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For today's increasingly interconnected food supply chains, "efficient" is what it's supposed to be： Each country specializes in what it's best at and puts it on the global market. Producers and processors within countries specialize, too, as a way to minimize costs. As a result, at least in theory, prices stay low, the world gets fed and everyone wins.

However, the coronavirus crisis demonstrates what is wrong with this approach. When barriers prevent food from reaching its markets, or demand suddenly drops--both of which are happening now--the system falls apart.

Specialization of the food system makes it hard to shift into different markets when disruptions arise. Belgium, a leading exporter of potatoes, lost sales not only to local restaurants but also to other countries because of lockdowns(封锁)). At least the Belgians can try to eat the potatoes at home. That strategy won't work for every crop： Ghana, the world's top cocoa exporter, lost markets when people started focusing on buying essential items instead of chocolate.

The loss in export income in Africa more generally could have a huge impact if the pandemic continues, as many countries there rely heavily on imported wheat and rice. The prices of these grains have soared not only because of rising demand for these grains during the crisis, but also because a few countries--including Russia and Vietnam--imposed export restrictions out of fear that sending food abroad would lead to higher prices at home.

Concentrated markets dominated by just a handful of companies heighten food system fragility. For example, just three meatpacking plants process over 95 percent of Canada's beef and nearly all of its beef exports. Now, those meat processing plants have had to temporarily shut down because of outbreaks of COVID-19 among workers.

Seeing the spoiled products across the world should force all of us to rethink our "efficient" food supplies. We need to rejuvenate(使恢复活力) local and regional food systems to reduce the vulnerabilities that come with being too reliant on imported and corporate-dominated foods. This doesn't mean cutting off all trade or abolishing all packaged foods, but it does mean building diversity, and increasing opportunities for small and medium-scale enterprises to flourish in shorter, more sustainable food supply chains that are closer to home.

One place to start is for governments to shift their support from the large-scale, specialized and export-oriented food system to building infrastructure for more diverse local food systems. Around the world . small-scale and organic producers have been overwhelmed with the surge in interest from customers who want to buy directly from farmers during the crisis. But these producers often lack the infrastructure to meet that demand. As governments around the world pass stimulus packages to address the crisis, building more diverse and localized food systems should be an obvious inclusion.