Ag Adaptability Roundtable 2
Colorado’s Commissioner of Agriculture says the Covid-19 pandemic has revealed the fragilities in agriculture’s supply chain.
Kate Greenberg told a virtual roundtable on how agriculture can adapt to the post-coronavirus world that supply chain issues caused more consumers to buy directly from their farmer or rancher.
Greenberg;” Hopefully with the work we’re all doing, that’s going to stick. We’ve seen some vulnerabilities in our system. It doesn’t mean it’s all going to change over night. But I think it’s got folks thinking about how we build a more resilient system that supports our producers, it supports our workers, it supports everybody throughout the supply chain. Really thinking local, thinking about supporting family business, thinking about supporting local and thinking about buying direct I see as COVID related trends. Of course they were trends before but they’ve spiked during COVID. Our hope now is that we keep that momentum going well beyond the end of COVID-19.”
Case in point: Pete Marczyk of Marczyk’s Fine Foods told the same roundtable that his staff adapted by changing shifts to allow for distancing and to keep staff out of the store while customers are in the store. He says at first it was like Christmas week everyday for 20 days and the demand was unprecedented. They changed staff compensation, health care benefits and continued their mission to keep people safe, people fed and people paid. Along with more safety measures , store hours were also adjusted for the time being.
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