Coffin-Schmitt Jeanne L, Clements Nia, Marshall Grace, Liu Lu, Trombitas Aly, Wang Zi, Yuan Shuai, Safi Amelia Greiner, Hanson Karla L, Fiorella Kathryn J
Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States.
Department of Public and Ecosystem Health, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States.
Front Nutr. 2023 Sep 5;10:1222610. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1222610. eCollection 2023.
COVID-19 acutely shocked both socio-economic and food systems in 2020. We investigated the impact of COVID-19 on production and consumption of gardened produce, backyard poultry, wild game and fish, and foraged mushrooms, berries, and other plants in New York State, aiming to understand crisis influenced food choice and motivations, including food security.
We conducted an online, cross-sectional survey in October-December 2020 with a convenience sample of participants ( = 505) with an interest in gardening, poultry rearing, foraging, hunting, and/or fishing from six counties in upstate New York. We recruited through the New York Department of Environmental Conservation, Cornell Cooperative Extension, and other relevant email and social media pages.
Across the wild and backyard food production strategies, 4.0-14.3% of respondents reported engaging for the first time and 39.6-45.7% reported increased production (a little or a lot more), and 31.6-42.7% of respondents' production was the same as the previous year. Consumption of foods produced was widespread, including fruit and vegetables (97.6% of producers also consumed), backyard eggs (92.7%), and foraged foods (93.8%). For meats, a majority consumed backyard poultry meat (51.2%), wild-caught fish (69.7%), and wild game they hunted (80.1%). The frequency of consumption of fruit and vegetables (average of 13.5 times/month) and eggs (16.4 times/month) was very high, while average consumption of poultry meat, foraged foods, fish, and wild game ranged from 3.1 to 5.8 times/month. The number of respondents who reported "have more control over food availability" as motivation to produce all wild and backyard foods increased from 2019 to 2020 ( < 0.05 - < 0.001). There was also a significant relationship between experiences of COVID-19 related hardship (i.e., food insecurity, income loss) with gardening and poultry-rearing ( ≤ 0.05), but not with other production methods or with consumption of wild and backyard foods.
Our findings help to locate wild and backyard foods within COVID-19 impacted food environments, and describe food security as a particularly relevant motivation, among others, reported by respondents in 2020. Given this, New York State service providers can use these findings to tailor current future support for households exerting control over their own food environments with wild and backyard foods, allowing the state to be better prepared for future crises.
2020年，新冠疫情对社会经济和粮食系统造成了严重冲击。我们调查了新冠疫情对纽约州园圃农产品、后院家禽、野生动物和鱼类以及野生蘑菇、浆果和其他植物的生产和消费的影响，旨在了解危机如何影响食物选择和动机，包括粮食安全。
2020年10月至12月，我们对纽约州北部六个县对园艺、家禽饲养、觅食、狩猎和/或捕鱼感兴趣的参与者（n = 505）进行了一项在线横断面调查，采用便利抽样法。我们通过纽约州环境保护部、康奈尔大学合作推广部以及其他相关电子邮件和社交媒体页面招募参与者。
在野生和后院食物生产策略方面，4.0 - 14.3%的受访者表示首次参与，39.6 - 45.7%的受访者表示产量增加（略有增加或大幅增加），31.6 - 42.7%的受访者产量与上一年相同。所生产食物的消费很普遍，包括水果和蔬菜（97.6%的生产者也消费）、后院鸡蛋（92.7%）和野生食物（93.8%）。对于肉类，大多数人消费后院家禽肉（51.2%）、野生捕捞的鱼（69.7%）以及他们猎杀的野生动物（80.1%）。水果和蔬菜的消费频率（平均每月13.5次）和鸡蛋的消费频率（平均每月16.4次）非常高，而家禽肉（3.1次/月）、野生食物（5.8次/月）、鱼类和野生动物（平均每月3.1至5.8次）的消费频率则较低。报告“对食物供应有更多控制权”是生产所有野生和后院食物动机的受访者数量从2019年到2020年有所增加（P < 0.05 - P < 0.001）。新冠疫情相关困难（即粮食不安全、收入损失）的经历与园艺和家禽饲养之间也存在显著关系（P ≤ 0.05），但与其他生产方式或野生和后院食物的消费无关。
我们的研究结果有助于在新冠疫情影响的食物环境中定位野生和后院食物，并将粮食安全描述为2020年受访者报告的特别相关的动机之一。鉴于此，纽约州的服务提供者可以利用这些结果，为那些通过野生和后院食物对自己的食物环境施加控制的家庭量身定制当前和未来的支持措施，使该州能够更好地应对未来的危机。
