I think the problem we're facing with the supply chain has now become a self-fulfilling prophesy to a certain degree. I saw the first story about this well over a month ago and started building up our meat supply. The virus doesn't care that our president has signed an executive order to keep the plants open. He did that to absolve the factories of any liability when they re-open and employees continue to get sick. I understand that they have tried to put steps in place in order to keep employees safe, but in that environment, it's next to impossible from everything I've read. These plants are still going to have to close down periodically for deep cleaning...etc. And they'll have to slow the lines down because they won't be able to maintain the numbers of employees needed to go full speed.
As for why Tyson took out full page ads in newspapers about the supply chain breaking, well, it's true, and it also will cause the price of chicken to go up. So it certainly helps Tyson.
Apparently the USDA keeps a "cold supply" of meat. Sort of like our strategic oil reserve. The problem there is it's bulk meat, and it's frozen. And so it needs to be thawed, butchered and packaged before coming to the market. And it's likely going to restaurants because if would need to be used in short order and could not be re-frozen. This is another issue that is likely to add to spot shortages....restaurants in certain states are reopening.
Staying ahead of the curve and thinking about where this may go next is really important in a pandemic. We ordered a freezer for our basement in early March and now it's full. As is my regular freezer. Now you'd have a hard time getting your hands on a freezer before the middle of the summer. Lots of meat frozen in different sized portions, vacuum sealed and dated. We've also been adding an assortment of frozen fish, especially salmon because we love it. A lot of these salmon fisheries are in remote areas with hospitals that can't handle a lot of very sick COVID patients. So, they may face issues as well.
I was in our butcher's shop yesterday to pick up some eggs. I asked him if he was having issues getting product and for the first time he said that he was. He doesn't know what he can and can't get from day to day now, and in what amounts. He also said that a few local restaurants have come to him for product because they were having issues getting supplies. And we're only doing take-out here in NJ. As restaurants open, that will strain things further.
As for produce, we joined a local CSA farm....they deliver our organic produce starting in late May....1/4 of a bushel of fresh organic produce once a week through the middle of November. You get what is in season. So it's a "you get what you get" kind of deal, but we're fine with that. It's fresh organic produce and if there are items in the bushel we don't want, we'll share. Expect prices for produce to go up significantly as well with the border shutdown as farms are unable to hire enough help to keep up with demand.