TO OUR FARMERS// Keep Calm & Farm On

For many of us, when we got into farming our goal was to grow good food to feed ourselves and our communities. We didn’t know it at the time, but it was challenges like the Coronavirus that we were ultimately preparing ourselves for—an anxious, uncertain time when our communities would need to know that good, nutritious food was not just available, but a mere text message or email away.

Most of us have greenhouses full of plants and are beginning to fill our fields with future food, but now have our doubts. If the crowds dwindle at the farmers market, or if folks avoid restaurants and grocery stores, where will our food go? Right yet, we don’t know what the coming months will hold. What we do know is that Coronavirus is serious. It will disrupt. And we also know that photosynthesis will happen. Food will grow. We will harvest.

So, let your customers know that—that you will have food. They almost certainly need a little anxiety lifted from their shoulders this week and you will need them to know you’re here, ready to provide. 

Fear breeds fear, but confidence breeds resilience. Confidence rallies the dormant powers of community. It may not be easy, but as farmers we have that power—everything comes from the soil, and so too can service and leadership. 

As small farmers we are uniquely fitted to stoke, not fear but, hope. We can let our customers know that we are growing the food we had planned on growing before Coronavirus, and that we will figure out a way to get it to them. It is okay to be honest, and to be anxious yourself. But you’ve got a unique business—one that people need and one that can be a small shining light in this fog.  

Be a light. Post your pictures of your garden, your plants, your hands putting healthful future food into the ground. Get your eaters phone numbers and email addresses, let them know healthful food us merely a message away, gas up the farm truck for deliveries for those who may need to distance themselves, stay positive—and above all—farm on.