Witnesses call on lawmakers to address labor shortages, supply disruptions and transportation issues to ensure today’s supply chain issues do not turn into tomorrow’s food shortage.
By Lauren Berryman
Lawmakers discussed what foods Americans might miss on their tables this holiday season due to supply chain disruptions, during a House Agriculture Committee hearing Wednesday.
Witnesses told the members that the pandemic has exacerbated food challenges today. Supply chain disruptions and labor shortages have impacted many facets of society, including parts of the agricultural industry.
“I am very, very worried,” said Agriculture Committee Chair David Scott of Georgia. “I’m worried that we could possibly have a delay, and a major delay, in our food supply chain if we do not address this piercing issue of a need for commercial truck drivers.”
The impact of workforce shortage is felt in various parts of the agricultural industry, including the transportation, baking and dairy sectors, the witnesses said.
Scott told other lawmakers that while there is not a food shortage, the United States faces an urgent supply chain issue. He added that truck drivers hold the key to whether the country will see a shortage of food in the future.
Witness Jon Samson, representing the American Trucking Association, said more than 80% of U.S. commodities rely on truck drivers to transport goods. But experts estimate the trucking industry has 80,000 vacancies, as Fortune magazine reports.
“We are forced to shut down production lines, and this results in fewer products being delivered to retail stores and food services, including restaurants and institutions,” testified Ed Cinco, director of purchasing at Schwebel Baking Company in Ohio. “Many wholesale bakers provide baked goods for federal feeding programs, including the school breakfast and lunch programs, SNAP and WIC.”
Cinco said that baker and truck driver shortages mean people using these federal food programs are also hurting. Committee chair Scott echoed the same sentiment.
“Our number one priority [of this committee] is making sure our people are eating,” Scott said. “That our school children are getting their meals. But I’m hearing from our school boards — you all know the story — that the food may be there, but the utensils, something like the forks [are out of supply].”
Erkut Sönmez is an associate professor of supply chain management and analytics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He said that he and other experts in the field do not expect this issue to be resolved soon.
“You’re as strong as the weakest part of a chain,” Sönmez said in an interview. “You may increase, for example, the capacity of certain parts of the supply chain, but the entire supply chain or the end result will not increase if there is a bottleneck.”
This issue also has to do with the role of imports and exports in supply chains. Some furniture, home appliances, toys, food and ingredients alike sit in shipping containers at ports waiting to be transported to final destinations. This makes the timing of shipments inconsistent and unreliable for companies. While these containers sit, Cinco said, perishable items also spoil.
“U.S. agricultural exporters are in a crisis,” testified Mike Durkin, president of Leprino Foods Company in Colorado. “For Leprino, over 99% of our 2021 ocean shipments have been canceled or rebooked to a later date at least once and, in some cases, up to 10 times or more. Over 100 bookings this year have been canceled or rebooked 17 times.”
Durkin emphasized to lawmakers that his company’s delays translate to five-month delays for their customers, including infant formula companies that rely on feeding millions of babies around the world.
Without immediate action, the witnesses said they are concerned matters will get worse. And even with timely action, they acknowledge supply chain issues will not be solved overnight.
“We take pride in feeding global communities with nutritious and delicious dairy products, but we cannot continue to do so in the current environment,” Durkin wrote in his testimony. “We request immediate attention to this significant escalating challenge.”
To ease the trucking industry’s labor shortage — which Scott said is the most pressing issue — Samson of the American Trucking Association said his organization is recruiting more young and women drivers.
Because the trucking industry has an aging workforce, Samson explained many drivers retired during the pandemic. He hopes to educate young people about the benefits of working in this industry today, including a higher salary, more flexibility, better benefits and substantial bonuses.
But with the holidays approaching, Sönmez said the high demand for the limited supply of foods and goods may present challenges for the consumer, including paying higher prices.
“My conjecture is that it’s not going to be empty shelves [at stores],” Sönmez said. “You’re going to find products, but not as much variety.”
Lauren Berryman 