For many market gardeners, after a period of preparation, they have entered (or are just entering) into the thick of the processes for dealing with their customers in a COVID-19 environment, whether at the farm, in the market, or otherwise.
For the greenhouse ornamental producers and garden centre operations, they are wrapping up a fast and furious main season, complete with rapid implementation of new or alternative practices and a sudden transformation of their operations.
For the rest of us, adjustments and changes are still ongoing, but that is a part of life (and not necessarily the focus of this article).
At the end of this first season, the key questions that will have to be resolved are, “Which of those changes and adjustments will we keep?” and, “Which are no longer required? (a.k.a. what things will we drop?)”.
These are critical questions that will not (cannot) be answered in a moment. They will need careful consideration and pondering. This is something that will be more than just taking a quick success/failure inventory at the end of the season. It is going to take focused dissection and evaluation.
There are two sides to this discussion. Requirement versus Choice.
Requirements
On one side, part of the challenge is that COVID-19, along with and its related transformative fallout, rules, regulations, and precautions, is not over yet. It is extremely difficult (perhaps impossible) to predict when it will be “over”. I suspect that many of the “new” processes and procedures that were temporarily implemented as part of the emergency regulatory response will continue to be required for some time to come, both due to the evolving nature of the pandemic and due to deep-seated public safety concerns.
Some of the things that you have implemented will continue to be mandatory, even as the country and economy “re-opens” gradually. Continued observation of these practices will be necessary if you want to continue to operate. The timeframe for this is undetermined, so, in part, the decision has already been made for you, at least for now.
Choice
On the flipside, you have choice. As mandatory practices are lifted, and regulations are loosened, you will have some choice of what to keep. While COVID-19 has been life- and world-changing for everyone, not everything that has come out of it is bad. I would bet that most operations now have a better understanding of their operational flows, strengths, and weaknesses, than ever before. You know what your operation can comfortably handle in terms of people. You know how to utilize staff most effectively. You have bolstered and enhanced food handling and public health safety measures. You assessed and perhaps redesigned your marketplace set up, customer flow patterns, and payment and inventory management systems.
In some cases, you have designed and launched an entire online storefront, including ordering and delivery mechanism for your business. You have implemented (and tweaked and improved) curbside product pick up processes. If you had something like this before, I am sure that you found ways to improve it, as well as scale it up and flesh it out.
If tomorrow, you woke up and everything was essentially back to “normal”, would you scrap everything that you had done and go back to what you had before? I imagine that some of the improvements that you made were on your deep wish list, that were being saved for that magical time of “when I just have the time to do it…”, which, of course, almost never arrives.
One additional positive point that has come from “all of this” (yes, quote use is perhaps strange, but so it our situation) is the resurgence and reconnection of consumers with their local suppliers, growers, and markets. The distance to local has shortened dramatically, at least on the horticultural front. From the reports I have had, people really jumped at connecting with their local producers. I hope that this is the case in all product categories. I also hope that it lasts.
What are you going to keep? Will you keep the floor arrows and specific flow requirements? Cleaning and product handling protocols? Curbside pickup and online elements? Your virtual education and connection methods? There are so many things to consider.
As I said, it cannot be done in a few minutes. Give it proper care and consideration. Take 10 minutes (or more) to generate a list of things that you changed due to COVID-19. Then rate the Pros and Cons of each one. Then keep what makes sense to you.