COVID-19 and Farm Stands: Steps for Farm Stand Operators¹

Natalie Seymour, Mary Yavelak, Candice Christian, and Ben Chapman ²

BEST PRACTICES

Farmers and customers should not come to a farm stand if they are displaying symptoms of COVID-19, or have come in contact with someone who is sick. Anyone displaying symptoms should be asked to leave.
Farmers displaying symptoms, or living with someone displaying symptoms, should not harvest or sell food.
Cloth face coverings should be worn by employees while working.
Farm stands should provide handwashing and/or hand sanitizer at entrances and register/cash box. If someone is staffing the farm stand they should use hand sanitizer after every transaction.
Avoid taking in cartons or containers that can't be cleaned and disinfected.
If possible, pre-portion or prepackage items in bags or cartons before they are sold.
Eggs should be sold in single-use containers.

Communicate with customers through signs or social media asking them to stay home if displaying symptoms.
Provide hand sanitizer at the front of the stand and near the cash box. Use signs to remind people to use sanitizer before shopping, before paying and after leaving.
Ask customers to only touch items that they intend to purchase.
Cloth face coverings should be encouraged for customer use, based on local guidance.

Use non-porous plastic tables that can be easily disinfected if possible.
Think about touch points throughout the stand like baskets, tables, cash boxes, etc. Eliminate or disinfect as frequently as possible, at least at the end of the day.
CDC is recommending use of disinfectants on the EPA list found at go.ncsu.edu/epacovid-19.

Note: this list is based on current data, but compounds have not been validated for inactivation of the virus causing COVID-19.
Bleach may be used to disinfect surfaces, but the concentration is higher for COVID-19 than for everyday sanitation: 5 tablespoons bleach per gallon of water.

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