American Farmland Trust launched The Farmer Relief Fund seeking donations to provide cash to help farmers adapt to market challenges brought on by the COVID-19 crisis—100% to go to those most in need.
Ask a farmer what his or her normal day looks like and you might get a puzzled look: Change is a constant when you are farming. The only thing certain is that each year will be different. Some of your efforts will succeed and some will fail. An obsession with experimentation and continual innovation is often what drives farmers to keep at it, even when the going gets tough.
In 2020, the COVID-19 crisis will challenge even the most resilient.
There’s been quite a bit of volatility over the last few years, with extreme weather events and trade disruptions, but nothing compares to the pain being caused by the coronavirus pandemic—especially for small and medium-size farmers that market directly to consumers through farmers markets or to schools, restaurants, caterers and makers of value-added products.
Many of the producers in the Rappahannock region of Virginia who participate in the American Farmland Trust Sustainable Grazing Project have seen their markets wiped out overnight.
Billy Salmon, owner Banks Mountain Beef, today has 70 brood cows on 450 acres and over a dozen calves on feed that will be ready for processing in 30–60 days. Billy direct-markets grass-fed, non-GMO-grain-finished beef to restaurants and butcher shops in Northern VA and DC. Billy’s sales dropped to zero with the COVID-19 outbreak.
“I don’t do this for the money. I do it for the love of farming. That’s what drives most of us,” said Billy. “But this is a tremendous shock. I certainly appreciated hearing from AFT’s Jacob Gilley, who I have been working with to implement regenerative farming practices in my beef operation, about the Farmer Relief Fund. “
The Relief Fund will provide cash grants of $1,000 to eligible farmers, beginning with small and mid-sized direct-market producers. AFT has focused on these producers, believing them to be the most immediately impacted as “social distancing” policies and the closure of restaurants, schools, farmers markets and other institutions keep them from selling to their usual customers. Eighty-five percent of these producers are classified as small farms and most are not covered by traditional farm safety nets, nor have they benefited from the recent market facilitation payments. All monies raised will go directly to farmers with the first round of fundraising closing out on April 23 for payout to farmers starting May 1. Applications in English and Spanish are live now.