The performance of the EU food system during the early stages of the Covid‐19 pandemic is examined in this article. The preliminary evidence from the early lockdown period in March to June 2020 supports the view that, apart from some experiences of empty supermarket shelves in the very first days of lockdown caused by hoarding by consumers, the EU food system has been remarkably resilient. EU farmers, processors and retailers have maintained food supplies to EU consumers and adjusted to the shift in demand caused by the lockdowns in the food service sector. Farm prices fell after lockdowns were introduced but, with some notable exceptions, such as flowers, the fall in prices has been limited. Consumer food prices, on the contrary, increased but this seems to have been a temporary phenomenon. The response to the pandemic has revealed the limitations in the EU’s crisis response mechanism particularly where market support may be needed. The argument of some EU leaders that local food systems should be supported as a way of increasing the resilience of the food system to future shocks does not have empirical support. Policies in the future should support firms in building more robust and resilient supply chains and not undermine food security built on misconceptions about how supply chains performed during the Covid‐19 pandemic.

中文翻译：

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Covid-19期间的欧盟食品系统优势和漏洞

本文研究了Covid-19大流行初期欧盟食品体系的表现。从2020年3月到2020年6月的早期锁定期的初步证据支持这样一种观点，即除了由于消费者ho积而在锁定的第一天就出现了空置超市货架的经历之外，欧盟食品体系具有显着的弹性。欧盟农民，加工商和零售商一直维持对欧盟消费者的食品供应，并因食品服务业停摆而导致的需求变化做出了调整。实行封锁措施后，农产品价格下跌，但除了一些值得注意的例外，例如鲜花，价格下跌幅度有限。相反，消费食品价格上涨了，但这似乎只是暂时现象。对大流行病的应对措施揭示了欧盟危机应对机制的局限性，特别是在可能需要市场支持的地方。某些欧盟领导人关于应支持当地食品系统以增强食品系统对未来冲击的抵御能力的论点没有经验性的支持。未来的政策应支持企业建立更健壮和更具弹性的供应链，而不会破坏基于对Covid-19大流行期间供应链的运行方式的误解而造成的粮食安全。