Whatever the Question Is, Pizza Is Always a Good Answer

The agricultural sector has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic as sales to the foodservice industry have plummeted. Some farmers have responded by opening up their own “pizza farms” where consumers can get their favorite toppings on pies made using locally grown ingredients.

Pizza farms are not really new. Two decades ago, farmers in the Upper Midwest began building wood-fired ovens and serving pizza outdoors on summer nights.

Pizza farming has since spread across the country, with a number of new pizza farms opening up this year as farmers work to make up for lost sales to restaurants. Like drive-in theaters, pizza farms are a good summer destination for people looking to do something fun in an outdoor setting where social distancing less of a concern.

This also capitalizes on the farm-to-table dining trend, but brings the table even closer to the farm. Locally grown food is seen by many consumers as fresher, higher quality, and more environmentally friendly than food sourced from factory farms and trucked in from other parts of the country.

The homegrown toppings change depending on what’s currently in season. “If you can grow it, we have put it on a pizza,” says Curtis Millsap, who operates a pizza farm in Springfield, Missouri.

Some pizza farmers even raise cattle for cheese and pigs for meat.

Can taco farms be far behind?

For more information and discussion of opportunities, see Packaged Facts’ food- and beverage-related reports, including US Food Market Outlook 2020: Home Cooking, Grocery Shopping & Food Trends in the Age of Coronavirus. The Freedonia Group’s extensive collection of off-the-shelf research, including the packaging industry, provides a strong complement to packaged food industry analysis. Freedonia Custom Research is also available for questions requiring tailored market intelligence.