BEAMON, Iowa — A few months ago, Brian Feldpausch had never heard of COVID-19. He and his family still haven’t gotten sick from the virus. But they have seen it impact their lives on and off the farm in ways they never imagined.

“In a way, as a farmer, it didn’t change much at first,” Feldpausch says. “We were ready to plant. We could still do that.”

On March 1, if you had chest pains, you went to the emergency room. On July 1, if you have chest pains you go to the emergency room. Some things are the same today as before the coronavirus pandemic struck, said David Schreiner, a hospital president in northwestern Illinois.

That said, Schreiner has never seen so many changes at hospitals and in healthcare in such a short time.

It has been an unusual and eventful year for livestock producers, with challenges getting their products to market, and maintaining crucial export markets.

Bill Even, CEO of the National Pork Board and a fourth-generation South Dakota farmer, says there has been a lot of uncertainty, but also a few silver linings for pork producers.

The phrase ‘the new normal’ is being thrown around by just about every company in the United States right now. As coronavirus affects the way companies are doing business, many are changing the ways they are approaching what used to be normal to them.

However, some are hoping life can get back to the original normal quickly.

HURST, Ill. — It’s difficult to find any positives in the COVID-19 pandemic. But one may be that niche farmers are gaining customers.

Roger Shuttek of Big Muddy Hogs is benefiting from what began as food shortages at supermarkets. The tiny retail shop at his Williamson County farm is humming.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the foodservice and packing industries will be felt far beyond 2020.

In the weeks that followed, most nations asked citizens to stay at home to avoid possible spread of the virus. As consumers rushed to stock their pantries and refrigerators, items such as ground beef became nearly impossible to find. Restaurants were closed, or limited to take-out or curbside pickup.

MT. PULASKI, Ill. — Motivated residents of the spunky community of Mt. Pulaski, in central Illinois, opened a new coop grocery store amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Their plans were delayed a little more than a month by COVID-19 disruptions, but if anything, it inspired the community to make their grocery store a reality, said Tom Martin, a local crop farmer who led the effort to open The Market on the Hill, a cooperative grocery store with 126 community owners.

Imagine if one of our small Iowa towns was struck with a natural disaster, leaving no survivors. Or if an entire county was overcome with disease affecting every resident.

These tragedies would be in the news, prompting shock, grief, and an outpouring of support and aid for those affected and assisting the people we consider our neighbors.