Trying to find local food this summer?

The local food scene in the Left Hand Valley is normally thriving in the summer. Things are more complicated this year.

In the past, farmers could depend on connecting directly with their customers face-to-face at Boulder County farmers markets, in addition to their own community supported agriculture (CSA) programs.

Kids in the 4-H program would spend months or even years raising livestock that they knew they would sell at the Boulder County Fair in early August.

Other local food producers worked successfully behind the scenes. Steele's Meat Company, for example, processed meat mostly for local area restaurants. In the Gunbarrel Tech Center, food manufacturer Claremont Foods provided contract manufacturing for a number of national and international energy bar brands.

Everyone is having to adjust due to the coronavirus pandemic. These four organizations have had to shift their operations and sales in different ways and multiple times over the past four months. In general, the outlook for the future is positive, although there have been serious struggles for some.

One of those who has seen struggles is Chris Steele, who lives in South Longmont and is a third-generation co-owner of Steele's Meat Company in Lafayette. Steele faced what became an immediately dire situation when coronavirus restrictions took effect in the spring.

Steele's Meat mainly does further processing of local meat and doesn't pack for retail. The business, which was founded in 1937, sells only to restaurants. Steele said, "We got hurt worse than those who do only supermarkets." There was no quick or easy way to pivot the business, so they were forced to shut down production temporarily.

With restaurants reopening in June, Steele said that business has started to come back a little bit. He added that on a national level, "We don't have a meat shortage. Our country has plenty of animals, it's a matter of getting them to the market."

The situation for Claremont Foods-the energy bar processor in Gunbarrel-was very different, and much rosier. Claremont founder and CEO Alex Cioth said, "Fortunately, we've had very minimal impacts to our folks and our operations during this time."

Attributing their continued ability to operate to both luck and "our aggressive approach in dealing with this" crisis, Cioth and his team were quick to implement further safety protocols. The business continued to see a robust, uninterrupted supply chain for shelf-stable ingredients like nut butters, protein, and flavorings.

Cioth and Steele both spoke about the size of the company having an impact on their ability to adjust. Claremont Foods has around 100 employees, and Cioth said, "Our size helped us be more nimble and react more quickly" than some of the larger companies that had to make huge changes to large factory infrastructure in order to continue production.

The greatest hurdle faced by both Boulder County Farmers Markets and the Boulder County Fair has been in finding new ways to connect local producers to consumers. Both organizations depend on large-scale events and markets where thousands of people come together, which is clearly not happening this year.

Brenda Kwang, the extension agent for 4-H Youth Development/Livestock & Animals at Boulder County, usually manages the junior livestock sale at the auction for the Boulder County Fair in early August.

Kwang said, "We don't have an end processor at this time to process these animals in bulk." That was due to a fire at the local meat processing plant, Innovative Foods, that the 4-H participants usually utilize for their fair sales-a cruel twist completely unrelated to the pandemic.

Kwang said, "We are not selling the actual animals this year, so COVID has caused those challenges with it." Instead, she said, "We're asking community supporters to sponsor a dollar amount to help our kids with the program."

Around 125 youth have multiple species of multiple animals that they were initially raising for the Fair, about the same number as any year. This year, however, some are scrambling to find buyers for their meat, while others will be putting the meat in their own freezers at home.

On a recent visit to the Longmont Farmers Market in early July, no meat producers were on site, due in part to the fire at Innovative Foods. However, the non-profit organization that runs most of the regional farmers markets, BCFM (or, Boulder County Farmers Markets) is slowly coming back to something closer to normal.

BCFM pivoted early in April to start providing a robust virtual market online platform to connect vendors to customers, and the organization has been operating in-person markets in Boulder, Longmont and elsewhere, with safety precautions and restrictions that are more stringent than those at area grocery stores.

According to Elyse Wood, the operations manager at BCFM, "We're seeing that people are finding a way to shop, it's just not through the normal avenue."

In all these cases, local food businesses and organizations are making do in unusual and challenging times. Steele pointed out that "People are going to eat, it's just a matter of where they are doing it-whether it's a restaurant or at home."

The connection between food and community is on everyone's mind. At BCFM, Wood said, "I think the farmers markets are a place where people come together as a community and it's really this experience of gathering together. It's been nice to still offer that during these times, even if it looks different."

Wood added, "It does bring a sense of normalcy to a time that isn't normal."