by April Mcilwaine

Coronavirus has swept across the country causing many individuals' lives to be upended. With stay at home orders in place, many businesses have closed their doors or allowed workers to telecommute. Essential workers, however, have continued on, with potential risk to their health, to provide necessary services to their communities. Farmers and agriculture workers, a group designated essential, have experienced immense challenges due to Coronavirus regulations, though the size and location of the farm has had significant effects on their ability to continue working as usual. 

Due to a number of Coronavirus related regulations state to state travel has been restricted and quarantine measures have been put in place. In a COVID-19 related Q&A by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN), warnings were issued that these restrictions could leave many farmers without access to markets, curbing their productive capacities and hindering them from selling their produce. This prediction has unfortunately become realized for many farmers across the country and has led to devastating consequences. In a recent article by the New York Times, millions of pounds of fresh vegetables, milk, and eggs were reported being dumped or plowed back into the soil by farmers in Ohio, Wisconsin, Idaho and South Florida. With many farmers unable to sell to restaurants, hotels and schools, they’re without buyers for more than half their crops. Though many retailers have seen spikes in food sales as Americans are eating more meals at home, the increases are not enough to accommodate all of the perishable food. Many farms have also tried to donate surplus food to food banks and meals on wheels programs. These programs, however, have become overwhelmed. With limited refrigerator space they have only been able to absorb a small percentage of the excess food. As stated in the New York Times, “The widespread destruction of fresh food — at a time when many Americans are hurting financially and millions are suddenly out of work — is an especially dystopian turn of events, even by the standards of a global pandemic”. 

As food supply chains continue to break down, the FAO has cited small-scale farmers as being particularly vulnerable. With fewer avenues for selling their food and in many cases, less financial stability, these farms are more susceptible to closure during this time. Green Markets, deemed essential in some states, have scrambled to reconfigure. Grow NYC reported that eighty-five percent of their farms would not be in business if not for the ability to sell directly to New York City shoppers. In other states, such as Vermont however, farmers markets remain closed causing many farms to have to rethink their primary selling strategy. Additionally, many small farms are reliant on consumers joining their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. CSA’s act as a way for people to get fresh produce directly from their farmer all while supporting a local farm, but with consumers wary of leaving the house, CSA’s may see declines in participation as it adds an additional point of contact. 

While the pandemic ravages densely populated communities, urban farms are uniquely situated to offer produce at point of consumption. However, these farms are often smaller in nature, maximizing available space by having farms be on rooftops, in empty city lots, or indoors, and therefore must take special consideration to ensure the safety of their workers. To understand how urban farming has adapted during this time, we contacted Bowery Farming, a vertical indoor farming company as well as Brooklyn Grange, one of the largest soil based rooftop farms in the world.

In a newsletter from Brooklyn Grange, they addressed their hesitance to continue farming during this time, “Our farm team is still farming. We should note that we had a gut check moment four weeks ago when we asked ourselves and each other if continuing to farm our three rooftops was the right choice...Ultimately, it was the farmers themselves who unanimously opted to carry on and grow as much food for their community as possible”. They also mentioned however that, like many large commercial farms, their plan for the rest of the season was upended, “Thoughtful plans for the season ahead–seeds ordered, crop maps laid out–became obsolete the moment restaurants were shuttered. Many of the systems we count on for a successful season were dismantled”. The farm has since made adaptations to its CSA program, delivering to communities where there are 10 or more delivery shares. They have also partnered with Rethink Food NYC, an organization that will help in distributing Brooklyn Grange produce to populations in need, via its Restaurant Response Program. While they are having a different season then they had initially planned for, this farm is inherently resilient, as only plants and farmers exposed to rooftop 50mph spring winds can be.

Bowery Farming, a very different farm operation from Brooklyn Grange, spoke with us about ways their modern farming methods have worked in their favor during the COVID-19 outbreak. As an indoor vertical farming company, unique technology and automation is needed in order to analyze and control every variable within a plant's life cycle. This level of automation has been extended during this time to include the entire production process, vastly cutting down on the physical handling of products. Additionally, they have used data the company’s been tracking in their 2+ years of operation, allowing them to scale production proportionately to demand.

“Traditional farm harvests are dictated by seedlings planned weeks in advance, Bowery has the ability to harvest many more crop cycles per year and can adjust crop plans to meet retail partners’ needs, even when demand is particularly high and volatile”, a spokesperson for the company stated. When asked how their supply chains have been affected during this time their answer was far from many other struggling farmers, “Retailers are using Bowery to fill in the gaps stemming from high surges in demand for fresh food; we’ve seen our business with in-store partners go up 25-50% and most online partners have doubled”.  In addition, they have kicked off a retail partnership with DC Central Kitchen to supply fresh produce to their Healthy Corners program, as well as donation to the Maryland Food Bank as they and other food banks in the area face an urgent need for fresh produce. Utilizing modern technologies and stacked farming operations has led this company to be uniquely successful during this time, showing how important a diverse range of farming styles can be to our agricultural system. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused national upheaval to many of the systems we take for granted. As the country stands in a moment of profound economic uncertainty, we see the difficulty huge sectors of the economy, like agriculture, face when having to adjust to such a sudden change in how they must operate. As the country navigates forward, the agriculture industry must be cognizant of  downfalls that have taken place during this pandemic and reconstruct a food system capable of resiliency.

To all the farmers working tirelessly during this time, thank you for your service!