COVID-19 Impact on Activity for Smaller Agricultural Processing and Marketing Firms During May 17-23, 2020

This fact sheet analyzes responses to a U.S. Census Bureau survey of U.S. businesses to provide a snapshot of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on business activity. The analysis focuses on small agricultural processing and marketing firms. The small business pulse survey is being conducted for nonfarm, single-location employment businesses with at least one but less than 500 employers and with annual receipts of at least $1,000. The sampled businesses include all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. While the survey has been conducted on a weekly basis since April 26 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2020), the data analyzed here is from the most recently reported week, May 17-23, 2020. While the survey asked several questions, all reported values are for a single question: “Overall, how has this business been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic?” We also limit our discussion to sectors that process or market agricultural products in either the food (e.g., food manufacturers or grocery stores) or nonfood (e.g., textile mills or paper manufacturers) areas. For comparison, the impact across all surveyed businesses is reported, as well