Ep 02. COVID-19 Ag. Needs Assessment

Shannon Sand  0:21  
Aloha Today's episode is brought to you by the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources and the seeds of well being or sow project. This podcast is supported by the farm and ranch stress Assistance Network grant from the US Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Hawaii Department of Agriculture.

Melelani Oshiro  0:43  
Aloha welcome everyone to this so podcasts aim to provide educational support information, guidance and outreach to farmers, ranchers and our allied agriculture producers in Hawaii. We are your hosts Mele Oshiro and Shannon Sand. And today we're going to be talking about the COVID-19 agricultural needs assessment that was conducted by Emily Kirk and her team. Emily is a sustainable and organic agricultural extension agent based in Kauai County. And she's also part of the SOW project team. So thank you, Emily, for joining us today. 

Shannon Sand  1:16  
Yes, thank you for joining us, Emily, can you tell us a little bit about your background and kind of how you came about, like your current position, just so we can get some information of where you're from, and like how you came to be here?

Emilie Kirk  1:29  
Sure, yeah. Aloha. And thank you both so much for having me on today. So again, my name is Emily Kirk. And in my current position, I work with edible crop producers on the island of Kauai, and focusing on sustainable and organic agriculture. But we take a very broad understanding of sustainable to include everyone, all types of producers, and all scales, everyone from homesteaders all the way up to the largest operations on the island. Man, a little bit about my background. So I've been here for about four years. And prior to that, I was on Hawaii Island in on the Hilo side. And I was not working with CTAHR, but working doing experiential education programs with youth, and also working in Southeast Asia quite a bit. But my background in agriculture, which is really where my heart and my passion lies, started a long time ago. And when I was living in California, I've worked on many small farms there. And my formal training is in international agricultural development, as well as soil science. 

Shannon Sand  2:39  
Awesome. 

Melelani Oshiro  2:40  
Oh, wow. That's very interesting. Oh, so you guys conducted the COVID-19 AG needs assessments, you want to tell us a little bit more about what the reasoning was to create the needs assessment and the follow up that you folks did?

Emilie Kirk  2:55  
Sure. Yeah. So I think this really came about because right, when the pandemic first hit, in March of 2020, I got a call from one of our community partners, who said, you know, this thing is this thing is going off the markets are closing, what are we going to do? How are we going to support our producers, especially our smaller farms, and some of the Diversified operations that really rely on that direct marketing direct, whether it's through farmer's markets or to restaurants, and all of a sudden their market has evaporated. So that was that was really it. And it was amazing to see so many people across the state really mobilize pretty immediately to, to respond to this kind of emerging crisis. And we wanted to do a needs assessment early on to kind of take the pulse and get a sense from producers across industries and across the state of what they're what they were experiencing.

Melelani Oshiro  3:57  
Such a good reason right to conduct the needs assessment and try to help help those smaller producers as well as the large ones. But so can you tell us a little bit more about that needs assessment? And then what you folks found out from that 2020, its so funny, I always get confused because it was 2020. But it was COVID-19 Needs Assessment. Right. Can you tell us more about some of what you guys found from that?

Emilie Kirk  4:21  
Yeah, definitely. So. So that was the fifth from the first round that we conducted in April of 2021. Of the things that really stood out was, again, this loss of markets and loss of sales. So in addition to the fact that everybody was super stressed, right, and there's a lot of uncertainty going on. That was the biggest thing that we saw across all industries. And affecting not just crop producers, but livestock producers, and also the flora culture industry. And here in Hawaii, I think a lot of our market is so connected to tourism, that as soon as As the tourists stopped coming, which those numbers dropped immediately, almost to zero, we had, like over a 99% loss in just a matter of days, so. So then you think about things like weddings and events and floral displays. So we had our even the floriculture industries reporting that they had all of these events canceled all of these large things that they depend on, you know, and it's April, it's coming up to Mother's Day, it's coming up to the big, big wedding season. And, and then all of a sudden, that evaporates. So and then there's a trick, then there's all of the kind of knock on effects from that right stress, am I going to be able to pay my bills? Am I going to help be able to pay my workers? Am I able to make my lease? Am I able to, you know, be able to maintain the crops and the animals that are that are in the ground and growing right now? And it was just an incredibly difficult situation? Yeah. Yeah.

Shannon Sand  6:07  
I think we had there were a lot of a lot of people basically said all those things. Yeah. 

