Re-finding farms

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Even the farmers markets that offer patrons local produce from outdoor roadside stands across the South Coast have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic, but in ways that

Michael J. DeCicc haven’t all been bad. Karen Schwalbe is order to stay in business. All of a sudden, the executive director she said, some of the traditional supply of SEMAP (SouthEastern Massachusetts chains are gone. Restaurants that closed or Agriculture Partnership), an organization are slowly reopening haven’t needed the of farmers in Bristol and Plymouth counties bulk orders that farmers work to produce that promotes local farming through for them in a normal year. With individual research, education, and marketing. consumers as a new target market, farmers Nowadays, she said, more than threehave had to change or minimize how they fourths of Southeastern Massachusetts package their eggs and milk. farmers markets are fully open, back to “It can’t change overnight,” Schwalbe said. business as usual. “But they are adjusting “It takes a while to change, but our farmers by reducing hours or opening in a new are so adaptive and creative that they are location,” she said. doing it, such as by partnering with another However, around 20 percent are still doing organization or other farms on sharing a pre-orders only, at the stage of curbside delivery route. In western Massachusetts, pickup, she added. one entity is taking online orders for three The good news is that demand for sustainor four different farms.” able local farm produce and local farmers The changes have been stressful, she markets has increased, she said, “because admitted. For example, patrons of a farmers people like short, local supply chains. They market can’t be allowed to touch the want to know where their produce comes produce the way they can at a supermarket. from.” A farmers market must hire more staff for Yet because of the shutdown effects of the their stand. Separate people must touch the pandemic, farmers have had to pivot in produce the customers indicate they want to purchase, bag the merchandise, and run the cash register. Even the partnership’s own goals have had to change. She explained the partnership’s goals are to ensure that local farmers have the knowledge and the tools to be successful with what they grow, from what to plant, where to plant it, and where and how to sell it. SEMAP traditionally offered a variety of farmer-to-farmer training and technical assistance through workshops. Lately the partnership has had to emphasize virtual workshops but offer less of them than the in-person ones. “No fundraisers. No in-person workshops,” she said. “We’ve made a shift to more marketing and promotion. We keep training them where to sell, where to market.”

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Elsewhere around the South Coast, the new pandemic shutdown conditions had very little impact on the timing for Dartmouth Orchards farmers market’s opening in late July. “When the crop is ready, it’s ready,” said owner Brian Medeiros. “A pandemic doesn’t have an effect on growing fruit. You can’t hold back mother nature. As far as opening the stand, we’ll be taking care of all the necessary precautions that the state has

mandated as well as the town’s health agent has suggested.” The third-generation farm at 515 Old Westport Road, Dartmouth, sells apples and cider and even homemade crafts. Similarly, the family-owned Four Town Farms in Seekonk sees few negatives from opening under the pandemic’s new normal conditions. Chris Clegg is one of the owners of the 150-acre vegetable farm located at the points where Seekonk, Swansea, Barrington, East Providence all come together. “Other than following CDC guidelines,” he said, “the big thing has been keeping to 50 percent customer capacity. It came down to where we would feel comfortable, which is a limit of 25 customers at a time.” Surprisingly, demand for his locallygrown produce is up in spite of (or perhaps because of) the pandemic conditions, he said. “It’s a question of how much we can grow,” he said. There’s more of a demand now for whatever we are picking and for whatever is in season. People are not going out to restaurants so they are cooking at home. Sales are definitely going up.” The farm’s specialties, he said, include squash, zucchini, peas, beets, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet corn, strawberries, and pumpkins. “You’re always learning,” Clegg said. “There’s a routine to the year. But every day is different and every year is different. I have generations that I can fall back on if I have a question.”

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Orr’s Farm, at 187 Adamsville Road in Westport, has made small changes since the pandemic that have worked out well, said Katy Orr-Dove, one of the farm’s general managers. “The first thing we decided on was going to a curbside service setup. Luckily we have spent the last two years getting set up with an Internetbased point-of-sale system that tracks all of our sales and inventory online.” Then she and her husband Don Dove, another of the farm’s general managers, added a drive-through window on the south side of the building. “Masks were required of staff a few days later as the most recent CDC guidelines were unrolled. It was several months of watching constant press conferences and trying to be ready for the next regulations they threw at us,” she said. She said the farm’s pick-your-own reservations system came later when the state lifted the restrictions on nonessential businesses. “On a typical Saturday in May, hundreds of people come and go at will,” she said. “I wanted a way to limit how many would come at one time.” The result, despite these limitations, is that the farm had so many curbside and drive through orders that “we could barely keep up,” she said. “Normal meat suppliers (local farms) were having trouble handling the large quantities of orders just like we were. We added a second meat supplier. Deliteful Dairy from Boonsboro (about 30 minutes from here) has stepped up their production.”

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The farm adjusted well for its produce market as well. “Luckily we had already pre-ordered and received our seeds,” she said. “We expanded what we purchased from others to help prevent customers from having to go to the grocery stores. Now that it’s our garden season here we’re adding more and more items from our own garden daily.”

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The farm’s other new routines are more sobering, however. “We have put up Plexiglas screens at the registers to protect our staff,” she said. “We also are wiping down carts and shopping baskets. Our cleaning routines have been put into overdrive. This week we have started morning meetings with staff where we ask them about their exposure to the virus and if they have any symptoms. We’re also temperature testing them before they begin working.” Yet she remains upbeat about her new normal. “I’ve never felt the call to farm more strongly than I did this March,” she said. “Watching and hearing the customers’ fears about their food supply running out was a real wakeup call. I was able to comfort them with the promise that we would not run out of food this season. The importance of farmers in the U.S.A. really came to light. After several weeks of proving that we’d have a good supply of the staple food products, I began to see their fears calm and they settled into more normal buying patterns. I hope consumers know how hard we have all been working to make sure that their food supply is strong this year.”

Esc barHighlandFarms

Along with important COVID-19 precautions, this Portsmouth, RI farm, which features a Corn Maze and, in season, a pumpkin patch, will reopen on September 4 with eight acres of corn planted and a new design now created.

The popular Portsmouth labyrinth that draws thousands of visitors every Fall will once again get curious maze-goers “lost” when it opens to the public, farm manager Stuart MacNaught said. “Part of an increasingly popular ‘agri-tainment’ trend, it will be joined this year by more than 250 affiliated MAiZE sites across the United States, Canada, and Europe,” he added. To address COVID-19 safety, he said, the

Escobar Farm Maze will be instituting the following: • Ongoing sanitizing/cleaning • Sanitizer stations for guests • Reduced capacity of guests • Social distancing of six feet in lines • Employees and/or guests wearing masks when distancing is not possible • Health screening and temperaturechecking of employees

The Escobars are also currently exploring other safety measures including contactless payment via debit and credit cards, online reservations and online ticket purchases, he said.

The Escobar family, in partnership with world-renowned maze designer Brett

Herbst, and despite the COVID-19 cautions, hopes to once again give families a chance to experience the unique source of good farming fun in their newly-designed labyrinth, MacNaught said.

Michael J. DeCicc has worked as a writer for over 30 years. He is also the author of two award-winning young adult novels, Kaurlin’s Disciples and The Kid Mobster. He lives with his wife Cynthia in New Bedford.