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its pasture-raised pork and poultry to upscale

restaurants, including ones started by famed

chef Rick Bayless, as well as to charcuterie shops.

Then, practically overnight, restaurants and

shops shut down, drying up the farm’s business.

The farm has been able to switch to retail

packaging and selling the pork and poultry

elsewhere but it’s been far from easy, coming

after endless hours of work by the family and

employees, said Greg Gunthorp. That involved

changing the labeling, adding bar codes, and

cutting and packaging portions rather than

selling in bulk.

“It’s been way, way too much work, way more

changes. We made more changes in the first

two weeks than we had planned to make in two

years,” he said.

Templeton Farm, a small grass-fed beef farm

in East Montpelier, Vermont, lost its biggest

business — two restaurant accounts —

when they had to shut down. But around the

same time, the phone starting ringing with

people seeking locally raised beef, said farmer

Bruce Chapell.

“Since then, our beef sales have been off the

charts,” he said.

PrairiErth Farm in Atlanta, Illinois, this season

doubled its consumer supported agriculture,

where customers pay up front for produce

throughout the season to 322 members, said

Katie Bishop, one of the farmers. And it has

about 75 on its waiting list, she said.

However, it’s unclear whether this new model

will be sustainable once the coronavirus

crisis passes.

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