Report Content

The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent closure of restaurants, schools, events, and in some places, disruption of farmers markets, is having an immediate and potentially devastating impact on farmers and vendors selling to local markets in the Southern Appalachians. In order to better understand these experiences and how to best support these farm and food businesses, ASAP surveyed the farmers and vendors in their network.

Farmers and vendors anticipate the COVID-19 pandemic will dramatically impact the structure and financial viability of their businesses. Respondents share that in the first month of this outbreak, they expect to make fewer sales and have decreased income. Respondents share that in the long term, the pandemic could lead to drastic restructuring or the bankruptcy of many of the region’s farms.  

ASAP’s Local Food Research Center completed a Food and Farm Assessment in the seven western counties of North Carolina and on the Qualla Boundary to guide the work of the EmPOWERing Mountain Food Systems Project in November 2019. Learn more about the project here.

In ASAP’s mission to support Southern Appalachian farms and build a local food system, we developed the Appalachian Grown (AG) branding program in 2007 with the goal of expanding local market opportunities for farmers by providing a way for the public to easily identify products from local farms. We send a survey to all AG farms annually to assess the impact of program services and support and gather feedback to shape the program’s future direction. This report contains the findings from the survey sent to 828 Appalachian Grown farmers in December of 2018.

See highlights in these graphics, or view the entire report at the linked pdf below.