/radical-transformation-covid-19-shows-urgency-for-food-systems-policy-shifts-97579 (28.06.2020).
• Impact of COVID-19 on the Human Right to Food and Nutrition: Preliminary monitoring report, FIAN International [thanks to Colin Anderson for the link] https://www.fian.org/files/files/Preliminary_monitoring_report_-_Impact_of_COVID19_on_the_HRtFN.pdf (28.06.2020).
• Good piece by MaximoTorero, FAO on 'preparing food systems for a long-haul fight against COVID-19' (useful map of global food insecurity hotspots; argues nation states must avoid a reactionary self-sufficiency approach (need to facilitate global trade) https://maximotorero.com/2020/07/03/prepare-food-systems-for-a-long-haul-fight-against-covid-19/(04.07.2020).
• Crisis spreads from rich to poor nations, London Evening Standard https://www.standard.co.uk/news/foodforlondon/food-for-london-now-crisis-spread-poor-nations-a4487836.html (06.07.2020).
• UN policy brief: the impact of COVID-19 on food security and nutrition, June 2020 https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/sg_policy_brief_on_covid_impact_on_food_security.pdf?ct=t(C2025_newsletter12_03152017_DO_NOT_DELET3_15_2017_) (accessed 09.07.2020).
• The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020 (Key points: the number of hungry people increased globally last year pre-Covid-19; food security & nutritional status of the most vulnerable groups predicted to deteriorate further due to Covid-19) https://www.ifad.org/en/web/knowledge/publication/asset/42000691 (14.07.2020).
• Discussion paper by Food and Land Use Coalition on the impacts of COVID-19 on food systems in Sub-Saharan Africa (different indicators point to growing stresses e.g. the cost of a basic food basket has increased in most countries during the first quarter of 2020) https://www.foodandlandusecoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/FOLU-Discussion-Paper_Sub-Saharan-Africa%E2%80%99s-Food-Systems-and-COVID-19_The-Emerging-Evidence_22May2020.pdf (15.07.2020).
• Protecting Africa’s food systems from farm to fork (need for regional co-ordination)  https://www.brookings.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/2020/06/19/economic-impact-of-covid-19-protecting-africas-food-systems-from-farm-to-fork/ (23.07.2020).
• How lockdown exposed food insecurity in a small Bangladeshi city (Mongla), Geography Directions blog by Mohammad Feisal Rahman, Durham University and Hanna A Ruszczyk, Durham University https://blog.geographydirections.com/2020/07/17/coronavirus-how-lockdown-exposed-food-insecurity-in-a-small-bangladeshi-city/ (18.07.2020).
  
• New analysis by @FAO-@WFP identifies 27 countries heading for food crises due to COVID-19 http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/1298468/icode/?platform=hootsuite (18.07.2020).
  
• How Coronavirus Is Exposing the World’s Fragile Food Supply Chain, Time (the big challenge is disruption to food supply not food shortages) https://time.com/5820381/coronavirus-food-shortages-hunger/ (21.07.2020).
  
• To reduce world hunger, governments need to think beyond making food cheap https://theconversation.com/to-reduce-world-hunger-governments-need-to-think-beyond-making-food-cheap-142361(23.07.2020).
• Child malnutrition and COVID-19: the time to act is now, The Lancet https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31648-2/fulltext (28.07.2020).
• Excellent blog by Jennifer Clapp: Solving Our Food Crisis Requires a Fundamental Transformation of the System (lessons from the High Level Panel of Experts Global Narrative report in the context of the COVID-19 food security crisis) https://www.iisd.org/blog/food-crisis-transform-system (29.07.2020).
• Policy Brief: Safeguarding food systems and promoting healthy diets, Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition https://www.glopan.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Covid-Brief.pdf (01.08.2020).
• How India’s agrifood supply chains fared during the COVID-19 lockdown (importance of traditional retail chains and informal market economy) https://www.ifpri.org/blog/how-indias-agrifood-supply-chains-fared-during-covid-19-lockdown-farm-fork?ct=t(C2025_newsletter12_03152017_DO_NOT_DELET3_15_2017_) (06.08.2020).
• Food Security special issue: Worldwide disruptions of food systems and the search of enduring food security amidst Covid19 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12571-020-01094-z (30 papers, mostly opinion articles. Papers cover impacts, resilience mechanisms, sustainable food systems and policies) (thanks @lauklerkx) (14.08.2020).
• The impacts of COVID-19 on Dutch food banks: a call on government to guarantee the right-to-food (part of Gastronomica SI on food in the time of COVID-19) https://online.ucpress.edu/gastronomica/article/20/3/72/111238/The-Impacts-of-COVID-19-on-Dutch-Food-Banks-A-Call (19.08.2020).
  
• William G. Moseley and Jane Battersby: The Vulnerability and Resilience of African Food Systems, Food Security, and Nutrition in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic, African Studies Review https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/african-studies-review/article/vulnerability-and-resilience-of-african-food-systems-food-security-and-nutrition-in-the-context-of-the-covid19-pandemic/8E8E86CE98EB17DB42ECB8C7DA2B0968 (22.08.2020).
  
• New Global Panel on Ag. and Food Systems for Nutrition policy brief: Strengthening Food Systems in Fragile Contexts https://www.glopan.org/resources-documents/fragile-contexts/(international policy community need to put more emphasis on food system resilience) (25.08.2020).
  
• Excellent policy report by CARE on women, hunger and COVID-19 ('Most important is the recognition of women & girls as leaders in food systems') (thanks @CorinnaHawkes for sharing) https://www.care.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Left-Out-and-Left-Behind.pdf?_ga=2.105792711.532214394.1598456015-982615239.1598456015 (26.08.2020).
• The World Bank and the Malawi National Statistics Office have released COVID-19 impact monitoring results (first results find that even among households in the wealthiest quintile, more than half of adults are experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity) (via IFPRI-Compact2025) (06.09.2020).
• Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights (first annual report on the impact of COVID19 on people in poverty; not food per se but shows that most social protection measures are maladapted, short-term, reactive, and inattentive to the realities of people in poverty) https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Poverty/Covid19.pdf (12.09.2020).
• Covid-19 and food podcast, The Institute for Global Food Security (A new podcast series from @IGFS exploring the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the food landscape) https://www.qub.ac.uk/Research/GRI/TheInstituteforGlobalFoodSecurity/institute-for-global-security-news/Covid-19-and-food-podcast/ (12.09.2020).
• COVID-19: A threat to food security in Africa, Paul Akiwumi, UNCTAD https://unctad.org/en/pages/newsdetails.aspx?OriginalVersionID=2450 ('In order to address the impact of COVID-19 on food security in the long term, Africa will need to build productive capacities to address underlying economic vulnerabilities...' (17.09.2020).
• Impacts of a national lockdown on smallholder farmers’ income and food security: Empirical evidence from two states in India, World Development https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X20301959?via%3Dihub ('any short- or long-term risk-mitigation policy must be responsive to the local context') (17.09.2020).
• Impacts of COVID-19 on childhood malnutrition and nutrition-related mortality, The Lancet https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31647-0/fulltext?ct=t(C2025_newsletter12_03152017_DO_NOT_DELET3_15_2017_) (Prevalence of moderate or severe wasting among children could increase by 14% due to COVID-19-related losses in GNI per capita) (19.09.2020).
• The 2020 Global Nutrition Report in the context of Covid-19 https://globalnutritionreport.org/reports/2020-global-nutrition-report/2020-global-nutrition-report-context-covid-19/ (23.09.2020).
• Cuba’s economy was hurting. The pandemic brought a food crisis, The New York Times ('the dearth of tourists in the pandemic’s wake strangled an economy already damaged by mismanagement and U.S. sanctions') https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/20/world/americas/cuba-economy.html (23.09.2020).
• Conflict and coronavirus spark a hunger crisis in Burkina Faso, The New Humanitarian https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2020/08/19/COVID-conflict-hunger-Burkina-Faso ('The number of people in need of emergency food aid in Burkina Faso has tripled to more than 3.2 million'; more will die from hunger than from COVID-19) (23.09.2020).
• 'Money is worth nothing now': how Lebanon is finding a future in farming, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/sep/25/money-is-worth-nothing-now-how-lebanon-is-finding-a-future-in-farming (in the face of economic collapse home grown food helps to people to feed themselves and survive; food insecurity and resilience) (29.09.2020).
  
• The impact of Covid-19 on food security in Kisumu, Kenya (policy brief from July 2020 by Jane Battersby) https://www.africancentreforcities.net/new-policy-brief-on-the-impact-of-covid-19-on-food-security-in-kisumu-kenya/ (over-reliance on food imports from other regions of Kenya and neighbouring countries creates vulnerabilities) (02.10.2020).
• Food Crises and COVID‑19: Emerging evidence and implications (An analysis of acute food insecurity and agri‑food systems during COVID‑19 pandemic) http://www.fightfoodcrises.net/fileadmin/user_upload/fightfoodcrises/doc/GlobalNetwork_Technical_Note_Covid19_Food_Crises_Sept_2020.pdf ('The impacts of COVID‑19 on livelihoods and acute food insecurity are highly context‑specific and affect population groups differently') (02.10.2020).
• How to Make Nutritious Food Affordable for the 1 Billion Africans, Global Issues (Lawrence Haddad & Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko) https://www.globalissues.org/news/2020/09/28/26873 (Long-term solutions must be sought, a process that demands the involvement of all the world's leaders from communities, governments, civil society and the private sector) (02.10.2020).
  
• Impacts of COVID-19 on food security and nutrition: developing effective policy responsesto address the hunger and malnutrition pandemic, HLPE issues paper http://www.fao.org/3/cb1000en/cb1000en.pdf (excellent report, including policy recommendations from pg.10 onwards; 'As international supply chains are strained by COVID-19, relocalizing food production, or seeking a better balance between imported and locally produced food, is a sound strategy for building robustness and resilience') (02.10.2020).
• How Covid sowed the seeds of food security in Johannesburg, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/gallery/2020/sep/30/how-covid-sowed-the-seeds-of-food-security-in-johannesburg (photo essay of activist groups distributing parcels of vegetables, seedlings and gardening materials to vulnerable households) (03.10.2020).
  
• Food security and nutrition: building a global narrative towards 2030. A report by the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition of the Committee on World Food Security http://www.fao.org/3/ca9731en/ca9731en.pdf (12.10.2020).
• This food crisis is different: COVID-19 and the fragility of the neoliberal food security order  https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epub/10.1080/03066150.2020.1823838?needAccess=true (excellent paper by Jennifer Clapp and William Moseley; argues for structural reform of food systems, including investment in more diversified and regionalised food networks and better social protection measures to protect those facing food poverty, as well as small-scale farmers and agri-food workers) (13.10.2020).
  
• UN World Food Programme: $6.8bn needed in six months to avert famine amid COVID-19, Al Jazeera https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/13/wfp-6-8bn-needed-in-six-months-to-avert-famine-amid-covid-19 (14.10.2020).
• Building rural women’s resilience in the wake of COVID-19, United Nations https://www.un.org/en/observances/rural-women-day (International Day of Rural Women - 15.10.2020).
• Despite COVID-19, food consumption remains steady in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, IFPRI https://www.ifpri.org/blog/survey-despite-covid-19-food-consumption-remains-steady-addis-ababa-ethiopia?ct=t(C2025_newsletter12_03152017_DO_NOT_DELET3_15_2017_) (household surveys indicate a drop in income in recent months but food consumption is comparable to pre-pandemic levels, but dietary composition is shifting, with a decline in vegetable consumption (see tables 1 and 2) (16.10.2020).
• How Covid-19 has reshaped the food chain, part of BBC Follow the Food series https://www.bbc.com/future/bespoke/follow-the-food/how-covid-19-has-reshaped-the-food-chain.html (James Wong; covers impacts of COVID-19 on farmers and distributors and how food chain adapting (agri-labour, satellite tech, Blockchain and robots in ag, urban and local production) (19.10.2020).
• Food security can bring peace – but agroecology makes it last https://news.trust.org/item/20201015205843-rwtbh/ (argues that food aid is not an effective antidote to hunger; food system transformation is needed; 'agroecology is a movement for social justice, improving nutrition without compromising food sovereignty') (19.10.2020).
• COVID-19 implications on household income and food security in Kenya and Uganda, paper in World Development https://reader.elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/S0305750X20303260?token=F11AA1967178F07ABCFB7D6D2C7CC5983E02DAF1E1618F33298EDD2E235BCACF067CFF6DF3932464143B7E4141891D2D (two-thirds of the respondents experienced income shocks due to the COVID-19 crisis; government responses should focus on structural changes in social security) (21.10.2020).
• Agricultural labo[u]r, COVID-19 and potential implications for food security and air quality in the breadbasket of India, paper in Agricultural Systems https://reader.elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/S0308521X20308155?token=71003BEAF6B60356B99BC825EC61EDA7CDC5BBB69137E234A0C1A0889B0EA0DF58D90882B4C85A16ABE5F71F23E8D29C (21.10.2020).
• Impacts of COVID-19 on trade and economic aspects of food security, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/16/5775 (evidence from 45 developing countries; food insecurity effects 'more more perceptible in upper-middle-income economies than in the least developed countries' (22.10.2020).
• COVID-19 and food systems in the Indo-Pacific: An assessment of vulnerabilities, impacts and opportunities for action https://aciar.gov.au/publication/covid-19-and-food-systems (ACIAR report on COVID-19 and food systems in the Indo-Pacific, including how to build resilience for future shocks) (28.10.2020).
  
• The Vulnerability & Resilience of African Food Systems, Food Security, & Nutrition in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic, African Studies Review https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/8E8E86CE98EB17DB42ECB8C7DA2B0968/S0002020620000724a.pdf/vulnerability_and_resilience_of_african_food_systems_food_security_and_nutrition_in_the_context_of_the_covid19_pandemic.pdf (excellent commentary by William G. Moseley and Jane Battersby) (06.11.2020).
  
• UN food agencies warn of rising levels of acute hunger with potential risk of famine in four hotspots (Burkina Faso, northeastern Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/1325054/icode/ (09.11.2020).
• COVID-19 and the right to food https://www.foodaidnetwork.org.uk/blog/covid-19-and-the-right-to-food (Global Solidarity Alliance for Food, Health, & Social Justice; ending hunger will need more than just charity; the right to food) (09.11.2020).
• How foodbanks went global, New Internationalist https://newint.org/immersive/2020/11/10/how-foodbanks-went-global (excellent review by Charlie Spring of food banks (origins, growth, contradictions, etc.); quite rightly questions why we export what is effectively a failed model to other countries!?) (11.11.2020).
  
• Post-pandemic transformations: How and why COVID-19 requires us to rethink development, World Development https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X20303600 ('Covid-19 should make us rethink: relationships between science and policy; economic models and structures; and how states and citizens relate to each other' (via @ STEPS Centre)) (12.11.2020).
• Global Food Supplies Weather Coronavirus Pandemic, The Wall Street Journal https://www.wsj.com/articles/global-food-supplies-weather-coronavirus-pandemic-11605171950 (article based on the FAO's latest Food Outlook report, which suggests food supplies have held up during the pandemic despite earlier warnings of protectionist national policies and global shortages) (16.11.2020).
• Death by Covid-19 – or hunger?, New Internationalist https://newint.org/immersive/2020/09/29/death-covid-19-or-hunger (useful article by Hazel Healy examining the impacts of Covid-19 on global hunger and the deeper food system imbalances it is revealing) (thanks Charlie Spring [@eatingwaste] for sharing) (18.11.2020).
• 9 inspiring food-aid projects, New Internationalist https://newint.org/features/2020/11/17/9-inspiring-food-aid-projects (nice groups doing emergency relief differently, including co-operative buying power, Camden, ‘verdurazos’ or ‘mega-veg’ events in Argentina and seeding food sovereignty in South Africa (fresh food boxes, plus seedlings and compost in Johannesburg) (20.11.2020).
  
• Useful paper on farmer perspectives to local food system resilience in Southern Africa and Indonesia (Paganini, N., Adinata, K., Buthelezi, N., Harris, D., Lemke, S., Luis, A., ... & Ramba, T.), Sustainability https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/20/8556 ('measures imposed in response to COVID-19 highlighted and partly exacerbated existing socio-economic inequalities among food system actors'; in some regions local food systems continued and were even strengthened; thanks Moya Kneafsey for sharing) (23.11.2020).
• Long-term impact of West African food system responses to COVID-19, Nature Food https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-020-00191-8.pdf (Comment by Ali et al. COVID has exposed fragilities in the region's food systems but also opportunities for policy reforms unheard pre-pandemic (partnerships, investment and trade policies, healthy agricultural workforce) (25.11.2020).
• The COVID-19 pandemic and food insecurity: A viewpoint on India https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305750X20301947 (paper in World Development; unfortunately is behind a paywall but request a copy via e.g. ResearchGate) (01.12.2020).
• U.N. report argues COVID-19 endangers indigenous right to food (via Food Tank) https://foodtank.com/news/2020/11/covid-19-endangers-indigenous-right-to-food-says-u-n-report/; access the U.N. report here https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/IPeoples/SRIndigenousPeoples/Pages/Callforinput_COVID19.aspx (01.12.2020).
  
• Gender, Rural Farmers and Markets: COVID-19 Challenge to Doing Gender, Agriculture and Food Systems Research and Development Work in Africa https://sites.psu.edu/geareblog/2020/11/30/gender-rural-farmers-and-markets-covid-19-challenge/ (great blog by Margaret Abiodun Adesugba on gendered impact of COVID-19 on food and agricultural systems in Africa) (02.12.2020).
  
• Interview with Ricardo Salvador about the global hunger crisis, Democracy Now https://www.democracynow.org/2020/12/10/ricardo_salvador_world_hunger (good points about the food system and choices made by those in power; 'The pandemic itself has actually exacerbated existing vulnerabilities all over the planet' (11.12.2020).
• Policy options for galvanizing Africa’s rice sector against impacts of COVID-19, World Development (short piece by Arumugam Kathiresan, Tomokazu Nagai, Yusuke Haneishi; stockpiling measures 'could affect demand–supply dynamics and trigger a price crisis in African rice markets' but 'the emerging crisis also creates opportunities for the African rice sector to sharpen its competitiveness') (22.12.2020).
• Faulty food systems laid bare by COVID-19 and climate crises, Thomson Reuters Foundation https://news.trust.org/item/20201227080204-3652n/ ("The double whammy of extreme weather and COVID-19 has brought the shortcomings of our global food system into sharp relief") (04.01.2021).
• Characterising early agricultural and food policy responses to the outbreak of COVID-19, Food Policy https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306919220302232 (paper reviews and categorises early policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, based on a dataset of 496 measures taken by 54 countries; OECD countries used more economic support, emerging economies more market and trade measures) (04.01.2021).
• Safeguard global supply chains during a pandemic, Nature Food https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-020-00213-5.pdf (Louise Manning reviews a study of the grain trade during 2020, which indicates that 'policies to protect supply chains must be enacted to avoid supply chain shocks such as COVID-19 ... exacerbating food insecurity in global regions that rely on food imports') (14.01.2021).
• Grain export restrictions during COVID-19 risk food insecurity in many low- and middle-income countries, Nature Food https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-020-00211-7 (analysis shows how the pandemic has impacted international supply chains; locusts have also destroyed crops in East Africa & South Asia. Trade restrictions & precautionary purchases by a few key actors could cause global food price spikes & severe local food shortages; see also Lousie Manning's commentary on the paper above) (30.01.2021).
• Covid crisis is fuelling food price rises for world's poorest, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jan/29/covid-crisis-is-fuelling-food-price-rises-for-worlds-poorest (David Malpass, president of the World Bank Group writes that “Global food prices, as measured by a World Bank food price index, rose 14% last year”; three [global food and nutrition security] actions are proposed: enabling the free flow of food across borders, bolstering social safety nets, and enhancing prevention and preparedness (for future food system shocks)) (30.01.2021).
• Fai fatongia: One island’s path to food security, COVID mitigation and climate resilience, IFAD https://www.ifad.org/en/web/latest/photo/asset/42414656 (piece about how Tongans put the collective good first, which they call 'fai fatongia' and translates “fulfilling one’s responsibility”) (01.02.2021).

