The Wall Street Journal has an interesting story about the abundant food supply in the U.S. and the current logistical issues in getting it to the stores:

You wouldn’t know it from the bare grocery store shelves across the country, but America has plenty of food. The challenge is getting it from the farm to your table.

Companies that supply meat, vegetables and other staples are struggling to redirect the nation’s sprawling food supply chain to meet a surge in demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Restaurant closures and shoppers’ rush to stock their pantries are forcing the agriculture industry to boost production, hire new employees and set up “war rooms” to keep grocery stores stocked.

The story mentions a company out of Yakima:

At warehouses in eastern Washington, employees at Domex Superfresh Growers, one of the largest growers and shippers of apples, pears and cherries, raced to meet a 50% jump in demand over the weekend—packing and shipping six million pounds of fruit each day.

Robert Kershaw, president, said if the surge continues, Domex may delay international shipments. Grandparents and older siblings have stepped in to care for young children belonging to its 1,500 employees. If child-care needs begin to keep employees home during the day, he said Domex would add shifts on nights or weekends.

Staffing problems could grow more dire if new visa-processing restrictions limit the number of immigrant workers Mr. Kershaw can bring from Mexico to work on his fruit farms this year. Domex’s workforce typically swells to upwards of 10,000 people by fall. The State Department this week said it would stop processing most visas for U.S. entry in its offices across Mexico, including visas for seasonal workers, as the coronavirus spreads.

The move could affect tens of thousands of farm workers who enter the country through the nation’s H-2A visa program, threatening access to labor during a critical time in the growing season, though the Agriculture Department says consulates in Mexico have said they will prioritize visa-processing for returning farm workers.

Meanwhile, Walmart announced plans to hire 150,000 people “to manage a shopping surge sparked by the coronavirus pandemic.” And Amazon has announced it will hire 100,000 warehouse and delivery workers.

Politico reports, “At the retail level, Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen told CNBC that grocery stores are ‘getting deliveries every day,’ including household goods like toilet paper, though he acknowledged there’s a shortage of hand sanitizers with ‘very little coming in.’”

On that note, on Wednesday, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (part of the U.S. Department of the Treasury) announced that it will allow distillers nationally to produce ethanol-based hand sanitizers without requiring prior authorization or additional permits. Spokane’s Dry Fly Distilling said that it received federal approval on Tuesday to produce hand sanitizer, which it is now providing to the community for free.