Working to Bridge the COVID-19 Gap for Growers
April 29, 2020 American Fruit Grower® magazine’s parent company, Meister Media Worldwide, has published thousands of magazine issues since 1932, covering dozens of brands. What separates the upcoming May 2020 edition from every one of those other issues is that it is the first to be pieced together entirely by employees who did their jobs from their homes rather than a corporate office; the first such issue but, from the look of things as of this writing, not the last. Welcome to the age of COVID-19.
Somewhat surprisingly, production went smoothly. Even if it hadn’t, I wouldn’t bore you with the inside-baseball details. What is worth noting is that covering COVID-19 in a monthly print magazine, with its inherent two-week delay before hitting the streets, is rife with nuance. The landscape changes by the day, if not the hour.
Our website, of course, is much more conducive to covering such a rapidly evolving topic, and we encourage you to visit GrowingProduce.com to learn how this pandemic affects the fruit-growing industry on a daily basis.
But the point here is that our company’s primary responsibility as a conduit between readers and suppliers, be it in print or digital, remains the same, corona or no corona. On March 24, with all Meister employees dialed in to Skype from their basements and dens, Chairman and CEO Gary Fitzgerald reminded us that, while providing news and critical information about production and markets, we have an important mission during these trying and unprecedented times: “How can we best help our commercial friends to stay in touch with their customers?”
Those customers are pretty important to us. They are you — our readers. The commercial friends are your suppliers, who are vital to this magazine in their own right. And for the foreseeable future, we all share the same plight: We’re stuck.
Coronavirus has blown up every bridge and blocked every channel to traditional face-to-face communication. There’s not a significant ag event in sight. Our calendars are as white as the most in-demand product of 2020 — toilet paper.
Sans industry shows, our role as a trade media brand heightens. And no pandemic is going to stop us from keeping you connected and informed and from running your business efficiently. That’s always been our aim; it’s just more imperative now.
So, how can we help? How can we guarantee that the flow of information about the products and services you need, despite this horrible virus, despite the odds, remains as smooth as the production of this issue wound up being?
A few suppliers have already answered that question, and, not surprisingly, their approaches to “staying in touch” are inspiring.
From Alexandre Goullier, CEO, Timac Agro USA: “With social distancing measures in place, we keep reaching out to our customers. Listening, acknowledging their challenges through this crisis, and remaining available to help them any way we can. The best we can do right now is to show we are here for them and to be ready to advise and to provide products for their crop’s nutritional needs at the right time.”
And from Becky Worley, Marketing Coordinator, Nachurs: “Agriculture is an essential industry that needs to continue regardless of ‘stay at home’ orders that are being established by governors across our great country. We literally feed America, and no matter what obstacles get in our way, we find the resolve to not only continue but thrive. … Agriculture isn’t just an industry; it is a way of life, and we will continue to go on and personify the American spirit. So, be smart, wash your hands, take necessary precautions to stay safe, and continue to be the heroes you are, day in and day out.”
We couldn’t agree more here at American Fruit Grower and Western Fruit Grower. Information and connections are our way of life, and we will continue to give you our best, only (for the time being) from our basements instead of the office.
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