The need for basic income support not food charity (Canada & the US, including other food access-related articles)

• Great article from Valerie Tarasuk and Lynn McIntre https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/april-2020/food-banks-cant-adequately-address-covid-19-food-insecurity/ (accessed 29.04.2020) on why we must not accept food banks as an adequate response to Covid-19 food insecurity - they argue for basic income support not food charity. Comments based on Canada's food response to date.
• Marion Nestle on why SNAP is important in the US, as a safety net for the poor https://www.foodpolitics.com/2020/05/23149/(accessed 16.05.2020); see also this April 2020 article from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation re. raising SNAP payments https://www.rwjf.org/en/library/research/2020/04/snap-supports-health-and-boosts-the-economy.html?cid=xtw_rwjf_unpd_dte:20200723_des:flagship; and this article reporting how SNAP payments are now allowed online (Amazon and Walmart) as part of a pilot programme (available in 40 US states) https://www.supermarketnews.com/online-retail/usda-s-snap-online-grocery-pilot-grows-more-40-states (23.07.2020).
• This article from The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/21/nyregion/coronavirus-ny-update.html emphasises the scale and persistance of the problem in the US (2 million city residents food insecure) (accessed: 23.05.2020); see also this Guardian article (pandemic effects could leave 54m Americans without food) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/31/people-are-going-to-go-hungry-pandemic-effects-could-leave-54m-americans-without-food(06.06.2020).
• Good CNN article about food deserts in the US (compounded by Covid-19) https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/09/business/food-deserts-coronavirus-grocery-stores/index.html (14.06.2020).
• What is Food Insecurity? Interview with Paul Taylor, FoodShare, including Covid-19 impacts and Canada response. Key message: "Food insecurity is an income issue that requires income based interventions” https://www.foodnetwork.ca/food-network-insider/blog/what-is-food-insecurity/ (04.07.2020).
• To Be Hungry in the Middle of the Pandemic - The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/04/opinion/coronavirus-food-banks-hunger.html (06.07.2020).
• Covid-19 and food insecurity in the US (one study suggests number food insecure has doubled; increasing pressure on charitable food system) https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/millions-americans-are-going-hungry-pandemic-erodes-incomes-destroys-communities-n1233110 (08.07.2020).
• Recent items on food insecurity in the US, via Marion Nestle https://www.foodpolitics.com/2020/07/recent-items-on-food-insecurity/ (14.07.2020).
• Good article about food banks in the US. Food charities are reorganising distribution, labour and storage space. Feeding America estimates Covid-19 could push an additional 17 million people into food insecurity in 2020 https://www.wsj.com/articles/pandemic-growing-need-strain-u-s-food-bank-operations-11594891802 (20.07.2020).
• Stealth food banks are reaching out to 'undocumented clients' (including migrant farmworkers who have no permament status) to support them during Covid-19. Case studies explain how food banks (in partnership with other groups) run underground food distribution and direct financial support https://foodbanknews.com/stealth-food-banks-serve-the-undocumented/ (26.07.2020).
• Senate GOP coronavirus relief bill won’t expand SNAP benefits or Pandemic EBT, The Washington Post (this is despite the fact nearly 1 in 3 low-income families report having experienced food insecurity in the past 30 days!) https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/28/senate-gop-wont-extend-pandemic-food-stamps-doubles-three-martini-lunch-deduction/ (29.07.2020).
  
• Almost 30 million US households reported food insecurity (highest reported level since the Census Bureau started tracking the data in May) https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/31/us/food-insecurity-30-million-census-survey/index.html (04.08.2020).
• Useful article about hunger and poverty during the pandemic and why the relationship is not a simple one (households are above the poverty line but food insecure) https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/28/us/politics/coronavirus-hunger-poverty.html (04.08.2020).
• The "last mile" – getting the delivered food into the hands of the hungry - is often an afterthought in government programmes and is proving a considerable barrier during the pandemic http://www.farmtoschool.org/news-and-articles/the-last-mile (Highlights the need for public investment in local supply infrastructure - similar gap evident in the UK) (08.08.2020).
• Wall Street Journal: More Americans go hungry amid coronavirus pandemic, Census shows https://www.wsj.com/articles/more-americans-go-hungry-amid-coronavirus-pandemic-census-shows-11597570200 (e.g. 12.1% of adults lived in households that didn’t have enough to eat at some point in the previous week, up from 9.8% in early May; almost 20% of Americans with kids at home couldn’t afford to give their children enough food, up from almost 17% in early June) (18.08.2020).
  
• The COVID Crisis Is Reinforcing the Hunger Industrial Complex, The MIT Press Reader  (Excellent article by @Fisherfood on the unholy alliance between food banks and corporate America; this complex needs to be broken in favour of stronger government response that strengthens the social safety net) https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-covid-crisis-is-reinforcing-the-hunger-industrial-complex/ (22.08.2020).
  
• Food insecurity is rising, especially among kids (Marion Nestle's Food Politics blog) https://www.foodpolitics.com/2020/08/food-insecurity-is-rising-especially-among-kids/ (25.08.2020).
• USDA extends free-meal programme for children (but only after an outcry from educators), The Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/after-backlash-usda-agrees-to-extend-free-meal-program-for-children/2020/08/31/0bf22e36-eb9d-11ea-b4bc-3a2098fc73d4_story.html (01.09.2020).
  
• Workers Keeping Americans Fed Are Going Hungry in the Heartland, Bloomberg (title says it all really; also argues food insecurity in rural America is not new, but spikes in states like Minnesota (featured) show how deeply C-19 is impacting the American foodscape, including food workers) https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2020-hunger-minnesota-pandemic/ (06.09.2020).
• Economic impact of coronavirus has many American families turning to food banks for help, The New York Times ('projections suggest up to 54 million Americans could be food insecure before the end of the year, a 46 percent increase since the pandemic began') https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/03/us/food-pantries-hunger-us.html (06.09.2020).
• Mapping Trump’s food boxes, The Counter https://thecounter.org/covid-19-farmers-to-families-food-box-delivery-usda-trump/ (excellent article about the USDA’s food box distribution program[me] and why it is failing to support some food banks / feed communities in need (distribution gaps and incongruencies between supply and demand) (10.09.2020).
• Canada must eliminate food banks & provide a basic income after COVID-19 https://theconversation.com/canada-must-eliminate-food-banks-and-provide-a-basic-income-after-covid-19-144994 (Graham Riches: Covid-19 should be an opportunity to redistribute wealth, not excess food that benefits large landownwers and major food corps more than food insecure people) (12.09.2020).
• No Food Security, No World Order (excellent essay by Jessica Fanzo, which is part of @JohnsHopkins 'COVID-19 and World Order' collection of essays, which are all open access) https://muse.jhu.edu/chapter/2696560 (12.09.2020).
• 29 million American adults don’t have enough to eat—a threefold increase since 2018, The Counter (the crisis reveals long-standing issues in the US food system) https://thecounter.org/covid-19-hunger-food-insecurity-crisis-america/ (19.09.2020).
• Food insecurity in the U.S. by the numbers, NPR https://www.npr.org/2020/09/27/912486921/food-insecurity-in-the-u-s-by-the-numbers?t=1601407137380 ('food insecurity more than doubled as a result of the economic crisis brought on by the outbreak, hitting as many as 23% of households earlier this year') (29.09.2020).
• U.S. faces shortage of up to 8 billion meals in next 12 months, leading food bank says, The Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/10/02/food-bank-shortage-feeding-america/ (08.10.2020).
  
• Trudeau announces $100M for food banks amid coronavirus pandemic, Globalnews.ca http://globalnews.ca/news/7388096/trudeau-food-banks-funding-coronavirus/  (at face value this is good news, but in reality it only offers free food and does nothing to address levels of basic income, as many food campaigners have called for in Canada and beyond) (12.10.2020).
  
• Ensuring Homeless Americans Get Enough Food Has Never Been Easy. Now, It's Next to Impossible, Civil Eats https://civileats.com/2020/10/06/ensuring-homeless-americans-get-enough-food-has-never-been-easy-now-its-next-to-impossible/ (food access, food justice) (12.10.2020).
  
• 1.5 Million New Yorkers Can’t Afford Food. Pantries Are Their Lifeline, The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/10/20/nyregion/nyc-food-banks.html (increasing numbers of New Yorkers need food banks but more hopeful stories and pictures too about home cooking) (22.10.2020).
  
• We Can Tackle Hunger and Joblessness at the Same Time, Mother Jones ('one in 10 American adults do not have enough to eat right now'; calls for anti-hunger jobs programme) https://www.motherjones.com/food/2020/10/we-can-tackle-hunger-and-joblessness-at-the-same-time/ (31.10.2020).
• Inspiring story in Eater about how nonprofit No Us Without You is feeding 1,300 families a week in Los Angeles during the pandemic (many are families of undocumented restaurant workers) https://www.eater.com/21529192/no-us-without-you-la-nonprofit-helping-undocumented-restaurant-workers-covid-19 (31.10.2020).
• Thousands of cars form lines to collect food in Texas, CNN https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/15/us/dallas-texas-food-bank-coronavirus/index.html (North Texas Food Bank distributed 600,000+ pounds of food to 25,000 people in one day) (17.11.2020).
• Covid-19 pandemic is the first time 40% of Americans have experienced food insecurity, CNBC https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/19/covid-pandemic-first-time-many-americans-experienced-food-insecurity.html  ('About 4 in 10 Americans report that they experienced food insecurity for the first time during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a new poll of 2,000 U.S. adults''; '63% said they didn’t realize they were experiencing food insecurity'; 'Nearly 4 out of 5 survey respondents say they struggled to find the support they needed') (20.11.2020).
• How One Organization Can Shorten Food Bank Lines Across the United States https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/food-charity-feeding-america/ (excellent article by Andrew Fisher [@Fisherfood]; 10-point plan for Feeding America (largest food charity in the US) to substantially reduce food insecurity for millions of Americans; necessity of treating the causes of food poverty at systemic level (i.e. beyond surplus food redistribution); "The silver lining in this horrible year can be that food bankers finally step on the gas and accelerate toward justice") (23.11.2020).
• One in six Americans could go hungry in 2020 as pandemic persists, National Geographic https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/11/one-in-six-could-go-hungry-2020-as-covid-19-persists/ (useful article, with maps of food insecurity rate per county; 'The pandemic has laid bare how many people are one paycheck or medical bill away from hunger') (27.11.2020).
• USDA’s Food Box Program[me] Shuts Out Small Farmers, Eater (via Civil Eats) https://www.eater.com/21850793/usda-food-box-program-black-garmers-small-farm-contracts (03.12.2020).
• Millions of hungry Americans turn to food banks for 1st time, The Associated Press https://apnews.com/article/race-and-ethnicity-hunger-coronavirus-pandemic-4c7f1705c6d8ef5bac241e6cc8e331bb (useful piece by Sharon Cohen 'Feeding America estimates those facing hunger will swell to 1 in 6 people, from 35 million in 2019 to more than 50 million by this year’s end'; 'In four states — Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama and Louisiana — more than 1 in 5 residents are expected to be food insecure by year’s end') (09.12.2020).
  
• We Need a Secretary of Food, The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/08/opinion/covid-pandemic-food-crisis.html (interesting opinion piece by chef José Andrés on the food security situation in the US; 'The weaknesses of our national food policies were obvious to experts well before we knew about Covid-19. The pandemic has exposed these failures to the rest of the world') (11.12.2020).
  
• Food Insecurity and Collateral Consequences of Punishment Amidst the COVID‐19 Pandemic (Golembeski et al., World Medical and Health Policy) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/wmh3.378 (paper linking food insecurity, criminal justice and COVID-19 in the US) (14.12.2020).
  
• Hands That Feed, Pt. 2: the Paradox of Essential Food Charity — The Indy https://theindependent.ca/2020/12/08/hands-that-feed-pt-2-the-paradox-of-essential-food-charity/ (excellent critique of food charity by Heidi Janes; highlights failings of federal and provincial government in Canada to provide a social safety net and the influence of corporate power; analysis from Newfoundland and Labrador province; 'our governments—plainly aware of the prevalence of food insecurity and its connection to income policies—deliberately turn a blind eye to their obligation to change things for the better') (14.12.2020).
• Holiday food drives: Tossing a can of beans into a donation bin is hardly enough, The Conversation https://theconversation.com/holiday-food-drives-tossing-a-can-of-beans-into-a-donation-bin-is-hardly-enough-151185 (useful article by Mary Anne Martin and Michael Classens on Canada's flawed approach to food charity; 'Trudeau isn’t simply asking us to buy and donate a few extra items; he is beckoning us into a flawed model of ineffective, commoditized charity') (16.12.2020).
• Canada’s food issues stretch far beyond the rising cost of groceries, The Star https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2020/12/14/canadas-food-issues-stretch-far-beyond-the-rising-cost-of-groceries.html?rf ('Food insecurity is not about a lack of food. It is about a lack of income...' (16.12.2020).
• Hunger spikes, demand rises for US food banks, BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55307722 (thanks Nick Lewis for sharing) (16.12.2020).
  
• Millions of Americans Face Food Insecurity. They Need Help, Time https://time.com/5924290/covid-food-insecurity-biden-help/ ('In the richest country on earth, approximately 50 million Americans, including 17 million children, are suffering from food insecurity'; new administration needs to revise and expand SNAP) (26.12.2020).
  
• An underground food pantry in Boston draws needy families, and the city’s disapproval, The Boston Globe https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/12/25/nation/an-underground-food-pantry-draws-needy-families-citys-disapproval/ (with food pantries struggling to meet Boston's unprecedented food emergency, 'underground food pantries' are emerging. The one in this article was set up, despite official concerns about needing a permit, to feed families in need; food is provided by Brookline Food Cooperative; the pantry is run from the car park of Phineas Bates Elementary (initially it was someone's backyard) (thanks @julianagyeman for sharing) (26.12.2020).
  
• Racial Gaps in School Meal Access Have Been Made Even More Obvious During the Pandemic, Eater (via Civil Eats) https://www.eater.com/22251352/school-meal-access-racial-gaps (research shows that food distribution locations have been out of reach for Black and Latinx families) (30.01.2021).
  
• Coronavirus hunger crisis: For these families, every meal is now a struggle, Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/interactive/2021/covid-hunger-crisis/ (hunger is a hidden hardship now made visible; 'Across America, people are lining up for food—on foot and in cars, at churches and recreation centers and in school parking lots, in wealthy states and poorer ones'; families & food aid organisations in Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Maryland and California share experiences) (30.01.2021).
  

Hacking food chains, food system innovations, food sharing

• Inspiring article about a project in the Bronx to 'hack' the food chain to get cheaper supplies to restaurants who then prepare and supply emergency food aid (culturally specific) to people in need in the community https://www.aljazeera.com/ajimpact/coronavirus-response-hacking-emergency-food-supply-chains-200601065958248.html (06.06.2020); plus this article about clever ways New York City organised the food response (might need to subscribe to access the full article) https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-city-serves-up-food-to-fill-in-the-gaps-amid-the-pandemic-11591106402 (14.06.2020).
• Useful blog by Corinna Hawkes reviewing food system innovations that have helped to get food to people (digital innovations (e.g. mobile apps), distribution, point-of-sale, vouchers) https://www.ifpri.org/blog/covid-19-and-promise-food-system-innovation (20.06.2020).
• Interesting example of food sharing in Oakland, called "Town Fridge" (set up to create food access) https://oaklandside.org/2020/07/15/oaklands-town-fridge-is-spreading-food-security-one-refrigerator-at-a-time/ (18.07.2020); see also this article about 'community fridges' to help homeless people in LA (via @ShareCityIre) https://www.rte.ie/news/newslens/2020/0720/1154319-community-fridges/ (21.07.2020).
• The Share City project website https://sharecity.ie/ has some useful blogs on food sharing during Covid-19, including this one about food sharing in the US https://sharecity.ie/food-sharing-in-the-us-whats-changed-during-covid-19/ (21.07.2020).
• Positive story about how teenagers in Chicago turned a former liquor store into a pop-up fresh food market https://www.blackenterprise.com/texas-based-teens-convert-old-liquor-store-into-a-pop-up-fresh-food-market/ (23.07.2020).
• 'Take what you need. Leave what you don't': Community fridges fill a growing need with free food, National Post (community fridges, with cases from Canada, plus New York) https://nationalpost.com/life/food/take-what-you-need-leave-what-you-dont-community-fridges-fill-a-growing-need-with-free-food (01.08.2020).
  
• Useful critique of why community fridges won't solve food insecurity, Civil Eats https://civileats.com/2020/07/30/op-ed-why-those-community-fridges-wont-solve-hunger/ (06.08.2020).
• An inspiring @CivilEats compilation of initiatives in the U.S to address food system inequalities, many in response to the pandemic https://civileats.com/2020/08/03/and-now-for-some-good-news-20-inspiring-food-and-agriculture-stories/ (07.08.2020).
• Startup in San Francisco (Full Harvest) matches farmers with distributors (via on-line market). During Covid-19 they linked farmers (who needed to sell crops no longer wanted by buyers) with organisations that provide food boxes to food insecure in Oakland and New York City https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-08-13/fixing-the-covid-food-disaster-can-slash-climate-emissions (25.08.2020).
• To combat hunger, neighbo[u]rs are stocking community fridges on Boston’s streets, The Boston Globe https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/09/25/business/combat-hunger-neighbors-are-stocking-community-fridges-bostons-streets/ (community fridges and food insecurity; '“take what you need. Leave what you can” is written in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Haitian Creole' via @julianagyeman) (26.09.2020).
  
• Not completely a crisis! Vanessa Lucy slides as part of the SHARECITY 2020 conference https://sharecity.vids.io/videos/ea9cd6ba1f18e4c363/3-vanessa-lucy ('+ outlooks on the COVID-19 pandemic include >foodsharing sales, a global renewal of affection for gardening & a tech boom of sharing knowledge & skills, overall expanding access to food activities') (26.09.2020).
• School nutrition directors feed communities through the pandemic, Food Tank https://foodtank.com/news/2020/12/school-nutrition-directors-feed-communities-through-the-pandemic/ (contactless pick-up programmes and local procurement partnerships, plus promoting sustainable nutrition) (20.12.2020).
• Phoenix Used Food Aid Program [Feed Phoenix] to Save Small Businesses as Well, Bloomberg https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-17/phoenix-used-food-aid-program-to-save-small-businesses-as-well ('Feed Phoenix, run by the nonprofit Local First Arizona, has [mended] links in the chain of local food supply by connecting struggling farmers with imperiled restaurants and caterers. Local First buys produce from farms, then pays restaurants and caterers to prepare meals and deliver them to distribution points like food banks and refugee housing') (24.12.2020).
  
• How Community Fridges Help Feed America ('Freedges'), Consumer Reports https://www.consumerreports.org/food-insecurity-hunger/how-community-fridges-help-feed-america-freedges-public-refrigerators/ (local efforts to address food insecurity have grown during the pandemic but don't address underlying inequities. As Andy Fisher who shared the article put it, '...just as putting a book in the free community library isn't going to solve illiteracy, putting your leftovers in a community fridge isn't going to solve the hunger problem') (07.01.2021).
  

• Video from the Johns Hopkins Center reports on ways food policy councils in the US are shifting their strategies to address increased food insecurity during the Covid-19 pandemic. Case studies from Montgomery County Food Council (Maryland), the Dubuque County Food Policy Council (Iowa), and the Detroit Food Policy Council (Michigan) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HH02GobEhg&feature=youtu.be (13.06.2020).

• This Guardian article argues factory farming, global agribusiness and environmental destruction are to blame for coronavirus (not wet markets) (accessed: 10.04.2020). Links to Wallace’s (2016) argument about relational geographies not absolute geographies when tracing the cause of disease outbreaks; see also https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/17/pandemics-destruction-nature-un-who-legislation-trade-green-recovery (20.06.2020).
• Here's a podcast/interview with Rob Wallace, explaining links between infectious disease and global agriculture https://kutpodcasts.org/the-secret-ingredient/covid-19-series-rob-wallace (accessed: 06.05.2020).
• Industrial animal farming has caused most new infectious diseases and risks more pandemics, The Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/coronavirus-meat-animal-farming-pandemic-disease-wet-markets-a9505626.html (accessed: 16.05.2020).
  
