Lean times and uncertainty are a way of life for small family farmers. But, nothing could have prepared Phil Rhodes for COVID-19. His small family farm in Visalia, California, depends on local farmers’ markets as its primary source of business. “Country Rhodes Family Farm” has been a regular at the Beverly Hills Farmers’ Market for the past four years. When the market shut down on March 15 in response to the pandemic, and others across the state followed suit, Rhodes was lost.
“When the virus hit, I held up on planting a lot of stuff. I figured, why bother? Who knew how long this would last? Some things, such as sweet corn, I decided not to plant at all because of the unknown. I’m a little delayed now on some of my other crops. When my tomatoes started to come in recently and I didn’t have a market, I started to panic,” Rhodes told the Courier.
