Affordable foods and more automated processing are the future.Ottawa—The pandemic will create a massive economic ripple effect through the food system that will make consumers much more price sensitive and processors automating their plants as much as possible, says Dana McCauley of the University of Guelph.There has already been a shift to more home cooking that has consumers “wanting and needing to find affordable foods that will have broad appeal in their families,” McCauley, director of New Venture Creation in the Research Innovation Office, said in a webinar organized by the Arrell Food Institute and the Food for Thought Institute. That trend could mean a hasty change in plans for developers of premium products based on specialty ingredients.The temporary shutdown of meat processing plants in recent months because of COVID-19 highlights problems created by the close personal contact among workers in them, she said. Rather than try to retool their operations, companies will likely switch to processing technology “that they didn't do before because the cost of wages versus the cost of that capital investment often made it more desirable to have inexpensive labor doing handwork versus technology.”Now it's likely “we will see a lot more systems that rely on robots and machines versus people. There's going to be a whole new way of thinking about critical control points in a manufacturing setting because all of a sudden, where just gloves and a hairnet were okay.“We're going to see a lot more people who want to be entrepreneurs who have the skill set and who have got the grit, who really have the will, but I am sure that funds and backing from banks and investors are going to be tighter than ever.“And of course, who's going to want to sign a lease when COVID-19 could come in waves and you could have business disruption happening throughout a number of years,” she said. Home-based and single-owner businesses “are likely to be the types of entrepreneurship we see more of in the future.Entrepreneurs should highlight “being the local supplier and the champion of your area and become able to branch out into other parts of their geographical reach.” This approach is simple and gives business “an opportunity to know a lot of people in their community and to leverage the brands and reputations of their partners in their supply chain.”Being Canadian made “will continue to be a really big motivator,” she said. There is concern about our food supply being vulnerable because many ingredients come from other countries.“Nationalism will probably cast a shadow and an effect into the future. For the companies who are really just trying to rebound and get back out there, if they're entrepreneurial, they're owned and operated in a particular province or town, that regardless of where they get their stuff from, there's a lot of heart for helping our neighbors right now.”Alex Binkley is a freelance journalist and writes for domestic and international publications about agriculture, food and transportation issues. He's also the author of two science fiction novels with more in the works.