Melelani Oshiro  6:12  
Yeah. Within livestock industry to it was the loss of markets, but you still had your animals, what do you do with all the product? Right? And even with the other, you know, farmers and producers still, what do you do with the product, now you still have plants in the ground that need to be harvested, you have animals that are ready to go to market, you know, no market to send them to? So

yeah. And right off the bat, we had a lot of shipping issues, whether it was getting animals or produce or like, floriculture plants, like out, like, because they just it just literally shut down for several months. I mean, it was, it was a big, big thing. The fact that AG is still here, I'm really grateful for that everybody was able to like figure out a way to like, pivot a lot. So yeah, I think that speaks a lot to the producers here. So definitely, yeah. So I know, you also mentioned a little earlier that you did a follow up in 2021. So since I know that it literally just finished but can you can you give us any information? Or like what have you found out from it so far?

Emilie Kirk  7:14  
Yes. So I think it's interesting, we did the follow up in 2020 21, we wanted to do kind of a one year follow up. But the way that the pandemic has been, it's, it's really such a roller coaster. And the timing was interesting. So when we sent out the follow up, we were in a little bit of a lull, this kind of optimistic period where it was before Delta hit. Yeah. And after tourists had started coming back, and the markets are open, and people are thinking, you know, we've got vaccines now. Like we're heading out of the woods. So that that's the context for the follow up that was conducted this year, roughly, April to July. So really wrapping up right before Delta hit I think that might have affected the responses, we got a little bit. But one of the questions, you know, we still saw, again, a lot of similar things, you know, it's not quite as dramatic, but still access to markets is still was still an issue, access to inputs and other supplies that are needed. It's been really challenging for the last throughout this

Melelani Oshiro  8:21  
Oh Yeah, I think that's like something that's across, I mean, all industries and commodities and stuff that I know have access to inputs access to I mean, access in general, just seems to be a big issue right now for AG, especially here. I mean, it's a big deal even on the mainland to they're having lots of supply challenges.

And not just getting the supplies in but the supplies, costing more. Right, everything. Not just the shipping to get it here, but the cost itself with the products are so much more.

Emilie Kirk  8:50  
Yeah, if it's available at all. Yes. You know, and just to circle back for a second, you know, I appreciate you mentioned about the livestock and the challenges with shipping. But I think one thing that was important to understand and, and for me as a crop person, but thinking about how the livestock industry here works something like cattle, for example, you know, they're dependent on shipping off the, the young, young cattle to to then be grown up, you know, on the mainland, for the most part, I think something roughly 80% Mele. Give correct me Yeah, right off island. So if you can't ship them off, that means you have to feed them. We don't, you know, you're not going to be slaughtering, they're not slaughter age or weight, and there aren't facilities for it, but there also isn't feed. So that was a very urgent stress that I heard from a lot of livestock producers. So it's sourcing inputs, things like seed fertilizer, you know, for crop folks, but also just the real lack of livestock feed was an issue here. 

Shannon Sand  9:55  
Yeah

Melelani Oshiro  9:55  
Yeah, that was definitely a big issue and they gave me for some of the hog producers, you know, finding some alternative sources, a lot of them sourced material and feed resources from the restaurants. And, you know, not they didn't have that. So shutting down. So that was that is a big and big still a big thing, I think because, you know, even though some have opened back up, they're not in the capacity of what they used to be said it. Yeah. So they don't have that. That what do you call, I guess, scraps, you know, all those other resources for them. So,

Shannon Sand  10:29  
but I do think that the industry is did a good job pulling together, because I think in terms of the pork industry, at least here on Big Island, I think I want to say like a Oahu. And a couple other places I know like the papaya growers because they couldn't export at the time, they were able to like help supplement like the livestock industry in terms of feed and stuff and support. And some of the macnut growers did that as well. So I really think that, like the ag industry in Hawaii is really amazing, just in terms of like their ability to pull together in an emergency situation and help everybody out.

Emilie Kirk  11:03  
Definitely is so resilient. And it has been amazing. I think that's, you know, one of the if there is a silver lining kind of see, she's really the folks in the community here come together and support each other so much. And as they have a lot of experience doing also right with natural disasters and other things. Yeah. Remembering that we're kind of out here, out here in the middle of the ocean, it's us right at the end of the day, we got to pull together and support each other. Yeah.

Melelani Oshiro  11:31  
you learn to be very resourceful. You know, and I think it just opened us up to to other possibilities of, you know, reaching out and making new connections, I think that were formed, you know, because of this. So, yeah, we, you know, like you said, there's silver lining to everything. So I think that's one of the big things. I guess anything else you want to share, Emily, about your program or the needs assessment?

