Source: Debbie Roos, NCSU COOPERATIVE EXTENSION, 3/23/20

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended our world in a very short time frame. It’s been a stressful and sometimes confusing time for everyone as we adapt to functioning in this new reality. No matter the disruption in our lives, we still need to eat, and farmers have been working overtime in the past couple of weeks to continue to provide food in these challenging times. One local farmer told me she had received about 1,000 messages last week through phone, email, text, and social media from folks wanting to order or join the farm’s community-supported agriculture (CSA) program.

Farmers and farmers’ markets are working hard to implement social distancing and good hygiene practices to minimize risk to customers and vendors. One way to reduce contact is to have customers pre-order items and pay in advance so that they can pick up their purchases quickly, often without even getting out of the car!

Farmers Alex and Betsy Hitt of Peregrine Farm have sold at the Carrboro Farmers’ Market for 34 years. The Carrboro Farmers’ Market has remained open with rigorous protective measures in place, and every week they assess the situation and determine if there is anything else they can do. Last week Alex set up an online store to accept pre-orders and the orders started coming in right away. When customers pre-order, they don’t have to wait in line and they don’t have to exchange money because their order is already bagged and paid for. This reduces risk and also ensures that the customers get what they want. Another bonus: once Alex set up his online store he started getting emails from brand new customers wanting to order online!

After talking with Alex I thought some folks might appreciate some help creating an online store so I decided to offer a webinar on how to set it up. So…

The North Carolina Cooperative Extension, Chatham County Center will offer a webinar on How to Create a Free Online Store for Your Farm. Agriculture Extension Agent Debbie Roos will walk participants step-by-step through the process of setting up a basic, free online store through Square that will allow folks to accept pre-orders and payments for items to be picked up at the farm, farmers’ market, or other location.

Update March 24: We had over 200 people register in just the first 18 hours so I added two more dates!

As long as you have Internet access you won’t even have to leave home to attend this training. There are four dates and times to choose from, so please click on the date that works best for you to register:
• Wednesday, March 25, 2020, from 7–9 p.m.
• Thursday, March 26, 2020, from 10 a.m.–noon
• Monday, March 30, 2020, from 10 a.m.-noon
• Tuesday March 31, 2020, from 7:00-9:00 p.m.

I don’t think it will take the full two hours but this is a new class and it also depends on questions from participants.

These webinars are free but pre-registration is required.

If you are interested in attending but not able to make either of these dates please email me (debbie_roos@ncsu.edu) to let me know which days/times work best for you.