Cow’s milk isa major part of many Americans’ dietsbecause it contains key vitamins and calcium. But milk consumption hassufferedduring the COVID-19 pandemic, along with other foods, includingbeef,eggs,水果和蔬菜. Economic shutdowns have severely disrupted supply chains that move food from farm to fork.
Milk provides a compelling case study. Before the pandemic, the U.S. dairy industry already was struggling withlow milk prices, rising debt, theU.S.-China trade war,widespread depression and stress among farmers和limited rural access tomental health services. More farmers are calling it quits and, in uncommon but growing cases, committingsuicide.
Asscientistsspecializing in生态和the环境，我们正在研究如何牛奶 - 一个重要的还痛苦产业- 已受COVID-19。我们记录了一个解决牛奶配送危机：新泽西创新的小农户，谁是在合作社工作，并直接向客户销售幸存的这些困难的时候。
在威斯康星州，国家50％的乳制品无处可去while typical buyers such as schools and restaurants remain shut down and unable to purchase milk and cheese.
Dealing with changes in milk demand
Changes in the milk distribution networks that connect farmers, processors, retailers and consumers can be hard to see during a socially distanced trip to the grocery store. But they exist and are getting worse.
乳品生产商每天都为之倾倒的牛奶加仑十万。在威斯康星州，国家50％的乳制品无处可去while typical buyers such as schools and restaurants remain shut down and unable to purchase milk and cheese.
In Pennsylvania, where schools buy up to 40 percent of dairy sales by volume, the pandemic hasbeleaguered an already-stressed industrythat lost 470 farms in 2019. Some large dairies have started直接捐赠牛奶食物银行而不是为之倾倒，但它采取了几个月这与非营利性中介机构的帮助下发生的。这样的安排是补丁，用于在脆性供应链的缺口没有系统性的修复。
Supermarkets can’t sell all the milk
Milk isstill in high demandat grocery stores and supermarkets, but the share that normally would go to shut-down schools and restaurants has no buyers. Dairy farmers不能减少牛奶供应在响应，但因为牛继续生产牛奶过程中的流行。
杂货店和超市都没有配备管理可用牛奶的体积。其包装要求学校和餐馆重新标记和重新包装是不可行的不同不够。牛奶不是原本运往零售店已无处可去，但血本无归。
牛奶浪费和捐赠迹象表明，供应链缺乏弹性 - 的能力，从应力反弹，就像橡皮筋即恢复到正常形状之后被拉伸。牛奶倾倒更破碎供应链比在供给或需求趋势的反映。那美国有一些地方太少了传统的食品供应链的其他亮点弱点太多牛奶际冲击，如COVID-19的事实。
One farm, one economy
恢复为目前正在倾倒可能需要几个月，在显著损失生产牛奶的需求。然而，主流的农业 - 在美国农场的最大4％produce 66 percent of milk, meat and vegetablesby value — doesn’t typically operate with a large supply buffer orprioritize resilience. How can this system be rewired to make it more adaptable?
Here in New Jersey, farms are thefourth-smallest在美国,断言aging 76 acres. The Garden State’s dairy sector is particularly small, comprising only 50 farms and ranking 44th of 50 states in牛奶总产量. But despite their small operations, we see New Jersey’s当地农民创业as models of a game-changing strategy.
而不是他们的牛奶出售给大型乳品加工企业，这些vertically structured local farmsraise cows, process milk and other foods and sell them directly to consumers at farm-operated markets and restaurants. Unsold items return to farms as feed or fertilizer.
These farmers don’t operate alone. They band together in cooperatives, sharing resources for the benefit of all.
This system is highly efficient, even during the current pandemic, because farmers and their customers represent the entire supply chain. Customer demand for locally produced food issurging throughout New Jersey和theUnited States.
These farmers don’t operate alone. They band together in cooperatives, sharing resources for the benefit of all. Farmers with dairies and slaughterhouses bottle milk and process animals from other local producers. Those that own markets, cafes and restaurants act as hubs stocking and selling milk, meat and produce from neighboring farms, generating profits for all parties.
有弹性的食物的未来
In our view, New Jersey’s local farms are able to bounce back from disturbances such as a pandemic because they add a collaborative, "horizontal" element to vertically structured farms. As networks of farmers and consumers grow, they become more connected and are able to flexibly pivot and adapt to meet demand, thus creating increasingly resilient regional mosaics of farms and customers.
We see Garden State farms’ current success as evidence that resilient food systems make agriculture smaller, not larger. As food networks rewire in the wake of COVID-19, we believe one priority should be fostering food systems that are flexible and diverse, such as New Jersey’s farmer-consumer networks.
例如，农业政策可以设计来强调小农户的效率和对干扰灵活应对能力时，较大规模的农业不能。培育这种灵活性是在一个不确定的未来产生弹性粮食系统的关键。
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