• This article, by Laura Spinney, is also helpful in making the case for global responsibility in terms of the origins of the virus (accessed: 11.04.2020); have a read too of the excellent blog on Covid-19, racism and the power of names, by geographer Tim Cresswell (accessed: 11.04.2020).
• Baby pangolins on my plate: possible lessons to learn from the COVID-19 pandemic https://ethnobiomed.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/s13002-020-00366-4. Open access paper in Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine (09.05.2020).
• Excellent article on pangolins by historian Sujit Sivasundaram ('the history of the current crisis lies in human interactions with animals, not least pangolins, in a variety of settings, including in Europe') https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/covid-19-interspecies-frontier-history-with-pangolins (08.07.2020).
• Useful article by Patrick Holden on what the pandemic means in terms of future food security (11.04.2020). Critiques the current centralised system.
• Caroline Lucas - Coronavirus and access to food (11.04.2020).
• Interview linked to Tim Lang’s new ‘Feeding Britain’ book, but links also to Covid-19 (11.04.2020); see also this interview with Geoff Tansey https://geofftansey.wordpress.com/2020/05/10/feeding-britain-our-food-problems-and-how-to-fix-them/ (16.05.2020).
• Go back in time to Mike Davis ‘The Monster At Our Door’ (2005) responding to Avian Flu. Davis argues for international co-operation to secure global public health.
• We need to change how we grow our food (20.04.2020).
• EU towards a sustainable food system (20.04.2020).
• The myth of silver linings https://www.businessgreen.com/blog-post/4012857/myth-silver-linings  (24.04.2020) (interesting blog on green growth generally, but very relevant in terms of food system changes that we might anticipate now but might not happen (for various reasons)).
• Two blogs from the Future Food team at Nottingham University. The first is about the globalisation of food, their fragility and links to 'planetary health' https://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/futurefood/2020/04/07/global-food-supply-chains-in-times-of-pandemic/ and the second considers global trading patterns https://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/futurefood/2020/04/27/global-trading-the-good-the-bad-and-the-essential/ (both accessed 29.04.2020).
• Podcast on Covid-19 and the food system by the Sustainable Places team at Cardiff University https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/sustainable-places/research/sustainable-places-podcast(accessed 29.04.2020).
• Eating Better blog on the UK food system (five lessons from Covid-19) https://www.eating-better.org/blog/5-things-covid19-has-told-us-about-food-systems-in-the-uk (accessed 29.04.2020).
• This is a crowdsourced Googledoc https://docs.google.com/document/d/10w7MKa1lurkJR5zIJBbG-LyMykhDtxlfO2liGjruNVQ/edit?fbclid=IwAR3on3eJfnhiP7HMiKPfVqxi8nwTnlcZMlNGQlMu_3BGuczaiTT43enZiMA (accessed: 29.04.2020) that covers a range of materials (mostly media articles but academic sources too), across various food system themes (see the contents page). Thanks to Colin Anderson for sending me the link.
• Frontiers is also organising a theme issue on the effects of COVID-19 on food supply, diet, nutrition and health https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/14033/the-effects-of-the-covid-19-outbreak-on-food-supply-dietary-patterns-nutrition-and-health (accessed: 16.05.2020).
• Journal of Agrarian Change has a call for papers for a special issue on 'Capitalism, Crisis and Covid' https://www.aqs.org.uk/cfp-capitalism-crisis-and-covid-agrarian-political-economy-in-disrupted-circuits-of-capital-and-labour/ (accessed 23.05.2020).
• Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Communiyt Development has a special issue on COVID-19 (early) food system responses https://www.foodsystemsjournal.org/index.php/fsj (30.05.2020).
• Useful report by IPES-Food on COVID-19 and the Crisis in Food Systems http://www.ipes-food.org/pages/covid19 (29.04.2020).
• This article examines food chain disruptions caused by Covid-19, with analysis and case studies from production through to consumption (nice visuals) https://multimedia.scmp.com/infographics/news/world/article/3080824/covid19-disrupts-food-supply/index.html 
• Rockerfeller Foundation article (Covid-19 food system reflections) https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/blog/five-covid-19-reflections-from-a-food-system-perspective-and-how-we-could-take-action/ (accessed 04.05.2020).
• Thoughtful blog by Corinna Hawkes making the case for a systems approach to global health https://www.4sd.info/covid-19-narratives/spotlight-on-systems-with-professor-corinna-hawkes/ , including food systems (systems as multiple and interconnected) (accessed: 06.05.2020).
• Great article by Jennifer Clapp in The New York Times: the Covid-19 crisis is revealing a very broken global food system https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/08/opinion/coronavirus-global-food-supply.html (09.05.2020).
• Michael Pollan article in The New York Review of Books (how Covid19 exposes vulnerabilities in the US food system) https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2020/06/11/covid-19-sickness-food-supply/ (accessed: 16.05.2020).
• Phil McMichael: COVID-19 Implications on our 'Broken Food System' https://www.isa-agrifood.com/post/covid-19-implications-on-our-broken-food-system (16.05.2020).
• This Los Angeles Times piece is also a good summary of Covid-19 impacts on the US food chain https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-05-05/coronavirus-food-supply-chain-makers-distributors-retailers (16.05.2020).
• This paper by Christopher Barrett in Nature Food sets out seven actions governments can take to stablise food chains (based on learning from 2008-2012 price spikes) https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-020-0085-y.pdf(09.05.2020).
• Sustainable Healthy Diets and Covid 19: Building Back Better Food Systems https://tastingthefuture.com/2020/05/06/sustainable-healthy-diets-and-covid-19-building-back-better-food-systems/ (09.05.2020).
• Blog from the Nordic Food Policy Lab on how we build back more sustainable food systems, post-Covid (short food chains, diversity, citizen agency) https://tastingthefuture.com/2020/05/06/sustainable-healthy-diets-and-covid-19-building-back-better-food-systems/ (accessed 23.05.2020).
• Impacts of COVID-19 on the Food System (Warwick University resources page)  https://warwick.ac.uk/research/priorities/food/foodduringcovid19/ (23.05.2020).
• Coronavirus offers the chance to create a fairer UK food supply chain https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/18/coronavirus-offers-chance-to-create-fairer-uk-food-supply-chain-say-experts (23.05.2020).
  
• Food systems should focus on public goods - IPES-Food; Peter Jackson is quoted too https://ihsmarkit.com/research-analysis/covid19-shows-food-systems-should-focus-on-public-good.html (23.05.2020).
• Nature Plants editorial: food in a time of COVID-19 (highlighting inequalities in food systems) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-020-0682-7.pdf (30.05.2020).
• Nature Food: exploring wet markets (we need a wider approach than banning these markets; as is often the case, no simple fix!) https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-020-0090-1.pdf; see also this piece about banning bushmeat in The Conversation https://theconversation.com/banning-bushmeat-could-make-it-harder-to-stop-future-pandemics-138735 (both accessed 30.05.2020).
• Barilla Centre for Food and Nutrition has outlined 10 farm to fork actions to fix the food system post-covid19 https://www.barillacfn.com/en/ (06.06.2020).
• Food safety risk during the pandemic https://ifst.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/fsat.3402_4.x (06.06.2020).
• Interesting blog [thanks to Matt Reed for sending] by Ludivine Petetin about how we build democratic food systems post-Covid (interconnection, democracy and multi-level governance) https://foodmanifesto.wales/2020/06/01/building-democratic-food-systems-following-covid-19/ (06.06.2020).
• How Food Producers Can Re-Make Their Supply Chains for 21st Century https://www.foodlogistics.com/sustainability/article/21133458/perch-perspectives-how-food-producers-can-remake-their-supply-chains-for-21st-century (06.06.2020).
  
• Here's a link  to my Geography Directions blog that summarises key themes from the COVID-19 sustainable resources page (relationality, food insecurity and relocalisation of food systems) https://blog.geographydirections.com/2020/06/10/covid-19-and-food-systems-relational-geographies-food-insecurity-and-relocalisation/ (11.06.2020).
• Food system fragility: Peter Jackson and Duncan Cameron, Institute for Sustainable Food, argue that Covid-19 highlights the fragility of the food system and what needs to be done to 'build back better' (horticulture, urban growing, procurement schemes, circular economy) https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/sustainable-food/news/coronavirus-pandemic-symptom-broken-food-system (13.06.2020).
• Paper by Ludivine Petetin argues we can use the Covid-19 crisis as an opportunity to integrate food democracy into post-pandemic food systems https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/486D3CB338D1043228183A942E8CF8C9/S1867299X20000409a.pdf/covid19_crisis_an_opportunity_to_integrate_food_democracy_into_post_pandemic_food_systems.pdf (14.06.2020).
• Covid-19 and structural food system change https://www.ids.ac.uk/opinions/linking-covid-19-responses-to-structural-change-in-food-systems/ (14.06.2020).
• Catherine Price: food and memories in the time of Covid-19 https://es.britsoc.co.uk/food-and-memories-in-the-time-of-covid-19/?utm_source=British+Sociological+Association&utm_campaign=15b5696e31-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_06_08_09_54&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_944a94d9c4-15b5696e31-362001761 (14.06.2020).
• This piece argues global food chains are resilient https://www.luke.fi/en/blog/the-global-food-supply-chains-are-resilient/ (20.06.2020).
• International Humanitarian Studies Association Covid-19 blog series https://mailchi.mp/b2668508c02d/ihsa-newsletter-4138047 (20.06.2020).
• Building food system resilience (landscape perspective) https://ecoagriculture.org/blog/how-to-reimagine-our-food-systems-for-a-post-covid-world-taking-a-landscape-perspective/ (20.06.2020).
• A resilient UK food system https://post.parliament.uk/research-briefings/post-pn-0626/ (20.06.2020)
• The Dutch food system post-coronavirus https://www.wur.nl/en/show-longread/The-Dutch-food-system-post-coronavirus.htm (20.06.2020).
• The Pandemic and Our Food System: Why We Might Want to Move Our Food Supply Closer to Home. Pace University discussion with Melanie DuPuis and Jonathan Brown  https://pace.zoom.us/rec/play/vZwtdu6qqj03HIfGsASDAP8qW43sLq2s0SgdqaBYnRy9AnIFNAemb7AWMLEefXrDWEU93O6EQfXWcLIy?continueMode=true&_x_zm_rtaid=Yy_R7kUySVahBiEAB18cXw.1593123431211.0989031fc0248aa2a343cf0b0de10791&_x_zm_rhtaid=825 (27.06.2020).
• Article summarising arguments from the Committee on World Food Security's High Level Panel of Experts (call for radical transformation of the food system and extend the defintion of food security to include sustainability and agency) https://www.devex.com/news/radical-transformation-covid-19-shows-urgency-for-food-systems-policy-shifts-97579(28.06.2020).
• How to reimagine our food systems for a post-COVID world | World Economic Forum  https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/06/we-need-to-reimagine-our-food-systems-for-a-post-covid-world/(28.06.2020).
• Infrastructure investments for a greener, more resilient and sustainable country: Ideas and considerations for Canadian decision-makers, including food systems https://ipolitics.ca/2020/06/22/infrastructure-investments-for-a-greener-more-resilient-and-sustainable-country-ideas-and-considerations-for-canadian-decision-makers/(28.06.2020).
• COVID-19: the imperative of a global food system transformation, The Guardian (Advertiser content, Barilla Centre for Food and Nutrition) https://www.theguardian.com/advertiser-content/barilla-center-for-food---nutrition/the-imperative-of-a-global-food-system-transformation-after-covid-19-sustainable-and-healthy-diets-for-all (28.06.2020).
  
• Nordic food lab: Covid-19 and food system resilience (outlines seven principles to build resilience, including diversity and redundancy, connectivity, systems thinking and social learning) https://pub.norden.org/nord2020-038/#29373 (04.07.2020).
• Preventing the next pandemic - Zoonotic diseases and how to break the chain of transmission, UNEP - UN Environment Programme (key message: need to reshape food systems - change diets, shorten food chains) https://www.unenvironment.org/resources/report/preventing-future-zoonotic-disease-outbreaks-protecting-environment-animals-and (07.07.2020).
  
• Food and post-COVID transformations podcast with Dr David Nabarro and and Melissa Leach (includes zoonotic spillover, One Health, and the global food system) https://www.faifarms.com/podcasts/the-one-with-the-who-ipes-food/(08.07.2020).
  
• Will Coronavirus's Disruption of Big Ag Have Lasting Change?, Time https://time.com/5865037/coronavirus-agriculture-us/ (11.07.2020).
• Effects of COVID-19 on the food supply system https://post.parliament.uk/analysis/food-security/effects-of-covid-19-on-the-food-supply-system/ (13.07.2020).
• Trump, race, poultry and agri-capital in the pandemic https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/07/20/how-trump-is-helping-tycoons-exploit-the-pandemic (14.07.2020).
• Brief by Alison Blay-Palmer and Building Back Better Post-COVID-19 Task Force colleagues: Now is the time to build sustainable food system resilience, iPolitics (Canada) https://ipolitics.ca/2020/07/15/now-is-the-time-to-build-sustainable-food-system-resilience/ (15.07.2020).
  
• 15 inspiring quotes and questions to guide the food system forward, Food Tank https://foodtank.com/news/2020/07/15-inspiring-quotes-and-questions-to-guide-the-food-system-forward/ (16.07.2020).
  
• New Nature Economy Report II: The Future of Nature and Business (argues no future for business as usual; need arrangements that build resilience in agriculture, fisheries and food systems) http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_Future_Of_Nature_And_Business_2020.pdf (20.07.2020).
  
• UN report on zoonotic diseases. Argues we are currently treating symptoms but not the environmental cause of pandemics - we need a one-health approach and better surveillance of disease threats and associated food systems to prevent future outbreaks https://www.unenvironment.org/resources/report/preventing-future-zoonotic-disease-outbreaks-protecting-environment-animals-and (20.07.2020).
• Science paper calls for investment to protect wildlife and prevent disease spillovers. Notes significant investment in One Health biosecurity plans to prevent farmed animal spillovers. Need investment also in wildlife trade spillovers, as well as reducing deforestation https://science.sciencemag.org/content/369/6502/379 (25.07.2020).
• The pandemic could actually strengthen the U.S. food system, National Geographic (interesting article re. flexiblity of small and medium-sized farms and reflective critique re. food security and regional food resilience) https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/07/pandemic-could-strengthen-us-food-system/ (22.07.2020).
• Zhao Haijun & Seth Cook blog discusses building food system system through decentralisation, digitalisation and diversification (lessons from China’s response to COVID-19) https://nutritionconnect.org/resource-center/blog-38-build-resilience-food-system-through-decentralisation-digitalisation-and (23.07.2020).
• Food systems transformation: building back better during response and recovery, FAO Response and Recovery Programme ($50 million, 2020-24) http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/faoweb/Resource_Mobilization/resources/covid19/06Food_Systems_Transformation.pdf?ct=t(C2025_newsletter12_03152017_DO_NOT_DELET3_15_2017_) (23.07.2020).
• Interesting article about systems thinking and sustainability innovation by Rowan Conway (useful for food systems thinking, esp. intersectional nature of systems and rethinking economics) https://medium.com/@rowan.e.wilson/what-does-systems-change-mean-in-2020-706d159763cc (28.07.2020).
  
• Excellent blog by Jennifer Clapp: Solving Our Food Crisis Requires a Fundamental Transformation of the System (lessons from the High Level Panel of Experts Global Narrative report in the context of the COVID-19 food security crisis) https://www.iisd.org/blog/food-crisis-transform-system (29.07.2020).
• Anna Davies OneEarth paper commenting on the SAPEA sustainable food systems evidence review report (the report went to press pre-Covid-19 but the recommendations are very relevant, as Anna argues) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7380216/pdf/main.pdf (01.08.2020).
• Corinna Hawkes, The Conversation: Five ways to reboot the global food economy to make it healthier for all (e.g. financing healthy food, comprehensive regulation for junk food, public procurement) https://theconversation.com/five-ways-to-reboot-the-global-food-economy-to-make-it-healthier-for-all-143704 (04.08.2020).
• Agriculture and Human Values has a special collection of short essays on COVID-19 in Issue 3 (Sept 2020) https://link.springer.com/journal/10460/37/3?utm_source=toc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=toc_10460_37_3&utm_content=etoc_springer_20200805 (05.08.2020). Some excellent contributions.
• Ana Moragues-Faus has a useful piece in the A&HV's collection (see above), arguing for the need for a distributive food systems to build just and liveable futures, with a link to the work of Iris Young https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10460-020-10087-9 (05.08.2020); this piece, by Lewis Holloway, is useful, linking Covid-19 to his work on infectious farm animal disease and biosecurity  https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs10460-020-10072-2.pdf (05.08.2020); see also 'Agri-food tech discovers silver linings in the pandemic' (Fairbairn and Guthman) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10460-020-10052-6 (08.08.2020); Blay-Palmer et al re. 'Post COVID 19 and food pathways to sustainable transformation'  https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10460-020-10051-7 (need for systems thinking and the role of national and local governments to build infrastructure for territorial markets) (07.12.2020).
• World Bank piece on the potential of digital technology platforms for system transformation (thanks @lauklerkx for sharing) https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/immersive-story/2020/08/06/beyond-the-pandemic-harnessing-the-digital-revolution-to-set-food-systems-on-a-better-course?cid=SHR_SitesShareTT_EN_EXT (08.08.2020).
  
• New report on transforming the US food system from The Rockefeller Foundation: Reset the Table: Meeting the Moment to Transform the U.S. Food System (reviews what Covid-19 has revealed re. food nutrition insecurity and proposes three goals (integrated nutrition security system, reinvigorated regional systems, and more equitable prosperity)) (via Marion Nestle, who rightly notes that the real challenge for this transformation is how!) (08.08.2020).
• Susanna Klassen and Sophia Murphy World Development paper. 'Equity as both a means and an end: Lessons for resilient food systems from COVID-19' https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X2030231X (food insecurity reinforces inequity; food workers are essential but not treated as such, and migrant food workers face unique forms inequity) (thanks @KhKnickel) (10.08.2020).
• Food Supply Chains & COVID-19: Impacts & Policy Lessons http://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/food-supply-chains-and-covid-19-impacts-and-policy-lessons-71b57aea/ (part OECD's C-19 Policy Responses section) (10.08.2020).
  
• Food Security special issue: Worldwide disruptions of food systems and the search of enduring food security amidst Covid19 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12571-020-01094-z (30 papers, mostly opinion articles. Papers cover impacts, resilience mechanisms, sustainable food systems and policies) (thanks @lauklerkx) (14.08.2020).
• Gastronomica special issue (Volume 20 Issue 3): food in the time of COVID-19 and its complex symptomology https://online.ucpress.edu/gastronomica/issue/20/3 (perspectives from the kitchen, the pass, the table, the community, the market and our foodways) (19.08.2020).
• Excellent N8 AgriFood blog by @Tom_H_Oliver about green recovery and the need to address lock-in mechanisms (at structural and psychological levels); in short, ‘bouncing back better’ from COVID-19 requires overcoming system lock-ins to reconfigure our socioeconomic systems https://www.n8agrifood.ac.uk/blog-posts/bouncing-back-better-from-covid-19-requires-overcoming-systemic-lock-ins/ (22.08.2020).
• Earth Overshoot Day and COVID-19 bring food system challenges into focus, Diplomat Courier https://www.diplomaticourier.com/posts/earth-overshoot-day-and-covid-19-bring-food-system-challenges-into-focus?utm_campaign=EOD%202020&utm_content=137990547&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&hss_channel=tw-48441185 (calls for structural changes to transform food systems) (29.08.2020).
  
• Jan Douwe van der Ploeg: From biomedical to politico-economic crisis: the food system in times of Covid-19, The Journal of Peasant Studies https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03066150.2020.1794843?needAccess=true (useful paper; argues political economic impacts of Covid may be longer and deeper than the current biomedical crisis) (29.08.2020).
• A Call for a National Agenda for a Healthy, Equitable, and Sustainable Food System (Nick Freudenberg & Marion Nestle editorial, American Journal of Public Health https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdfplus/10.2105/AJPH.2020.305926 (06.09.2020).
• Post-coronavirus, how can we achieve food justice? Horizon: the EU Research & Innovation magazine, European Commission https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/post-coronavirus-how-can-we-achieve-food-justice.html (Olivier De Schutter 'many voices now are calling for a rethink, so that we treat food, like medicine and healthcare material, as a strategic good') (16.09.2020).
  
