We’ve all experienced how the pandemic affected the availability of our food staples, with supermarket shelves picked clean of eggs, milk, and meat. What’s more, grocery prices climbed 2.6 percent in April in the largest monthly increase since 1974. Meat, poultry, fish, and egg prices went up by 4.3 percent.
While it’s tempting to conclude that this was all because people were hoarding essentials, the reality is more complex, and calls into question some long-held assumptions about what makes for a secure and reliable food supply. While grocery stores were struggling to keep up with a dramatic shift in consumer behavior and demand, local farmers here in Savannah and across the country stepped up and kept food on our tables. Some of them were even able to provide their wares at a discount.
So why the disparity?