With trees blossoming and fruit on the way, local apple growers would already be looking toward fall during an average spring season. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to change how businesses operate and public gatherings are held, this fall could look different for producers of Gilmer County’s banner crop.
“You don’t really know what will happen with this. It’s hard enough in farming to anticipate the demand or needs of your customers. But, if you ain’t got any customers, it’s (even more) uncertain. The one good thing I try to remember is that people have got to eat, but they can’t get it from you if they can’t get out and move around,” said R&A Orchards owner Andy Futch about how the pandemic and restrictions it’s caused are affecting business at his family’s year-round produce market.
Because of the health crisis, some local apple houses that are open year-round are offering services like curbside pickup, while some proprietors of markets that open later in the year are watching to see if they’ll need to alter how their businesses operate come fall.
“We’re just taking it day by day, trying to move forward and stay open if we can,” said Futch.
The R&A market has been closed to indoor shopping since shelter in place orders were issued, but it’s still open in that employees are working and pickup orders can be arranged.
“We’re still providing a service and you have to look for other ways to meet customers’ needs,” Futch said. “We’ve been doing only curb service for three weeks now, but we’ve been here from 9-6 through this whole thing. We’ve got food products that people can buy and we’re trying to do it in a safe manner. Most of our curbside customers will tell me when they’re coming so we can have it ready. When they pull up, we put it in their trunk.”
Bill Aaron, owner of Mack Aaron’s Apple House, said his market is also open year-round. It’s been open to customers throughout the health crisis, while also providing curbside service.
“We’re (still) here seven days a week, but business has been way off,” Aaron said. “We’re serving food just like a grocery store. We’ve had it fixed up to keep less than 10 people in the store at all times and keep people six feet apart, which is difficult. Most people are adults and they do it anyhow. (Customers) can call us and we’ll take their order and put it in the car for them. Several older people have took advantage of that and it’s worked good. They didn’t get to (come in) and shop, but they felt safer.”
Fresh vegetables have been something customers have been seeking from both markets since the rush on groceries began.
“Anything our customers want, we try to get it,” said Aaron. “A lot of folks have been coming to get (things like) potatoes and tomatoes because the grocery stores didn’t have them. People were having trouble getting flour and cornmeal, so I put those in there, too, even toilet paper.”
Last week, Futch said he was planning to open the R&A market back up for foot traffic Monday. The R&A and Mack Aaron markets will also continue to do curbside service for the foreseeable future.
“We’re still going to do it through the summer for people who don’t want to come in or get out. We’ve (also) had a tent in front of the building where we can take people’s orders,” Futch said. “According to the guidelines, we didn’t have to shut the market down, but we did it as precautionary (measure) to protect our employees. We were trying to meet both sides of the demand — to provide a service and protect our employees as much as we could.”
Barry Pritchett, owner of the Red Apple Barn, said his market doesn’t usually open till August, but he’s already considering additional steps that may have to be taken by then.
“Right now, there’s been no effect (for us). Everybody’s pretty much secluded as far as labor on the farm, so that’s not an issue.
Labor Day is when the (fall season) really kicks off. We’re trying to think ahead and see what happens the next four or five months and how we’ll handle it,” he said. “There’s a lot of unknowns out there. Will people want to walk to the orchards? Will we need to stagger people on trailers?”
Pritchett said there are already things done at his orchard to reduce the spread of germs.
“We’ve seen this trend coming. People are getting more cautious about germs. My oldest son is a dentist and he’s always been sort of a germ freak. He always told us what one of his science teachers told him -— ‘I’m not scared of anything I can see. It’s what I can’t see that scares me,”’ he said.
“Over the past five years, we’ve tried to take steps to make people feel more comfortable. We put hand sanitizer everywhere — in the apple house, out on our deck where we have picnic tables, at our U-pick shed and where we unload at our U-pick barn. We have three restrooms at the apple house and, last fall, we set up two sets of porta-johns. We put wash stations with those. We also put hand sanitizer and wipes at the toilets and have them cleaned every weekend, twice a weekend if it’s Apple Festival.”
Both Aaron and Futch noted that a new wave of the coronavirus could make for a very different fall apple season, a festive time that’s typically heavy on tourism and crowds flocking to local produce markets.
“If it comes back around like they’re saying it might, that’s a big concern. (Less business) hurts this time of the year, but it doesn’t hurt like it would then,” said Aaron.
Futch said both the University of Georgia and the state ag department have kept R&A apprised of CDC guidelines and other information regarding the pandemic.
“One of the things they sent out in the early part of March was that it’s not a food-borne illness,” he said. “The department of ag has checked on us regularly to see how we’re doing and if we’re able to get hand sanitizer, gloves and that kind of stuff. Both them and UGA have been more than helpful and they’ll also be beneficial in the fall with U-pick guidelines if this thing carries on till then. If it does, it’s going to make for a challenging time for a lot of people. I’m sure that’s weighing on everybody’s mind.”