• Food as a commons and changing food narratives in a post-COVID19 world, podcast with Jose Luis Vivero-Pol  https://findsustpod.podbean.com/e/031-food-as-a-commons-and-changing-food-narratives-in-a-post-covid19-world-with-jose-luis-vivero-pol/ (21.09.2020).
  
• Will COVID-19 change our relationship with meat?, Thomson Reuters Foundation Long Reads https://longreads.trust.org/item/pandemic-climate-eat-green-food-COVID-19 (COVID19 as the tipping point in our relationship with meat?; sales data from the US and Asia show increased demand for plant-based alternatives during the pandemic) (23.09.2020).
  
• The 2020 Global Nutrition Report in the context of Covid-19 https://globalnutritionreport.org/reports/2020-global-nutrition-report/2020-global-nutrition-report-context-covid-19/ (highlights the need to build a food system that makes healthy and sustainable food affordable) (23.09.2020).
• Helping policymakers make decisions to transform their food systems for healthy diets, Nutrition Connect https://nutritionconnect.org/resource-center/blog-42-no-regrets-no-excuses-helping-policymakers-make-decisions-transform-their (Corinna Hawkes, Stephanie Walton, Lawrence Haddad and Jessica Fanzo report on their No Regrets project, which will identify a short list of food systems actions for policy makers) (26.09.2020).
  
• Covid-19 has exposed the world’s fragile, complex food supply chains, Financial Times https://www.ft.com/content/65ad7504-b7de-4df4-8747-f669a2e541fe (features @Hodmedods and @ProfTimLang; 'the ethics & ecology of what we eat'; Covid19 has highlighted the interconnection between planetary and human health (one health!)) (26.09.2020).
  
• The urgency of food system transformation is now irrefutable, Nature Food editorial (part of new Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition foresight report) https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-020-00161-0.pdf (29.09.2020); here's the link to the Foresight 2.0 Global Panel report https://www.glopan.org/foresight2/ (02.10.2020).
• How the coronavirus pandemic shook up our relationship with food, European Parliament Think Tank https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_ATA(2020)652089 (29.09.2020). 
• This food crisis is different: COVID-19 and the fragility of the neoliberal food security order  https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epub/10.1080/03066150.2020.1823838?needAccess=true (useful paper by Jennifer Clapp and William Moseley; highlights the dangers of COVID-19 food crisis and argues for structural reform of food systems) (12.10.2020).
• Voices from the ground: from COVID-19 to radical transformation of our food systems (useful report by Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples Mechanism; food sovereignty) http://www.csm4cfs.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/EN-COVID_FULL_REPORT-2020.pdf (16.10.2020).
• Gender, COVID-19 and food systems: Impacts, community responses and feminist policy demands (excellent CSM Women's Working Group report by Jessica Duncan and Priscilla Claeys; the report summarises 'acts of mutual aid and solidarity, as well as the negative impacts experienced by women around the world') (the above two links both via Jessica Duncan's excellent Food Governance resources page https://foodgovernance.com/resource-round-up-16-october-2020/) (16.10.2020).
• Bringing the future into the present: the Covid food crisis https://sceptical.scot/2020/10/bringing-the-future-into-the-present-the-covid-food-crisis/ (interesting blog by Dominic Duckett on scenario planning & how it can help food system reform) (16.10.2020).
• To solve problems we must connect systems https://www.thebetterfoodjourney.com/blog/to-solve-problems-we-must-connect-systems# (excellent blog by Corinna Hawkes on food's interconnections with multiple systems; 'the existence and severity of COVID-19 was the result of activity in multiple systems and the interactions between them') (19.10.2020).
• Scientists propose tax on meat and livestock to help avert future pandemics, Successful Farming https://www.agriculture.com/markets/newswire/scientists-propose-tax-on-meat-and-livestock-to-help-avert-future-pandemics (31.10.2020).
  
• Contemporary pathogens and the capitalist world food system, Canadian Journal of Development Studies (Haroon Akram-Lodhi  article on COVID-19 and the world food system) https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02255189.2020.1834361?journalCode=rcjd20 (31.10.2020).
  
• Ensuring a Post-COVID Economic Agenda Tackles Global Biodiversity Loss, One Earth https://www.cell.com/one-earth/fulltext/S2590-3322(20)30480-2 (@PamMcElwee et al paper on COVID-19, biodiversity loss and economic drivers that create ecological disruption and changes needed for ecological resilience; useful links to agri-food production, regulation and fiscal policy) (03.11.2020).
• Equity as both a means and an end: Lessons for resilient food systems from COVID-19, World Development https://reader.elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/S0305750X2030231X?token=10444BFF5121EF9D0B4DC66ACEEB748EB07EDAAE662B04CB95D87A6917177B7EC053CA281227BB070931619C707913AA (paper by Susanna Klassen and Sophia Murphy - addressing inequities 'are not only what is just, it is what is necessary to promote resilience to future shocks') (06.11.2020).
  
• Food Sovereignty in COVID-19 Pandemic: The Narrative of Commons, LSE Southeast Asia Blog https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/seac/2020/10/20/food-sovereignty-in-covid-19-pandemic-the-narrative-of-commons/ (excellent blog about food commoning practice and agency; people turn to collective actions and cooperation for food; food becomes a 'commons' (see Vivero-Pol's work) in Indonesia; mutual aid based on customary traditions) (06.11.2020).
  
• How foodbanks went global, New Internationalist https://newint.org/immersive/2020/11/10/how-foodbanks-went-global (excellent review by Charlie Spring of food banks (origins, growth, contradictions, etc.); quite rightly questions why we export what is effectively a failed model to other countries!?) (11.11.2020).
• WTO paper emphasising the risk that animal diseases pose to human health (highlighted by the Covid-19 pandemic); discusses the role trade measures can play in building resilience https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/covid19_e/resilience_report_e.pdf (11.11.2020).
• Why European food systems lack resilience, Greenpeace https://storage.googleapis.com/planet4-eu-unit-stateless/2020/10/85cc908b-false-sense-of-security_final_en.pdf (set against the Covid-19 pandemic, the report examines how European food system perform in terms of food sovereignty and relocalisation; useful to read alongside the WTO paper above) (12.11.2020).
• Post-pandemic transformations: How and why COVID-19 requires us to rethink development, World Development https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X20303600 ('Covid-19 should make us rethink: relationships between science and policy; economic models and structures; and how states and citizens relate to each other' (via @ STEPS Centre)) (12.11.2020).
• Food system resilience and Covid-19. Commentary by Bettina Rudloff on the "Challenges for a coherent approach to food system resilience within the EU" https://migrationpolicycentre.eu/docs/migreshub/MigResHub-commentary-No2.pdf (13.11.2020).
• Young people can play a role in building food systems during crises like COVID-19, Nutrition Connect https://nutritionconnect.org/news-events/blog-43-young-people-can-play-role-building-food-systems-during-crises-covid-19 (great blog by Mike Nkhombo Khunga, vice chair of the UN Food Systems Action Track 5; highlights the need to create more space for youth in food system transformation discussions both during and beyond the pandemic) (22.11.2020).
  
• Pandemic prompts rethink of food supply chains, Financial Times https://www.ft.com/content/ef90057c-cdc4-4706-8952-1866186597c3 (COVID highlights the need for a robust and responsive (resilient) food system; Farmdrop mentioned; localism and food security) (24.11.2020).
• We must give women a chance to build back a better food system, CNBC Africa https://www.cnbcafrica.com/insights/energy-environment/2020/11/25/we-must-give-women-a-chance-to-build-back-a-better-food-system/?utm_campaign=socialmedia&utm_medium=worldresources&utm_source=twitter&utm_term=3706e307-5488-4ce9-ab69-4c15875048c5 (27.11.2020).
  
• Crisis vs opportunity: how has COVID-19 impacted the agrifood sector in 2020?, EIT Food https://www.eitfood.eu/blog/post/crisis-vs-opportunity-how-has-covid-19-impacted-the-agrifood-sector-in-2020 (new forms of collaboration in agrifood, changes in consumer behaviour and how to embed resilience in food systems) (16.12.2020).
  
• Useful SCAR Foresight report by Gianluca Brunori and colleagues on food system resilience and transformation https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/research_and_innovation/research_by_area/documents/ki0219871enn_002.pdf (provides a general assessment of European food systems but has a section on COVID-19 and implications for food system learning) (16.12.2020).
• Tackling Food Sector challenges post COVID-19 https://blogs.uwe.ac.uk/covid-19/2020/12/02/tackling-food-sector-challenges-post-covid-19/ (blog by Vikas Kumar about SC management post-Covid, including digital technologies and diversification of the supplier base via short food chains) (18.12.2020).
• Sustain 2020 Annual Conference (excellent online event, which focused on putting food and farming at the heart of our economic recovery post COVID-19) https://www.sustainweb.org/webinars/annual-conference-2020/; link too to their report on the importance of putting 'good food jobs' at the centre of the recovery https://www.sustainweb.org/publications/economic-recovery-briefing/(18.12.2020).
• Building back better: How can we increase the resilience of the UK food system? https://www.foodsecurity.ac.uk/news/building-back-better-how-can-we-increase-the-resilience-of-the-uk-food-system/ (workshop report about how we '#BuildBackBetter' and create a more resilient post COVID-19 food network) (22.12.2020).
• On food system transitions and transformations: Comprehensive mapping of the landscape of current thinking, research, and action https://edepot.wur.nl/533535 (excellent food system resource curated by Seerp Wigboldus, including a section on COVID, pg. 31; thanks @lauklerkx for sharing) (23.12.2020).
• Faulty food systems laid bare by COVID-19 and climate crises, Thomson Reuters Foundation https://news.trust.org/item/20201227080204-3652n/ ("The double whammy of extreme weather and COVID-19 has brought the shortcomings of our global food system into sharp relief") (04.01.2021).
• Collaboration for innovative routes to market: COVID-19 and the food system, Agricultural Systems https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0308521X20308994?dgcid=author (paper by Luke Prosser, Eifiona Thomas Lane and Rebecca Jones; innovative examples of producer collaboration in Wales (producer and organisation-led models), which created new markets) (05.01.2021).
  
• Return of National Self-Sufficiency? Excavating Autarkic Thought in a De-Globalizing Era, International Studies Review https://academic.oup.com/isr/advance-article/doi/10.1093/isr/viaa092/6063510 (paper by Eric Helleiner provides important historical context for understanding current debates over rising interest in greater levels of self-sufficiency; thanks Jennifer Clapp for sharing) (07.01.2021).
• Resilience or how do we enable agricultural systems to ride the waves of unexpected change?, Agricultural Systems https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308521X20308581 (useful paper by Ika Darnhofer about how agricultural systems deal with unexpected events, including learning from COVID-19) (09.01.2021).
  
• Agricultural Systems SI: Impacts of COVID-19 on Agricultural and Food Systems Worldwide and on Progress to the Sustainable Development Goals (special issue examines impacts of COVID-19 on agricultural and food systems, encouraging papers to view the impacts through a lens of the SDGs) https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/agricultural-systems/special-issue/10D1KTPPCQ5 (09.01.2021).
• How to feed the world in the next crisis, part of BBC News Follow the Food series https://www.bbc.com/future/bespoke/follow-the-food/how-to-feed-the-world-in-the-next-crisis.html (useful piece, as five agri-food experts share their plans for safeguarding crops for future generations; they put land and soil at the centre and promote working with nature and not just technology as a meaningful source for innovation; thanks @Anna_K_speaking for sharing) (23.01.2021).
• Planning for Food Commons in a Post-COVID World, ARC 2020 https://www.arc2020.eu/planning-for-food-commons-in-the-post-covid-world/ (interesting op-ed by Stephen Leitheiser and Lummina Horlings about food commons as an alternative to "techno-utopian" food systems in a Post-COVID world; food commons, local food production, civic governance, CSA) (30.01.2021).
• Making Better Policies for Food Systems, OECD http://www.oecd.org/food-systems/understanding/ (new OECD food systems resource, in response to COVID and with an eye to the upcoming UN Food Systems submit and the need for new policies); they also have a new Making Better Policies for Food Systems https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/agriculture-and-food/making-better-policies-for-food-systems_ddfba4de-en, which addresses three challenges (food insecurity and nutrition, supporting livelihoods for those working along FCs and environmental sustainability) and how to reach sustainable outcomes) (30.01.2021).
• Meat-eating creates risk of future pandemic that ‘would make Covid seem a dress rehearsal’, scientists warn, The Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/meat-coronavirus-pandemic-science-animals-b1794996.html (industrial livestock agriculture as a source of future zoonoses. This is not a new prediction, but the point is we should see COVID as a warning and eat less meat in future to reduce demand that drives industrial animal agriculture, quoting Aliza le Roux & Robert Bragg) (01.02.2021).
  

Covid-19 expert database and Food Systems Handbook (open source project)

• Business, trade and COVID-19: What are experts concerned about? [50 concerns listed re food] https://post.parliament.uk/horizon-scanning/business-trade-and-covid-19-what-are-experts-concerned-about/ (accessed 16.05.2020).
• The Food Systems Handbook (Covid-19 Resources) (project collating resources related to Covid-19 and food systems) https://www.foodsystemshandbook.org/ (22.10.2020).

Food policy co-ordination

• Two useful resources by Kelly Parsons, Rosalind Sharpe and Corinna Hawkes at Food Research Collaboration https://foodresearch.org.uk/publications/who-makes-food-policy-in-england-and-food-policy-coordination-under-covid19/ (05.05.2020): a Guidance Note on why the government’s response to the Covid-19 food crisis needs to be better coordinated; and the detailed report it is based on, Who makes food policy in England?
• Food Secure Canada has produced a food policy action plan in response to COVID-19, centred around resilience and equity https://foodsecurecanada.org/2020-growing-resilience-equity (30.05.2020).
• COVID-19 responses: Food policy councils are “stepping in, stepping up, and stepping back”, Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development https://www.foodsystemsjournal.org/index.php/fsj/article/view/888/865 (the key role Food Policy Councils play re. food security during the pandemic) (05.11.2020).

Mapping unhealthy food commodity industry responses

• This is a mapping tool created by the NCD alliance to track how business are responding to COVID-19 and impacts on non-communicable disease https://ncdalliance.org/news-events/news/help-map-unhealthy-commodity-industries-responses-to-covid-19. In particular they track how COVID-19 may be used opportunistically by some food manufacturers/suppliers who promote unhealthy foods. Thanks to Dave Watson for sharing this (accessed: 09.05.2020).

• Signalling Virtue, Promoting Harm - Unhealthy commodity industries and COVID-19, NCD Alliance (@ncdalliance @SPECTRUMRes report; shows the different ways some big food businesses are promoting unhealthy / processed food during COVID-19) https://ncdalliance.org/resources/signalling-virtue-promoting-harm (17.09.2020).
  

• New report: Big Food vs. Public Health During the Pandemic (via Marion Nestle's excellent Food Politics page) https://www.foodpolitics.com/2020/11/24001/ (The report shows how Big Food took advantage of the pandemic for marketing, with examples of nutri-washing, positioning of processed brands and using charity to donate junk food) (20.11.2020).

• UK food surplus charity (Fair Share) given 360 tonnes more than usual as food service businesses close (accessed: 10.04.2020).
• WARP is trying to develop new ways to significantly increase surplus food redistribution (accessed: 10.04.2020).
• Data from WRAP re citizens and food during lockdown https://wrap.org.uk/content/citizens-and-food-covid-19-lockdown (23.05.2020). Reports a 34% drop in how much food households throw away, plus more food planning and creative cooking. A positive silver lining (amidst the mostly gloomy news).
• Food sharing during Covid-19, report from Philadelphia https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2020-05-17/food-sharing-during-covid-19-video (23.05.2020).
• UK takeaway food waste rises during coronavirus lockdown https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/13/uk-takeaway-food-waste-rises-during-coronavirus-lockdown (accessed: 16.05.2020).
• The oil crash has created a plastic recycling trap https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/goodbye-waste-free-future-the-oil-crash-has-created-a-plastic-recycling-trap-20200507-p54qkb.html (accessed: 16.05.2020).
• Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Useful circular economy article on 'building a healthy and resilient food system - A circular economy for food in a post-Covid-19 world' https://medium.com/circulatenews/building-a-healthy-and-resilient-food-system-352195694118 (11.06.2020); see also: 'the Covid-19 recovery requires a resilient circular economy' https://medium.com/circulatenews/the-covid-19-recovery-requires-a-resilient-circular-economy-e385a3690037 (11.06.2020).
• FarmLink: grassroots initiative in the US which reduces food waste, pays the farmers (using donations) and distributes the food to nearby food banks (great initiative!) https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2020/06/10/extra-food-is-rotting-farms-while-americans-go-hungry-this-group-is-trying-fix-that/ (20.06.2020).
• Reality bites: how the pandemic changed the way we eat, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/04/reality-bites-how-the-pandemic-changed-the-way-we-eat (06.07.2020).
• COVID-19 has resurrected single-use plastics - are they back to stay?, The Conversation https://theconversation.com/covid-19-has-resurrected-single-use-plastics-are-they-back-to-stay-140328 (14.07.2020).
• Food waste increases in UK as coronavirus restrictions ease, The Guardian (reporting data from WRAP survey, which in April 2020 found a reduction in waste but gains are reversing as lockdown eases according to their June survey, but figures are still above pre-lockdown levels) https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/29/food-waste-increases-in-uk-as-coronavirus-restrictions-ease (01.08.2020).
  
• Circular Online article also reports on the WRAP food waste findings https://www.circularonline.co.uk/news/as-lockdown-eases-signs-of-food-wasted-in-uk-homes-increasing-wrap/ (notes self-reported waste increased by 30% compared to the early stages of lockdown; however, as noted above too, self-reported waste remains significantly below pre-lockdown levels) (12.08.2020).
• Startup in San Francisco (Full Harvest) matches farmers with distributors (via on-line market). During Covid-19 they linked farmers (who needed to sell crops no longer wanted by buyers) with organisations that provide food boxes to food insecure in Oakland and New York City https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-08-13/fixing-the-covid-food-disaster-can-slash-climate-emissions (25.08.2020).
• Tesco asks shoppers to weigh their food bins to help cut waste, The Guardian (project by Tesco and Hubbub initiated on the back of data which suggests consumers are valuing food more; 'polling of about 2,000 adults for Tesco found that 67% now felt differently about food... (29%) said the pandemic had made them value food more') https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/sep/05/tesco-asks-shoppers-to-weigh-their-food-bins-to-help-cut-waste (06.09.2020).
  
• Social eating: inside the supermarket surplus initiatives that could change the way we eat https://theconversation.com/social-eating-inside-the-supermarket-surplus-initiatives-that-could-change-the-way-we-eat-142613 (10.09.2020).
• Blog outlining ideas on how to accelerate a circular food system https://www.greenbiz.com/article/3-ways-accelerate-circular-food-system-even-middle-pandemic (working with growers at farm-level to prevent food waste; importance of local food systems; emerging technology) (15.09.2020).
  
• Tesco to work with sharing app Olio in bid to drive down food waste, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/sep/17/tesco-to-work-with-sharing-app-olio-in-bid-to-drive-down-food-waste (initiative is in part in response to criticism supermarkets have faced of wasting edible food during COVID-19, when food banks are dealing with unprecedented demand)(17.09.2020).
  
• Silver lining in the health crisis? Less food waste (Thomson Reuters Foundation) https://news.trust.org/item/20200930123157-x67gu/ (As more people eat at home & restaurants cut costs (due to lockdowns), a reduction in foodwaste may be an unintended consequence of the pandemic) (02.10.2020).
• Food waste and Covid-19 survey 3: Life in flux, WRAP UK (new food waste stats:0 79% UK undertook additional food management behaviours in lockdown and behaviours have endured) (thanks Christian Reynolds for sharing) https://wrap.org.uk/content/food-waste-and-covid-19-survey-3-life-flux (29.10.2020).
  
• How the Pandemic is Creating a Plastic Boom, Civil Eats https://civileats.com/2020/04/28/how-the-pandemic-is-creating-a-plastic-boom/ (one unfortunate consequence of the pandemic is that efforts to ban single-use plastic have halted, without evidence that plastic is safer than other reusable packaging; thanks @CivilEats for sharing; US perspective, including changes at local food outlets) (30.12.2020).
  

