Deborah Prescott | Daily Press Guindon Farms in Cornell is shown. Local meat packaging plant Rainbow Packing processes all animals from Guindon Farms for their customers.

ESCANABA — Farmers are facing the approaching growing season with uncertainty., What to plant? Will there be a market? What will markets look like?

At Immerfrost Farm in Stephenson, both garden plants and produce are raised. Normally this time of year, Immerfrost sells garden plants to customers who stop at the farm and at the M&M Farmers’ Market in Menominee. This year, due to COVID-19, the farmer’s market remains closed. To keep within social distancing guidelines, owner Glenn Cody offers the plants on Immerfrost’s website for purchase. Customers pay for the plants online and pick them up from a table Cody placed near the road.

“It will be a few weeks before we have any fresh produce, and unless the situation improves dramatically, we will probably conduct these sales in the same manner,” said Cody.

He has planted a little less this year than usual and is hoping things will be back to normal by the time of peak production and harvest in mid-August.

“If we are allowed to sell our products at the farmer’s market, we will of course follow whatever guidelines the state issues regarding social distancing and masks to the letter,” said Cody.

Tracy DeBacker, owner of DeBacker Family Dairy in Dagget, said she is fortunate because she belongs to a co-op that is not forcing farmers to dump any milk. Other co-ops may include 10% of farmers who “dump,” causing 90% of the farmers in the co-op to pay for the 10% dump.

“Milk is being sold at a lower price, and farmers are not getting their price for milk,” said DeBacker. “it’s really impacting finances right now.”

According to DeBacker, farmers are not planting now.

“Farmers aren’t even putting crops in. The market is so unknown,” she said. “Farmers are in a really tough situation right now. Five years of not breaking even … we pray to keep our farms tomorrow.”

DeBacker sells other items, including meat she sends to Rainbow Packing.

Rainbow Packing is the only United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) federal inspected harvesting and processing facility in the Upper Peninsula, located at 3532 18th Rd., Escanaba. For an animal to become USDA approved, Rainbow Packing receives the animal for inspection and a USDA meat inspector either finds the animal as a wholesome food product and stamps it with the USDA Inspected/Passed mark of inspection, or not for sale and only for the owners use.

Guindon Farms, located in Cornell, also use Rainbow Packing and have a direct marketing farm to supply their customers, Elmer’s County Market and the Marquette Food Co-op. Owner Barb Guindon said residents have no reason to panic buy meat.

“The supply of live animals ready for slaughter has not been interrupted, but the ability to process them has,” noted Guindon. “The big processing plants need to put in better safety measures, test all their employees to find hot spots, contact trace and monitored employee health if they want to be able to operate without interruptions.”

Guidon is concerned about stabilizing the ability to process meat or the price farmers get will drop due to too many animals on the market.

“That will depend on what happens in the upcoming months. Here, locally, most farmers are not looking to sell their cattle until fall, so time will tell,” said Guindon.