Name: Farmer loses thousands of pounds of produce due to COVID-19 crisis
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Farmer loses thousands of pounds of produce due to COVID-19 crisis

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You are the owner of this article.You have permission to edit this article.HOPEFULLY NOT WASTED: A section of Gualo'-ta Farms, managed by&nbsp;Kathrina Reyes, is shown in this photograph. Last September, Reyes expanded the plot in anticipation of a good year. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, has led to a shutdown, which means many people and businesses who used to buy from her canceled their orders. Photo courtesy of&nbsp;Kathrina ReyesGONE: A section of&nbsp;Gualo'-ta Farms, managed by&nbsp;Kathrina Reyes, is shown in this photograph. Last September, Reyes expanded in anticipation of a good year. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, has led to a shutdown, which means many people and businesses who used to buy from her canceled their orders. Photo courtesy of&nbsp;Kathrina ReyesBack to TopHOPEFULLY NOT WASTED: A section of Gualo'-ta Farms, managed by&nbsp;Kathrina Reyes, is shown in this photograph. Last September, Reyes expanded the plot in anticipation of a good year. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, has led to a shutdown, which means many people and businesses who used to buy from her canceled their orders. Photo courtesy of&nbsp;Kathrina ReyesGONE: A section of&nbsp;Gualo'-ta Farms, managed by&nbsp;Kathrina Reyes, is shown in this photograph. Last September, Reyes expanded in anticipation of a good year. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, has led to a shutdown, which means many people and businesses who used to buy from her canceled their orders. Photo courtesy of&nbsp;Kathrina ReyesWhen the governor's directive to maintain social distancing came into effect, many restaurants and hotels were forced to close, leaving farmers including Kathrina Reyes, who operates her family's farm, Gualo'-ta Farms, in a rough spot.With many of her orders canceled, Reyes said, there was nothing she could do but wait.Since the crisis began, the half-acre of land she had, filled with rows of cucumbers, has gone to waste.Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.Error! There was an error processing your request."I'm thinking I've lost about 7,000 pounds," she said. "It was heartbreaking, I wanted to cry."The amount of money she could have made was approximately $11,970, she said.Recently, she's tried to salvage what's left of her vegetables to go toward helping families in need of fresh produce."Whatever you can do with it ... I just don't want it to go to waste," Reyes told Guåhan Sustainable Culture, an organization working to connect farmers with families who need food.Reyes, who's also a member of the Farmers Cooperative Association of Guam, said she's called other farmers to assist in the donation of produce, however, most have scaled back on their farming.This year was supposed to be a good year, said Reyes, who started to expand her farm in September 2019 in anticipation of a good harvest.While she waits for the lockdown to be lifted and for business to recover, she believes it may take until the end of the year before she recovers what she's lost."We're just waiting," Reyes said, hoping for any financial relief available for farmers including her.It would be wonderful if the local government could assist the farmers, she said, "We're the island's food source ... we need to sustain our agriculture industry."Helping farmersMichelle Crisostomo, Guåhan Sustainable Culture president, reached out to the members of the Farmers Cooperative and other farmers, offering to buy their produce."A lot of them have said nobody was buying their produce, or weren't able to sell it at the price normally could," Crisostomo said.There were fields of produce that were going to waste, which started the initiative, "Supporting Farmers, Sustaining Families," she said.Crisostomo said her group has also worked with the Guam Department of Agriculture to get list of farmers outside of the cooperative, saying "It was actually a very extensive list."During the start of the COVID-19 crisis, most farmers weren't able to sell their produce or decided to stop farming altogether.The nonprofit group is actively seeking out these farmers who want to sell their produce — with the help of volunteers — while connecting them with people who want to buy produce.Recently, the nonprofit has worked with another nonprofit organization, Farm to Table Guam Corp., conducting a drive-thru farmers market at the Farmers Co-op in Dededo.Aside from the Co-op, the organization is also working with five other farmers, as well as the University of Guam Triton Farm, purchasing their extra produce for Friday's free produce drive in Barrigada.Crisostomo encourages farmers to continue to farm produce long after the COVID-19 crisis, boosting the island's agriculture, to conduct more food drives in the future.Poll results are published every Monday in The Guam Daily Post.You voted:BackThe Guam Hotel and Restaurant Association recently invited guests to kick off their weekend with the island's "first immersive exhibition" of art and music in celebration of a very special anniversary for the organization.Guam's Longhorn Steakhouse and its team were recognized by the restaurant's parent corporation and given an Excellence in Service and Operations award at the Longhorn Steakhouse conference held last week in Dallas, Texas, according to Richard Hart, franchise partner for Longhorn Steakhouse Guam.Stephen Gatewood is now the sales and customer service manager for Guam and Micronesia for Matson, the company announced in a news release.The Guam Daily Post team is pleased to announce our forum section will once again feature local voices covering local issues.WRITINGS ON THE WALLAccording to the classic broken windows theory, James Q. Wilson claimed if a home owner or car owner leaves a broken window unrepaired, more d…This Labor Day is a meaningful one as we celebrate many achievements in the past year, and we have each and every working individual and contr…

You are the owner of this article.You have permission to edit this article.HOPEFULLY NOT WASTED: A section of Gualo'-ta Farms, managed by&nbsp;Kathrina Reyes, is shown in this photograph. Last September, Reyes expanded the plot in anticipation of a good year. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, has led to a shutdown, which means many people and businesses who used to buy from her canceled their orders. Photo courtesy of&nbsp;Kathrina ReyesGONE: A section of&nbsp;Gualo'-ta Farms, managed by&nbsp;Kathrina Reyes, is shown in this photograph. Last September, Reyes expanded in anticipation of a good...

Farmer loses thousands of pounds of produce due to COVID-19 crisis

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