While agriculture and food have been deemed essential industries by the Department of Homeland Security, agriculture-related activities and events that are not essential to the process of producing food and feed should be canceled or postponed to a later date.
“We understood there was some confusion regarding our prior guidance on ag activities and events that are non-essential,” Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring said. “Events such as livestock auction markets and ag auction sales are considered essential and can operate with certain precautions to mitigate risk. Events such as youth livestock sales, animal shows and other activities should either be canceled or moved to a date in the future and reassessed at that time.”
Goehring said that sales and events that are able to be done with web-based features and viewed online without in-person attendance could continue. “The people who are organizing the sale or event and need to be at the site in person should be limited to those that are essential and take all precautions to protect themselves and others,” he said.