Our farmers are out in their fields planting summer crops and picking spring ones like strawberries and blueberries. Some are getting ready to pick peaches while others are busy every day with livestock or poultry.

Thanks to farmers, the food supply remains plentiful. We should support their hard work in buying our food.

Fresh produce is safe. There is no evidence that covid-19 can be transmitted via food but we should follow basic precautions like washing our hands after grocery shopping, washing produce before eating it, and disposing of packaging handled by others.

When you buy food from local farmers, you keep more money in the local economy, supporting your neighbors.

I realize shopping isn’t a leisure activity but we’ve worked to make it easy to recognize the Certified South Carolina logo.

You will find a list of direct-to-consumer food shopping and delivery options at agriculture.sc.gov/coronavirus/local

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