Food Poverty has been steadily looming on the edge of the society
Poverty casts you aside from the society. In the 20th century George Orwell was describing how he was fiddling with every penny and trying to survive while clinging to your dignity, or the pretence for it. But when you have a choice having some food and a roof are always one’s priority. Many knows that poverty is not limited to the homeless but encompass those that must make every pound last until the end of the month. Low paid workers, students, disabled people… There are countless examples.
Food precarity has increased steadily in the UK since 2008 and the financial crisis, the austerity in the UK has dragged down the social benefits. The Trussel Trust has reported an incredible increase in terms of number of 3 day’s emergency food parcel from 25000 in 2008 to 1, 583 million in 2019. It was estimated that 7% of the UK population has used at some point food banks with very diverse and surprising profiles. Food precarity can hide behind a coat, a jacket or an overall, it was estimated that single men were the main users of food banks – while you wouldn’t think they are the most vulnerable. And this number are high for a country infamous for the low price of its food, food spending only representing 11% of the household income. Cheap food has been a mainstay of UK retailing for more than 50 years and still...some people are unable to afford food. It is also important to remember that has in any developed country a part of the UK population is over or malnutritioned it can be linked to precarity.
The Covid19 crisis is exacerbating these inequalities
Crowds are losing their jobs or getting furloughed as days go by, the YouGov survey had 28%of its respondent saying that their income has diminished in some sort. At the same time the school closure left 1/3 of the households surveyed without any substitute to the free meal’s children were getting. In parallel the pressure on retailers has increased tremendously and the ensuing food shortages and the trouble of supply chains had multiple effects for those who have some troubles to feed themselves; the food bank have received next to nothing as people stockpiled in panic buying, the staple products they used to collect virtually disappeared overnight (most notably in urban areas), low priced products, multibuys and offers were carried away. The food that was accessible, cheap or discounted; disappeared from the shelves and the donation of the hospitality industry or transport companies to food banks were far from bridging the gap.Ajouter un paragraphe ici.
Two Cheltenham Supermarket Tesco and Waitrose with two different pricing strategies - Waitrose still had some Pasta to sell through the crisis, Tesco's customer had to wait weeks. You would be amazed to know how many students survive on Pasta and Sauce. Théo Lenormand.
The YouGov polls echoes this narrative with 14% of the respondent claiming that they reduced in some way their food intake, 6% even reported that someone in their household has been hungry for lack of food. Scale it back to the UK population and it gives you 9 million people tightening their belt in some ways. Some were unable to get it due to food shortages (50%) and 21% because of not having enough to buy food.
There is a gradation in food precarity, but the spectre of the empty belly is on the march again, it advances masked in the shadow for fear of being uncovered. It brings back memories of the rationing during the 2nd Word War when the UK was cut off from its food providers. A stark reminder of those times in the YouGov Poll is the 33% of household reducing food waste and worryingly 17% eat less fruit and vegetable. Crunching numbers, you will get the feeling that there is a real anxiety at least in some part of the population.
Plenty Ideas in the second world war to deal with food.
In stretched urban areas there has been a stronger anxiety and a kind of swift competition developed to get hold of food and staple products. Anyone ruthlessly buying as much as we were able to wherever we could go – with our own limits. The less mobile the more precarious (for example waiting for their benefits to do their shopping) being left gaping at the reduced options offered to them.
Since 2nd World War the agricultural production has trebled in the world, for example according to the USDA a farmer in the USA was feeding 19 individuals in 1940, now he is able to feed 155 individuals. Acreage production and yields have been impressive. Still the UK as of today is not self-sufficient on several agricultural productions and is not so different from the country George Orwell was living in. On the flipside the UK farmers are currently fighting for their survival as dairy, lamb, beef markets or even potatoes markets have reeled to the change brutal change in consumption patterns. Prices are depleted because the demand is not matching the offer on those agricultural products.
The extensive use of fertilizer has been part of the green revolution that allowed for a huge increase in farm production. Théo Lenormand.
