By Region

‘California Farmworker COVID-19 Relief Package’ introduced

With California farms facing labor shortages, grocers experiencing empty shelves because of logistical bottlenecks, and many of the state's up to one million farmworkers lacking access to health care, Assembly member Robert Rivas, D-Hollister, on... more »

Face masks can help reduce spread of COVID-19, agriculture included

The CDC now recommends wearing cloth face coverings in settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain, especially in areas of significant community-based transmission of COVID-19. For agriculture this would include retail outlets,... more »

UF/IFAS Extension helps get food directly from farmers to customers during pandemic

As the novel coronavirus disrupts the usual methods to deliver food from farms to consumers, University of Florida UF/IFAS Extension agents are helping connect growers with customers. Two such specialists are Sarah Bostick, an agriculture... more »

US Sugar provides fresh, locally-grown green beens to south Florida entities

As part of its ongoing local response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. Sugar announced April 8 it is contributing nearly 1,000 crates, or the equivalent of 120,000 servings of fresh, locally and American-grown green... more »

Pandemic charity effort of $4M announced by Driscoll’s

More than $4 million in charitable funds globally for health clinics, food banks, fresh berry donations and other community resources were rolled out by Driscoll's in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Funds are being distributed... more »

Florida Extension’s Gene McAvoy shares pandemic’s impact on specialty crop markets

Gene McAvoy, regional vegetable Extension agent IV emeritus with University of Florida UF/IFAS, shared the following synopsis of conditions in south Florida for specialty crop growers impacted by the coronavirus challenges. “Up to the end... more »

Webinar: ‘Food and Farm Business Sales Channel Deep Dives’

An April 14 webinar at noon EDT will focus on selling at farmers' markets, and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on that effort. Novel coronavirus is changing how food businesses can sell their products.... more »

Buyers, sellers connect during COVID-19 disruptions to Florida food markets

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major disruptions to Florida food markets. Sales of food products to restaurants and schools have fallen drastically. Some farmers' markets have closed. Sales through grocery stores spiked upward initially, but... more »