October 2020 - 39

FARM MARKET & AGRITOURISM
How Pennsylvania outlets navigated COVID-19
By Claudia Schmidt
Penn State University
Many agritourism operators
throughout the U.S. report that Pick
Your Own (PYO) activities were
very successful this year. While the
strawberry season has come to an
end in Pennsylvania, PYO of apples,
pumpkins, and the big fall season are
still to come. With many summer and
fall activities being canceled, people
are looking for something safe to do,
and agritourism might just fit that bill.
Plenty of outdoor space on farms offers
a safe area for activities.
Agritourism in the Lehigh Valley
region of Pennsylvania is a very familiar
and welcoming aspect to the highly
populated area that is within convenient
driving distance of Philadelphia and
even New York City.
Being a " model " agritourism area
in the state, when it came time to
brainstorming plans to operate
agritourism businesses in the middle
of a pandemic, many Lehigh Valley
farms with PYO operations were eager
to take on the challenge to support
their families and employees, and also,
their customers. After the first round
of PYO strawberry and pea season
wrapped up, we were able to ask two
of the Valley's operations about their
experiences: Seiple Farms of Bath,
Pennsylvania, and Valley Fruits &
Veggies of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania,
both in Northampton County.
Seiple Farms
Seiple Farms has been a family
farm since 1889. The fourth and fifth
generations are currently farming
800 acres in the Lehigh Valley (Seiple
Farms 2020). The Seiple Farms family
has gained a lot of experience with
PYO since they started with one acre
of strawberries in 1982, expanding
to 5 acres today - adding peas to
the PYO activities along the way. In
addition, Seiple Farms also produces
pumpkins, Indian corn, hay, field corn
(with an on-site corn maze), soybeans
and Christmas trees. It is a popular
destination for fall activities. Andrea
Delong, one of the owners, shared with
us her impressions of agritourism in
this challenging environment.
Their biggest concern at the start of
the season was the " big unknown " -
the strawberries were on the field, but
would customers come? Also, rules and
guidelines by the CDC and PDA were
changing constantly, as they continue to
do. However, as Andrea shared, " Visitors
were very grateful that we offered
activities and were patient with all the
additional visitor safety requirements. "
Seiple Farms ensured that visitors felt
safe during picking by making sure that
they had plenty of signage, their staff
wore masks, and that hand sanitizers and
wash stations were available. Because of
Seiple Farms is a popular destination for fall activities. Photo: Seiple Farms
the high demand, hand-wash stations
were not available to rent, and they
had to build their own. To add to the
visitor experience, a food truck with
summertime treats (smoothies and snow
cones) was set up daily with picnic tables
nearby for families to sit and enjoy.
Wagon rides to the fields continued to
be available, but at limited capacity to
facilitate proper distancing. To reduce
handling, the farm provided containers
and did not allow customers to bring
their own. Customers were asked to
wear masks on the wagon ride and at
checkout; wearing masks in the field was
left to customers' discretion.
The farm found that customers
were very understanding and patient
throughout the season. According to
Andrea, their social media was a great
support: " Our customers knew what to
expect from our website and via social
media (Facebook), and signs explaining
everything. There were no surprises. "
Seiple Farms was able to employ the
same number of staff for the season,
but many were asked to work longer
hours during the days. Andrea outlined
that the challenges ahead in the fall will
center on wagons and hayrides. She is
anticipating that they will need to hire
additional staff to keep up with the social
distancing requirements for all activities.
Valley Fruits and Veggies
Valley Fruits and Veggies was
established in 2015, and is a family
owned 35-acre farm. The Colitas family
started their farming adventure with one
acre of strawberry plants and now grow
five. In addition, and new for 2020, they
are growing pumpkins and designing a
corn maze to add additional agritourism
activities for a planned Fall Festival Deb
Colitas shared with us her impressions of
agritourism during COVID-19.
Valley Fruits and Veggies recently ended
a very successful PYO strawberry season.
Strawberry shortcakes and milkshakes
were both a success with milkshake
sales doubling from last year's. Vendors
also reported record sales. In a nod to
the pandemic, a budding 12-year-old
entrepreneur, Kylee Ramaley, sold masks
made from strawberry fabric, which
were very popular with visitors.
According to Deb Colitas, their
most significant advantage was that
they already had a successful social
media strategy in place: " We have an
audience that is ready to act when we
call upon them. "
For Deb, making and creating
authentic relationships with people
on and off the farm is the key to
establishing a supportive customer
base. The Colitas family did not need to
purchase additional advertising to attract
visitors to the farm: " Our robust social
media network, which we built over
the last couple of years, really helped us
with retaining old and attracting new
customers. Social media helped our
customers to visualize what to expect
and we made sure that COVID-19 is
front and center on the website so that
customers know that we are prepared to
welcome them. "
Their biggest concern at the start
of the season was what would happen
if family or staff got sick. They took
very diligent precautions with masks,
hand sanitizers, and social distancing.
Deb noted that they were impressed
by the personal responsibility taken
by their customers, " People want to be
out - they want to be doing something
and by opening our doors, we gave our
customers this opportunity. "
A silver lining of the pandemic is
that many consumers now realize
how important agriculture is: " Our
phone has been ringing off the hook,
with customers calling if picking
is still going on. " Deb also sees the
importance of agritourism here; by
welcoming visitors to your farm, you
can show consumers how important it
is that farms can produce and deliver
to people - " education by farmers on
farms is the key here. "
Her advice to other farms that are
considering agritourism activities is:
" Connect with your audience and also
share stories of customers. Take all the
precautions and push forward to create an
authentic experience for your customers, "
after all " There is no better place to
socially distance like a corn maze. "
Knowing that they still need to get
through the fall, Deb is already starting
to advertise for fall activities and keeping
her customers updated on what to
expect - the making of the corn maze,
growing pumpkins, and Indian corn.
Planned activities include a scavenger
hunt, baked goods sales, and pumpkin
picking with wagon rides.
Penn State University's Christi (Graver)
Powell and Sarah Cornelisse also
contributed to this article. FGN
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FGN | OCTOBER 2020 | 27
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October 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of October 2020
