The  experience of Vermont local food businesses during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic

Claire Whitehouse; David Conner; Lisa Chase; Travis Reynolds

doi:10.5304/jafscd.2023.122.003

The experience of Vermont local food businesses during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic

Authors

Claire Whitehouse University of Vermont https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4655-3917
David Conner University of Vermont https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5529-0485
Lisa Chase University of Vermont Extension
Travis W. Reynolds University of Vermont https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1323-4960

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2023.122.003

Keywords:

COVID-19, Pandemic, Vermont, Foodservice, Restaurants, Farms, Direct Sales, Local Food, Resilience, Emergency Funding

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic tested the resilience of food system actors at all levels and across all geographies. This study focuses on the experience of Vermont local food businesses by combining two surveys conducted in the first half of 2021: one of foodservice operations that procure food locally and one of Vermont farms that sell directly to consumers. We analyzed descriptive statistics, open responses, and conducted Kruskal-Wallis rank sum tests to assess which factors were related to businesses’ financial statuses before and since the pandemic. Pre-pandemic financial status was related with business type, whether the business went on to receive emergency funds, and financial status since the pandemic. The only significant factor for financial status since the pandemic was prepandemic financial status. We close with recommendations for policy and future research.

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Author Biographies

Claire Whitehouse, University of Vermont

Graduate Research Assistant, Food Systems Program, University of Vermont.

Claire Whitehouse is now a research specialist at the Center for Rural Studies at the University of Vermont.

David Conner, University of Vermont

Professor, Department of Community Development and Applied Economics

Lisa Chase, University of Vermont Extension

Extension Professor, University of Vermont Extension, Vermont Tourism Research Center

Travis W. Reynolds, University of Vermont

Associate Professor, Department of Community Development and Applied Economics

On the cover of the winter 2022-2023 issue, University of Wyoming students sharing food from the Bim Kendall House Food Share Cabinet. Photo by Kellyn Chandler.

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Published

2023-02-13

How to Cite

Whitehouse, C., Conner, D., Chase, L., & Reynolds, T. (2023). The experience of Vermont local food businesses during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 12(2), 201–214. https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2023.122.003

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Issue

Vol. 12 No. 2 (2023): Winter 2022-2023: Justice and Equity Approaches to College and University Student Food (In)Security

Section

Open Call Paper

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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