Hilary Myers

I think one of the biggest challenges for implementing IoT solutions in agriculture is access to high-speed internet in rural areas. It comes as no surprise that broadband internet is more expensive in these areas due to the population density being much lower than in urban and suburban areas. This is especially more pronounced in developing parts of the world.

We absolutely need to find ways to make farming more productive as the world population is set to increase over the next few decades. While I believe IoT can help, there’s some underlying infrastructure issues that need to be addresses in order for these solutions to be effective.

Hi Hillary,

I can total relate to this post, although I do not have a cat, I have a puppy and we are struggling to find his food on the shelves. My dog has also been turning his nose up at the food we are replacing his other food with until we can find it again. It is absolutely horrible that is has come down to our animal’s food. I do know if it’s because of the pandemic still or because there are tons of storage containers just sitting in the docks, but it has gotten out of hand. We cannot live our lives like this with the shelves being emptied of the supplies and food we use daily. As you said, these companies should be worried about their supply and demand as they are going to lose so many customers. I am honestly scared to see what is going to happen when animal food is more money than human food.
Great Post!!

My fiancée and I adopted both of our cats during the pandemic, and they’re pretty attached to us since we’ve been home for most of the past year and half between working from home and not going out as much at the height of things.

I’m glad I’m not the only one experiencing the food shortages. My one cat will only eat a specific brand of wet food, and it’s been a nightmare trying to find the variety pack that he likes. We’ve had luck finding the individual cans, but the bulk packs are nowhere to be found. It’s not tied to any specific store either, so it’s clearly a supply chain issue involving the entire industry, and this one brand (Fancy Feast) in particular seems to be getting hit the hardest.

If there’s anything good that came from this pandemic, it’s that animal shelters haven’t been nearly as full as in the past. Adopting our two boys was one of the best decisions I’ve made. Hopefully I’m not letting them down on the food front!

Nice post Hilary! I had no idea that there was a current shortage of food for pets, even though I used to be a pet owner- it’s kind of interesting how once you lose a pet you instantly lose interest in all the relevant markets for pets until you get another one. Hopefully this shortage will end soon, because I’m pretty sure switching different types of food for your pet too often will lead to a lot of health concerns. I find it interesting to note that maybe it’s even more relevant of an issue for cat owners, since I’ve seen a lot of cat owners feed their cats single canned meals each time- while I (who used to own a dog) would just buy a huge bag of kibble that would last for at least a month. It’s a little obvious, but sometimes I forget that aside from coronavirus scares, Covid has changed many markets in terms of limiting the quantity of things that can be sold (due to lacking production) and changing the costs.

Hi Hilary!
I do have both a cat and a dog, and during the pandemic it was a little hard to find their food. Before the pandemic there was many different stores we could get their food. Now, we have to go to one specific store that is about 20 minutes away to get their food. While 20 minutes may not seem long, it is when you use to only have to drive 5-10 minutes to get the food. I have seen a shortage in supplies with many other stores and restaurants as well. I love how transparent a lot of stores are about this also. Instead of letting us think they simply don’t restock or order things, they are letting customers know that there is a shortage.

Hillary, what a great read! As a pet lover and dog-obsessed person, this was one of my favorite articles this semester!
I did adopt a pet during the pandemic! I adopted her after looking for a long time before the pandemic started but figured that working from home was the perfect time to dive in!
I have also been having trouble finding food my dog likes. She has a particular pallet for a dog, and if those needs are not met, she will get sick in my house, and I am the one cleaning it up due to her lack of thumbs.
While I am finding costly pet food services and subscriptions are doing just fine, my normal kibble seems to be going up in price or not being on the shelves, as you mentioned.
I hope that the pet food shortage will leave us soon enough since, as others have mentioned, so many pets have been adopted since the start of the pandemic, and we don’t want new pet parents to struggle when trying to locate goods for their new fur-ever friend.

Hey Hillary, great read.
None of my favorite businesses shut down during the pandemic but you can definitely tell that they were struggling. I like eating food at small mom and pop shops because I feel like the food there taste way better than a traditional restaurant. Many of the places I go too were short staffed or had to close earlier due to a decrease in sales. I think imposing a national minimum wage would not be a good idea because states have different costs of livings for a reason. So in one state the minimum wage might be too high so a small business can not employ workers or have workers work significant hours.