Colorado State University’s Food Systems Initiative is committed to promoting the health and wellness of our population, especially vulnerable populations, and to limit negative impacts of economic and food supply chain disruptions resulting from COVID-19.
This website compiles important information to support our Colorado food system stakeholders, as well as presents visual displays of data and synthesis of rapid-response research and white papers that we hope are useful to all making decisions about food systems activities during this difficult time.
Before COVID-19, on average American households spent:
0%
of their total household food expenditure on food away from home (for example, at restaurants)
<0%
of their total household budget on food
$0Trillion
on food. This also includes spending by businesses and government entities.
Blake Naughton, Vice President for Engagement and Extension, established The CSU Task Force on Colorado Food Supply to provide data-driven analysis to support the Commissioner of Agriculture, the Governor, and the Colorado Legislature in their response to food supply chain issues related to COVID-19. The Task Force is working to conduct research and gather information in several key areas:
Food access/security – With unemployment growing, and the usual places many low income households get access to free food (schools), what amount of funding support is needed to ensure these households have access to a healthy and adequate amount of food?
Designating food retail establishments as ‘essential services’ – the Governor signed this order declaring a number of industries and occupations as ‘essential services’. We are working to understand the childcare, health, farm/ranch, and other implications of this order.
Food supply chain workforce readiness – workforce needs in the food supply chain are shifting. This work describes the sectors that are losing employment and those that are growing, and how we might support emergency job training.
Consumer expenditure and farm market access – Social distancing has changed the way in which U.S. households procure food. For example, we have seen a large shift from food away from home to food at home expenditures. How consumers spend their dollars has important impacts on farm/ranch access to markets. This work looks at how consumer spending has shifted and discusses implications for producers’ access to markets.
The Labor Force Risk tool provides information about the number of at-risk workers and the average at-risk worker weekly earnings, by county. ‘At-risk’ workers are defined by their designation as ‘essential industries’ or ‘critical businesses’.
A collaboration with Yale University, the child care needs tool provides information about child care needs – by age – to industries or occupations deemed ‘essential’ or ‘critical’ based on Governors’ orders.
The Colorado Food Systems map aggregates relevant food systems indicators and makes them available to all stakeholders. We are working to incorporate relevant COVID-19 food systems indicators as available.