The COVID-19 pandemic infiltrated almost every aspect of society and life in 2020, including shedding light on food insecurity and supply chain issues.
While these issues aren’t as devastating as the larger health ramifications, supply chain weaknesses and how that system adapts to rapid and vast market shifts became heightened.
Factory closures and reduced production, increased demand for specific types of goods, labour shortages, and transportation hurdles were just some of the many obstacles manufacturers faced in trying to get goods into the hands of consumers during one of the most challenging times in global history.
These supply chain issues underscored the importance of building more resilient, flexible, and diversified strategies to better withstand unforeseen disruptions.
HarvestHub: Ending supply chain issues and distributing food supplies
HarvestHub, a mobile application developed by a team at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications within the Center for Digital Agriculture, will heal COVID-induced supply chain issues, help farmers increase production, and get food to families in need.
The app was recognised at the Farm Credit MarketMaker Innovation Awards ceremony during the 2023 National Agricultural Marketing Summit in Arlington, VA, which awarded outstanding efforts by state and local MarketMaker collaborations around the country that contribute to the development of local and regional food systems and help farmers connect to new market opportunities.
In collaboration with Google and MarketMaker, NCSA helped develop HarvestHub to make it easier for farmers to donate or sell surplus products to local food assistance programmes.
The app will serve as a tool to support a Farm Bureau-led ‘Farm to Food Bank’ pilot in Illinois and ultimately for all MarketMaker affiliated partners.
Giving food producers more control
“Our team designed HarvestHub to work as a tool to assist with the complex food security landscape,” said NCSA Genomics Lead Christina Fliege.
“By connecting consumers and producers directly to each other, we allow them to make these negotiations directly to streamline this process.”
With HarvestHub, food producers can move their seconds and surplus at a price they set. Food assistance programs – ranging from major food banks to soup kitchens, pantries and more – can coordinate directly with them.
The NCSA team interviewed farmers and food bank representatives to discuss the initial parameters of the app to make sure the functionality was useful to all interested parties.
Jessica Saw, NCSA Research Scientist, explained: We use a bottom-up approach where we work closely with users – in this case, community members – to understand their day-to-day lives, the pain points they encounter, and their needs not addressed because of current supply chain issues.”
“We continue working with community members throughout the entire design and development process, gathering feedback and integrating it into the digital product.”
