The disruptive impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the U.S. agricultural system have been broad and varied.

Under the current circumstances, it’s hard to predict how long the COVID-19 pandemic will last for. Food and livestock producers face an extremely difficult situation. An alternative solution is to search for ways to sell their products. Producers feel that the only way to survive is by organizing themselves and selling their produce on-line via a social media platform. 

Prior to the pandemic many farmers didn’t utilize the internet for any kind of meeting conferences, workshops or any other platforms for agriculture business, farmers were accustomed to face to face contact for business and dealing with people.   

The Kentucky State University (KSU) Small Farm Program is an Extension program designed to help farm families with decision-making skills to solve farm and home problems. It includes educational programs that emphasize farm production, farm management, and marketing.  It also includes the use and understanding of local county programs and USDA agencies and their programs, plus providing technical assistance in completing applications for the program and the entire application process.  The KSU Small Farm Program’s Area Agent for Small Farms works with small, limited-resource, and minority farmers, most of whom have not used Extension prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.  He targets minority farmers, farmers who are new to Extension, or farmers who think that Extension is not for them.  First he has to gain their confidence.  Then he has to show them that he can help them to meet some of their needs. 

This is his experience with one family that requested technical assistance.

Kentucky State University Cooperative Extension Program has hosted a Small Farmers Conference for Limited-Resource Farmers for over twenty years. This past year due to the pandemic, the conference we held virtually. The KSU extension agent normally phone calls and emails farmer to ensure they are aware of the event so that they can register and attend the event. A farmer in Jessamine County wanted to attend the KSU Small Farmers Conference for Limited-Resource Farmers but didn’t know how to register or navigate the platform for webinar meeting. I explained very commonly over the phone the process that needed to happen in order for him to attend the KSU Small Farmers Conference. Sometimes the extension agent has to ensure that the farmers feel comfort and relaxed in order to perform the task that need to be completed. The farmer was able to sign up for the KSU Small Farmers Conference. The farmer needed an email address in order to register for the conference and attend the conference from his phone or computer. The KSU extension agent assisted the farmer and the farmer family member to attain an email address.   Since the KSU Small Farmers Conference, that was held in November of 2020, the farmer has been attending regular extension county programs currently in 2021 virtually.  Because he is now able to register for upcoming virtual Agricultural Webinars and receive the knowledge that he will need to make his farming operation more profitable.