Small businesses are struggling with COVID-19 and the federal loan process

Small company owners nationwide are worried that the federal loan money out of Congress' $349 billion program will transpire too late to save their businesses. Many of these establishments do not have a large enough cash buffer to tide them over, and on top of everything else the regulations surrounding the terms of the loan have been revised in a far less favorable way since they were first released. Read more at The Boston Globe…

Coronavirus is changing the way the world feeds itself

The COVID-19 pandemic has shortcircuited the efficient system of buyers, suppliers and producers that make up the global food system. Local and in season food options appear to be the way forward for consumers, and data shows that demand for pantry staples with long shelf lives such as beans is still on the rise. Read more at Los Angeles Times…

Shops are changing their music to trick shoppers into calming down

Supermarkets in the U.K. are curating store playlists in a targeted way to soothe shoppers and keep thoughts of the pandemic at bay. They are also reducing excessive signage and in-store announcements to dissuade consumers from "reactance," or trying to gain back their perceived freedom by doing the opposite of what the signage says. Read more at Wired UK…

Amazon brings SNAP pilot to 4 new states

Amazon announced that it will be expanding the USDA SNAP purchasing pilot to its stores in Iowa, Oregon, Alabama and Nebraska in 2020. SNAP participants cannot, however, use their benefits to pay for service or delivery charges. Read more at Chain Store Age…

COVID-19 has shut down parts of the hyper-consolidated US meat industry

Recent meat-packing plant closures indicate that consumers' meat supply could be suddenly cut short should workers continue spreading the novel coronavirus among themselves undetected. This is largely because the U.S. meat industry is set up in such a way that just a few plants produce the vast majority of meat that ends up in big-box supermarkets. Read more at Quartz…