Emilie Kirk  11:56  
Sure. I think one of the things you could share, you know, from the 2021 survey is we were asking about changes that, that producers might have made to their operations. And a lot of folks have made changes, you know, as Shannon, you mentioned, pivoting right, like that's been kind of, I think we've heard that word more in the last 18 years. But, but it's so true, right. And so a lot of what we saw, over 50% of the respondents mentioned that they changed something about their marketing, and again, over 50% reported that they had changed something in their distribution system, whether that be shifting to online sales, or developing a CSA, you know, those are, those are ways of pivoting. So we can just be be really flexible and adaptable in the situation. And a lot of folks also mentioned change to their labor and workforce. And I thought was interesting out of this is that we asked them if they thought these changes would be permanent, even after the pandemic is no longer part of our lives. And again, more than half of them said yes, that they thought these changes would be permanent. So anecdotally, you know, I talked to one farmer who used to go to something like six or eight farmers markets every week. And if you can imagine, my, that entails a lot, as far as a small farm to have to be out there is a huge time commitment. And now they switch to online sales and said, Well, you know, we're going back to a couple of the markets, but we're not going to be killing ourselves like trucking all over the island, like we had been before. Yeah, define that better balance. So yeah, so I think that there are some really interesting changes and things like that, that came out of it.

Melelani Oshiro  13:41  
Yeah technology, in a way is a very big lifesaver, I think, in the sense for the pandemic for the farmers and being able to switch to those different resources for sales and getting online and whatnot, and just sharing, right, where you can actually get what you need as far as locally, you know, for produce and other protein sources and whatnot. So that's very interesting. Very good. Yeah.

Emilie Kirk  14:08  
And one last thing I wanted to share also, kind of linking back to, you know, to this project to the sow, project, seeds of well being is just to, just to take a minute to acknowledge the incredible degree of stress that everyone has gone under, and that farmers and ranchers are people first and foremost, just like the rest of us, right with families that their concern they're concerned about in the day to day life. And I think that the, you know, that's an added layer versus theirs, their farm operations or ranch operations, but then thinking about, you know, like the pandemic impacts on if they have kids at home who are going to school or maybe not going to school trying to support that

Shannon Sand  14:50  
Mele can, can sympathize with some of that.

Melelani Oshiro  14:53  
Yeah, that's, you know, that was the hard thing is like, now you have to figure out how am I gonna switch my markets or what do I need to do to continue by sales and produce, you know, have that income coming in. But now if I have a little keiki on my side, going mommy, mommy mommy I need that makes it even harder, right or daddy coming out be you know, whatever. So, yeah, that's definitely adds another layer and another little jump off of your, your little web that you need to figure out. Right. So it comes a little bit different but

Emilie Kirk  15:28  
yeah, and and also the stress I think a lot of have agricultural families also have off farm income, you know, and in many cases that loss.

Shannon Sand  15:39  
Yeah.

Melelani Oshiro  15:42  
Yeah, yeah. Wow. Well it was very important that survey that you did and I think provided ourselves, you know, the other extension agents look back and that information and whatnot and we're able to produce some programs to help. So thank you, Emily, for you know, coordinating all that and know Shannon was on your team as well getting all of that together. So thank you guys for doing that. And thank you so much, Emily, for being here today to share with us about the needs assessment and being on the show. And coming to talk story with Shannon and I

Emilie Kirk  16:17  
only thing I want to I just want to add also just maybe to say, you know, mahalo to you both for having me on today, and also a huge Mahalo to all of our project teams. Yes, team members that made the needs assessment happen, both in 2020 2021. And mahalo to all of our agricultural producers across the island for continuing to work so hard, do what you do to make sure that that agriculture here can continue even in the hardest of times.

Shannon Sand  16:47  
Yes, thank you, Emily. So and as for everybody else listening, be sure to visit the seeds of well being or SOW website, and our YouTube channel listed in the show notes. 

Melelani Oshiro  16:58  
For additional information about this topic, you can see the journal articles and the COVID-19 Emergency fact sheets that are linked below and listed in our show notes of the podcast and description box of our YouTube page. And also, just a quick reminder, if you haven't already, please complete our sow needs assessment. 

Shannon Sand  17:17  
That will also be in the show notes in the description box.

Melelani Oshiro  17:20  
Yeah, we'll put all those links in there for you. So thanks for listening to the SOW podcast.

Shannon Sand  17:25  
Yes, and before we go show some love for your favorite podcasts by leaving us a review on Apple podcasts or anywhere you listen to this podcast then stay tuned for next month. 

Emilie Kirk  17:38  
Mahalo

Shannon Sand  17:39  
A hui hou. 

Melelani Oshiro  17:40  
Mahalo

Transcribed by https://otter.ai