The COVID-19 pandemic contains many challenges especially for farmers. What began in the cities will affect the farmer too and comes with challenges.

“Farmers live in rural areas in sparsely populated communities. With fewer people around them, social distancing should be easy, right? Yes but when someone gets infected they can infect a relatively small number of people which make up a large portion of the local population. Small farm communities have limited access to medical care. There are too few doctors in rural areas and the hospitals are not only small but they lack the sophisticated equipment needed to handle the current pandemic.

The last thing farmers want is people migrating from cities to the perceived safety of small towns. But farmers are connected to their vendors and customers like any other industry. They depend on trucks, trains, barges and other modes of transportation, all of which represent carriers for the virus.

What about hemp and cannabis farmers? While unaffected by the trade wars and tariffs associated with conventional crops like corn and soybeans, they too face unique challenges during the coronavirus pandemic. For example, anyone dependent upon temporary farm labor is vulnerable. Without widespread and affordable testing to identify uninfected laborers who can farmers hire? If you need help at harvest but the labor pool is smaller you should adjust your crop size to reflect the extra labor needed to harvest hemp or cannabis.

Until now testing for mold wasn’t mandatory. It’s too early to tell if COVID-19 testing will be available for crops as well as people. It’s an issue that needs to be addressed for all agricultural crops, especially food. One can only hope that the virus won’t live on plant material. Failure to properly disinfect a drying or storage facility can ruin an entire year’s harvest.”

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Michigan Hemp Industries Association