I would say that the frenzied rush to grocery stores and picking clean of meat cases is a compliment to the work of the industry, that in one sense it is validation of the wide-ranging efforts along the supply chain that it takes to avail animal proteins to the masses.

I even smirk with the thought, or a guess, that there’ll be a decrease in the number of vegetarian and vegan consumers. I’m thinking their instincts will kick in like the majority of humans, who have come to know the sustaining nutritional benefits of meat.

But while those thoughts cross my mind, what sticks in it is how the coronavirus epidemic highlights our vulnerability and the fragile nature of our resources. When you’re all but stuck at home and trying to stay healthy, that means cooking, eating, cleaning and showering. Never mind facemasks, hand sanitizer and toilet paper. I’m thinking more about the essentials — food and water.

General self-quarantine and social distancing measures are one thing. The lockdowns of entire major cities portend far bleaker scenarios. For me, it calls to keen attention the importance of the production and movement of food, and what that takes. The enormous volumes of water and land to grow and process it, and the tremendous amounts of oil and gas to ship it, don’t come from a bottomless cup. They are finite.

In the short term, I want to tell the panic buyers and hoarders to chill out and think of others who need products as much or more than they do. I want to tell them that government and industry are working with passion to ensure that the production, processing and delivery of food continues to provide them with the safe and nutritious bounty they’ve known their whole lives. (So far, so good. Fingers so tightly crossed.)

But I shudder to think what happens when the most important resource, the people who do the work of feeding the nation, is compromised. I sure don’t want to be an alarmist, but Minerva Foods’ closure of four slaughter plants in Brazil on Tuesday is a slap in the face of reality that this virus doesn’t care for what those people do for a living nor its critical importance.

The long-term question I have, though, is how does the industry better use and preserve its resources in order to continue to feed people. Perhaps a pandemic such as this, a scare of this magnitude, helps further shape a definition of sustainability that actually guides business decisions, missions and culture more than one that amounts to nothing more than a checklist for an annual report.

As much as people need meat, the industry needs all the resources to produce it. Start by imagining a future without them.

Coronavirus is a defining moment

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