What the food supply chain experienced in March and how it responded to an almost overnight shift in consumer demand from foodservice to home kitchens in light of the coronavirus pandemic was “nothing short of remarkable.” That was the sentiment several of the country’s leading food companies told attendees at The Wall Street Journal’s Global Food Forum on Monday.

Here’s an interesting new finding: out of all U.S. business sectors, Americans are currently feeling the most positive about the food and agriculture industries, says a recent Gallup survey. This is the first time in Gallup’s 20 years of tracking views of business and industry sectors that farming and agriculture have overtaken the former top ranking industries of restaurants and computers.

It has been about a year since I joined the American Feed Industry Association. I can say without a doubt – it has not been the year I expected! Instead of spending my days on the road meeting AFIA’s members in their offices or at their facilities, attending events and seeing the AFIA team work with our members to deliver first-class education and networking events, or meeting in-person with elected officials and government representatives, half of the year has been spent learning a new way of doing business.

One of the main reasons the American Feed Industry Association formed over a century ago was to harmonize state feed laws. Now, in 2020, our organization still tracks legislative and regulatory issues of importance happening at the state level, and recent actions in California highlighted yet another urgent reason why this is necessary.

Cell-cultured muscle is not a new phenomenon. In 1885, Wilhelm Roux was able to culture cells from the neural plate of a chicken embryo for a few days. Those early experiments eventually expanded to a variety of cell types, including muscle.

Last week, we all settled into our home office chairs to listen to industry experts discuss important issues affecting the animal food industry. As a former Seattleite, I was looking forward to seeing industry colleagues in the Emerald City this past March for the American Feed Industry Association’s Purchasing and Ingredient Suppliers Conference, which was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the webinar series that replaced it did not disappoint!

As individuals, you either like working with others or you don’t. We discover these things about ourselves during our school years and these traits develop further during our careers. As a trade association, these same behavioral tendencies also exist. Overall, I would say the U.S. animal food industry tends to play well with others. This is demonstrated by the work of American Feed Industry Association members and by AFIA’s membership in the International Feed Industry Federation (IFIF).

As a farmer-owned cooperative, Land O’Lakes sees firsthand the enormous strain the coronavirus pandemic has caused for communities across rural America, and for the agriculture industry that was already reeling from trade dynamics and poor growing conditions in 2019. Like everyone else, farmers and their rural neighbors have also grappled with the dramatic shift of carrying out everyday activities via online platforms due to COVID-19. Land O’Lakes sees first-hand how the digital divide (those that have high-speed internet access, commonly known as broadband, and those that don't) has only been further exacerbated by the pandemic, making it nearly impossible for rural residents to keep up with schoolwork, business and even doctors’ appointments.