Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Demand greater than supply! COVID-19 crisis causes boom in local agriculture sector

Demand greater than supply! COVID-19 crisis causes boom in local agriculture sector

While most other local industries are being crippled by the ongoing coronavirus crisis, agriculture in the British Virgin Islands is experiencing a boom.

This upsurge in the sector has, however, caused a demand for local food that is currently greater than supply.

“Because of the current crisis and the scarcity of the food in the supermarkets, the demand, obviously, has gone through the roof so we have a long backlog list,” local fruit and vegetable farmer Aragorn Dick-Read said in a recent interview with BVI News.

Dick-Read - the owner of the family-operated Good Moon Farm on Tortola - usually supplies to charter vessels within the tourism industry.


More than 200 deliveries in days

But with that industry in absolute collapse, his farm’s produce now supplies residentially with what he described as farm boxes containing an assortment of produce.

“Since this crisis, we’ve delivered over 200 boxes,” Dick-Read told our news centre. “For two weeks, we didn’t deliver at all for the most part [because of the initial lockdown period] … But, in the past couple days, over 250-plus boxes have gone to households. I don’t know how many individual people they’re feeding but it’s probably way over five/six hundred people.”


Network of agriculture workers

A network of local farmers and fisherfolk are now collaborating to help manage the demand and offer support to each other.

Samantha Brown and her two-year-old Tidal Roots Farm is part of that network and she, too, is experiencing a spike in the demand for produce.

“Just today, I’ve had to turn down a lot, a lot of people. The demand is at least three times more than what I can supply,” she stated.


Losses

Like other farmers, however, Brown said her business suffered a considerable loss at the start of the pandemic when government sent the territory into lockdown.

She said some of her produce turned to waste during that time.

“Now that the BVI has allowed for farmers to do deliveries, I’m getting produce out. But for the past couple weeks, I haven’t been. So, I had a little bit of wastage, which was bad. I also had some part-time help. But, with the shutdown, I haven’t had any help … I’m looking forward to having my employees back to get the farm in better shape,” she admitted.


COVID-19 crisis proves the importance of local agriculture

Jamal Bradshaw who operates the local farm Plant Wise with his wife Strassa, said the COVID-19 crisis has revealed clear weaknesses in the BVI’s agriculture sector.

He said it is also teaching lessons about the significance of local agriculture.

“It has just proven the importance of having our own sense of sustainability, especially through food security,” Bradshaw said while also describing business since the pandemic as being ‘quite great’.

“The demand has increased since this pandemic to the point where … I’m looking to see If I can create a bit more expansion. It’s maybe three times the increase in demand,” he added.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
×