WOOSTER, Ohio – For produce buyers and auction managers at area produce auctions, flexibility is just part of the job.

While the COVID-19 virus started wreaking havoc across the country, farmers were in the final planning stages for the growing season, with their seed and other supplies on hand, seedbeds prepared and ready for planting, and vegetable and flower crops started undercover in anticipation of early markets. But with news that businesses and restaurants were closing to slow the spread of the disease, it left farmers concerned about the future of their markets and their income for the year.

But in the midst of it all, produce buyers and auction managers at the local produce auctions knew people need to eat and there could be a strong demand for local produce. They also knew their farmers needed to make money to stay in business. With that in mind, the auction staff worked with their local health departments and other officials to put a plan in place to open the auctions and get the product to the stores.

“We pushed our start date back a week,” said Levi Kuhns, an order buyer for the Farmers Produce Auction in Mt. Hope Ohio. “Typically we start the first week of April, but this year we pushed the sale back a week to April 16.”

Kuhns said crops raised in high tunnels or under glass are pretty well on schedule. “Some of our vegetables and small fruit are a little behind this year due to the weather. If the growers got their crops out in good time, they are in good shape. We even have early sweet corn planted. Horse farmers can get out in the field a lot earlier. But there is a lot of produce out there, growers are excited about the season. Our growers are seeing a lot of consumers interested in buying local food.”

He said the fact that a majority of the produce growers stagger their planting dates so they have crops ready to market throughout the season helped a lot. Kuhns said another factor is that the tourist trade was hit hard in the area, so people are looking at ways to bring in more income.

“The wood industry is hurting because the tourist industry is down,” he said. “Still people want to get out and do something, so many of them are working on their homes. Growers are seeing a lot of demand for flowering plants.”

Kuhns said the auction’s emphasis on food safety is a plus for both the buyers and the sellers. He said the emphasis on clean packaging, hand washing and other food safety practices are added precautions to help prevent problems at the auction. “We are asking our growers to bring their produce in, drop it off and leave. Other years, our growers would hang around the auction to see how their produce sold and how they could improve their produce for the next sale. We are also asking them not to bring their children with them to the auction.”

For buyers, in addition to the use of facemasks and hand sanitizer, the auction is limiting the number of buyers on the floor; down from the usual two or three persons spread out across the market buying produce. They will also have signs regarding social distancing.

“We are allowing only one person per buyer number on the floor,” Kuhns said. “We are not selling small lots. We are discouraging our local housewives from coming to the auction to buy their produce for freezing and canning.”

Kuhns said their growers and buyers must follow the protocol because buyers come from West Virginia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New York, in addition to Ohio markets from Cleveland to Columbus and places in between.

While Kuhns said a lot depends on when and how fast things open up, he is certain the auction will see a good season. “People want to know where their food comes from and they want to know it is safe,” he said.

At the County Line Produce Auction, auction manager Bruce Imhoff said the staff felt they were dealing with a lot of unknowns, so they also pushed their start back from late April to the beginning of May. Imhoff said that auctions are considered essential businesses so they worked with the health department and the Ohio Department of Agriculture to determine when and how to open the auction.

Imhoff said their early auctions are mainly hanging baskets, vegetable and bedding plants along with asparagus and rhubarb. “Produce is a little slower coming to market,” he said. “But our growers stagger their plantings so they have produce to market all season long.”

For growers, the season got off to a rocky start as they already had their seed and other supplies purchased when the coronavirus outbreak hit full stride.

“Our growers asked us what they should do,” Imhoff said. “People need to eat, we think we are going to have a strong market this year. There was already a lot of stuff in the ground before the coronavirus hit. Horse farmers can get out earlier than conventional farmers can, and once the plastic is laid in the fields, they can transplant their plants. I think Ohio weather has had a greater impact on the market than the coronavirus.”

Imhoff added that he thinks more people have planted gardens this year than before. “There are a lot of gardens going in,” he said. “I think a lot of people are thinking about preserving and canning their food. I think fresh, local food will be in demand this year.”

Although some buyers are buying canned products as opposed to fresh produce, Imhoff said he predicts there will be a good auction season this year. “I think there is some disconnect with consumers. Some of the issues may be that they might not know how to fix fresh produce items.” 

At the wholesale level, buyers are doing a brisk business, according to Imhoff.

“They are doing a record business with the produce and fresh stuff,” he said. “When we get into the regular season, we may see a shorter supply later in the summer.”

Imhoff said the biggest change at the auction has been how growers and buyers will be involved with the auction. He said they are asking their growers to unload their produce and leave the auction. For buyers, they are only allowing one buyer per number on the auction floor.

“We are asking our buyers to use the hand sanitizing stations and practice social distancing,” Imhoff said. “We have asked them to use one buyer per bidding number and wear masks. We have asked them to stay home if they are sick.”

As a means of crowd control, the auction is also doing away with small table lots.

For the Lincoln County Produce Auction, the auction schedule has been on track this year, according to David Schrock, auction manager for the Crab Orchard, Ky.-based auction. Although their special auctions were canceled, the wholesale auctions have continued on schedule.

Schrock said planting has been on schedule, as growers are raising produce for the auction as well as their retail stands. “They are doing a lot of business at their retail stands so they may not have as much produce to bring to the auction,” he said. But growers producing for the wholesale and terminal markets have been backing away because their customers have been closed, so they have turned to retail stands and auctions to market their produce.

The auction attracts growers from at least a 100-mile radius as Kentucky does not have as many produce auctions as some of the surrounding states. And it attracts buyers from Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina and southern Ohio. Schrock said a lot of those sales are handled by order buyers through telephone bids.

With the growing season off to kind of a chilly start, especially a cold, wet April, some crops such as sweet corn and vine crops have been pushed back. “We deal with the weather every year,” he said. “We work with the weather constantly and maybe it hasn’t been as much of a challenge as the coronavirus.”

Growers have been staggering their plantings so they have products ready throughout the market season. He said the demand for flowers was stronger than he expected and vegetables have been going crazy. 

“We have seen more people putting in home gardens and lowers,” Schrock said. “They can’t do other things, so they are making their places pretty.”

Schrock said they worked with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture to establish the guideline for the auction, with no more than 50 people allowed on the floor. They also ask their sellers to unload their produce and leave. “I think controlling the virus comes down to common sense,” he said. “If everyone uses some common sense, we can eliminate a lot of germs from spreading.”

He added that probably the hardest part has been controlling the crowds. “We keep track of how many people are on the floor and we ask them to stay at least 6 feet apart,” he said. “We are not requiring people to wear masks, but about one-third of the people are wearing masks. We are putting out more hand sanitizer stations, particularly at the check-in and office areas.”