This post is to announce a series of blog posts where researchers of the PAGE group at the University of Pisa are reflecting on the impact of COVID-19 on our core research lines: socio-economic research in agriculture, food, and rural development. By now, the topic has been largely discussed in newspapers, social media, and various online public events held by experts – both academics and practitioners.

As researchers, we see it as our mission to shed light on how the pandemic is affecting our societies as well as to envisage possible paths for the post-pandemic reality. In particular, as food and agricultural economics researchers, we observe actual and potential threats and opportunities the pandemic poses to the food system. These days those threats and opportunities are increasingly recognised as crucial by governments all over the world.

At the same time, we see a lot happening at the community level. Consumers and producers are finding new ways to cope with lockdown restrictions. New needs are arising out of the crisis while the old issues are exacerbating.

This series of blog posts will hardly provide concrete solutions to the adverse effects of COVID-19 on our food systems and beyond. Instead, our goal is to create space for discussion and raise questions, doubts and ideas on how COVID-19 is changing our food systems, agriculture and rural development. In doing this, we intend to go beyond the perspectives in academia and open the way to potential future research and collaborations.

The information and views in this series of blog posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the PAGE group.

Written by Sabrina Arcuri

Blog posts at a glance

#1 How has COVID-19 affected food poverty? Challenges and perspectives (by Sabrina Arcuri)

#2 COVID-19 has shown the potential of Urban Food Policies (by Giampiero Mazzocchi)

#3 Satisfying food needs in Indonesia in the times of COVID-19 (by Endar Purnawan)

#4 How will COVID-19 affect the digitalization of rural areas? (by Prof Gianluca Brunori)

#5 The real cost of the battle against Covid-19: The case of Costa Rica and implications for food security (by Daniel Alpízar)

Covid-19 and sustainable food systems: a shared learning resource created by CCRI, UK

In the times when COVID-19 affects our lives and research, we also recommend having a look at a shared learning resource created by our close colleagues at The Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI) in early May 2020. It represents a series of blogs and a list of resources related to COVID-19 and sustainable food systems. It particularly focusses on how and where our food is produced, processed and consumed. Catch up with the blogs here and explore the resources here