• Sustainable Food Places: fantastic list of local food partnerships that are responding to the crisis, including place-based examples and regular updates (accessed 20.04.2020).
• Useful article describing how CSA, box schemes and other short chains are responding to unprecedented demand (accessed 10.04.2020).
• Sustain has put together a useful list of small food businesses selling on-line (national and regional directories) https://www.sustainweb.org/coronavirus/local_food_online/ (not intended to be an exhaustive list) (04.05.2020), plus selling platforms https://www.sustainweb.org/coronavirus/selling_platforms_for__food_orgs/(16.05.2020).
• Open Food Network UL local food producer list (online retail) https://about.openfoodnetwork.org.uk/blog/support-local-producers-by-shopping-online/ (04.05.2020).
• CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Network UK has put together a great set of Covid-19 resources for CSAs, including food-handling guidelines, how to meet increased demand and volunteer labour issues (accessed 11.04.2020).
• CSA article by Civil Eats reports on their growth during Covid-19 and how they were pioneered by black farmers in southern US states in the 1960s and 1970s https://civileats.com/2020/04/09/community-supported-agriculture-is-surging-amid-the-pandemic/ (14.06.2020).
• Land Workers’ Alliance (resources) (accessed: 11.04.2020).
• The Loans for Enlightened Agriculture Programme (LEAP) has launched an Emergency Small Loans Programme to help support the community food sector (10.04.2020).
• Useful article about Covid-19 and the local abattoir sector, who are critical for local meat chains (10.04.2020), plus a useful list of five websites / platforms that are helping to link local food producers with markets/consumers https://sustainablefoodtrust.org/articles/resources-to-support-sustainable-food-during-the-lockdown/ (accessed: 22.04.2020).
• Guardian article reporting individual and community grassroots responses to address food access uncertainty in supermarkets (accessed: 11.04.2020).
• Article on meat and veg vending machines (farm shop in Aberdeenshire) (20.04.2020).
• See also past CCRI work for ‘Local Food’ and CPRE food from the ‘Urban Fringe’  (14.03.2020).
• New Food Foundation report on veg. boxes schemes in the UK https://foodfoundation.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Food-Foundation-COVID-19-Veg-Box-Scheme-report.pdf, showing significant increases in demand and how schemes have adapted to sell to priority and vulnerable groups (05.05.2020); see also a summary of the main findings in this blog https://foodfoundation.org.uk/fruit_and_veg_affect/new-food-foundation-data-veg-box-sales-increase-by-111-in-six-weeks-as-a-result-of-covid-19/ (16.05.2020).
• Blog by Bryonny Goodwin-Hawkins on local food and Covid-19 https://wiserd.ac.uk/news/could-local-food-fill-our-supermarket-shelves, reminding us that local is 'sticky' and no simple solution (accessed 09.05.2020).
• This blog by Matt Reed and Bryonny Goodwin-Hawkins discusses Covid19 and lessons for relocalising food chains (see also their blog for this webpage) https://www.bevanfoundation.org/commentary/can-localising-food-tackle-inequalities/ (accessed: 16.05.2020).
• Sustainable Trust guides to 'growing your own' http://sustainablefoodtrust.org/articles/guides-to-growing-your-own-we-review-our-favourite-books/ (09.05.2020).
• Selling milk from the farm (direct, short chains) http://sustainablefoodtrust.org/articles/milk-fresh-from-the-farm/ (23.05.2020).
• Blog by Jan Vávra about agriculture, food growing and gardening in the Czech Republic https://timesofcovid19.temporalities.no/2020/04/22/sketches-of-food-agriculture-gardening-and-sustainability-in-the-times-of-covid-19-jan-vavra/ (accessed: 23.05.2020).
• Local food and food gardening, Edible Gardens project, Australia https://urbanagscientist.com/2020/05/19/a-more-locally-connected-resilient-and-tasty-australia-future-how-to-support-all-these-newly-enthused-food-gardeners/ (accessed: 23.05.2020).
• This blog captures what it is like for local food grower Better Food Shed during Covid-19 - they supply box schemes in London (supply challenges noted, esp labour)  https://www.sustainweb.org/blogs/may20_farming_through_a_pandemic/ (23.05.2020).
• Indepedent meat processors (abattoirs) in the US (local food chain infrastructure). https://civileats.com/2020/05/19/as-covid-19-disrupts-the-industrial-meat-system-independent-processors-have-a-moment-to-shine/ (23.05.2020); see also this piece about how hog farmers in the midwest have started to sell online and informally https://civileats.com/2020/06/08/struggling-farmers-are-selling-midwest-hogs-ad-hoc-and-online/amp/?__twitter_impression=true (14.06.2020).
• Civil Eats piece from the US argues funds provided to support farmers during the crisis won't benefit small farmers or farmers selling direct to consumers https://civileats.com/2020/06/01/millions-of-dollars-heading-to-farmers-but-small-farms-wont-see-much-of-it/ (06.06.2020).
• Roundtable: The role of local food in future food and farming systems (Vicki Hird - Sustain, Pam Warhurst - Incredible Edible, Peter Segger - Blaencamel Farm) https://sustainablefoodtrust.org/articles/roundtable-the-role-of-local-food-in-future-food-and-farming-systems/(06.06.2020).
• Veg box sales increased by 3000% for veg box companies in Scotland https://www.thenational.scot/news/18485299.veg-box-market-booms-3000-scots-source-locally-grown-produce/?ref=twtrec (06.06.2020).
• Useful overview and links to local food partnerships in the UK, including case studies and examples https://www.sustainablefoodplaces.org/coronavirus/ (06.06.2020).
• Getting recognition and support for local food partnerships (letter to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government Robert Jenrick) https://www.sustainablefoodplaces.org/news/national_media_release_day_of_action_jun20/ (11.06.2020).
• COVID-19: Local Food System Resources, Montgomery County Food Council https://mocofoodcouncil.org/covid-19-local-food-system-resources/(13.06.2020).
• Interesting article by historian David Edgerton about 'autarky' (more generally but obvious links to local food self-sufficiency) https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/economy/2020/06/new-age-autarky (13.06.2020).
• Online farmers' markets: Good Food Exeter https://goodfoodexeter.co.uk/buy/ (14.06.2020).
• Farm to tablet (how farmers and consumers in Florida are using the internet to sell/buy food) https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/05/opinion/sunday/farmers-florida-coronavirus.html (14.06.2020).
• The Civil Eats website has articles re. farmers' markets in the US (how to keep them open, supported, etc.), plus analysis of food hubs, food co-ops and civic networks. Great coverage of Covid-19 and food systems in the US https://civileats.com/ (14.06.2020).
• Building local food system resilience https://localtrust.org.uk/news-and-stories/blog/how-can-we-build-resilient-food-systems-in-the-covid-19-recovery/ (20.06.2020).
• Need to save farmers' markets (Civil Eats) https://civileats.com/2020/05/29/op-ed-we-must-save-farmers-markets/ (20.06.2020).
• Examples of how farmers' markets in the US are responding to Covid-19 and racial protests  https://foodprint.org/blog/farmers-markets-challenges/ (27.06.2020).
• The value of local - Sustainable Food Trust http://sustainablefoodtrust.org/articles/the-value-of-local/ (28.06.2020).
• Community Supported Agriculture is a Safe and Resilient Alternative to Industrial Agriculture in the Time of Covid-19, International Network URGENCI, 7^th April, 2020 http://urgenci.net/community-supported-agriculture-is-a-safe-and-resilient-alternative-to-industrial-agriculture-in-the-time-of-covid-19/?(accessed: 28.06.2020).
• Community Supported Agriculture is surging in the US amid the Pandemic, Civil Eats https://civileats.com/2020/04/09/community-supported-agriculture-is-surging-amid-the-pandemic/(accessed: 13.07.2020).
• Fighting for the Forgotten Keystone of Local Food – the Abattoir https://pipersfarm.com/blogs/journal/fighting-for-the-forgotten-keystone-of-local-food-the-abattoir (04.07.2020).
• Digitising the Solidarity Economy – Desira (case study of Open Food Network) http://desira2020.eu/2020/04/30/article-digitising-the-solidarity-economy/ (04.07.2020).
• Wicked Leeks blog, Nina Pullman. Survey of 102 small food businesses in London shows their adaptability during the crisis, but need to support local food post-Covid too! https://wickedleeks.riverford.co.uk/news/local-sourcing-ethical-business/support-local-food-after-covid-shoppers-urged (04.07.2020).
• Covid-19 Consumer Tracker Waves 1 and 2 (FSA and Ipsos) (Covid-19 has changed how consumers access food; reports continued trend towards more localised food purchasing behaviours) https://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/media/document/covid-19-consumer-tracker-report.pdf (08.07.2020).
• Farmers' markets in the US (adapting to the new normal and financial challenges) https://foodprint.org/blog/farmers-markets-challenges/ (27.07.2020).
• Interesting Civil Eats article about farmers' markets in the US and the difficulties they are facing. In a Farmers' Market Coalition member survey, still to be published, 74% of the organisations that responded reported decreased income; 93% reported added costs https://civileats.com/2020/05/29/op-ed-we-must-save-farmers-markets/ (05.08.2020).
• Wicked Leeks article about the spike in demand for allotments and interest in home grown food https://wickedleeks.riverford.co.uk/news/local-sourcing-grow-your-own/coronavirus-causes-spike-demand-allotments (12.08.2020).
• Resilience of local food systems and links to food security – A review of some important concepts in the context of COVID-19 and other shocks. New paper in Food Security (part of C-19 special issue) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12571-020-01076-1 (14.08.2020). 
• Covid highlights value of locally-produced food, FarmingUK News (comments from Alistair Trail, SAC Consulting) https://www.farminguk.com/news/covid-highlights-value-of-locally-produced-food-expert-says_56349.html (22.08.2020).
• How coronavirus has led to a UK boom in community food growing, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/24/how-coronavirus-has-led-to-a-uk-boom-in-community-food-growing (Covid-19, community food growing and the accessibility of nutritious food) (25.08.2020).
• Replanting a Movement: Dan Barber’s Kitchen Farming Project https://www.finedininglovers.com/article/dan-barber-kitchen-farming-project; see also https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/15/multimedia/kitchen-garden-chefs.html (3,600 chefs have joined the project; the idea is chefs sign up and get step-by-step recipes to start their own garden) (17.09.2020).
• Public sector caterers urge PM to support ‘buy British’ efforts, Public Sector Catering https://www.publicsectorcatering.co.uk/news/public-sector-caterers-urge-pm-support-buy-british-efforts (19.09.2020).
  
• ‘Magic pop-up allotment’ at CoFarm offers community food security  https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/business/magic-pop-up-allotment-at-cofarm-offers-community-food-security-9121920/ (community land, horticulture, food banks, community food security) (21.09.2020).
• Interest in foraging is booming during the COVID-19 pandemic, Civil Eats https://civileats.com/2020/07/09/interest-in-foraging-is-booming-heres-how-to-do-it-right/ (best practice advice re. gathering wild foods; US examples) (21.09.2020).
• Riverford box scheme (article covers their much-deserved certification as an ethical B Corp - well done! - but useful figures at the end too re. customer numbers during the pandemic) https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/sep/21/organic-vegetable-box-firm-riverford-certified-as-an-ethical-b-corp (22.09.2020).
• Who Feeds Us? Episode 1: The hungry gap by Farmerama Radio https://soundcloud.com/farmerama-radio/who-feeds-us-episode-1-the-hungry-gap ('When the COVID lock-down hit, localised food systems went from being niche fantasies to a vital source of sustenance for many. But who—and what—made up those localised food systems?') (12.10.2020).
• Allotments have been disappearing from cities – here’s why they are ripe for a comeback, Institute for Sustainable Food, The University of Sheffield https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/sustainable-food/news/allotments-have-been-disappearing-cities-heres-why-they-are-ripe-comeback (urban horticulture, local food security) (26.10.2020).
• How Chez Panisse has adapted to a COVID-19 world https://www.berkeleyside.com/2020/11/09/how-pandemic-changed-chez-panisse-alice-waters (interview with Alice Waters about 'new pandemic model' for Chez Panisse, which 'works to preserve its suppliers and workers who make its farm-to-table philosophy possible') (13.11.2020)
• Who eats local food?, Sustainable Food Trust https://sustainablefoodtrust.org/articles/who-eats-local-food/ (17.11.2020).
• How Covid-19 is changing consumers’ relationships with food, Speciality Food Magazine https://www.specialityfoodmagazine.com/news/covid-19-is-changing-consumers-relationships-with-food (local food shopping trends) (01.12.2020).
  
• New EIT report reveals impact of COVID-19 on food behaviours https://www.eitfood.eu/news/post/eit-food-report-reveals-lasting-impact-of-covid-19-pandemic-on-european-food-behaviours (Survey of 5,000 consumers in 10 European countries; "Buying locally produced food" on a bar with "access to food at low prices", which is quite a shift, but the key question is whether this trend is sustained beyond the pandemic) (05.12.2020).
• Tackling global food issues through local action, N8 AgriFood, Food Systems Policy Hub (webinar on the health, environmental and socio-economic impacts of local food systems, which are more than local food (public procurement, resilience, civic governance) https://policyhub.n8agrifood.ac.uk/launch-week/tackling-global-food-issues-through-local-action/ (18.12.2020).
  
• We still need alternatives to supermarkets – perhaps now more than ever, Sustainable Food Trust https://sustainablefoodtrust.org/articles/we-still-need-alternatives-to-supermarkets-perhaps-now-more-than-ever/ (nice article by Bob Kennard on why we need alternatives to supermarkets; 'Awful as it is, the coronavirus may be a pivotal moment, and leave at least one silver lining – a lasting resurgence of independently retailed food, and a shift away from supermarkets') (12.01.2021).
• Growing food: Call to give vegetable growers public cash - BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55650274 ('A taskforce set up by the Welsh Government to ensure a green recovery from the coronavirus pandemic has recommended boosting horticulture' (14.01.2021).
  
• It would be feast, not famine, if we learnt to love our own food, The Sunday Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/it-would-be-feast-not-famine-if-we-learnt-to-love-our-own-food-zdtws66sk (useful piece by Joanna Blythman; '“Locavorism”, the practice of eating locally produced food, is too readily dismissed as a niche activity. Successive governments have fixated on exports and delegated responsibility for feeding the population to supermarkets') (26.01.2021).
  
• Planning for Food Commons in a Post-COVID World, ARC 2020 https://www.arc2020.eu/planning-for-food-commons-in-the-post-covid-world/ (interesting op-ed by Stephen Leitheiser and Lummina Horlings about food commons as an alternative to "techno-utopian" food systems in a Post-COVID world; food commons, local food production, civic governance, CSA) (30.01.2021).

Shortening supply chains (regional resilience) and online platforms

• Useful Soil Association report about shortening food chains to build regional resilience post-Covid-19 https://www.soilassociation.org/shortening-supply-chains-roads-to-regional-resilience/ (06.06.2020).
• This manifesto, from the Dynamic Food Procurement National Advisory Board, also sets out useful ways forward re. post-Covid-19 economic recovery http://ad555873-f343-4a7c-b674-b0e4792f5f9a.filesusr.com/ugd/6b24d7_a54481998a1c4b45bbd44542515b592e.pdf (06.06.2020).
• Anna Krzywoszynska (Institute for Sustainable Food) explains why more local food supplies could prevent empty shelves after the pandemic (food system resilience) and introduces a new project which will study the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on local food producers https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/sustainable-food/news/more-local-food-supplies-could-prevent-empty-shelves-after-pandemic-say-experts (20.06.2020).
• Blog by Anna Krzywoszynska (Institute for Sustainable Food): Will local food producers keep feeding us beyond Covid-19? Key message: we need to build functional diversity in food systems https://blog.geographydirections.com/2020/07/01/will-local-food-producers-keep-feeding-us-beyond-covid-19/ (04.07.2020).
• Interesting article about the foundational economy (new place-based approach), featuring Kevin Morgan (Cardiff) https://blogs.cardiff.ac.uk/innovation/2020/07/03/the-post-pandemic-world-must-be-fairer-and-more-sustainable/ (06.07.2020).
• Farm-to-table during a pandemic, The Washington Post [hopefully the link is accessible and not behind a paywall for folks] https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/07/09/farms-fruit-california/ (13.07.2020).
  
• Resilient supply chains and changing business models. Y Felin Mill in Pembrokeshire (source grain from British farms and have adapted their business to supply directly) (featured on FFCC 'The Road To Renewal' website) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqAuKGyjClA&feature=youtu.be (20.07.2020).
• The pandemic could actually strengthen the U.S. food system, National Geographic (interesting article re. flexiblity of small and medium-sized farms and reflective critique re. food security and regional food resilience) https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/07/pandemic-could-strengthen-us-food-system/ (22.07.2020).
• Local slaughterhouses struggle to keep ethical farming in the UK alive  https://www.dw.com/en/meat-production-coronavirus-farming-cattle/a-54381190 (COVID reinforces the need for small-scale abattoirs; local supply chain infrastructure) (01.09.2020).
• See also this Farmers Guardian article https://www.fginsight.com/news/news/coronavirus-pandemic-could-aid-small-abattoirs-111657 (small multi-species abattoir near Norwich; argues 'Covid-19  has brought about a change in the dynamic of the food supply chain which may offer a lifeline to smaller abattoirs') (thanks @GarethEnticott for sharing) (01.09.2020).
• South West Food Hub. New online platform (pilot) for public sector procurement https://www.thesouthwestfoodhub.co.uk/ (25.07.2020).
• Dynamic purchasing (public procurement): FCRN blog by Matt Reed, Dan Keech and myself on work we are leading in Gloucestershire to link dynamic purchasing to the new iteration of the school food contract (post-Covid economic recovery model, esp. for smaller-scale farmers int he county) https://fcrn.org.uk/fcrn-blogs/creating-new-opportunities-small-farmers-through-dynamic-purchasing (12.08.2020).
• How COVID-19 could forever change the way Ontarians buy food, TVO.org (many small farms started selling online and direct to consumers; Covid was a final push to start using online platforms) https://www.tvo.org/article/how-covid-19-could-forever-change-the-way-ontarians-buy-food (14.08.2020).
  
• This article by @JenSheridan on the Open Food Network in Australia (how it started and Covid-19 impacts: 'existing Open Food Network shops’ turnover increased threefold, sign-ups increased tenfold, and turnover through the platform overall increased tenfold across our local and global networks') https://www.dumbofeather.com/articles/the-open-food-network/ (28.08.2020).
• Coping with Covid19 - the Open Food Network and the New Digital Order(s), ARC 2020 (useful overview of Open Food Network's digital platform, which gets small producers to market (different models)) https://www.arc2020.eu/coping-with-covid19-open-food-network-and-new-digital-orders/ (19.09.2020).
• COVID-19 and the role of local food production in building more resilient local food systems, FAO http://www.fao.org/3/cb1020en/CB1020EN.pdf ('In particular, promoting local food production and short supply chains to help build more resilient and sustainable local food systems was mentioned frequently by respondents') (22.09.2020).
• How coronavirus is changing grocery shopping, BBC https://www.bbc.com/future/bespoke/follow-the-food/how-covid-19-is-changing-food-shopping.html (good Follow the Food piece about short food chains and home deliveries) (19.10.2020).
• Is the UK on the brink of a revolution in how we buy food? - BBC Food https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/articles/food_revolution (Probably not but this piece is hopeful of change, which is no bad thing) (21.10.2020).
  
• Pandemic prompts rethink of food supply chains, Financial Times https://www.ft.com/content/ef90057c-cdc4-4706-8952-1866186597c3 (COVID highlights the need for a robust and responsive (resilient) food system; Farmdrop mentioned; localism and food security) (24.11.2020).
• The Local Food Revolution Goes Online—for Now, Civil Eats https://civileats.com/2020/04/01/the-local-food-revolution-goes-online-for-now/ (useful overview of how small farms in the US are using online selling/platforms to sell to their local communities and compete with 'big box grocers') (04.12.2020).
• We need joined up thinking about local abattoirs, Sustainable Food Trust http://sustainablefoodtrust.org/articles/we-need-joined-up-thinking-about-local-abattoirs/ (summary of ORFC session on small abattoirs - need for joined up thinking in government is crucial and a distributed model of production and processing is more resilient; supply chain infrastructure for sustainable food systems) (26.01.2021).

