The Pennsylvania Farm Bureau recently made the case for Gov. Tom Wolf to allow independent garden centers to reopen on a limited basis during the height of the spring planting season.
In an April 14 letter to the governor, the Farm Bureau urged the governor to consider allowing garden centers to adopt similar guidelines that restaurants are using to combat the spread of COVID-19.
“It is imperative that we provide a method for these businesses to offer some type of sales, while protecting customers,” wrote Rick Ebert, president of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau. “We believe curbside and parking lot services is a solution that garden centers are willing to adopt to conduct business while addressing public health and safety concerns.”
A number of agriculture businesses, including those with a retail component, have been considered “life-sustaining” and have adopted the appropriate social distancing and sanitation standards, the Farm Bureau noted. But garden centers are one of the few agriculture businesses that have not been allowed to open.
The continued business closures due to the coronavirus pandemic are threatening
the financial position of garden centers, particularly because garden centers conduct the majority of their sales in the spring leading up to Mother’s Day.
“Spring is the busiest time for these independent, family-owned businesses,” added Ebert. “Not allowing these garden centers to open is devastating for these businesses and for the farmers that supply them with garden plants.”