‘Be prepared for anything’ | How farmers have persevered through the coronavirus pandemic
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — On Locust Lane, members of the Penn State community will find the Downtown State College Farmer’s Market and the nearly 20 vendors selling a variety of products, from whoopee pies to pasta.
There you will also find Chris Harner, a 51-year-old farmer who is apart of Harner Farms. At this stand, customers will find fall staples — apples and apple cider.
After beginning to work with the farm in the 1970s doing “odds-and-ends jobs,” Harner said he fell in love with the aspect of farming through the sense of trust placed on one’s self.
“With farming, it’s the independence,” Harner said. “You know, being on your own, you know, you’re kind of a maker of your own destiny, and you know, you [have to] put the time in to get, you know, get everything out of it you can.”
Farming serves as a key component to the State College area. With the over 1,000 farms producing an average of $90,000 annual according to the 2017 Pennsylvania Agricultural Statistics, Harner is apart of one of Centre County’s most impactful industries from both a revenue and employment standpoint.
But throughout the coronavirus pandemic, many businesses have been affected negatively due to capacity limits indoors. Harner Farms, however, was able to still find success after Harner said there was a drastic increase in the number of people who came to pick apples themselves. This in turn lead to Harner’s overall workload decreasing, while the farm was still able to profit amid a tumultuous time period.
Chris Harner has worked at Harner Farms his entire life.
But with many businesses beginning to return to a state of normalcy, apple picking no longer is at it’s peak. Coupled with the current global labor shorted, the harvesting of crops has become a challenge for Harner and the farm.
The aforementioned apples found at the farmer’s market is one of the many crops to be harvested, with over 1,000 bushels of apples still needing to be picked. Losing out on these bushels will have a drastic impact on the farm’s profits.
The farm also typically puts the majority of its earnings back into the crops, so without the required labor to harvest the crops, the farm will ultimately see a massive setback in current and future earnings.
Regardless of the peaks and valleys the farm has seen throughout the pandemic, Harner continues to live by the simple mantra of being ready for anything.
“Just be prepared for anything,” Harner said. “You know, we’ve had good years, we’ve had really lousy years, so we try to prepare for everything, and, you know, this was certainly different than anything else we’ve had to prepare to.”
Through the farmer’s market, Harner is not only able to provide the State College community with the varying crops from the farm, but also develop a deep connection with the customers that pass through the stand.