Farmer Trust Remains High During COVID-19 Pandemic

A new national poll shows consumer trust in farmers remains high amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Charleston Orwig recently partnered with MenuMattters to conduct the poll of more than 1,100 consumers to gauge consumer thoughts on the grocery retail sector. More than half of consumers surveyed still trust farmers a great deal or completely, and overall trust in farmers is 87%.

Meanwhile, nearly half of all consumers are concerned about the U.S. food supply chain, likely driven by broad shortages during the height of the crisis and media coverage on the possibility of meat shortages. Nearly 75% of consumers are concerned about catching coronavirus when grocery shopping, and the level of concern is consistent across all consumer groups surveyed. Just under two-thirds find grocery shopping frustrating to some degree, with women and older Millennials most likely to be very or extremely frustrated by the experience.

Also, most consumers are concerned about the health safety of food industry workers-from agriculture through retail. And just over 23% are extremely concerned.

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