For Ag Retailers, COVID-19 Still Means ‘Business as Usual’
March 24, 2020 In the past week, spring officially arrived according to the calendar. In a normal year, this would signal plenty of activity across the country as people step out from their winter shelters and begin planning for the season ahead.
But 2020 is anything but a normal year. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, many cities and states have issued “shelter-at-home” orders for residences, closed schools, and shut down many businesses such as restaurants and gyms to keep this new disease from infecting more individuals. By all indications, this has already had a devastating effect on the nation’s economy.
Yet in the midst of all this uncertainty, one thing does remain certain – ag retailers and their grower-customers are continuing to do their jobs. “Vendor supply, so far, is not an issue,” says John Oster of The Morral Companies, LLC, Morral, OH. “[We had a] minor hiccup on truck arrangement this morning, but for now, we have no major issues.”
This is similar to a note Asmus Farm Supply (AFS), Rake, IA, sent to its customers back on March 17. “The agricultural industry is not immune to the personal and business effects of COVID-19,” said the note. “AFS is taking steps to mitigate the virus spreading to keep staff members and customers safe, yet keep our business running.”
The message went on the point out that at the present time, AFS is having “no supply issues” with any of the crop inputs it provides customers. This includes seed, crop protection products, and plant nutrition items. “We have enough on hand to satisfy our customer needs through the planting season,” said the message, discussing plant nutrition products. “There is no need to buy products for 2021 at this time.”
Despite the plea in this final sentence, some ag retailers that CropLife magazine spoke with said a few of their grower-customers from “across state lines” were trying to make “panic buys” of crop inputs. In many cases, these customers believed that “shelter-at-home” orders by neighboring states would mean “state borders would be closed to out-of-state transport, too.”
Loading ...However, according to Daren Coppock, President/CEO for the Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA), such fears are unfounded. “The Department of Homeland Security has designated agriculture as a critical industry,” says Coppock. “That designation allows employees engaged in that industry’s work to continue working even if there are shutdowns of other economic sectors. So far, states and counties that have issued shutdown orders have generally taken great care to exempt agriculture. I’m not aware of any that have tried to shut the industry down.
“We’ve also made available to our members a sample letter they can put on their own letterhead for employees to carry with them in the event they are stopped by law enforcement,” he continues. “We’re monitoring these developments and will quickly engage if interstate barriers rise up to interfere with the distribution of agricultural inputs.”
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