Dispatches from a Resilient People: Conversations on COVID with Farmers and Food Workers

The goal of this project was to provide a platform for the everyday people who were producing and distributing healthy food in southern Indiana during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to draw attention to that work through a series of podcasts in summer 2020. Economists have long recognized the inverse relationship that the American business economy has to the agricultural economy: when the United States as a whole is doing well, farming families live at the margins. And when the country's economy is struggling, that is when farmers see their highest demand. Communities saw that firsthand when the COVID-19 crisis shut down industry throughout the United States and grocery stores became the frontlines of infection. Many Americans immediately sought out more direct access to fresh, healthy food. Farmers reported record orders for CSAs and farm-shares. And in Bloomington, hardworking volunteers acted quickly to develop a virtual farmer's market, connecting local families with weekly fresh produce through an online system. While farmers' produce and meat keep residents alive and thriving, few consumers know first-hand where their food comes from, or what it means to be a farmer today. These podcasts are available to media outlets for free, providing them with content at an economically very challenging time for small publishers. Each episode is a conversation featuring real people as experts from Orange, Monroe, Marion, Washington, and Jackson counties.