Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Sustainable Food Systems: Lessons Learned for Public Policies? The Case of Poland

Michał Dudek and Ruta Śpiewak
Additional contact information
Michał Dudek: Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development, Polish Academy of Sciences, Nowy Świat 72 Street, 00-330 Warsaw, Poland
Ruta Śpiewak: Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development, Polish Academy of Sciences, Nowy Świat 72 Street, 00-330 Warsaw, Poland

Agriculture, 2022, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-19

Abstract: COVID-19 has affected the functioning of food systems all over the world. This paper seeks to identify and analyse the economic, legal and institutional, as well as social effects of the pandemic’s outbreak on food systems, and the implications for the EU Farm to Fork Strategy whose main purpose is to put food systems on a sustainable path. Qualitative economic and social impact analysis was used to identify the above types of effect on the food system on a macroscale, using Poland as an example. Information was sourced from existing data and qualitative studies. Studies show that the consequences of the pandemic for individual elements of the food system in Poland in 2020 were related to numerous disruptions in functioning, leading to uncertainty, financial losses, and interrupted transactions. The crisis under analysis also revealed modifications in these actors’ behaviours in food markets, noticeable in changes in consumption patterns and in the ways demand for food was met. Nevertheless, an analysis of the gathered information and data testifies to the food system’s relative resistance to the effects of the pandemic, and also to the adaptive skills of the system’s entities, especially food producers and consumers. The paper’s discussion contains recommendations for public policies shaping the food system, pointing to actions that might reduce the negative effects of other potential exogenic crises in the future and aid the implementation of the Farm to Fork Strategy’s principles.

Keywords: sustainable food system; COVID-19 pandemic; farmers demand and consumption patterns; EU Farm to Fork Strategy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/1/61/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/1/61/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:12:y:2022:i:1:p:61-:d:717513

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().