Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Sustainable Food Systems: Lessons Learned for Public Policies? The Case of Poland

Michał Dudek,Ruta Śpiewak

doi:10.3390/agriculture12010061

Michał Dudek, Ruta Śpiewak

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture12010061

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Abstract

COVID-19 has affected the functioning of food systems all over the world. This paper seeks to identify and analyse the economic, legal and institutional, as well as social effects of the pandemic’s outbreak on food systems, and the implications for the EU Farm to Fork Strategy whose main purpose is to put food systems on a sustainable path. Qualitative economic and social impact analysis was used to identify the above types of effect on the food system on a macroscale, using Poland as an example. Information was sourced from existing data and qualitative studies. Studies show that the consequences of the pandemic for individual elements of the food system in Poland in 2020 were related to numerous disruptions in functioning, leading to uncertainty, financial losses, and interrupted transactions. The crisis under analysis also revealed modifications in these actors’ behaviours in food markets, noticeable in changes in consumption patterns and in the ways demand for food was met. Nevertheless, an analysis of the gathered information and data testifies to the food system’s relative resistance to the effects of the pandemic, and also to the adaptive skills of the system’s entities, especially food producers and consumers. The paper’s discussion contains recommendations for public policies shaping the food system, pointing to actions that might reduce the negative effects of other potential exogenic crises in the future and aid the implementation of the Farm to Fork Strategy’s principles.

Highlights

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the functioning of food systems all over the world
A variety of data on the food system’s functioning in Poland in 2020 were used to achieve the study’s objective. They were mainly related to empirical materials describing the economic situation of individual entities within the food system, especially agricultural producers, legal measures directly and indirectly affecting food production and consumption, and information published in reports and on the internet, presenting the behaviours of the food system’s individual actors
In order to present an analysis of various consequences of COVID-19 pandemic for the Polish food system a brief presentation of the domestic socio-economic context is essential

Summary

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the functioning of food systems all over the world. Research conducted so far indicates that the severity of the pandemic’s effects varied depending on the region of the world, the level of food market development, the wealth of societies, the type of link in the system, and the response from public institutions influencing the system’s character [2]. The pandemic affected the food system directly and indirectly. Research [3] showed how COVID-19-related disruptions in transportation (e.g., access to container transport) and demands for related services (such as retail food pickup and delivery services) impacted food supply chains. The coronavirus crisis had an impact on the health of the system’s participants and on their behaviours [4]

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