How have we kept our farm shop COVID-secure?
Running the pop-up shop has been a steep learning curve for us, but immensely rewarding as well. I think all farmers should do them! It’s such a good way to get local food to local people and the response to ours has been phenomenal. You do need to make sure you have plenty of staff or family members available to regulate the public coming in, and keep an eye on social distancing, but by opening your farm you get an amazing opportunity to interact directly with your customers. Make sure your ‘bouncer’ is chatty and friendly – this might be the first time you interact with a particular person, so make it count. Tell them all about your farm and your family, how you look after the animals and what makes your farm the best around.
We have plenty of space for the public to queue safely and we mark out two metre distances with traffic cones and hazard tape, which seems to do the trick. We’ve not used floor markings as much of our produce is displayed outside under marquees, but it might be worth thinking about doing something like that if your collection area is going to be indoors. We’ve also used a bit of farming humour; our posters say “keep 1 cow length apart” which a) gives people something tangible to use as a guide for social distancing and b) usually gets a few smiles on the day. We’re also fortunate that we can operate a one-way system on site for cars which does make managing the traffic much easier – it’s definitely worth thinking about how vehicles will move around your site safely on the day.
We’re changing our turkey processing operation this year…
I like to think of problems like COVID-19 as catalysts for change. Normally we employ seasonal labour to help with the butchering and processing of the turkeys, but I am concerned about the impact on my business if for any reason they are not able to come onto the farm this year. It’s actually given us the motivation to invest in equipment for wax plucking – something we’ve been thinking about for ages. Not only is it an investment that will allow us to expand our business in the future, but if the worst happens and we’re under-staffed this year the new kit should mean we’re able to scrape by with friends and family mucking in to help.
We’ve also changed our planned set-up to comply with the government’s social distancing guidelines. For plucking we’ve reconfigured our layout in a larger shed to give everyone much more space – mapping out the area is a really useful exercise to get your head around how it needs to work. Normally we carry out butchering in our old milking parlour but this is a cramped space at the best of times so we’ve sought permission from our local Environmental Health Officer to allow us to butcher in marquees inside one of our larger sheds. It’s vital that any changes made still provide for excellent food safety.
We’ve implemented a ‘production line’ for our processing this year to limit the movement of people; this should allow us to maintain social distancing. Our staff will be wearing masks and we’re also looking into portable pull-up clear plastic screens to put between people as extra protection. Normally our seasonal staff come from two families, so we will be keeping the family groups together in cohorts as much as possible.
We’ll be doing a ‘drive-thru’ collection to keep the public and our staff safe
Normally we make the collection experience as festive as possible, with minced pies and mulled wine, which provides an opportunity to chat to our customers and sell a few sundry Christmas items as well. With coronavirus it’s going to look a bit different this year; we’re aiming to do a drive-thru style service.
We are fortunate that our farm lends itself to having a one-way system for traffic so we can direct the public through the site safely. Before collection day we individually allocate each bird to a customer and label the box with a number so we can match everyone up on collection day. The plan is for drivers to check-in with a member of staff on arrival – they’ll then contact the butchery with the customer’s bird number. The customer will then drive up to the butchery, park up and open their boot or door, and another member of staff will place their bird in the car for them. All of our payment is taken via our website and in advance, so it should be completely contactless! We’ll probably look at doing some local deliveries if any of our customers are self-isolating or shielding – with payment all taken in advance we can just leave their order on the doorstep for them.
I’m going to miss doing the festive bit and the opportunity to interact fully with my customers, many of whom come back every year, but I’m determined that they still have a safe, friendly and festive experience on our farm. Hopefully next year they’ll be back and we can greet each other over a mulled wine once more.
You may also be interested in:
- COVID-19: Travel quarantine exemption granted for seasonal poultry workers
- Coronavirus guidance for seasonal turkey producers
- Turkey producers – are you listed on our Turkey Finder?
- NFU Turkey Shop: Order your merchandise now
- Avian Influenza: What to do if you are in a Restricted, Protection or Surveillance Zone
- Read the latest news and advice on the NFU’s avian influenza pages
- Download the NFU’s guide to avian influenza here
- The NFU’s latest Poultry Highlights newsletter
