It cost Washington potato farmers $2,532 per month and potato packers $4,340 per month to supply and manage COVID-19 precautions, a Washington State University survey found.
Farmers spent 17 hours per month and packers spent 49 hours per month managing COVID safety protocols, according to the survey, which was done by the university’s IMPACT Center.
There were 43 grower responses, a 20% response rate. Packers-shippers provided 15 responses, a 28% response rate.
The average farm in the survey had 1,889 acres in potatoes. The largest farm was 8,000 acres, and the smallest was 175 acres.
The survey was conducted Oct. 26-Dec. 8. The average respondent reported total COVID costs of $24,116.
The Washington Potato Commission wanted to use information from the survey to convey to legislators that farmers were taking COVID-19 seriously and to tally the costs associated with keeping employees safe, commission director of government affairs Matt Harris told the Capital Press.
According to the survey:
• Seventeen farmers said they experienced delays in planting or harvest due to worker absences or shortages, while 18 had not. About 290 working days were lost with a financial loss of $920,000 due to the delays.
• Fourteen farmers said they experienced efficiency losses in potato grading due to social distancing. The survey says those farmers averaged a $16,000 loss, for a total loss estimate of $176,000.
• Ten packers had an average delay of 13 working days due to worker absences or shortages, with an average loss of $162,560.
• Four packers said they experienced efficiency losses. Each had an average loss of $43,750, for a total of $175,000.
• Growers averaged 25 temperature checks per day, and estimated four hours of routine sanitizing and five additional hours of sanitizing.
• Twenty growers spent an average of $22,443 purchasing new permanent equipment or structures, such as hand washing stations or hand sanitizing stands, for a total cost of $448,850.
• Twenty growers spent an average of $5,005 purchasing disposable equipment, such as masks, other personal protective equipment, thermometers or hand sanitizer, for a total cost of $160,150.
The costs of keeping employees and the food supply safe can’t be recouped, Harris said.
“We can’t demand more money for our produce because historically farms and farmers are price takers,” he said. “As these costs are incurred, prices for all food will start to rise. You just can’t keep producing food for a loss. Will banks lend if you’re always losing money? Probably not.”
Whether those costs continue or increase depends on the availability of supplies, Harris said.
Even with COVID-19 vaccines rolling out to farmworkers, safety protocols will continue, but may be managed differently, Harris said.
April 07, 2021 at 10:30PM
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Washington potato industry tallies cost of COVID-19 precautions - Capital Press
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