Local food organisation listings in the UK (on-line platforms, direct sales directories, buy local listings, etc.)

• Moving your local food organisation online, Sustain https://www.sustainweb.org/coronavirus/selling_platforms_for__food_orgs/
  
• Find Local Producers (farms selling direct), Produce and Provide https://www.produceandprovide.co.uk/find-local-providers
  
• Open Food Network UK (shops) https://openfoodnetwork.org.uk/shops#/
  
• Where we shop in East Anglia, Living Gentler https://livinggentler.wordpress.com/where-we-shop-in-east-anglia/
  
• FeedingUK - highlighting efforts made to change the way the UK can feed itself (list of people & orgs) http://www.feedinguk.org/
• Where to buy grass-fed beef and lamb, Pasture for Life https://www.pastureforlife.org/where-to-buy/
  
• Farmers Feeding The Nation, Nature Friendly Farming Network https://www.nffn.org.uk/covid-19-nffn-farmers/ (online platforms, listings and direct sales channels have reported increased trade during the pandemic) (28.09.2020).
  

A more critical relocalisation perspective

• Interesting article from Jayson Lusk (agricultural economist) on the short food chain / relocalisation food system response, reminding us not to see these responses as a panacea to problems that might be more systemic [that's what i take from it anyway!] http://jaysonlusk.com/blog/2020/5/12/ruminations-on-solutions-to-the-covid-related-food-disruptions (accessed: 16.05.2020).
• Plaid Cymru's 'buy local' campaign to boost farmers https://www.farminguk.com/news/plaid-cymru-s-buy-local-campaign-to-boost-farmers_55691.html (accessed 23.05.2020).
  
• Re-setting food systems in Wales (food democracy via local authorities and community groups) https://foodmanifesto.wales/2020/06/18/how-local-authorities-and-community-groups-can-re-set-the-food-system/ (20.06.2020).
• Blog by Martin Yarnit about food hubs (US) and cooperatives (Italy) as future business models for British horticulture (part of FFCC blog series on Britain's horticulture sector) https://ffcc.co.uk/conversations/lets-grow-our-own-1 (24.07.2020).
• Local food: a solution or a tool? https://rural-urban.eu/sites/default/files/How%20Local%20Is%20Local_SFSCOP_OCT2020.pdf (Excellent ROBUST discussion paper by Bryonny Goodwin-Hawkins, analysing whether the public plate could help the food and farming sector of Monmouthshire) (21.10.2020).
• FOODTALKS: Is local food enough?, Food Ethics Council https://www.foodethicscouncil.org/resource/foodtalks-is-local-food-enough/ (Zoom recording from 24th Nov. Excellent session. Speakers: @ProfTimLang @linndav @OpenFoodNetUK @ShiriShalmy @CooperationTown @Verushka @UKSustain @FoodPlacesUK (thanks @DanCrossley; well worth; localism and community resilience) (26.11.2020).
  

Agroecology

• FAO has created an Agroecology Knowledge Hub, including several articles related to local and urban food networks http://www.fao.org/agroecology/slideshow/news-article/en/c/1268856/ (accessed: 09.05.2020).
• This blog by Joanna Lewis (Soil Association) argues agroecology should be a priority for UK food security post-Covid http://blogs.bath.ac.uk/iprblog/2020/05/01/coronavirus-caught-our-food-system-on-the-back-foot-but-lets-not-take-a-backward-step/?utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=social_organic&utm_campaign=news_proactive&utm_content=jo_lewis_ipr_blog (accessed 09.05.2020).
• Organic food sales increase reported https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2020/05/06/Organic-food-gets-coronavirus-boost (09.05.2020).
• An interview with Simon Crichton, Triodos Bank, re. financing agroecological businesses for a fairer (post-Covid) food system https://www.sustainweb.org/blogs/may20_finance_fairer_food/ (accessed: 16.05.2020).
• Regenerative agriculture in the pandemic (Stemple Creek Ranch) https://civileats.com/2020/06/16/civil-eats-tv-regenerative-ranching-in-a-pandemic/ (20.06.2020).
• Back to the future, Wicked Leeks interview with Carolyn Steel about her new book, Sitopia, and her post-Covid-19 organic food vision https://wickedleeks.riverford.co.uk/features/big-interview-environment-ethics-organics-price/back-future (18.07.2020).
• UK organic food and drink sales boom during lockdown https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/03/uk-organic-food-and-drink-sales-boom-during-lockdown (organic food and drink sales grew by 6.1%; growth reaches highest rate since 2016; high demand for organic bananas, chicken, eggs and wine) (03.09.2020).
• Food security can bring peace – but agroecology makes it last https://news.trust.org/item/20201015205843-rwtbh/ (argues that food aid is not an effective antidote to hunger; food system transformation is needed; 'agroecology is a movement for social justice, improving nutrition without compromising food sovereignty') (19.10.2020).
• The Pandemic Has Given Organics a Big Boost—but Most Profits Aren't Flowing to Small Producers, Civil Eats https://civileats.com/2020/10/23/the-pandemic-has-given-organics-a-big-boost-but-most-profits-arent-flowing-to-small-producers/ (good article about organic sales in the US (direct-to-consumer sales have increased during the pandemic, but most growth via large organic farms (smaller agroecological vs. conventionalisation of organic approaches, including hydroponics) (01.11.2020).
  
• Grow Back Better: A plan for UK food, farming and land use after Covid-19, Soil Association https://www.soilassociation.org/news/2020/november/10/a-plan-for-uk-food-farming-and-land-use-after-covid-19/ (a 10 point plan for a post-Covid-19 recovery for UK food, farming and land use) (11.11.2020).

UK:

• AHDB Market Impact - Markets and Prices (accessed: 20.04.2020).
• Excellent AHDB podcast on how Covid-19 is impacting UK dairy markets https://audioboom.com/posts/7569431-covid-19-special-the-impact-of-coronavirus-on-the-dairy-industry (04.05.2020); differential retail and food service sales impacts.
• Food Foundation has a useful Share Price Tracker (allows you to track bi-weekly share price movements for businesses in food retail and catering; part of their COVID-19 tracker) https://foodfoundation.org.uk/food_businesses/here-we-are-tracking-bi-weekly-share-price-movements-for-key-businesses-in-food-retail-quick-service-restaurant-food-service-and-casual-dining-sectors-click-through-the-slides-to-see-each-sector-a/ (13.10.2020).
• ONS data on food and drink business import and export impacts due to COVID-19 https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/economicoutputandproductivity/output/adhocs/12059experienceoffoodandbeverageimportersduringthecoronaviruscovid19pandemic (via Tim Wilkinson) (28.10.2020).
• COVID-19 leaves limited traces in preliminary 2020 agricultural accounts (Alan Matthews CAP Reform blog) http://capreform.eu/covid-19-leaves-limited-traces-in-preliminary-2020-agricultural-accounts/ (Eurostat has published preliminary 2020 estimates for economic accounts for agriculture. Alan 'finds limited COVID-19 impacts in the figures, confirming resilience of the farm and food sector' but 'the big puzzle is where has all the assistance to farm sector gone?') (05.01.2021).

International:

• FAO has useful tools to support policy analyses and assess COVID-19 impacts on food and agriculture, value chains and food security, including real-time data analysis of food chain and food price impacts http://www.fao.org/2019-ncov/en/(29.04.2020); plus this big data tool on food chain impacts https://datalab.review.fao.org/index.html#.XsJbNZRZCW8.twitter (23.05.2020).
• IFPRI has great resources to track production and stocks of key crops at global and country levels https://www.ifpri.org/covid-19, plus food price and food trade tracker tools (09.05.2020).
• IFPRI has also created a COVID-19 Policy Response Portal which captures policy responses through multiple channels, including population restrictions, social protection, trade, health, fiscal, and monetary measures. Different channels impact agri-food systems (data at country level) https://www.ifpri.org/project/covid-19-policy-response-cpr-portal (06.06.2020).
• Short-term Agricultural Outlook report. Suggests Covid-19 is a demand rather than a supply shock, with European ag. sectors resilient to the crisis and food service re-opening likely to make a big difference https://ec.europa.eu/info/news/short-term-outlook-good-production-prospects-many-agricultural-sectors-overall-sector-should-benefit-reopening-foodservice-2020-jul-06_en (06.07.2020).
• OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2020-2029 ( report provides market projections for major agricultural commodities & an initial scenario analysis on the impact of the #COVID19 pandemic on the food & agriculture) https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/agriculture-and-food/oecd-fao-agricultural-outlook-2020-2029_1112c23b-en (18.07.2020).
• FAO has launched a new Hand-in-Hand geospatial data platform to help build stronger food and agriculture sectors post COVID-19 http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/1298766/icode/?platform=hootsuite; you can access the platform via this link https://data.apps.fao.org/ (great resource) (22.07.2020).
• USDA retail prices data (June 2020 compared with June 2019). Shows price impact of COVID-19 on food items at the retail level. Most categories impacted, especially beef https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/chart-gallery/gallery/chart-detail/?chartId=99014 (thanks @GarethEnticott) (30.07.2020).
  
• FRED Graph shows how COVID-19 affects food prices in the US https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=uBgX&utm_campaign=myfred_referrer&utm_medium=exported-chart&utm_source=direct (food is more expensive for consumers; producers get paid less) (thanks @wamasters for sharing) (24.08.2020).
• FAO's Food Outlook: Developing countries buoy global food trade http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/1329605/icode/ (trade in food products has proven resilient during the pandemic; 'developing countries' have filled gaps; lower household incomes negatively impacted trade in beverages, fish and meat (13.11.2020).
• Global Food Supplies Weather Coronavirus Pandemic, The Wall Street Journal https://www.wsj.com/articles/global-food-supplies-weather-coronavirus-pandemic-11605171950 (article based on the FAO's latest Food Outlook report, with the headline that food supplies have held up during the pandemic despite earlier warnings of protectionist national policies and global shortages) (16.11.2020).
• How have global food prices increased during the pandemic?, World Economic Forum https://www.statista.com/chart/20165/un-global-food-price-index/ (according to the @FAOstatistics Food Price Index, global food prices in December were the highest for any month in the last six years) (22.01.2021).
  
• Covid crisis is fuelling food price rises for world's poorest, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jan/29/covid-crisis-is-fuelling-food-price-rises-for-worlds-poorest (David Malpass, president of the World Bank Group writes that “Global food prices, as measured by a World Bank food price index, rose 14% last year”; three [global food and nutrition security] actions are proposed: enabling the free flow of food across borders, bolstering social safety nets, and enhancing prevention and preparedness (for future food system shocks)) (30.01.2021).

Food system organisations

• Sustain (the alliance for better food and farming). This link includes a range of case studies and responses to the crisis e.g. guidelines to help keep food markets open, case studies to support vulnerable groups and ways we can support the fishing fleet. If you are on Twitter, follow Vicki Hird and Kate Dalmeny.
• Food Ethics Council. They are compiling great material too, including a #FridayFoodChampions award for food citizenship responses to Covid-19 (@FoodEthicsNews), plus this article about ‘ethics in our food response to Covid-19’ (accessed: 11.04.2020) and their #FoodTalks https://www.foodethicscouncil.org/resource/foodtalks-from-emergency-to-recovery/ (04.05.2020). If you are on Twitter, follow Dan Crossley.
• Sustainable Food Trust. They have produced some interesting articles on Covid-19. I have included some specific ones below re small and local food businesses, but you can find them all here (11.04.2020).
• Sustainable Food Places. Collating material on local food responses (see also the 'local food networks' theme), as well as tracking food insecurity and business impacts: see this page (accessed 20.04.2020); see also this link to their COVID-19 podcast series https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/sustainable-places/research/sustainable-places-podcast (28.06.2020).
• Brighton and Hove Food Partnership. Coordinating a range of actions in the city and surrounding area to respond to COVID (really impressive example of place-based governance in action; see other partnerships listed too on SFP page and their amazing co-ordination work) https://bhfood.org.uk/coronavirus-update/ (18.11.2020).
• The Food Foundation. Articles tracking Covid-19 food system impacts, particularly impacts on food prices and food accessibility and survey data on household food security, see this page (11.04.2020); have a look too at their #EndChildFoodPoverty website https://endchildfoodpoverty.org/ and Children’s Right2Food Dashboard https://foodfoundation.org.uk/new-childrens-right2food-dashboard/ (30.01.2021).
• N8 Agrifood. Compiled a list of international organisations dealing with the crisis, plus key news items (accessed: 20.04.2020).
• Institute of Food Science and Technology. IFST has created a COVID-19 knowledge hub https://www.ifst.org/resources-policy/covid-19-knowledge-hub (accessed: 29.04.2020), with key resources and links on consumption, food education and SME operations; + useful Q&A and webinars on food safety (28.10.2020).
• Food Climate Research Network. Lots of useful material on sustainable food systems https://fcrn.org.uk/. Their newsletter (Fodder) features interesting Covid-19 articles. They have also put together a list of COVID-19 food system resources (blogs, papers, etc.) https://fcrn.org.uk/research-library/covid-19-and-food-list (14.06.2020).
• Food Research Collaboration (FRC). Useful working papers on food policy co-ordination https://foodresearch.org.uk/publications/who-makes-food-policy-in-england-and-food-policy-coordination-under-covid19/, including organisations in England involved in food governance (and the need for coordination) (05.05.2020).
• FRC's Food policy tracker: Rosalind Sharpe and Gavin Wren have created an excellent food policy tracker, mapping the English policy response between March and July 2020 as a visual story, using the Flourish data visualisation platform https://foodresearch.org.uk/publications/covid-19-food-policy-in-england-the-first-four-months/ (I will shortly add a blog by Rosalind which introduces the policy tracker, why it was created, what it shows and can be used for) (23.10.2020).
• Soil Association. Grow Back Better: A plan for UK food, farming and land use after Covid-19, Soil Association https://www.soilassociation.org/news/2020/november/10/a-plan-for-uk-food-farming-and-land-use-after-covid-19/ (a 10 point plan for a post-Covid-19 recovery for UK food, farming and land use) (11.11.2020).

Food, farming and the rural economy

• NFU. Coronavirus up-dates and advice page (20.04.2020).
• AHDB. Useful material on markets, plus farmer and grower guidance (general/sector) (accessed: 20.04.2020).
• RSA Food and Farming Countryside Commission. Tracking impact of the virus on farming, food and rural communities. Coordinating a ‘road to renewal’ response and evidence gathering https://roadtorenewal.co.uk/ (20.07.2020). Article by Tom MacMillan explains what they are planning (accessed: 11.04.2020). If you are on Twitter, follow Sue Pritchard. In this link, you can find FFCC's 'learning from the lockdown' survey findings https://www.ffcc.co.uk/lockdown-survey (06.06.2020). Shows 80% of respondents wanted most things to be different in the recovery. None reported that they wanted everything to go back to how it was before. The FFCC 'Field Guide for the Future' page has a series of innovation cases/stories of change (people and places) https://ffcc.co.uk/field-guide-for-the-future (07.10.2020).
• Centre for Rural Economy has produced an excellent briefing paper on Covid-19 impacts on rural economies, including agriculture (accessed: 20.04.2020).
• Rural Policy Group: Running a series of virtual seminars on the rural economy and Covid19  https://ruralpolicy.group/red(16.05.2020).
• Centre for Rural Policy Research, University of Exeter: What is the impact of COVID-19 on the food system of the UK?(UKRI-ESRC project on the management of the disruptive social and economic impacts of COVID-19 on the UK’s food supply chain) http://sites.exeter.ac.uk/foodsystemimpactscv19/(26.09.2020).

The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST)

• POST has published 20 COVID-19 Areas of Research Interest (ARIs) for the UK Parliament, including one about food system resilience and one about food security https://post.parliament.uk/topic/food-security/ (07.10.2020).

National Food Strategy

• National Food Strategy - Part One (great to see this out; at a glance it looks excellent; major focus is children's health (and related obesity and food poverty), which are emergency issues highlighted and accentuated by Covid-19; plus trade (post-Brexit standards)) https://www.nationalfoodstrategy.org/partone/ (29.07.2020).
• National Food Strategy - Part One - YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2YdpXrdOzQ (29.07.2020).

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Select Committee

• EFRA Select Committee Inquiry: COVID-19 and food supply https://committees.parliament.uk/work/217/covid19-and-food-supply/ (24.04.2020).
• This is the video link to the first EFRA Committee meeting for COVID-19 and food supply, 05.05.2020: https://parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/cbf5c316-5053-48d4-a0f9-be8e82bea32c. Witnesses: Minette Batters, President, National Farmers' Union; Tom Hind, Chief Strategy Officer, Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board; Jack Ward, Chief Executive Officer, British Growers Association (accessed: 06.05.2020).
• The second EFRA COVID-19 and food supply public evidence session took place on 15.05.2020. The session covered "how the coronavirus pandemic has affected the ability of vulnerable people to get sufficient healthy food, and the impact on charities such as food banks who help people facing food insecurity". See also the food security UK thread.
• You can access the oral and written evidence submitted to the inquiry via this link https://committees.parliament.uk/work/217/covid19-and-food-supply/publications/ (accessed 23.05.2020).
• EFRA Committee’s COVID-19 and Food Supply Report (Covid-19 exacerbated food insecurity for millions of people; calls for a mechanism within central government to co-ordinate policy across departments on food supply, nutrition and welfare) https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/52/environment-food-and-rural-affairs-committee/news/147628/covid-19-and-food-supply-report-published-19-21/; here's an interactive summary of the report https://houseofcommons.shorthandstories.com/EFRA-covid19-food-supply/index.html (30.07.2020).

Food, Poverty, Health and the Environment Committee

• Session with Henry Dimbleby, Tuesday 10 March 2020. Before the UK lockdown but useful food system context. Reviews the current food system and changes needed to address diet and health inequalities https://parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/3dcb8ee0-9a59-4877-ad9a-9d2c8134da34 (07.07.2020).
• Committee on Food, Poverty, Health and the Environment report - argues the UK’s food system is failing and calls for Government action to reduce health inequalities https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/lords-select/food-pov-health-enviro-comm/news-parliament-2019/report-publication/(08.07.2020).

Covid-19 research project tracker and ESRC-funded food system projects

• UKCDR & GloPID-R COVID-19 research project tracker - shows projects funded  / research gaps (thanks to Isabel Fielden for the link) https://www.ukcdr.org.uk/funding-landscape/covid-19-research-project-tracker/?utm_source=UK+Collaborative+on+Development+Research+List&utm_campaign=2329b876e1-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_07_06_09_59_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ebeb154498-2329b876e1-1285497654 (20.07.2020).
• Food vulnerability during COVID-19 http://speri.dept.shef.ac.uk/food-vulnerability-during-covid-19/ (ESRC-funded project; aims to map and monitor responses addressing concerns about insufficient food access during the outbreak) (28.10.2020).
• Local food and Covid resilience (ESRC-funded study of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the local food sector; see https://blog.geographydirections.com/2020/07/01/will-local-food-producers-keep-feeding-us-beyond-covid-19/) (28.10.2020).
• See also Exeter University's 'Food System Impacts of COVID-19' project, listed above under the rural economy theme.

Food in the time of lockdown

• Cool project led by the University of Chester (Dept of Music, Media and Performance) called 'Food in the time of lockdown (FINTOL)'. Aims to be a 'gathering point for all of the food-related stories, films and images that people have written or captured for posterity' https://foodinthetimeoflockdown.co.uk/ (29.07.2020).
  

• AHDB Weekly updates on agricultural commodities and price evolution. Weekly analysis of markets and the processing sector.
• Potato mountains and rotten cheese (Europe) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-52715288/coronavirus-leads-to-food-industry-crisis-in-europe (23.05.2020).

