The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) will conduct surveys to better understand how measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 are impacting Florida agriculture and marine industries.
Faculty from the UF/IFAS Food and Resource Economics (FRE) department are deploying surveys to UF/IFAS Extension agents and industry professionals to capture this important information. Citrus growers and allied industries are among those who are encouraged to participate in the survey.
“We strongly encourage all businesses in the agriculture and marine sectors to complete the survey,” said Christa Court, director of the Economic Impact Analysis Program, who is leading the effort along with fellow FRE assistant professors John Lai and Andrew Ropicki. “Broad participation from operations throughout the state involved in agricultural production, processing and transportation, as well as marine industries, will result in the most accurate picture of how this crisis is affecting these parts of the state economy.”
UF/IFAS faculty are familiar with the challenge of conducting such broad surveys, which are typically deployed after weather-related events like hurricanes or freezes.
The Assessment of COVID-19 Impacts on Florida surveys include:
- Background information about the business (operations, revenues, employment and market channels)
- Current status (open or closed, business changes if open, or reasons for closure if closed)
- Impacts (change in revenues, employment, customer base, products/services offered)
- Willingness to participate in potential follow-up or similar surveys related to COVID-19 or other disasters.
The first round of surveys is scheduled to close May 15. Court said there will likely be follow-up surveys conducted as the COVID-19 situation continues to develop.
The survey for Agriculture/Aquaculture Production, Processing and Transportation can be accessed at tinyurl.com/uflsurvey-agaquaculture.
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