LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Only eight souls live on the square-mile section where Jeff Hatfield farms south of Wichita: him, his wife, daughter, son-in-law, three grandchildren and a neighbor.
The coronavirus pandemic still managed to find him.
Not, thankfully, in the form of sickness. For him, the virus’s toll is the damage to his business.
“It’s hurt it tremendously,” he told The Kansas City Star on a recent morning phone call while driving a tractor back from feeding his 120 head of cattle on the farm near Belle Plaine.
Beef prices are down. Grain prices, too.
“Agriculture definitely hasn’t been spared anything from our economy being down,” Hatfield said. “It’s been hit quite drastically.”
In the early weeks of the outbreak, it appeared as if rural areas might ride out the pandemic relatively unscathed. Officially, many of the state’s rural counties still show no or very few cases.
But the growing realization is that not even the farmers, ranchers and other agricultural producers who feed America will escape the economic trauma sweeping the country. Still, they’re hopeful the critical nature of food production will help them through the worst of it.
Nearly 50 of Kansas’s 105 counties still have no confirmed cases more than a month after the state’s first case. These counties are largely rural and dominated by agriculture.
Interviews with more than a dozen Kansas farmers, ranchers, health officials and community leaders show how for many in the state’s rural areas, work continues unabated even as urban areas hunker down. While those living in rural Kansas say they’re taking precautions to limit the spread of the deadly virus, the essential work of agriculture must go on despite the risk.
In food processing, the risks for workers are especially acute. An outbreak in a packed plant could cause painful disruptions and stretch an already-strained rural health care system.
Thousands of people continue to process cattle everyday at the Tyson Foods plant at Holcomb near Garden City. An outbreak would represent a nightmare scenario – rapidly spreading the contagion while disrupting a plant that processes about 5% of all American beef on any given day. The company operates other plants in Kansas and Missouri as well.
Joe Gonzales, president of the local chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, knows several people who work at the plant.
“They’re worried that some people might have it and aren’t saying nothing or they don’t have a temperature – you never know,” he said.
Tyson spokeswoman Liz Croston declined to say whether anyone at the Holcomb plant has tested positive. Workers at all facilities – including Holcomb – have their temperature taken before they enter plants, she said.
The company is working to secure face coverings and plants have increased the distance between workers, she said. Additionally, the time between shifts has been lengthened to reduce worker interaction and outdoor seating has been provided to give employees more space during breaks.
“If there is a confirmed case at one of our locations, as part of our protocol and in collaboration with health officials, we notify anyone who has been in close contact with the person and instruct them to go home and self-quarantine,” Croston said in an email. “We also inform team members who have not been exposed and provide information to our supervisors so they can help answer questions.”
