The Covid-19 Food Shortage

   The critical drive for the Green Pantry Project was due to the local and national produce shortage in light of the Covid-19 Pandemic. According to The World Bank, “COVID-19 impacts led to severe and widespread increases in global food insecurity, affecting vulnerable households in almost every country, with impacts expected to continue into 2022 and possibly beyond.” This is incredibly worrying. The trend seemed like it was limited to developing countries, but the impacts are felt close to home. Coteva Agriscience used to house a community garden that went to food pantries across Iowa but due to the Pandemic, they weren’t able to continue this.

    With this large source of fresh food gone in Iowa, the need for the Pantry Garden was amplified. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture surveys, Iowa in 2020 had the nation’s second-lowest proportion of households that were food-insecure, 6.9%. But 6.9% is still more than 90,000 Iowa households, and the state’s food pantries have stayed busy serving them. According to the DSM Register, advocates said they’re witnessing the poor getting poorer in 2021 and struggling even more as the Pandemic lingers. We’re hoping here at the Green Pantry Project we can help lower this percent as the Pandemic continues into 2022.