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Margaux & Max stayed afloat with Dinges’ Facebook livestreams and creative marketing even though the retail store is closed for personal purchases.

Photo: I Donna Dinges

Small business owners suffered a minor whiplash injury last year when Covid-19 took over the nation. Restrictions, at the discretion of state and local leaders, resulted in closings, reopenings, and limited activity in markets across the country.

New data from the CNBC | SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey for the first quarter of 2021 shows that the experiences of entrepreneurs on Main Street reflect this time of unpredictability.

While just over half of small business owners say they can stay open throughout the pandemic, 20% of small business owners say their stores were temporarily closed due to the pandemic and have since reopened, but with limited capacity. In addition, 10% of small business owners say they have closed and haven’t reopened. Another 4% say they shut down, reopened, and then shut down again.

The back and forth has weighed on the mood of small business owners and led the Main Street community to cancel President Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion bid relief plan, according to the poll, which was conducted January 25 through January 2 across the country among 2,111 small business owners. 31 Using the SurveyMonkey Platform.

Je Donna Dinges relaunched her boutique for clothing and accessories, Margaux & Max, in a new, larger location at the beginning of March 2020. Within a few days, cases of Covid began to rise nationwide and the Ferndale, Michigan-based store was closed.

Je Donna Dinges opened her Margaux & Max boutique in a new and bigger location when Covid spread across the United States. It had to close within a few days in March 2020.

I donna thing

She has not yet reopened her retail store to personal business, a conscious choice for things as she has an autoimmune disease and wants to limit her exposure. However, the entrepreneur is not deterred. To stay afloat, she broadcasts livestream fashion shows that she holds on Friday evenings in her shop on Facebook and shows her styling mannequins in all sizes with clothes and accessories. Your customers tune in, Dinges said, and then shop on the side of the road during the week and pick up their purchases.

“I am very concerned about my own health … and I am also very concerned about my clientele,” Dinges said. “I made the decision to stay closed but not go out of business.”

The CNBC poll found that small business sentiment fell to new lows in the first quarter. Confidence plummeted from 48 to 43 quarterly, the lowest since CNBC and SurveyMonkey started tracking confidence on Main Street in 2017. Additionally, the number of small business owners who believe they can work longer than a year fell from 67% in the fourth quarter to 55%.

The level of trust varied depending on the breed of business owner. The CNBC poll found that fears of permanent shutdowns are high among black small business owners. 37% say they can survive for more than a year in current conditions, compared with 59% of white small business owners and 55% of Hispanic small business owners.

Black-owned companies that have not reopened (25%) after a temporary shutdown due to the pandemic contrasts with 8% of white-owned small businesses.

Despite the challenges, the survey’s Small Business Confidence Index finds that black small business owners continue to be optimistic and have a higher confidence rating for small businesses than their peers.

The paycheck protection program was a lifeline for some, but the program was tweaked after outcry by some businesses and advocates last year that the PPP was not serving smaller and minority borrowers. In January, when the $ 284 billion program restarted, community financial institutions, typically serving smaller businesses or possibly mission-based, first got access to the portal.

To date, more than $ 103 billion has been approved for more than 1.4 million small business loans, according to the Small Business Administration. According to the SBA, 82% of all loans went to companies applying for less than $ 100,000, indicating that smaller businesses were looking for help. In addition, nearly a third of the loans went to businesses in rural communities. Anti-fraud measures have extended approval times and loans were no longer approved on the day of last year as they were last year.

Underserved small business

Administration officials have stated that they believe the PPP will not run out of money like it did in April 2020 when the program first launched, and lawmakers continue to push for transparency about the demographic profile of corporate borrowing. President Biden has pledged to include aid to underserved small businesses in the form of grants and funding in his $ 1.9 trillion pandemic package, as small businesses are likely to need more lifelines when the PPP closes in March.

