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

• Published in: Agriculture (Basel) Vol. 12; no. 1; p. 61
• Main Authors: Dudek, Michał, Śpiewak, Ruta
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.01.2022
• Subjects: Agricultural economics; Agriculture; Consumers; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 infection; COVID-19 pandemic; Economic analysis; Environmental impact; Epidemics; EU Farm to Fork Strategy; farm to fork; farmers demand and consumption patterns; Food; Food safety; Food security; Food supply; Impact analysis; Medical research; pandemic; Pandemics; Poland; Public policy; Qualitative analysis; Research methodology; Social impact; sustainable food system; Sustainable food systems; uncertainty; Poland
• DOI: 10.3390/agriculture12010061
• ISSN: 2077-0472

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.