COVID-19 and Pennsylvania farmers: Financial impacts, relief programs, and resiliency strategies during the 2020 growing season

Abstract

This article reports the findings of a multimethod study of the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Pennsylvania (PA) farmers during the 2020 growing season. Previous research on resili­ency and the food system has encouraged explor­ing ways to describe the agency and adaptability of farmers as they respond to changing conditions. Further, the research has documented the ways that governments intervene to maintain the overall structure of the food system. This study utilized a three-part framework that focused on (a) under­standing the impact of the pandemic on PA farm­ers, (b) describing farmer adaptation strategies and direct-to-consumer marketing practices, and (c) documenting federal relief program participation. The project included an anonymous survey of more than 300 farmers and semi-structured interviews with a subset of 16 farmers. Based on the findings from the survey, under half (42%) of farmers reported a loss of revenue, while over half reported either no change or an increase in revenue in 2020. We also found that vegetable farmers fared slightly better than livestock/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. About half of the farmers surveyed participated in federal aid programs, yet a portion of small farms indicated they did not know whether they qualified for this funding. We discuss the unprecedented scale of federal aid to farmers in 2020 and the remaining access gaps for smaller farmers. Addi­tionally, we discuss the potentially protective role of direct-to-consumer sales for enhancing the resilience of regional food systems.