During COVID-19, farmers can no longer hang out at the best source for gossip: the local grain elevator.
According to Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette, elevators such as Premier Co-op’s are limiting access to their lobbies to prevent spreading the coronavirus.
Grain elevator lobbies are often where farmers meet, sometimes almost every morning, to talk grain prices, drink coffee, snack on popcorn, discuss politics and gossip.
At the Tolono elevator, coffee and popcorn have been removed to eliminate possible spreading.
Jon Schroeder, a regular at the Sadorus elevator, said his phone battery is dying more quickly now that he’s switched to communicating with his buddies by phone instead of at the elevator.
And when he drops off grain, Schroeder said the process has been streamlined, with elevator staffers bringing the scale tickets to the drivers rather than the driver coming in the office.
Read the full report at Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette.
