B8
THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2020
Fruit industry faces challenges over virus
By COURTNEY SHERWOOD
Oregon Public Broadcasting
The strawberries have just begun to bud
at Liepold Farms in Boring .
If this were a normal year, brother and
sister Jeff Liepold and Michelle Krummen-
acker would be tending the grounds and
preparing for early May harvest, just as
their parents and grandparents did before
them. But as with many things in the era of
COVID-19, this year is far from normal.
For the fi rst time in this third-genera-
tion family farm, it’s not clear if the migrant
workers who harvest strawberries each
spring will be allowed to travel north from
California to work the fi elds. And if those
fi eldworkers do arrive, Krummenacker said,
the family does not know how it will sell its
prized Hoods this year — or whether one
of the farm’s biggest customers will still be
buying its other Oregon-grown fruits.
“I think people take it for granted when
you go to the store, like, ‘Oh, there’s food
here’ — and it takes a lot of time, energy
and work to get things from our fi eld to that
place,” she said.
Across the Pacifi c Northwest, small and
mid-sized farms are grappling with a range
of challenges brought about by the novel
coronavirus.
In eastern Washington, potato farmers
are planting less as demand for restaurant
french fries evaporates, and apple growers
are worried about a drop in overseas exports.
In Hood River , tree fruit farmers have led
Spanish-language training on social dis-
tancing and they’re worried about selling
this year’s harvest. And at a dryland wheat
farm near Helix , the owner said he’s in bet-
ter shape than many of his peers, with almost
no impact from COVID-19.
The good news for Northwest consumers:
Despite all the uncertainty affecting growers
across the region, experts say the food sup-
ply is sound, with growers in California and
Florida reporting abundant crops. The sup-
ply chain, on the other hand, has been chal-
lenged. Growers used to selling to restau-
rant chains and school cafeterias have been
unable to quickly pivot to sell to supermar-
kets instead. Access to freshly harvested
local fruits and vegetables from small and
medium-sized farms? That is not a sure
thing.
“Many people are worried about a possi-
ble recession or even an economic depres-
sion stemming from COVID-19, and the
agricultural industry is not immune from
that, by any means,” said Samantha Bayer,
an attorney who specializes in policy with
the Oregon Farm Bureau. “The agricultural
industry has essentially been in a recession
Bryan M. Vance/Oregon Public Broadcasting
Apples for sale at the Liepold Farms produce stand in Boring. The produce stand, which sells
the farm’s organic berries in season, operates for about 10 months each year.
‘I THINK PEOPLE TAKE IT FOR GRANTED WHEN YOU
GO TO THE STORE, LIKE, ‘OH, THERE’S FOOD HERE’
— AND IT TAKES A LOT OF TIME, ENERGY AND WORK
TO GET THINGS FROM OUR FIELD TO THAT PLACE.’
Michelle Krummenacker | worker at a family farm in Boring
for the last three to four years because of
declining market prices and regulatory over-
head, and many producers may not survive
the effects of COVID-19.”
It’s hard to know which of the fi nancial
challenges that have presented themselves to
Liepold Farms is the most pressing. There’s
the push to upgrade conditions for fi eld-
workers; new packaging and food safety
standards from fast-food chain Burgerville,
one of the farm’s biggest customers; and
uncertainty around farmers markets amid
social distancing and hygiene concerns.
“There are so many things coming in to
play that we are reeling, really,” said Marcia
Liepold, Krummenacker’s mother. “It’s just
mind boggling to put this all in order.”
The biggest unknown facing Liepold
Farms and other farms across the region
comes in the form of a petition that advo-
cates for low-income and immigrant com-
munities submitted to the Oregon Occupa-
tional Safety and Health Administration in
March. The Oregon Law Center and Vir-
ginia Garcia Memorial Health Center asked
for more portable toilets and hand-washing
stations in fi elds — one for every fi ve work-
ers, instead of one for every 20, as required
today. They also asked for upgrades to
migrant housing, including vacant spaces
dedicated to housing any workers who get
sick while on the job.
“If they require a sink for every fi ve peo-
ple, if we have a crew of 60, are we going
to have 11 or 12 washing stations that cost
$400 to $500 apiece? And that’s just wash-
ing stations,” Liepold said. “And you can’t
wait to the last minute to get these, you have
to spend the money upfront.”
Other upgrades sought in the petition
could cost $40,000 or more, Krummenacker
said. Yet many years, the farm’s payout to
its owners is only $50,000 or $60,000 after
expenses, she said.
Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del
Noroeste, or PCUN, a union for Ore-
gon farmworkers, has focused its COVID-
19 advocacy on job protections, access to
health care and sanitation advocacy such as
deep-cleaning of immigrant housing, rather
than on the specifi c investments requested in
the OSHA petition.
Reyna Lopez, executive director of
PCUN, said that immigrant workers depend
on economically viable farms to be able
to make a living. But they still need to be
protected.
“Oregon is one of the most vibrant agri-
cultural economies in the world, and for us
that would mean devastating effects to have
our agriculture industry knocked down by
COVID-19,” she said.
Oregon OSHA administrator Michael
Wood told Oregon Public Broadcasting he’s
gathering feedback from farms and consid-
ering the health needs that farmworkers face.
He expects to act quickly on the petition.
“Given that this petition comes up specif-
ically in the context of the COVID-19 out-
break, it does not allow us to use as delib-
erative a process as we normally would,”
Wood said. “And if we move forward with
rule-making, it wouldn’t make sense to do
our normal practice of providing 60 to 180
days, or sometimes even a year, between
rule adoption and the effective date. If we do
this, it is something we’ll need to have come
into place quickly.”
Until then, Liepold and Krummenacker
do not know what — if anything — to do to
prepare for workers who typically begin the
strawberry harvest in May.
Liepold Farms is also facing changes
from Burgerville, which is one of its larg-
est buyers. The fresh fruit in the fast-food
chain’s strawberry and raspberry shakes, and
its seasonal marionberry products, all come
from the family farm.
“Historically, we’ve been able to pick
fresh and deliver berries to a site that redis-
tributes to all their stores with a fresh-
packed product,” Krummenacker said.
Within 12 hours, fresh berries go from farm
to customers.
But Burgerville recently informed the
farm that it wants to add a middle step to
ensure food safety along the way. That
might work for shelf-stable berries grown
on large corporate farms, but the berries
Liepold Farms grows have been bred to
be at their peak fl avor within three days of
harvest. Delaying delivery to the fast-food
chain could put an end to sweet and fl avor-
ful Liepold-grown berry shakes, Krummen-
acker said.
With so much uncertainty about even
the next few weeks, Krummenacker and
Liepold said plans to pass ownership of the
family farm on to the next generation may
have to be put on hold for several years.
“We worked so hard to keep our farm,”
Liepold said. “This year we were supposed
to be retiring. This has thrown that off.”
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