Strengthening Agricultural and Food Policy Response Strategies for Post-COVID-19 Recovery

Nov 30, 2020

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, governments across the world are adopting new policy measures at an unprecedented speed, including in areas such as monetary policy, trade restrictions, agricultural and food policies and changes in fiscal support. When analyzing the effects of COVID-19 on agri-food markets, most effort has gone into the monitoring of food prices at global level. However, governments lack evidence on how the rapidly changing policy environment is affecting domestic producer and consumer prices in agricultural value chains. In low- and middle-income countries, this is particularly important for staple crops such as rice, maize and wheat. Not only do these products constitute the main source of calories for the world’s poorer households, but, importantly, they are also produced by large numbers of smallholder farmers and represent a high share of agricultural GDP in low- and middle-income countries.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.