PURPOSE OF SURVEY

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented farmers and ranchers with unprecedented changes and challenges to the way they grow their produce, raise their livestock, and get their products to market.

It has affected countless nodes within agricultural supply chains, compelled creative solutions to new operational demands such as social distancing, and catalyzed new relationships between producers, markets, and agricultural providers across different sectors. Further, it has prompted a wave of new emergency assistance programs designed to keep producers afloat during this precarious and uncertain time. New social distancing measures have not only affected some agricultural operations but have also impacted the frequency and availability of service providers’ on-field visits with producers. Given this diminished ability to learn firsthand what producers are experiencing in this moment, new efforts of data collection are imperative to stay up to date with emerging producer needs and challenges. This survey is intended to help fill this new gap. Faced with a unique growing season and increased market uncertainty, it is critical to discern the new and ongoing demands and challenges that producers are facing across the Intermountain West region. By gathering information about these challenges, agricultural organizations and agencies can better understand how best to direct their efforts to meet the shifting needs of farmers and ranchers with the resources they have available.

Following the efforts of earlier producer surveys and interviews, this survey aims to:

• Understand how producers in the Intermountain West are navigating the impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

• Provide agricultural support organizations and agencies information about the impacts of COVID-19 on farmers and ranchers so that they can tailor their work, advocacy, and services in the coming months and years to better meet the needs of the farmers and ranchers they serve.