QUESTION: The 3rd in our #COVID19 #NationalSecurity series, is; How has the pandemic impacted the U.S. food supply -is there a shortage? We asked Tom Vilsack, president and CEO of the US Dairy Export Council @USDairyExporter. Follow this thread for the answer. 
ANSWER: Vilsack said there is NO shortage, rather there is a disruption in the supply chain. "That's correct, to the point where dairy farmers, for example can't sell their milk. There's no place for them to sell their milk because kids aren't consuming it at school and
grocery stores, because of the panic (buying) began to limit the amount of of milk that was being sold. As a result, the farmers have been dumping millions and millions of pounds of milk because they have no market for it. That's the sad reality.
Another cascading event is taking place now because the virus has now crept into the processing facilities. A number of processing facilities are beginning to shut down. Now, that could potentially create a food shortage.
If we had a number of processing facilities across the country shut down simultaneously, then there would be obviously a new issue of where we would be able to get food processed and get it into the grocery stores for folks.
But at this point in time, there's not a shortage -just a mismatch -a disruption of the supply chain."
Tom Vilsack is the former Governor of Iowa and was Agriculture Secretary under President Barack Obama. Read more here: usdec.org
If you have a question about national security, follow @NatSecAnswers, send us your question and we'll get the answer. Please share this resource with others.
