HARRISBURG, Pa. — Some farmers in Pennsylvania saw their business boom during the pandemic.
"More people started buying from us, right off the farm and it was really nice to get new beef customers and have people buy directly from the farmer," said Sandy Haley, the owner of Cherry Valley farm.
"I do see a lot of the community coming together to help the farmers and help the kids. They’re starting to buy a lot of local meat," said Kenianne Rarick, who manages a Commercial Calf Operation.
Sandy says they did face some issues when some of the bigger butchers were shut down due to sick employees.
"Our smaller butchers that we typically use were backlogged quite a bit, so getting butcher dates for our fat steers has become and is still now very, very difficult," said Haley,
Events being canceled had a big impact on Kenniane's business.
"Fairs being canceled, farm show being canceled, it really impacted the way they can generate money," said Rarick.
They say they feel grateful to be back at the farm show.
"It’s been great to come back to the farm show this year, it’s really not the year without the farm show," said Haley.
"This is a way we can promote agriculture, this is the way you can talk to the public walking through that don’t really know, that don’t really understand and this is the way you can promote the agriculture. Agriculture is the number one business in the state of Pennsylvania, so it's got to be supported," said Rarick.