The economic slowdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic is hitting Wisconsin’s farmers and food producers especially hard.
Alice in Dairyland Abigail Martin says buying local and keeping produce moving is vital to Wisconsin’s farmers.
“1 in 9 people working in our state to hold a job related to agriculture so agriculture is really important to provide food for us but also to keep our economy going.”
That’s over 437,000 people. A major portion of Wisconsin’s food and dairy goes to food service companies, so while restaurants are closed, more and more food isn’t going to market.
Martin says more and more, people need to be looking for and buying Wisconsin-made food.
“Your dollars aren’t going too far away from home and you’re going to be supporting your neighbors that are working in agriculture so that’s really one thing that we could be doing to help during this time.”
Martin says that the longer the shutdown lasts, the harder it will be to rebound for farmers.