Impact of COVID-19 on Pennsylvania farm revenue: Looking back at the 2020 season

Abstract

Initial forecasts predicted severe financial losses for small and midsized farmers as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted usual market channels nationwide. Early reports both confirmed and challenged these fears, as some farmers could not find new markets while others established or expanded their direct-to-consumer sales to replace their lost outlets. To understand the impact of the pandemic on Pennsylvania farmers across the entire 2020 growing season, Chatham University and Pasa Sustainable Agriculture[1] surveyed farmers and performed interviews with a subset of these farmers. The anonymous survey was distributed by Pennsylvania-based farm organizations to their constituents, predominantly through email. Just under half the farmers (42%) reported a loss of revenue, while over half (58%) reported either no change or an increase in revenue in 2020. The scale of these changes varied greatly. We also found that vegetable farmers fared slightly better than livestock/eggs/dairy farmers; those with a higher pre-COVID revenue did better than those with a lower pre-COVID revenue; and farms that were able to increase direct-to-consumer sales maintained or increased their total revenues. Participation in state and federal relief programs varied and appeared to have no significant effect on farmers’ final 2020 revenue. Farmers’ responses to the open-ended survey questions demonstrated that the weather, a lack of infrastructure to support small and midsized producers, and consumers’ lack of support for a regional food system were major challenges before COVID. Without meaningful policy changes, these challenges will persist beyond the pandemic’s resolution.

Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the food system in Abeshge District, Central Ethiopia

“…(including migrant laborers), who support on-farm planting or harvesting activities; transport operators; petty traders; market vendors; and village-based loan and credit operators (Seidel et al, 2021). The distance to farmers markets was limiting access to nutritious foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables for the urban poor.…”

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“…Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development ISSN: 2152-0801 online https://foodsystemsjournal.org (including migrant laborers), who support on-farm planting or harvesting activities; transport operators; petty traders; market vendors; and village-based loan and credit operators (Seidel et al, 2021).…”

“…While many indeed faced disruptions, some were also able to nimbly adapt to the changing business environment by, for example, pivoting their market channels to community supported agriculture (CSA) programs, farm stands, or online platforms (Lemos & Ackoff, 2020;Local Food Research Center, 2021). In surveys exploring the financial repercussions of the pandemic, some farmers reported impacts including decreased revenue, but others reported increased or unchanged revenue (Dennis et al, 2020;Seidel et al, 2021;Stabiner & Barber, 2020). Such varied and sometimes strikingly divergent impacts of the pandemic on farm operations and finances suggest that further exploration via in-depth, qualitative research is necessary to more fully characterize the experiences of farm businesses during COVID-19, particularly as they relate to farms' different approaches to adaptation and the different manifestations of resilience displayed.…”

Assessing small farmers’ adaptation and management strategies to navigate the risks and uncertainties: The case of Missouri

“…These changes may include governmental policy, weather, climate, price fluctuations, market uncertainty, and disease outbreaks such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Among other developments, the pandemic increased the cost of production and contributed to food wastage because of labor shortages and market shutdowns as the result of stay-at-home measures to promote physical distancing (Lahath et al, 2021;Litkowski & Giri, 2023;McElrone et al, 2021;Seidel et al, 2021), which impacted production and profitability. Further, although consumer food prices soared during the pandemic, farm-gate prices declined, and regional food shortages were reported (Mucioki et al, 2022).…”