The many growling bellies are an insolvent demand yet to be satisfied. One realizes that localized food system of some importance to the food security of the nation after all. Though the foundation of the food system – farms are endangered and the future of food security as well (it is not the biggest farms that are endangered). A thing that bellies and farmer share is a longing for a long-term vision, and they would both prefer not to be supported.
Existing policy tools in others OECD members ?
Hopefully some tools exist to help bridge this gap in other OECD countries, the longest supporter of these kinds of measure is on the other side of the Atlantic. In the USA food vouchers commonly named food stamps allow an important 40 million individuals to get food. It is the largest and the easiest to access welfare scheme in the USA. Though there are several others smaller free food schemes targeting key populations. They are even worth more if they are spent in local food markets and at farm stores. The USA have a fully-fledged arsenal when it comes to food policy including direct subsidies to farmers, export subsidies, storage for agricultural goods, price supports mechanism. The CAP and the European food policy seem tame in comparison. The control of the federal government over farms is overwhelming and helps balance the offer and demand.
In 2020 the SNAP program is back under the spotlight because it is counter-cyclical, more people register when they are hard hit by a crisis. It lessens the hanger’s bite in the hardest times.
Italy has recently started distributing food vouchers for 600 € Million worth to help people buy food in supermarket. A stopgap in an economy with a lot of unregistered work.
But how to implement it? How to do it right
First there are the criteria to access the scheme in the USA to access the scheme you must be under a revenue threshold or being unemployed but actively looking for work – the size of your household is considered. You can’t claim more than 3 months of benefits out of 3 years. The other free food schemes are less restrictive in their timeframe and modalities.
Furthermore the system must help recipients of the scheme to act as normally as possible. A transparent system for them to still feel included in the society – online registration, a seamless process, a credit card style or app payment food vouchers might be the easiest and the least harmful way to do it. As in the USA the amount given could be computed according to a point-based system to give more if you have several children in your household.
What could be accessed with these vouchers is another challenge, to incentivise the relocalisation of our food system the double value for local spending would be great (farm shops, local food shops – butchers, local dairy…). This new tool could promote cooking at home from ingredients rather than buying prepared meals. Another idea could be to spend it at local cafés and restaurants on a range of product (sourced from the UK) to help revive them after the crisis.
Extra spending allowed for local food ? A way to redevelop weekly local food markets like in France - here Morlaix my hometown in Brittany.
There would be tremendous benefits for the country as a whole. As highlighted earlier the infamous malnutrition could be properly avoided for every meal lessening the pressure on the NHS. It could help trigger widespread new habits in the way we eat; challenging the recipients towards more environmentally friendly food logic (cooking seasonal products); cooking at home, planning your meals, reducing waste…
I am a bit ashamed to see that we dump milk while other skip meals or starve miles away, it is not smart, it is harmful. Because now more than ever every little help, even if it’s only an extra glass of milk.
Update on Vulnerable groups position in the UK - 05/2020
What is below was discussed during a webinar presenting the result of the latest pool from the food foundation on the C19 impact on the food crisis.
Even if things improved since lockdown in terms of food vulnerability and precarity it is still standing at unormally high levels.The food supply issues have alleviated but are still a major concern in some areas (for example in urban areas). Now the economic issue has taken over. And this not necessarily because prices have increased in supermarket.
But for now the main economic issues have been buffered by the governements job suport schemes, which meant that things were describded as stable compared to the second week of lockdown. But those buffers are also linked to personal savings because roughly half of the respondent said that they had trouble with income support schemes.
It is worrying that a quarter of the respondent says that it is harder to access food even if the majority feels it has improved. The big problem is that 54% of those who are deemed food insecure weren't offered any help, its huge... And there is still a huge stigma on food precarity and insecurity as shown by the slide copied below.
The presentation was closed by showing which group of people where the most vulnerable. They also looked at the county council side.
UK Countries and Food Policy in Covid19
Learning a bit more about what has been done to address the Free School Meal issues in each country of the UK. My only comment 3,00£ is not a lot for a meal, all the more when meal deals and multibuys have disappeared from stores. Wales has pledged to help families through the summer hollidays which is great.
I still think we need real food stamps to address all the issues.
