Agricultural operations are part of the national food production and distribution system and deemed critical to the United States infrastructure. Because livestock operations are on-going and crop, along with fruit and vegetable, operations will be ramping up activities in the next few weeks, it is vital to find ways to help reduce your farming operations exposure to COVID-19, the infectious disease caused by novel coronavirus. The following considerations are ways to reduce the risk of spreading the virus while protecting your farming operation during this critical spring season.
Employee management
Your family and your employees are critical to you and the success of your operation. Therefore, it is imperative that everyone monitor their own health. Isolating yourself if you become sick is only the first step at reducing risk of transmission in your operation. Make plans to reduce the impact on employees missing work so that they make responsible health decisions. This can be done by reviewing your employee sick day or absentee policies and communicating any changes or adjustments made for this situation.
- Practice social distancing.
- Set up additional hand washing stations in areas that make sense for your operation.
- Provide methods to disinfect equipment and supplies, especially those that are shared between employees.
- Focus on becoming a better communicator or trainer from a distance. Use cell phones, written instructions, etc. to outline instructions that can help get the job done right with less human to human contact.
Considerations for farm operation management
- Bring in feed, seed and fertilizer as soon as you can safely store or apply it. As long as the supply chain transportation system keeps working, long-term supply issues are not expected for production agriculture inputs.
- Limit your exposure to other people. Work with your agribusinesses to schedule pickup and drop-off of rental equipment by phone.
- Inquire with suppliers about what can be done to protect both their employees and your operation. Curbside pick-up of parts or delivery to a specific location on your farm may be reasonable options.
- Complete frequent sterilization of surfaces that are regularly used by more than one person.
- Utilize standard operating proceeds (SOPs) for your operation so that if you happen to become sick, work can continue as needed. If family members or an employee are responsible for specific tasks, have each person write down their activities along with any timeline necessary for payments, reporting, purchasing, etc.
- If you provide employee housing, it is important that you and your staff have a contingency plan in place for alternative housing or cleaning and disinfection processes so that your operation can continue on a normal schedule.
While you can’t completely eliminate the risk of becoming ill from viruses, these steps will help lower the risk to you and your employees. Many of the principles of biosecurity and food safety are also relevant to reduce the spread of human born illnesses.
During these unprecedented times, people may experience mental clutter during their everyday activities. Safety is critical and should be prioritized on every operation. Allowing people time to express their thoughts or process current events is important so they can complete their task safely and without distraction.
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