$1 million. 1,000 farmers. One month.

By Nicole Newman

$1 million.

1,000 farmers.

One month.

This is the goal of the American Farmland Trust’s (AFT) new Farmer Relief Fund (FRF): to grant $1,000 to 1,000 farmers who are being effected by COVID-19.

In order to receive this grant, farmers must be considered direct-to-consumer. This means that they must sell the majority of their products directly to restaurants, schools, local markets or at farmer’s markets and food stands. According to a recent report, sales for these businesses between March and May 2020 are predicted to lead to a decline of $1.32 billion in the total economy, making these grants urgently needed.

“The bottom line is that farmers and ranchers are getting hurt,” said John Piotti, president of the American Farmland Trust, a non-profit organization that has, since 1980, been working to keep farmers on their land, protecting farmland from development and promoting environmentally sound farming practices. “The [farmers] who are being impacted the greatest initially are these direct-market farmers whose markets have literally dried up in the last few weeks,” Piotti added, “but all farmers are going to be impacted: big, small and of all types.”

During a recent discussion with tasteMAKERS, Piotti detailed the creation of FRF, laid bare the realities of COVID-19’s impact on the food industry, debunked a few myths and told us about different ways concerned individuals could help.

Farmer Relief Fund (FRF)

The origins of the FRF stemmed from the AFT’s close relationship with farmers, who relayed stories of hardship due to COVID-19. Piotti cited a project in western Virginia that works primarily with livestock farmers. Their market, principally restaurants in Washington, D.C., dried up overnight. The AFT knew there had to be a way they could help, so they set to work.

“In a period of a weekend, we went from a concept on Friday to launching the program the following Tuesday,” Piotti said. “We needed to keep this fairly narrow, at least initially, in order to have enough impact to make a difference, so we did decide to focus our support on direct-market farmers that are small or mid-sized.”

Piotti recognizes that $1,000 is a relatively small amount compared to how much money farmers are losing. However, the purpose of the FRF is not to fill the loss, but offer some relief.

“What good can $1,000 do? It’s meant to give them something to help them be resilient in tough times. Farmers work on very tight margins. Even a little cash to give them some flexibility could be helpful,” Piotti said.

As an example, let’s go back to the cattle operation in western Virginia. $1,000 is the cost associated with building a website for the farm to sell their products directly to consumers, now that they’ve lost their restaurant contacts. With that little $1,000 grant, they can open up a new revenue stream, helping the farm survive this period of financial loss.

The new stimulus bill has also been impactful for farmers. Piotti said the organization is happy that Congress recognizes that farmers are going to need support and sees AFT’s efforts as a “companion” to the stimulus.

“There is $9.5 billion in the stimulus package, but that does not mean that what we are doing is not important,” Piotti said. “It’s quite literally a very small drop in a very large bucket. We can get our money out faster and target it in ways that may be more useful.”

New Realities

“We have a food system we don’t need to worry about. We have a food system that is efficient and excellent in many ways. But, we have too many eggs in one basket. We don’t have the diversity in production.”

This message was made clear by Piotti during our conversation. To this end, Piotti also made a point to highlight that many current farming practices are not sustainable. One of AFT’s primary missions is to encourage and enable farmers to use regenerative farming practices in order to help restore soil health and make farming a net positive for the planet, helping to avoid future crises by creating resiliency in the agriculture system.

“The bottom line is, if we don’t have farms, we don’t have a future. We have to get farming right if there’s going to be a way to feed our world. Farmland provides wildlife habitat, open space, water and one of the few promising solutions to climate change. Farming has a critical role to play in our future. It’s important to remember that there are going to be future crises if we don’t make other changes,” he said.

On top of this, COVID-19 has created new working conditions for farmers. Nationwide, farms are among the many businesses losing employees because of stay-at-home orders. However, unlike many businesses, farming is not something that can be done from your home.

“Any livestock operation is very labor intensive. They operate right on the edge and can’t afford to have more labor than they need. Which basically means, if they lose some labor for whatever reason then they are in real trouble. It’s not like other businesses. If you have livestock, then you need people there. If you don’t have the people there, you often need to have the animals slaughtered or do something else that is not the best businesses decision for you at the time,” Piotti said.

Debunking Myths

There are multiple myths surrounding COVID-19 as it pertains to the food industry. First, Piotti made it clear that our food is safe to eat. The coronavirus is a respiratory virus — it is highly unlikely to be transmitted via ingesting produce. With that being said, here’s an informative guide to washing your fruits and vegetables from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

“The food that we eat is safe … and directly supports our economy at a time that it’s desperately needed. I would flip that around and say that where we are at risk is that in a crisis we generally do not support our farmers, and they are the source of our food,” Piotti said.

Unlike “Big Ag,” small and mid-size farms tend to be the group that falls through the cracks during a crisis, which AFT hopes the FRF will imact.

The typical grocery store supply chain only exacerbates the problems farmers are having in getting their products to consumers.

“It’s eye-opening to a lot of people to go into a grocery store and see empty shelves. For many people, that was a first-time experience and the reason it happened is because the way the world works, is all about just-in-time delivery,” said Piotti. “A supermarket gets food just before they’re going to need it. And they know, by use of data, exactly what they’re going to need. If there’s a disruption that occurs, like COVID-19, it disrupts the system. One of the lessons here is that we need the diversity of supply.”

How You Can Help

While stay-at-home orders are different in every state and have effected every business differently, Piotti said that there are still many ways any person can help.

“One way you can help is to buy local,” Piotti said. “In some ways, this has become much harder. [Many] local restaurants are closed.”

If you’re able, an easy way to support the food industry is to order takeout or delivery from a local restaurant. Many farmers markets, like Tower Grover Farmers Market in St. Louis, are offering delivery of locally-grown produce. You can also sign up for a local CSA share — community supported agriculture is a way to directly support your local farmers while receiving regular shipments of fresh, locally-grown food. The UDSA allows you to search for CSAs by zip code here.

“I would advise people to reach out to the farmers they know in their area, or look online, and see what options exist. Some of these farms probably already had a vehicle to direct sales and others are new to direct sales and figuring out a way to crack into that market,” Piotti said.

Another way you can help is by donating to the Farmer Relief Fund.

“I know this is a hard time financially for people, but if you do have a little bit to give, 100% of the money is going to support farmers ... If we lose direct farmers, it’s going to be a double hit,” Piotti said. “These are people who could be supporting our communities and serving our food needs long into the future. They’re potentially going to lose their businesses.”

The Fund was launched on March 24, and in only its first week, the AFT received over 2,000 applications — double the amount of grants available. Applications will be open until April 23, 2020, and distribution of grants will begin May 1.

Piotti said they are currently on target to raise $1 million, and is hopefully they could raise even more. Head to https://farmland.salsalabs.org/farmerrelieffund? to help the AFT reach their goal, to help farmers in a time of uncertainty and to help protect your own future.

$1 million.

1,000 farmers.

One month.