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CityState: Reporter the food system had begun to industrialize, the supply chain was nowhere near as atomized as it is today. “When you have a really efficient global food system, it has a certain fragility,” she says. “When there’s a shock to a highly efficient system, it’s difficult to be nimble.” Images of crops plowed under for want of a way to harvest or market and 1,000-car lines of hungry Americans at a food distribution center show “we are seeing the fragility of the system play out, and we are thinking about how to mitigate our risk, and out of all of this create a stronger, more resilient system.” Rhode Island, which produces 3 percent of its food needs, cannot do it alone. But the council is working with its counterparts in the other New England states to strengthen the regional food system. In 2014, Food Solutions New England, a network of advocates for food sustainability, issued a plan calling for the region to produce 50 percent of its food needs by 2060. Richman says state partners have begun talking about trying to speed the timetable, and how to create state-level policies to make it happen and to create consistent consumer demand for local products. On the ground, Farm Fresh Rhode Island coped with the practical realities. As the farmers’ link to retail and wholesale customers, Farm Fresh has been able to divert its resources to beefing up retail sales. Local meat, once a hard sell to institutional customers, became a hot ticket. But upstream, farmers were having a hard time getting their products processed. “It hit like a big wave. There aren’t a lot of slaughter houses, and there is a backlog. So, we have a meat supply chain that shows the local food system wasn’t ready for the so many home customers,” says Farm Fresh co-executive director, Sheri Griffin. “Why can’t I get a local apple at the local grocery store? I’ve been working at Farm Fresh for thirteen years, and the question is still there. This is so complicated. There’s not one key. You have to work on whole the system.” In the state’s eighty-one nursing homes, COVID-19 waged an all-out assault on the vulnerable residents, the staff and the financial foundations of the facilities themselves, as nursing homes were still untangling the snarls created by the Unified Health Infrastructure Project (UHIP). In theory, the computer software system, launched in 2016, would streamline federal and state With us, you can expect better. Better marketing. Better expertise. Better results. Overall, a better experience. Expect Better. mottandchace.com Each Office is Independently Owned and Operated. RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l AUGUST 2020 31