The Durango Farmers Market is planning to open as scheduled in May, but in implementing safety precautions as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, the market will look a little different.
Melanie McKinney-Gonzales, market manager, said organizers and local growers had been keeping a close eye on the outbreak and whether the market could stick to its planned May 9 opening.
But as restrictions were put in place to limit human interaction, agriculture was deemed an essential operation, a signal to local market organizers that there could be a safe way to sell fresh produce on Saturdays at TBK Bank parking lot, 259 W. Ninth St., in Durango.
“It became clear the market could open in some manner,” McKinney-Gonzales said.
However, changes have to be made to make the experience safe for growers and consumers alike, she said.
There won’t be any live music, at least to start with. Only vendors that offer food will be selling goods, which will limit crowding and allow growers’ tents to be spread out at 6-foot intervals. And there’ll be plenty of hand sanitizer and handwashing stations for the public.
“Basically, we’re pulling back on all those community event-feeling aspects we provide,” McKinney-Gonzales said. “It’ll basically function as an outdoor grocery store.”
McKinney-Gonzales said the market consulted closely with the city of Durango and San Juan Basin Public Health, the agency leading the emergency response, in deciding whether to keep the market open. She said the market is considering limiting the number of people allowed in at a given time, like some grocery stores have done, and possibly limiting entrance points.
When possible, she would like to see people order online and pick up their goods at the market to make the process easier and quicker.
“We’re going to pay attention to all the best practices around the nation and state to keep our market a safe and healthy place,” McKinney-Gonzales said.
Claire Ninde, spokeswoman for SJBPH, said farmers markets meet Gov. Polis’ definition of “essential services,” as they provide an opportunity to buy food. And, she said the Durango Farmers Market is important for people who can double the value of their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.
“SJBPH is working with the Durango Farmers Market to ensure that adequate measures will be taken to meet stringent social-distancing precautions to protect both shoppers and farmers from the spread of COVID-19,” she said. “The plan being created by the Durango Farmers Market will be reviewed by SJBPH and will include guidance from the Colorado Farmers Market Association and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.”
As the coronavirus outbreak disrupts nearly every aspect of daily life, local farmers and ranchers have also had to adapt.
Increasingly, producers in the region are turning their attention from the fields to the internet, offering online orders that can either be dropped off at a customer’s doorstep or picked up at a farm.
Max Fields, co-owner of Fields to Plate Produce in the Animas Valley, said online orders have been rushing in since the outbreak started to sweep through the country in March.
More than ever, people in the community are valuing locally grown food that involves a relatively closed-loop system: The food is grown in the region, packaged by local producers and delivered to local doorsteps.
“People are really starting to feel a reliance and support for local ag, which has been super awesome to see,” Fields said.
Mike Nolan, who runs Mountain Roots Produce in Mancos, said farmers and ranchers started coming together about a month ago to brace for the new reality created by the outbreak, realizing the traditional market setup might not work this year.
The outcome, he said, was an online directory called SouthwestProducers.org, where people can find nearly all ag operations in the region, many of which offer online orders or easy pickups.
Already, Nolan said CSAs, or community supported agriculture where consumers buy a share of a farm’s harvest in advance and receive food once production ramps up, are starting to sell out across Southwest Colorado.
“Consumers more than ever right now, throughout the Four Corners, want to buy directly off their farmers,” he said.
At Mountain Roots Produce (which does not participate in the Durango Farmers Market), the two main sources of income are selling fresh vegetables to restaurants in the area and dishing out about 70 CSA orders.
But with restaurants closed for the time being, the farm is increasing its CSA offerings to 150, and already, those extra shares have sold out.
“The consumers are really looking to minimize the amount of steps it takes to get food and support local farms in that manner,” Nolan said. “And we’re welcoming it with open arms.”
The Four Corners Farmers and Ranchers Coalition recently surveyed 36 local ag producers and found farmers markets in the region account for most of the income during the year.
The solution, respondents agreed, was to turn to online sales, with delivery or on-farm pickups, and increase CSAs.
But Rachel Landis with the Good Food Collective said this shift in the normal ways of doing things presents unique challenges to local growers.
For one, farmers and ranchers already operate on tight margins: Landis said a recent study from the Region 9 Economic Development District of Southwest Colorado found local ag jobs paid about $31,000 a year.
“A disruption this great for small-scale growers is the difference between them continuing and them folding,” she said.
And switching to a more heavily based CSA model can be a challenge for some, Landis said, with a need to strategically plant a variety of crops around demand.
“It’s a skill set,” she said. “And for growers not used to it, it can be a hard transition.”
But for those ag producers who can pull it off, there is high demand. And with the recently approved federal relief package leaving out farms, going online and increasing CSAs may be the only way forward for the time being, Landis said.
“With the outbreak, people realized, those trucks may not always make it to the grocery stores,” she said. “And this is an alternative. It will be interesting to see if that public consciousness around a resilient and homegrown economy sticks.”
jromeo@durangoherald.com