Meat & food processing plants (US, UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Australia, Brazil)

US:

• Financial Times article on Trump's executive order to keep meat processing plants open in the US https://www.ft.com/content/2c7e1a34-2cd7-4b80-ae2d-a8549f565423  and here too on slaughterhouse shutdowns in the US https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/29/millions-of-farm-animals-culled-as-us-food-supply-chain-chokes-up-coronavirus (both accessed 04.05.2020).
• Excellent overview of the Smitfield outbreak (pork plant) in South Dakota in April 2020 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-52311877 (accessed 20.06.2020).
• This article in The Economist https://www.economist.com/united-states/2020/04/30/in-america-the-virus-threatens-a-meat-industry-that-is-too-concentrated argues meat processing in the US is too concentrated (thanks Théo Lenormand for the link) (06.05.2020).
• The Economist reports a surge in meat prices in the US because of Covid-19  https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/05/13/the-spread-of-covid-has-caused-a-surge-in-american-meat-prices?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/ed/dailychartthespreadofcovidhascausedasurgeinamericanmeatpricesgraphicdetail(accessed: 16.05.2020).
• Mapping Covid-19 in meat and food processing plants in the US https://thefern.org/2020/04/mapping-covid-19-in-meat-and-food-processing-plants/ (thanks to Gareth Enticott for this and the previous link) (accessed: 16.05.2020).
• COVID-19 has infected 3000+ US meat packing workers (data from United Food and Commercial Workers International Union) https://thepoultrysite.com/news/2020/05/covid-19-has-infected-more-than-3-000-us-meat-plant-workers (30.05.2020).
• A summary of COVID-19 in the meatpacking industry - using URLs from NodeXL Graph Gallery reports (thanks Gareth Enticott for the link) https://wakelet.com/wake/_AGj4_s-vwBbbm4nArZDs; and here's the BMJ piece (summarising the twitter analysis) https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2020/05/29/learning-about-covid-19-outbreaks-from-non-viral-tweets/ (both accessed 30.05.2020).
• Critical analysis of the mismanagement of the pandemic in Iowa meatpackers, Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/28/springtime-fear-small-meatpacking-town/ (30.05.2020).
• Bloomberg article reports on outbreaks in 60 food processing plants beyond meat packing in the US, with workers exposed to avoidable risks https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-09/outbreaks-at-60-u-s-food-plants-raise-specter-of-more-shortages (11.06.2020); see also this USA Today piece reporting a rise in Covid cases as meatpacking plants increase production after Trump declared meat processing an essential operation https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2020/06/06/meatpacking-plants-cant-shake-covid-19-cases-despite-trump-order/3137400001/ (14.06.2020).
• COVID-19 and meat (items of interest, Marion Nestle blog) https://www.foodpolitics.com/2020/06/keeping-up-with-covid-19-and-meat-items-of-interest/ (28.06.2020).
• Tyson Turns to Robot Butchers (due to Covid-19 meatpackers’ are shifting from human meat cutters to automated one; however, 'machines can’t yet match people’s ability') https://www.wsj.com/articles/meatpackers-covid-safety-automation-robots-coronavirus-11594303535(10.07.2020).
• C-19 outbreak at Iowa meatpacking plant (Tyson Foods pork processing plant, Columbus Junction) was larger than reported by the state (1000+ positive cases not 444) https://apnews.com/85a02d9296053980ea47eba97f920707 (23.07.2020).
• This ProPublica article reviews documents and reports dating to 2006, where government officials predicted that a pandemic would threaten meatpacking companies (and other critical businesses) and warned them to prepare; the warnings were largely ignored https://www.propublica.org/article/meatpacking-companies-dismissed-years-of-warnings-but-now-say-nobody-could-have-prepared-for-covid-19 (22.08.2020).
• Meatpacking Giant JBS Denies Workers' Coronavirus Claims, NPR https://www.npr.org/2020/11/11/933754519/meatpacking-giant-jbs-denies-workers-coronavirus-claims  (14.11.2020).
• Meatpacking Link Found in Up to 8% of Early U.S. Covid Cases, Bloomberg https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-23/study-ties-6-to-8-of-u-s-covid-cases-to-meatpacking-plants?sref=UTbvKgk5 ('As many as one in 12 cases of COVID-19 in the US through late July can be tied to outbreaks at meatpacking plants and subsequent spread in surrounding communities' (via @CivilEats)) (24.11.2020).
  
• An Overview of Some COVID Related Impacts on Rural America from USDA's Economic Research Service, Farm Policy News https://farmpolicynews.illinois.edu/2020/12/an-overview-of-some-covid-related-impacts-on-rural-america-from-usdas-economic-research-service/ (includes useful data about COVID impacts in meatpacking-dependent counties; COVID cases were significantly higher compared to other rural counties) (22.12.2020).
  
• Should Food and Farm Workers Be Next in Line for the COVID Vaccine?, Civil Eats https://civileats.com/2020/12/22/should-food-workers-be-next-in-line-for-the-covid-vaccine/(excellent article about farm, food & retail workers, their status as 'essential workers' during the crisis, the risks they face and the need for them to get vaccinated, but the challenges this poses given migrant status, distrust of government, etc; another example of agri-food workers now in focus who were previously 'hidden') (23.12.2020).
• Lawsuit: Foster Farms Plant Operating in 'Naked Disregard' of COVID-19 Safety Rules, KQED https://www.kqed.org/news/11851959/lawsuit-foster-farms-plant-operating-in-naked-disregard-of-covid-19-safety-rules (United Farm Workers of America and two employees of a Foster Farms poultry processing plant in California have filed a lawsuit against the company, seeking an emergency court order to force Foster Farms to improve safety protocols) (26.12.2020).
• Meatpacking Workers Get Priority for Vaccine Under CDC Guideline, Bloomberg https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-21/meatpacking-workers-get-priority-for-vaccine-under-cdc-guideline (meatpacking and poultry processing workers should be among front-line workers next in line for coronavirus vaccines; new outbreaks also emerging in meat processing plants in the US) (09.01.2021).
• This Business Insider piece about vaccination in Nebraska reports that, according to the state's governor, undocumented workers in meatpacking plants will not be part of the state's vaccination plans https://www.businessinsider.com/nebraska-gov-ricketts-undocumented-people-not-included-vaccine-rollout-2021-1?r=US&IR=T (Nebraska is the largest meatpacking hub in the US and 66% of the workers are migrants and 14% are undocumented; thanks @GarethEnticott for sharing) (09.01.2021).

UK:

• Coronavirus outbreak (just under 100 workers tested positive) at two food processors in Wales (chicken) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-53091149 (20.06.2020).
• Article about Asda's Kober Ltd meat processing plant in West Yorkshire - useful material on worker conditions https://inews.co.uk/news/real-life/coronavirus-covid-19-asda-kober-cleckheaton-meat-factory-processing-plant-cases-safety-452466?ito=twitter_share_article-top (27.06.2020).
• Workers at 2 Sisters tell of fear and terror at coronavirus struck factory - Wales Online  https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/coronavirus-chicken-factory-anglesey-wales-18469347(28.06.2020).
• What explains the high rate of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in meat and poultry facilities? (analysis of meat and poultry processing facilities in different countries; shows influence of the working environment, plus a low-paid workforce, who may be under pressure to keep working) https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/what-explains-the-high-rate-of-sars-cov-2-transmission-in-meat-and-poultry-facilities-2/
• See this paper also (thanks to Gareth Enticott for the link) using Twitter analytics to review scientific evidence on the link between meat and poultry facilities and covid-19 clusters https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2020/05/29/learning-about-covid-19-outbreaks-from-non-viral-tweets/ (20.06.2020); the analysis shows "the complex public health problems faced by meatpackers, both before and during the covid-19 pandemic".
• Coronavirus cases at Merthyr meat plant leap by 101 after weekend testing https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-cases-merthyr-meat-plant-18507667?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar (accessed: 04.07.2020).
• Inside a UK meat processing plant (chicken) hit by coronavirus outbreak where workers can't afford time off sick https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/inside-uk-meat-processing-plant-22292920 (04.07.2020).
• British Meat Processors Association (BMPA) report offers solutions to workforce challenges and is calling on the Home Office to include Butchers on the Shortage Occupation List https://britishmeatindustry.org/industry-news/new-bmpa-report-offers-solutions-to-workforce-challenges/ (04.07.2020).
• Hundreds self-isolate after Norfolk poultry plant outbreak (350+ staff and households affected) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/27/covid-hundreds-self-isolate-after-norfolk-poultry-plant-outbreak?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other (thanks @GarethEnticott) (27.08.2020).
• Covid cases at UK food factories could be over 30 times higher than reported  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/27/covid-cases-at-food-factories-in-uk-could-be-over-30-times-higher-than-reported?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other (food processors, especially meat processors, are under-reporting outbreaks according to a new report by Pirc; thanks @GarethEnticott) (28.09.2020).
• UK farmers call for EU workers to bypass Covid quarantine https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/oct/21/uk-farmers-warn-of-christmas-turkey-shortage-unless-eu-workers-exempt-covid-quarantine (poultry industry experts anticipate Christmas turkey shortage if specialist EU turkey pluckers are not allowed to travel to the UK to fill jobs) (thanks @GarethEnticott) (22.10.2020).
• Covid-19: Further 48 Peter's food factory workers test positive https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-54732375 (St Peter's Food Service, food processor, Bedwas, Caerphilly county) (30.10.2020).
• 78 meat factory workers test positive for Covid-19, Farmers Guardian https://www.fginsight.com/news/news/78-meat-factory-workers-test-positive-for-covid-19-114827 (health officials investigating after 78 workers at a meat processing plant in Aberdeenshire tested positive for Covid-19) (27.11.2020).
• Meat factories warn Covid absences could hit supplies https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55578974 (call for early vaccination of workers to keep food supplies running smoothly during the coronavirus crisis; some are calling for key workers in the food industry generally and not just the meat industry) (09.01.2021).
• Call to vaccinate meat workers, The Grocer https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/meat/meat-industry-calls-for-covid-19-vaccine-priority-after-factory-outbreaks/650640.article (This piece was published in November, so making the case early on. Notes that 'out of 20 outbreaks reported at food processing facilities since May, more than a dozen have been at meat-related factories'; thanks @GarethEnticott for sharing) (09.01.2021).

Germany, France, the Netherlands:

• This article on outbreaks of Covid-19 in meat processing factors in Germany is interesting. Similar to reports in the US (see above) it highlights wider structural and ethical questions about the labour conditions and the safety of workers https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/22/exploitative-conditions-germany-to-reform-meat-industry-after-spate-of-covid-19-cases (23.05.2020).
• This article also covers outbreaks of Covid-19 in German meatpackers (thanks to Gareth Enticott for the link) https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-breaks-out-in-third-german-slaughterhouse/a-53389860 (23.05.2020).
• This article suggests the ventilation system played a major role in the spread of Covid-19 amongst employees at the German pig slaughterhouse Tönnies https://www.pigprogress.net/Finishers/Articles/2020/6/Covid-19-German-meatpackers-improve-hiring-procedures-603063E/ (27.06.2020).
• Meat plant must be held to account for Covid-19 outbreak, says German minister | Coronavirus outbreak | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/22/meat-plant-must-be-held-to-account-covid-19-outbreak-germany (28.06.2020).
• Outbreaks of coronavirus at two abattoirs in France (May 2020) https://www.france24.com/en/20200518-france-hit-by-new-covid-19-outbreaks-in-two-abattoirs (accessed: 20.06.2020).
• China suspends bulk of Dutch pork imports after COVID-19 outbreaks at main slaughterhouses https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-netherlands-pork/china-suspends-bulk-of-dutch-pork-imports-after-covid-19-outbreaks-idUSKBN2411RU (04.07.2020).
• Covid-19 and Meat Processing Plants: An EU-wide response? https://www.arc2020.eu/covid-19-and-meat-processing-plants-an-eu-wide-response/ (10.08.2020).
  
• Inside Germany’s abattoirs: the human cost of cheap meat, Financial Times https://www.ft.com/content/7b77ec15-7384-42d0-9da0-76c4b7f0872b (good section about The Tönnies outbreak, which infected 1,500 workers and eventually forced the entire municipality into lockdown, the worst of many to hit German abattoirs and farms, which has forced reflections on up to now hidden dependence on cheap migrant labour, especially for cheap meat) (12.01.2021).
  

Australia and Brazil:

• Coronavirus clusters at two abattoirs in Melbourne (high-risk worksites) https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/high-risk-worksites-in-spotlight-as-more-outbreaks-hit-abattoirs-hospitals-20200712-p55bbf.html (13.07.2020).
• ‘There's a direct relationship’: Brazil meat plants linked to spread of Covid-19, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/15/brazil-meat-plants-linked-to-spread-of-covid-19 (15.07.2020).
  

Not just meat!

• New outbreak data from @CDPHE shows growth in COVID-19 cases throughout food processing in the US (-140+ new cases at Greeley JBS; + outbreaks at Ft Morgan’s Cargill, Leprino’s cheese plants and new outbreaks at commercial bakeries) https://covid19.colorado.gov/data/outbreak-data [thanks to Melanie DuPuis for this link, via Twitter] (20.06.2020).
• 200 farm workers quarantined in Herefordshire outbreak, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/12/coronavirus-200-farm-workers-quarantined-herefordshire-outbreak ; see also this BBC News article https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-53381802#
  (13.07.2020).
• Greencore staff self-isolate after outbreak (sandwich factory for M&S, Northampton; "proactively testing workers") https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-53762233 (14.08.2020); see also: 'Makers of M&S sandwiches faced pay dock if they self-isolated, says union', The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/16/covid-19-ms-sandwich-makers-sick-pay-self-isolated-union (17.08.2020).
• This article reports comments by David Nabarro, a World Health Organization special envoy on Covid-19, that meat and food processing plants in the UK could create a perfect storm for the spread of the virus. Outbreaks at UK food processing plants are increasing (see above), but not on the scale seen in the US, so more hypothetical https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/21/uk-cheap-food-could-fuel-covid-19-spread-says-who-envoy (22.08.2020).

Independent meat processors

• Indepedent meat processors (abattoirs) in the US. Civil Eats piece https://civileats.com/2020/05/19/as-covid-19-disrupts-the-industrial-meat-system-independent-processors-have-a-moment-to-shine/ (23.05.2020).
  
• See also this article on small-scale abattoirs https://www.hcn.org/articles/covid-19-will-covid-19-help-save-small-slaughterhouses (23.05.2020).
• Due to the slaughterhouse crisis caused by COVID-19, some pork producers in the US are slaughtering their own animals (Iowa examples) https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/10/us-producers-in-tears-at-having-to-cull-livestock-on-their-farms?CMP=share_btn_tw (11.06.2020).
• Local slaughterhouses struggle to keep ethical farming alive (UK)  https://www.dw.com/en/meat-production-coronavirus-farming-cattle/a-54381190 (COVID reinforces the need for small-scale abattoirs; local supply chain infrastructure) (01.09.2020).
• See also this Farmers Guardian article https://www.fginsight.com/news/news/coronavirus-pandemic-could-aid-small-abattoirs-111657 (small multi-species abattoir near Norwich; argues 'Covid-19  has brought about a change in the dynamic of the food supply chain which may offer a lifeline to smaller abattoirs') (thanks @GarethEnticott for sharing) (01.09.2020).

Supply chain vulnerability and market impacts

• Financial Times piece about the vulnerability of food chains to Covid-19, especially meat processing; other global food networks are more agile; short chains offer greater resilience https://www.ft.com/content/d7a12d18-8313-11ea-b6e9-a94cffd1d9bf (30.05.2020).
• Useful overview of how COVID-19 has impacted food supply and distribution in the U.S., including farm labour, supply chain disruptions and adjustments from food service to retail markets https://civileats.com/2020/04/15/food-distribution-101-what-happens-when-the-food-supply-is-disrupted-by-a-pandemic/ (28.06.2020).
• USDA is considering broader reporting requirements for meatpacking companies as it investigates cattle market fluctuations driven by the coronavirus pandemic and a fire at a major beef plant. The two "black swan" disruptions led to significant spikes in beef prices https://eu.wisfarmer.com/story/news/2020/07/23/usda-report-sheds-light-beef-market-concerns/5496593002/ (24.07.2020).
• Shipping containers and food exports (New Zealand) https://farmersweekly.co.nz/section/dairy/view/containers-in-short-supply (short supply is a threat to NZ agri-food exports; cf. 2010 Larry Busch paper - importance of shipping containers to global agri-food https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1467-9523.2010.00511.x ) (thanks @GarethEnticott for sharing)  (01.09.2020).
• Rishi Sunak warned public sector's food supply at risk, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/oct/18/rishi-sunak-warned-public-sectors-food-supply-at-risk (call to support wholesalers who supply food to care homes, schools, hospitals and prisons; emphasises the relationship between commercial and public food sales for wholesalers) (19.10.2020).
  

Concerns about food fraud

• Recent horsemeat seizures has raised concerns about food fraud, with criminal gangs exploiting supply chain vulnerabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/05/23/horsemeat-seized-amid-fears-criminals-exploiting-coronavirus/ (30.05.2020).
• Covid-19 pandemic could give rise to 'new horsemeat scandal' as food industry struggles to meet demand https://inews.co.uk/news/consumer/covid-19-pandemic-new-horsemeat-scandal-food-fraud-550309 (18.07.2020).

• A couple of great resources from Bristol to support and encourage citizens to buy local and support food retail independents, from Bristol Food Network and Support Bristol Food (accessed: 10.04.2020); see also https://www.goingforgoldbristol.co.uk/bristolfoodkind-highlights-so-far/ (09.05.2020).
• BBC News coverage of how independent retailers are adapting during Covid-19 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-52589775 (23.05.2020).
• UK corner shops and independent grocers see a sharp rise in sales (63% increase)  https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/may/27/uk-corner-shops-and-independent-grocers-ring-up-63-per-cent-rise-in-sales-coronavirus?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Tweet (30.05.2020).
  
• Until recently local food producers lacked access to the software to create their own online presence and sales dedicated to food. To learn more about open and accessible software see these pages from the Open Food Network and Local Food Nodes (14.03.2020).
• A small village transformation of shopping under lockdown in Wiltshire (20.04.2020).
• Community food co-ops are thriving in the US, largely because of how they organise their supply chains (local infrastructure) https://civileats.com/2020/05/15/community-food-co-ops-are-thriving-during-the-pandemic/ (23.05.2020).
• Bon Appetit article about how food businesses (restaurants, food stores) in the US are responding https://www.bonappetit.com/story/food-businesses-covid-19 (06.06.2020); this article highlights the uncertainty in restaurant chains in the US, which many reversing opening plans, which is impacting farms that supply them https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/16/business/farmers-restaurants-closures/index.html (18.07.2020).
• Deliveroo and food chains (Pizza Hut, Pret a Manger, Itsu and Wagamama) ask Boris Johnson for help during pandemic https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jun/16/deliveroo-and-food-chains-ask-boris-johnson-for-help-during-pandemic?CMP=share_btn_tw (20.06.2020).
• Has coronavirus sent the out-of-town shopping centre packing? [probably not!?]  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/24/coronavirus-out-of-town-shopping-centre (27.06.2020).
• Article about how One Fair Wage, working in partnership with New York City, will provide grants to 100 family-run restaurants that closed due to C-19. Aim to improve how they pay workers https://civileats.com/2020/06/19/one-fair-wage-wants-to-help-reopen-restaurants-and-change-how-they-pay-workers/ (28.06.2020).
• See also this Washington Post article regarding workers' wages and how restaurants in the US treat their workers https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/07/16/forget-wine-list-foodies-should-ask-how-restaurants-treat-their-workers/ (20.07.2020).
• Bristol chefs are calling for more support to help the 44,000 jobs connected to Bristol's food & drink industry https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-53106484 (28.06.2020).
• Marketplaces as public spaces in times of the Covid‐19 coronavirus outbreak. Analysis of markets in the Netherlands (some closed but some formed new economic infrastructures to sell produce) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/tesg.12431?campaign=wolearlyview (28.06.2020).
• Why local markets are key to reviving our locked down town centres https://www.sustainweb.org/blogs/jun20_markets_covid_recovery/ (04.07.2020).
• How local retailers are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic (Canada) (video link includes analysis from Jennifer Clapp) (availability and affordability may become issues at the end of the growing season) https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/the-future-of-food-how-local-retailers-are-responding-to-the-covid-19-pandemic-1.5016091 (13.07.2020).
• Bike delivery cooperatives are changing the rules of the gig economy https://www.shareable.net/courier-cooperatives-are-changing-the-rules-of-the-gig-economy/ (16.07.2020).
• Meals on wheels for the 21st century, Sustain (report examines meals on wheels services in London before, during and after Covid-19) https://www.sustainweb.org/publications/meals_on_wheels_for_21st_century/# (16.07.2020).
• How South Asian corner shop culture helped the UK survive Covid-19, gal-dem https://gal-dem.com/how-south-asian-corner-shop-culture-helped-the-uk-survive-covid-19/ (05.08.2020).
  
