18 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • SEPTEMBER 2020
LI FARMERS REAP WHAT PANDEMIC SOWS
“April, May is usually 85 percent of
our business,” Van Bourgondien says,
noting the company instead reopened
later when it would otherwise be closed.
“By June 1, we’re usually closing down.”
Farmers always worry about the weather’s
impact on the harvest, but this year
COVID-19 decimated some sales and
increased worker risks.
“In some instances, growers had to
dispose of the whole crop,” Robert
Carpenter, administrative director of
the Calverton-based Long Island Farm
Bureau, said of lilies, tulips and other
plants. “They basically had to throw
them away.”
COVID CUTS
While hospitality industry closures
made headlines, farmers felt a big ripple
effect that attracted less attention. Ironically,
agriculture is at once an essential
and an endangered industry.
Suffolk County agriculture in 2017 generated
$225 million in gross sales with
minimal agriculture in Nassau County,
according to Carpenter.
“We have such productive soil on Long
Island and a wonderful climate,” Suffolk
County Legislator Al Krupski (D-Cutchogue),
who also operates a 65-acre
vegetable farm, says. “We can grow
almost anything.”
While soil and sun cooperated, the shutdown
of restaurants and lockdowns had
the effect of a financial and healthcare
hurricane. Crescent Duck Farm cut
production and still hasn’t ramped up
to regular levels.
“I’m used to these barns being full,” says
Douglas Corwin, the farm’s co-owner,
adding he still keeps 20 percent of the
original breeding stock levels.
Crescent, Long Island’s last duck farm,
is processing at 25 percent of standard
and in a month will barely be up to 50
percent.
CULTIVATING SAFETY
Farms tried to adapt to COVID-19 as a
healthcare crisis. Crescent instituted
morning temperature checks for all employees
and spent $60,000 on COVID-19
modifications, including plexiglass/
stainless steel barriers that meet USDA
standards and avoid rust.
A farm in upstate Oneida County and an
apple packaging plant in Oswego County
experienced outbreaks, although no
such outbreaks have been reported on LI.
“As a business, you need to protect
your workers,” Krupski says. “There’s
a pragmatic approach. The growers
that I know are very conscious of their
workers’ health, not just COVID-19.”
Emma Kreyche, director of advocacy,
outreach, and education for the Worker
Justice Center of New York, says farm
workers sometimes didn’t receive
proper protective gear and may live in
crowded quarters.
“A lot of people are not getting tested,”
Kreyche says. “They're afraid of what
will happen if they test positive. They
won’t be able to work."
“It’s challenging to figure out how to stay
in business and stay safe,” says Southold
Town Councilwoman Sarah Nappa,
who co-owns Anthony Nappa Wines
in Peconic. “We can’t open a lot of wine
to taste because we’re not going to get
enough customers.”
RECOMMENDATIONS,
NOT REGS
New York State passed COVID-19 guidelines
for farms, which Kreyche said is a
good move, but different from “enforceable
health and safety requirements”
and whistleblower protections.
“It took over two months for the state
to publish guidelines for agriculture,
which was a step in the right direction,”
Kreyche adds. “These are recommendations
without an enforcement
mechanism.”
The state has since issued recommendations
for summer crops, but guidelines
for fall crops such as pumpkins are
pending.
“If you’re growing something, they want
you to come in and pick it, but not stay
there and listen to music,” Krupski says.
“How are we going to manage the hayride,
the corn maze, pumpkin picking?”
FARM STANDS
Even if COVD-19 had a frosty effect, fresh
fruit and vegetable sales at farm stands
and farmers markets are doing well.
“Both locals and people from further
west came to our farm stand because
they wanted to get out of the house and
didn’t want to go to the supermarket,”
says Phil Schmitt, co-owner of Schmitt's
Family Farm in Riverhead.
Second-home owners contributed to the
economy, Corwin adds.
“The saving grace for many restaurants
out here was that they were able
to do takeout,” he says. “Same thing for
wineries.”
Garden centers bought more plants
locally than from out of state, because
trailers might need to be traced or managed
for COVID-19, Bourgondien says.
And CJ Van Bourgondien Greenhouses,
like some others, got a potentially
forgivable loan through the Paycheck
Protection Program and locked down
many payments on March 1, minimizing
damage.
FARM FUTURES
Many farmers partially rebounded, but
have not returned to business as usual.
Crescent laid off 70 of its 84 employees,
but is back to about 70.
“I’m fearful for Manhattan, but I’m not
worried about the future,” Corwin says.
“We have to buckle down and keep moving
forward. We’ll survive. We adapt,
looking for different markets.”
Krupski and some others are gearing
up for pumpkin picking for Halloween
amid good pumpkin weather. Some
farms became more innovative and
environmentally friendly. Crescent, for
instance, is working on a halal brand to
capture a different demographic.
“It’s important to use this time to make
new investments,” Corwin says. “This
is an opportunity. We’re not out here
thinking about going out of business.”
PRESS BUSINESS
continued from page 17
Marilee Foster's brother and farming partner, Dean, takes an evening flight over Foster Farm to check on crops and
the deer population in Sagaponack, on July 14, 2019. (REUTERS/Lindsay Morris)
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