New York City food pantries declare a state of emergency as demand soars, while thousands of gallons of milk and tons of produce are dumped nationwide

• New York City food pantries have declared a state of emergency as they struggle to meet growing demand and unemployment soars to percentages that haven't been seen since The Great Depression.
• According to the New York City Mission Society, an organization dedicated to fighting multi-generational poverty in the city and beyond, food banks are experiencing a 60% increase in demand for volunteers, which is proving impossible to meet due to fear of the coronavirus.
• The scarcity of volunteers is also leaving farmers with mass amounts of untouched fresh food, forcing many to dump thousands of gallons of milk, bury millions of pounds of produce, and destroy crops, according to a New York Times report.
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New York City food pantries have declared a state of emergency, as they struggle to keep up with increased demand because of skyrocketing unemployment rates and dwindling volunteer pools in response to the coronavirus.

One-third of the city's food pantries have shuttered, as the national unemployment rate swells to 13 percent, the country's highest percentage since The Great Depression. According to the New York City Mission Society, an organization dedicated to fighting multi-generational poverty in the city, an estimated $1.4 billion in funding will be needed nationally to feed the 17.1 million people in America currently experiencing food insecurity.

Further, New York Mission Society said food pantries are experiencing a 60% increase in demand for volunteers, a need many are finding impossible to meet due to fear of contracting and spreading the coronavirus.

The lack of volunteers is proving devastating to food banks in major cities around the nation, which can't keep up with the pace needed to distribute food, including millions of pounds of fresh produce and dairy products that American farmers are being forced to destroy, according to an explosive report in The New York Times

The Times reports the coronavirus has generated a staggering amount of food waste as a result of farmers losing major buyers including restaurants, schools, and hotels. Though some have found ways to donate goods to local food banks, the dearth of volunteers is leaving farmers with mass amounts of untouched produce.

In turn, farmers are dumping thousands of gallons of milk, burying millions of pounds of onions, and destroying bean and cabbage crops.

"There is no way to redistribute the quantities that we are talking about," Shay Myers, an onion farmer in Idaho, told The New York Times.

Meanwhile, Americans have been relegated to lengthy food bank lines, winding around the perimeters of churches or gymnasiums and causing traffic as they wait in cars at drive-through pantries. In Texas, 10,000 households came to a single food bank in San Antonio on Thursday, overwhelming volunteers and employees who expressed concern about keeping up with demand.

"I don't know if we can keep up the pace that the demand is requiring," San Antonio Food Bank CEO Eric Cooper told The San Antonio Express-News.

Get the latest coronavirus business & economic impact analysis from Business Insider Intelligence on how COVID-19 is affecting industries.

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