• Reuters article about Uber profits and losses - Uber Eats food-delivery business revenue doubled to $1.2 billion during the pandemic https://www.reuters.com/article/us-uber-results/uber-rides-take-covid-19-hit-but-food-delivery-business-doubles-idUSKCN25230X (08.08.2020).
• London's restaurants on a social mission, Jellied Eel https://www.sustainweb.org/jelliedeel/articles/jun20_restaurants_mission/ (how three restaurants in London have run as social enterprises, supporting sustainable food and local people) (17.08.2020).
• Eat Out To Help Out. BBC News article about the scheme: How can I use the 'eat out to help out scheme'? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-53431026 (10.08.2020); Eat Out to Help Out dishes out 35m meals in two weeks, BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53817886 (19.08.2020).
• 'Eat out' vouchers, Wicked Leeks (urges spending them at independent eateries) https://wickedleeks.riverford.co.uk/news/eating-drinking-local-sourcing/spend-eat-out-vouchers-indies-public-urged (04.08.2020).
• Eat Out to Help Out scheme benefits farm shops with restaurants and cafés (some have now opted out), Farmers Weekly https://www.fwi.co.uk/farm-life/feedthenation-eat-out-scheme-benefits-farm-shops-and-cafes (22.08.2020).
• Eat Out to Help Out: crowded restaurants may have driven UK coronavirus spike https://theconversation.com/eat-out-to-help-out-crowded-restaurants-may-have-driven-uk-coronavirus-spike-new-findings-145945 ('Rather than trying to encourage a big-bang “back to normal”, governments should settle in for the long haul') (12.09.2020).
  
• Plating Up Progress 2020: food industry progress, COVID-19 and a green recovery, FCRN blog post by Will Nicholson (useful discussion in the second part about the uneven economic impacts of COVID-19 on the food sector (especially retail and catering) and the tension between economic recovery and a transition to a healthy and sustainable food system) https://fcrn.org.uk/fcrn-blogs/plating-progress-2020-food-industry-progress-covid-19-and-green-recovery (13.10.2020).
• McDonald’s, Chipotle and Domino’s Are Booming During Coronavirus While Your Neighborhood Restaurant Struggles, The Wall Street Journal https://www.wsj.com/articles/mcdonalds-chipotle-and-dominos-are-feasting-during-coronavirus-while-your-neighborhood-restaurant-fasts-11602302431 (good piece about restaurants in the US, with useful graphics; suggests larger more capitalised restaurant chains are experiencing a boom in sales in contrast to smaller independents, although not all large chains are doing well) (14.10.2020).
  
• A sobering article in Eater about the situation facing restaurants and restaurant workers in the US and a call to finally give them (restaurant owners and workers) a much-needed bailout https://www.eater.com/21575713/restaurants-industry-needs-bailout-now-covid-19-second-wave (22.11.2020)
• This piece in The New York Times also highlights the impact on restaurant workers in the US (chefs, managers and servers) https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/09/business/pandemic-restaurant-middle-class.html ('In sheer economic terms, few workers have stood more directly in the path of the pandemic than the roughly 10 million people employed by restaurants at the start of the year') (10.12.2020)
• Column in the Los Angeles Times: The lack of help for our restaurants is a national disgrace https://www.latimes.com/food/story/2020-12-12/restaurants-act-stimulus-covid-outdoor-dining (14.12.2020).
• New York’s restaurant workers grapple with the crushing mental and physical toll of COVID, Grub Street https://www.grubstreet.com/2020/12/nyc-restaurants-workers-covid-fatigue-burnout-mental-health.html (19.12.2020).

• Morrison’s Food Boxes (accessed: 10.04.2020). Picked this up via Sarah Holloway’s Twitter feed, who commented “If anyone is struggling to get online food orders for elderly or self-isolating relatives in a different part of the country, I'd recommend googling 'Morrison's Food Boxes'. They send a sensible selection of food and household goods. Booking to delivery was less than 48 hours”.
• Morrisons unveils 10kg 'British Food Box' to support farmers - Farming UK, 12.05.20  https://www.farminguk.com/news/morrisons-unveils-10kg-british-food-box-to-support-farmers_55628.html (accessed: 16.05.2020).
• Stockpiling led to huge boosts in retail sales, including Tesco (10.04.2020).
• Concerns about food shortages is another key narrative in the debate. This article captures that perspective.
• Which ? Information on how supermarket and the retail industry are responding to the current crisis. Weekly Updates, including data on shopping habits  (20.04.2020).
• Waitrose launches promotion to buy/eat more steak https://www.farminguk.com/news/waitrose-launches-biggest-ever-steak-promotional-push_55541.html and support British livestock farmers (accessed 04.05.2020).
• This Guardian article reports on a stakeholder revolt over executive pay, but data too reporting a significant rise in profits from food sales, plus a shift to online sales, during COVID-19 https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jun/26/tesco-sales-soar-as-customers-turn-to-deliveries-in-pandemic-coronavirus(27.06.2020).
• Tesco demands supplier price cuts in discount battle https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53284788 (04.07.2020).
• 'Three quarters of UK does grocery shopping online', BBC News  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-53840920 ('The biggest shift towards online supermarket shopping was in the over-55 age group, where regular online shopping nearly trebled') (22.08.2020); this Guardian article notes similar trend re. over-55 age group shopping online and supermarkets as beneficiaries https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/aug/20/pandemic-prompts-doubling-of-online-grocery-shoppers-in-uk (thanks Anna_K_speaking for sharing) (26.08.2020).
  
• Second wave poses retail availability challenges http://www.fruitnet.com/fpj/article/183070/second-wave-poses-retail-availability-challenges (research by retail technology app Ubamarket) (05.10.2020).
  
• Virus Cases Rise, but Hazard Pay for Retail Workers Doesn’t, The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/19/business/retail-workers-hazard-pay.html#click=https://t.co/jruLj0eFJD ('They were hailed as heroes during the first wave of the pandemic, but wage increases were fleeting, and companies [Amazon, Walmart, Kroger], whose businesses are booming, have been slow to pay out more') (22.11.2020).
• Aldi, Trader Joe's and others are paying workers to get a vaccine, CNN https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/19/business/aldi-trader-joes-dollar-general-covid-vaccine/index.html (a growing number of large US chains are offering their workers incentives to get Covid-19 vaccines) (26.01.2021).
  

Big food brands moving online

• This Financial Times article, if access is possible, is interesting: suggests 'big food' brands are moving online during the crisis and sidestepping retailers; also reports an increase in the consumption of ultraprocessed foods https://www.ft.com/content/2a8b011a-60e0-4bd7-bdac-c22c6a210ea5 (30.05.2020).
• Amazon plans big expansion of UK online grocery service, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jul/28/amazon-plans-big-expansion-of-uk-online-grocery-service (30.07.2020).
• Aldi to create 4,000 more UK jobs as sales surge in Covid crisis, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/sep/28/aldi-uk-jobs-sales-covid-crisis-supermarket-stores (02.10.2020).
  
• Waitrose and Co-op to cut prices of essential goods by an average of 15%, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/oct/21/waitrose-and-co-op-to-cut-prices-of-essential-goods-by-an-average-of-15 (seen as an "attempt to win over more budget-conscious shoppers whose finances are under increased strain due to the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic" (21.10.2020).
  

Trade in high-value horticultural exports (Kenya to European supermarkets)

• Global lockdown has hit large and small horticultural growers in Kenya, especially trade with European supermarkets (Franch beans, flowers, etc.). Some have started to sell more via retailers in Nairobi (Carrefour, Quick Mart and KFC). https://www.ecowatch.com/kenya-exports-covid-2646163421.html (13.06.2020); see also this Food Tank piece https://foodtank.com/news/2020/06/covid-19-is-hitting-kenyan-horticulture-exports-hard/ (14.06.2020).

• Sustainable Food Places webpage has useful resources/articles on how different cities / urban food partnerships in the UK are responding https://www.sustainablefoodplaces.org/ (accessed: 23.05.2020); see also their day of celebration and action for local food partnerships (10th June 2020) https://mailchi.mp/9be133996c85/sustainable-food-places-newsletter-may-2726972 (30.05.2020); local food partnership example - Leed's local response to Covid-19 https://www.sustainablefoodplaces.org/news/leeds_local_response_covid19/ (08.08.2020).
• Written from the perspective of feeding cities as energy becomes more scarce Joy Carey’s ‘Who Feeds Bristol’ remains a vital resource for thinking about urban food resilience (14.03.2020).
• This article was published just before the lock-down, and like Joy Carey they estimate the capacity of a large western city (Sheffield) could provide - through urban agriculture - 15% of its own food needs (14.03.2020).
• FAO paper about the importance of urban food systems (their role in the emergency) (20.04.2020); the revised FAO paper examines cities and local government for resilient food systems http://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/cb0407en/. Survey data and case studies from cities around the world (860 responses; data on disruptions and food system governance; need for shorter chains and local production) (28.07.2020).
• City and city region impacts and responses http://www.fao.org/in-action/food-for-cities-programme/news/covid-19/en/ (04.05.2020); plus this city region food system article by Alison Blay-Palmer and colleagues for RUAF https://ruaf.org/news/city-region-food-systems-to-cope-with-covid-19-and-other-pandemic-emergencies/ (16.05.2020).
• Thoughtful blog by Adrian Ely (STEPS) about links between national food planning and local organisations https://steps-centre.org/blog/food-in-the-time-of-covid-19-how-can-local-action-and-national-coordination-work-together/, drawing on his work with the Brighton and Hove Partnership and the importance of these forms of partnership during the crisis (accessed 09.05.2020).
• This blog gives an overview of Bristol's 'Going for Gold' and other food policies in the wake of Covid-19 https://sustainablefoodtrust.org/articles/going-for-gold-in-the-wake-of-covid-19/?utm_source=SFT+Newsletter&utm_campaign=6d983255c7-Newsletter+214_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_bf20bccf24-6d983255c7-105088289 (accessed 23.05.2020).
• Importance of farmland on city edges (analysis from Melbourne, where land on city edge provided important produce during Covid; need to maintain land zoned for farming going forward) https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/planners-say-pandemic-shows-farmland-on-city-fringes-is-crucial-20200505-p54pxs.html (accessed: 16.05.2020).
• This blog, by Sharelle Polack, Braulio Eduardo Morera, Alex Ryan and Laura Platenkamp, argues that city-level governments have a key role to play re. food system governance in the COVID-19 pandemic https://nutritionconnect.org/resource-center/blog-26-urban-governments-have-key-role-play-covid-19-pandemic (30.05.2020).
• Food growing in Dublin: community gardens as a post-Covid-19 sustainable food future (social resilience) https://sharecity.ie/dublins-food-growing-scene-are-community-gardens-a-solution-in-our-covid-19-future/ (06.06.2020).
• Growth in urban gardens in Montreal (veg. donated to community orgs.) https://www.shareable.net/covid-19-pandemic-brings-new-growth-to-montreals-urban-gardens/ (13.06.2020).
• Urban farming in Malawi: positive story about how Covid-19 is boosting the growth of urban farming and backyard farming in Lilongwe https://medium.com/enabling-sustainability/its-a-new-era-for-urban-farming-in-malawi-4d0cccbeb802 (13.06.2020).
• Home gardening in the US https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/06/food-insecure-americans-are-home-farming-as-covid-wreaks-havoc-on-agricultural-chain (14.06.2020).
• How cities are feeding residents today and building a better tomorrow https://www.c40knowledgehub.org/s/article/Food-and-COVID-19-How-cities-are-feeding-residents-today-and-building-a-better-tomorrow?language=en_US (14.06.2020).
  
• Urban agriculture / backyard food production in the US  as a coronavirus silver lining. Good article, showing how the pandemic has rekindled interest and belief in the value of urban, local and regional food systems (after recent criticisms) https://civileats.com/2020/04/15/the-rebirth-of-urban-ag-is-a-coronavirus-silver-lining/(28.06.2020).
• Food Sharing in the United States: What’s Changed During COVID-19? https://sharecity.ie/food-sharing-in-the-us-whats-changed-during-covid-19/ (04.07.2020).
• Covid-19 and cities: Lessons on maintaining access to good food (cases from New York, Kampala and Quito) https://www.rikolto.org/en/news/covid-19-and-cities-lessons-maintaining-access-good-food (04.07.2020).
• Birmingham's local response to Covid-19 (a local authority and voluntary sector partnership approach) https://www.sustainablefoodplaces.org/news/birmingham_local_response_to_covid_19_jul20_/ (06.07.2020).
• Covid-19 has led to a surging demand in food banks in Detriot and renewed interest in urban agriculture. A three-year study in the city is evaluating how cover crops, compost and tillage can improve land. Aim is to scale up urban gardening and farming to promote food sovereignty https://civileats.com/2020/07/16/could-a-detroit-experiment-unleash-the-power-of-urban-soil/ (18.07.2020).
  
• FoodPrint blog notes some cities in the US are cutting community garden funds, with impacts on refugee communities; community gardens contribute to hunger relief programmes (e.g. Seattle P-patch prog.); policy support is the key issue (for urban planning) not funding https://foodprint.org/blog/community-gardens/ (27.07.2020).
  
• How black-run urban farms in the US are fighting food inequality, Thomson Reuters Foundation Long Reads https://longreads.trust.org/item/black-urban-community-farmers-uproot-food-apartheid-united-states (01.08.2020).
  
• How are London councils responding to rising food insecurity during lockdown and as it lifts?, Sustain https://www.sustainweb.org/blogs/jul20_london_council_covid_response/ (01.08.2020).
• Home gardening and urban agriculture for advancing food and nutritional security in response to the COVID-19 pandemic https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12571-020-01058-3 (14.08.2020).
• Re-homing hens during Covid-19: A rethinking of urban space? https://www.sociologylens.net/topics/collective-behaviour-and-social-movements/re-homing-hens-during-covid-19-a-rethinking-of-urban-space/32056 (interesting piece in Sociology Lens by Catherine Oliver on re-homing hens and a new approach to multispecies geography) (18.08.2020).
• The need to plan for healthy, equitable and resilient food systems (emphasis on city food systems) https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/28KNTTQASTNDAZC7WDES/full?target=10.1080%2F23748834.2020.1791442& (26.08.2020).
  
• Urban farming: four reasons it should flourish post-pandemic, The Conversation https://theconversation.com/urban-farming-four-reasons-it-should-flourish-post-pandemic-144133 (27.08.2020).
• Can alternative urban initiatives & approaches really transform our cities? (Insights from the UrbanA Wiki on Sustainable Just Cities) https://medium.com/urban-arenas-for-sustainable-and-just-cities/can-alternative-urban-initiatives-approaches-really-transform-our-cities-2c349345c465 (12.09.2020).
• Building plans for growing food, Brighton and Hove Food Partnership https://bhfood.org.uk/building-plans-for-growing-food/ ('The update comes at a time when the city’s food resilience has been exposed due to Covid-19 and people have been compelled to think about what they eat and where their food comes from') (26.09.2020).
  
• The pandemic will accelerate the evolution of our cities (Norman Foster article in The Guardian - emphasis on urban agriculture) https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/24/pandemic-accelerate-evolution-cities-covid-19-norman-foster?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other (thanks Matt Reed for sharing) (26.09.2020).
• COVID-19 a growing opportunity for community gardening in London, RUAF Urban Agriculture and Food Systems https://ruaf.org/news/covid-19-a-growing-opportunity-for-community-gardening-in-london/ (02.10.2020).
  
• ShareCity project (Sustainability of city-based food sharing) has useful blogs linked to COVID-19 (see links above), plus their virtual conference https://sharecity.ie/virtualconference2020/(09.10.2020); includes Food Sharing and COVID-19 - Vanessa Lucy, YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyW4mr5ONIY (urban food and COVID-19) (accessed: 23.10.2020).
• The Rebirth of Urban Ag is a Coronavirus Silver Lining, Civil Eats https://civileats.com/2020/04/15/the-rebirth-of-urban-ag-is-a-coronavirus-silver-lining/ (growth in backyard food production) (19.10.2020).
• This piece in The Washington Post argues that small urban farms are important for underserved neighbourhoods https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/home/small-urban-gardens-can-help-food-insecure-communities/2020/10/13/18521dca-0714-11eb-a166-dc429b380d10_story.html (Southeast Washington; urban farms are "a key portal into a larger infrastructure of food-security efforts. Beyond their utility, they are places of deep reconnection, to the soil, to food and to communities. In the food deserts of big-city America, they are the oases") (21.10.2020).
  
• Allotments have been disappearing from cities – here’s why they are ripe for a comeback, Institute for Sustainable Food, The University of Sheffield https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/sustainable-food/news/allotments-have-been-disappearing-cities-heres-why-they-are-ripe-comeback (urban horticulture, local food security) (26.10.2020).
  
• Useful review by Sustain of action taken by London councils on food to respond to and recover from the pandemic https://www.sustainweb.org/news/nov20-london-councils-action-on-food/ (London councils with strong food foundations better equipped for quick response to Covid-19) (27.11.2020).
  
• The Pandemic Gardening Survey Report, Sustain (the Australian Food Network) https://sustain.org.au/projects/pandemic-gardening-survey-report/ (important survey/dataset on urban gardening during COVID-19 lockdowns in Australia; gardening integral to sustaining well-being; urban gardening as a model of food self-provisioning and care) (29.11.2020).
• Food First: COVID-19 Outbreak and Cities Lockdown a Booster for a Wider Vision on Urban Agriculture, Sustainability https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/12/5012 ('urban agriculture in developed countries should be fostered with emerging growing practices and edible green infrastructures'; thanks Sophia Lingham) (12.01.2021).
• Blooms of hope: the gardening groups delivering smiles during lockdown, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jan/27/blooms-of-hope-the-gardening-groups-delivering-smiles-during-lockdown (interesting piece about the benefits of community gardening and community growing by Clare Horton; community growing, green recovery, social prescribing; thanks Mike Hardman for sharing) (30.01.2021).

Rural-urban relations

• Useful blog https://ruralsociologywageningen.nl/2020/04/20/rural-urban-relations-in-times-of-covid-19/ by Bettina Bock and Jessica Duncan discussing rural-urban relations in a time of COVID (part of Horizon 2020-funded ROBUST project).
• See also https://urbanrurallinkages.wordpress.com/ (20.06.2020) and https://urbanpolicyplatform.org/2020/05/12/un-habitat-plg-covid-19-response-activities/ (28.06.2020).
• Rural-Urban relations during Covid-19 (ROBUST project) https://foodgovernance.com/robust-rural-urban-relations-during-covid-19/ (29.07.2020); includes a series of Covid-19-related 'live cases' from 11 living labs e.g. Lisbon, with example of proximity relations and shorter food circuits https://rural-urban.eu/living-lab/lisbon/live-cases (27.08.2020) and Lucca - proximity and resilience in times of sanitary emergency https://rural-urban.eu/living-lab/lucca/live-cases (26.09.2020).
• Why Covid-19 should make us rethink multilocality (blog for the ROBUST project by Bryonny Goodwin-Hawkins, Ulla Ovaska and Theresia Oedl-Wieser) https://rural-urban.eu/news/why-covid-19-should-make-us-rethink-multilocality (08.08.2020).
• City Region Food Systems: Building Resilience to COVID-19 and Other Shocks, Sustainability https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/3/1325 (Alison Blay-Palmer et al. identify three features for a city region food systems (multistakeholder engagement across urban rural spaces; infrastructure needs at city-region scale; and system-centered planning and policy) (30.01.2021).

• Webinar 1 – Local Food After the Pandemic. Dan Keech (CCRI) Ped Asigarian (The Community Farm)
• Webinar 2 - Community Supported Agriculture. Jasmine Black (CCRI); Agroecology in Uganda. Nick James (Open University).
• Webinar 3 - Brexit & Food Citizenship. Ludivine Petetin (Cardiff University); Food in Japan during COVID-19. Steven McGreevy (Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto, Japan)
• Webinar 4 - Achieving 'Food for Life' gold status in Bristol. Joy Carey; Enacting Food Policy in the UK. Dr. Kelly Parsons