Page - 503 - in VULNERABLE - The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19

503Worked to the Bone: COVID-19, the Agrifood Labour Force , and the Need for More… forced to leave crops to rot in the field and cull herds as both domestic and international markets collapse, the UN World Food Programme is warning that 130 million people will go hungry due to COVID-19.1 This chapter discusses the impact of the coronavirus on the agri- food labour force. Despite the industrialization of agricultural prac- tices around the world, food production remains a labour-intensive industry. While public health directives instruct people to stay home to protect themselves and others from the virus, food production and distribution have been declared an essential service. Fears of food shortages have rendered visible the previously invisible labour that gets our food from farm to fork. These include, but are not limited to, the temporary foreign workers who harvest our crops, the employees at processing facilities who prepare and package our food, the truck- ers who transport it, the grocery store clerks who run the cash and stock shelves, and the couriers who deliver takeout meals. Labour, Lockdowns, and Economic Lifelines While people around the world bang on pots and applaud health care providers during the pandemic, employees in the agricultural sector are also being praised for their essential work ensuring that people have access to healthy and nutritious food. In recognition of the risks associated with frontline work, some grocery stores have been install- ing plexiglass screens and limiting store hours to protect their employ- ees, and even raising salaries.2 Protective measures and compensation are not, however, universal. In a powerful editorial published in The Atlantic, a grocery store clerk resists the label of “hero” that has been used to describe frontline workers in the food industry.3 “Cashiers and shelf-stockers and delivery-truck drivers aren’t heroes,” she 1. World Food Programme, News Release, “WFP Chief Warns of Hunger Pandemic as COVID-19 Spreads (Statement to UN Security Council)” (21 April 2020), online: World  Food  Programme  <https://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-chief-warns-hunger- pandemic-covid-19-spreads-statement-un-security-council>; David Yaffe-Bellany & Michael Corkery, “Dumped Milk, Smashed Eggs, Plowed Vegetables: Food Waste of the Pandemic”, New York Times (11 April 2020), online: <https://www. nytimes.com/2020/04/11/business/coronavirus-destroying-food.html>. 2. Hayley Ryan, “4 Major Canadian Grocers Give Front-Line Workers a Raise During COVID-19 Pandemic”, CBC News (23 March 2020), online: <cbc.ca/news/canada/ nova-scotia/sobeys-grocery-loblaw-metro-wages-pay-raise-covid-19-1.5506935>. 3. Karleigh Frisbie Brogan, “Calling Me a Hero Only Makes You Feel Better”, The Atlantic (18 April 2020), online: <theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/04/i-work-grocery- store-dont-call-me-hero/610147/>.