COVID-19 Sales and Marketing Resources

Farmers market vendor wearing COVID-19 mask
Resources have been developed to help producers navigate online sales and marketing during the covid-19 pandemic.

Online Sales

Buckeye Valley Beef Cooperative compared the effectiveness of four advertising channels, including Google Ads, billboards, radio advertisements, and Facebook ads.

Their Story

More farmers/ranchers are pursuing online sales so they can comply with physical distancing requirements associated with COVID-19.

These resources have been developed to help producers navigate online sales and marketing.

Center for Rural Enterprise Engagement Logo

Center for Rural Enterprise Engagement Resources

  • Touchless Transactions: A series of tools to help people use online selling to increase opportunities for their business.
  • Lessons from COVID-19 Toolkit: a multi-region, multi-institution research and outreach project that assesses the impact of COVID-19 on food and agricultural systems to develop strategies for coping with future crises.

NSAC Logo with red and green barn icons with green lettering

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

As farmers and communities all across the country continue to deal with the impacts of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, NSAC is collecting resources from members, partners, and allies to help mitigate the challenges facing the food and farm system during this crisis.


Farm Commons Logo

Farm Commons COVID-19 Resources

Farm Commons has created a special series of podcasts addressing the legal issues associated with COVID-19’s effect on farm businesses, some of which focus on online sales and marketing. Access Farm Common’s COVID-19 resources here and enter "Covid" in the search box.


NYFC - Guide to Direct Sales Platforms

The Farmer’s Guide to Direct Sales Software Platforms

This publication from the National Young Farmer’s Coalition highlights product options and sales models that farmers may find helpful. The selected products are farm-specific sales platforms that support single-farm, direct sales. Generic e-commerce platforms, platforms that sell farm products to consumers, and farm aggregators or food hubs are not included.


MOSES Audio Recording

Attract Local Customers Online Audio Recording

To help farmers impacted by market closures due to COVID-19, the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service shared a free audio recording of Janelle Maiocco’s 2020 MOSES Conference workshop, “Attract Local Customers Online.” 


NCAT COVID Video Image

COVID-19 Video Series by NCAT Agriculture Specialists

To help you understand the pandemic and how it affects your farming operation, ATTRA has gathered some resources that can help. Also, NCAT Agriculture Specialists are currently producing a series of new videos, sharing what they are doing on their farms and homesteads right now. In this video, Colin Mitchell discusses how his local farmers market in San Antonio, Texas, has adapted to a drive-thru farmers market format to provide local, sustainable food to the public under a shelter in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. He then takes you on a ride-along while he picks up his order from the Pearl Farmers Market Curbside service.


USDA Logo with icons of green hills and blue lettering

USDA Coronavirus Food Assistance Program

USDA’s relief program (also known as CFAP) aims to provide critical support to farmers and ranchers, maintain the integrity of our food supply chain, and ensure every American continues to receive and have access to the food they need.


Local Line - The Direct Market Farmers Guide to COVID-19

The Direct Market Farmers Guide to COVID-19

Amidst the pandemic outbreak, people are taking care to avoid grocery stores, farmers’ markets, and other public places. Local Line created this guide to help your business survive in a time of the outbreak, prepare to reduce the impact of quarantine, and avert losses.


COVID-19 Resources in Your State

As organizations and programs work to assist farmers with online sales, NCR-SARE has been working with regional SARE State Coordinators to provide quick supplemental funding to an organization/person in each state to do programming that enables farmers/ranchers to set up online marketing. Scroll down to the bottom of this page to see these resources. NCR-SARE will post those COVID-19 state resources as they become available as well as other useful online resources for producers.

Illinois

Decision Tools, Webinars, and Resources
Hosted by: The Land Connection

  • Through these resources, The Land Connection helps de-mystify online sales platforms for farmers.

Indiana

Webinar Series: Farmer-to-Farmer
Hosted by Hoosier Young Farmers Coalition

  • In this webinar series, farmers share big-picture information about what's working for their farms as they adapt to online sales.

Kansas

Kansas Rural Center COVID Resources
Hosted by: Kansas Rural Center

  • Hosted a webinar and posted web resources for direct to consumer produce marketing in Kansas.

Michigan

Technical Assistance and Resources
Hosted by: Taste the Local Difference

  • Taste the Local Difference provided support to farms and farmers markets with online store setup and maintenance. Will produce free resources to help farmers decide which online sales tools to use.

Minnesota

One-on-one coaching
Hosted by Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture

  • Minnesota experts offered free one-on-one coaching for up to 50 farmers interested in taking online orders for their products.

Missouri

“Choosing an Online Platform & Selling Online: Four Missouri Farmers Share Their Success Stories” 
Hosted by: The Web City Farmers Market

  • The Webb City Farmers Market provided Missouri farmers interested in online stores with practical and accessible information:
  • Summary handout (PDF)

North Dakota

Marketing for Farms and Food Businesses: Getting Local Food to Local People
Hosted by: FARRMS

  • FARRMS offered free one-on-one assistance for digital marketing, and webinars where you can learn the kinds of online marketing that have and haven't worked for other North Dakota growers.

Ohio

COVID-19 Talks about Agriculture
Hosted by: OSU South Centers

- The Ohio State University created a COVID-19 Hub to share the world-class research and knowledge from The Ohio State University directly with Ohioans, including some online marketing webinars for producers. Webinars Include:

Wisconsin

Farmer to Farmer eCommerce Platforms Report

Hosted by FairShare CSA Coalition

  • FairShare CSA Coalition produced a report that synthesizes input from 170 respondents on 23 different eCommerce platforms and highlights the nine most popular platforms used by the participating farmers.