LAKE LURE, N.C. – The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the state in more ways than we can count. The tourism industry has lost $10 billion and hundreds of businesses have closed statewide.

The pandemic is also having an effect on the state’s agricultural industry.

At Vandale Farms, Kathleen Crocker and her staff spend most of the day searching for the perfect cut. The farm specializes in selling quality meat directly to restaurants and chefs around the state. But the pandemic forced the farm to shift its focus.

”When COVID-19 hit all of our customers pretty much closed and everything stopped,” Crocker says. 

The farm started targeting other small farms in need of someone to process their meat. Restaurant closures caused the farm to lose customers, but a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture for COVID-19 relief has allowed the farm to expand in other ways.

New coolers and larger areas to prepare the meat are being built right now. It’s an expansion that will help ensure the farm’s future.

“Before the pandemic, I was only able to process three farmers. We are now able to hang beef and different species instead of just pork. We’re going to be doing a whole lot more processing for other farmers,” Crocker says.

Crocker says in addition to losing some of its wholesale customers, the price of feed for the farm’s pigs went up 17% since the pandemic started and there have also been major shipping delays in equipment the farm needs.