Impacts: COVID-19

In the Survey of Mothers with Young Children, 17.4 percent with children 12 years old and under reported that since the pandemic started, “The children in my household were not eating enough because we just couldn’t afford enough food.” Of those mothers, 3.4 percent reported that it was often the case that their children were not eating enough due to a lack of resources since the coronavirus pandemic began.

The Coronavirus Farm Assistance Program (CFAP), administered through the USDA Farm Service Agency, began the end of May and runs through August. This is the first program directed at farmers based on impacts from COVID-19. USU held a webinar in cooperation with the Utah Farm Service Agency on June 4. A recording of the webinar is available at extension.usu.edu/apec/farm-financial-health. The webinar provides details of the program and how to fill out the application. This program focuses on dairy and livestock.

It is anticipated that food insecurity has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The USU Extension Senior Pop-Up Farmers Market is a partnership with Salt lake County Aging and Adult Services and various other organizations that provide produce to seniors. USU has 21 scheduled farmers markets in 2020, due to anticipated higher numbers of seniors attending markets as well as a higher demand for produce.

The mission of the USU Botanical Center Gardens is twofold: to teach specific horticulture skills to the public demonstrating varieties that can be grown in Utah, and to distribute locally grown, quality produce to food insecure populations in Davis County. A partnership with the Bountiful Food Pantry started in 2018 to identify at-risk groups in Davis County that could benefit from fresh produce being delivered every other week. The program delivers to a subsidized housing area and to an elderly care facility. Any excess produce is donated to the Bountiful Food Pantry where it is distributed to clients who are food insecure.

USU Extension offices statewide have seen a massive increase in the demand for basic gardening information, especially related to growing edibles. In response, USU faculty members in Davis and Cache counties have teamed up to create “The Garden Guys and Gal” social media group as a means to address many common questions that are being asked statewide. The page launched April 17 on social media and quickly gained over 500 followers on Facebook and 116 on Instagram. The faculty have made 87 posts on both platforms and have received a great response from the public.

There are many reasons home food preservation is popular. Some preserve food to save money, for food security, or to have more control over ingredients and production practices. Food preservation popularity has been accelerated by the current COVID-19 pandemic, and online resources and Facebook Live events have seen a marked increase in use. Whatever the reason for preserving food, it is important to remember to follow research-based, tested, and food-safe recipes and processes.