“When the administration is really getting grants directly to companies and business owners, it is actually helping the capital and working capital of those companies rather than just effectively acting as a passageway for their employees, which of course it did.” The intention of the PPP. She’s invaluable in her own way, “said Brian Blake, public policy director for the Community Development Bankers Association.

Dinges said she struggled to get access to PPP funds last year and eventually reached out to Kabbage for a small business loan after being turned down. She is considering applying for a second loan this year and is optimistic about the future despite ongoing challenges. Their sales are down nearly 40%, but it could be a lot worse considering what Main Street has seen over the past year.

“”I am definitely hopeful. As I drove through my church, I look at empty shop windows, which is sad. But I look at the empty shop windows of big retailers, “said Dinges.” And it just struck me as these big retailers collapse and I’m still standing … the loyalty I get from my customers really moves me. “

Fourth generation rancher Loren Poncia made Stemple Creek Ranch carbon positive. He has implemented rotary cattle grazing systems that allow the soil and grass to recover, put compost on pastures, and planted chicory that aerates the soil.

Courtesy Paige Green

President Joe Biden has urged U.S. farmers to lead the way in offsetting greenhouse gas emissions to combat climate change – a goal that fourth generation rancher Loren Poncia set out to achieve over a decade ago.

Despite being in the beef sector, which is a huge contributor to global warming, Poncia has made its northern California ranch one of the few carbon positive cattle farms in the country.

“It’s a win-win – for the environment and for our paperback,” said Poncia, who introduced carbon farming practices through a partnership with the Marin Carbon Project.

Experts estimate that through regenerative farming practices, farmers around the world can sequester enough of the carbon to avert the worst effects of climate change. Research suggests that removing carbon already in the atmosphere and replenishing the soil could lead to 10% carbon depletion worldwide. The United Nations has warned that efforts to contain global emissions without drastic changes in global land use and agriculture will be neglected.

The Poncia ranch is sequestering more carbon than is released by processes like rotary cattle grazing systems, which allow the soil and grass to recover. It involves applying compost to pastures instead of chemical fertilizers to avoid tillage, build worm farms, and plant chicory to aerate the soil. Such climate-friendly projects have enabled Poncia to grow more grass and produce more beef.

“If we as a world want to undo the damage done, it is through agriculture and food sustainability,” said Poncia. “We are excited and positive about the future.”

While some farmers, ranchers, and foresters have already adopted sustainable practices that capture existing carbon and store it in the soil, others are concerned about up-front costs and uncertain yields that can vary by state and farm.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently said it would encourage farmers to adopt such sustainable practices. And more and more researchers and companies have started to better quantify and manage the carbon stored in the soil.

USDA pushes for carbon cultivation

Tackling climate change has become a matter of survival for American farmers who have suffered great losses from floods and droughts that have become more frequent and more destructive across the country.

In 2019, farmers lost tens of thousands of acres in historic floods. And NASA scientists report that rising temperatures have pushed the western United States into the worst decade-long drought in the last millennium.

In the United States alone, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that agriculture causes more than 10.5% of greenhouse gas emissions to warm the planet.

As a result, the Biden government now plans to steer $ 30 billion in agricultural aid from the USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation to pay farmers to implement sustainable practices and capture carbon in their soil.

This file photo dated Monday, March 18, 2019 shows flood and storage tanks underwater on a farm along the Missouri River in rural Iowa north of Omaha, Neb.

AP Photo | Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management

Biden’s candidate for USDA Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who has vowed to fulfill Biden’s broader plan to achieve a net-zero economy by 2050, said the money could be used to create new markets that encourage producers to do so To fix carbon in the soil.

Former President Donald Trump previously used these funds to save farmers who were harmed by his trade wars with China, Mexico and Canada that lowered commodity prices.

Using the CCC money to create a carbon bank may not require Congressional approval and agricultural lobby groups are expected to convince Congress to expand the fund.

“It is a great tool for us to create a structure that will inform future farm bills of what is promoting carbon sequestration, what is promoting precision farming, what is promoting soil health and regenerative farming practices,” said Vilsack upon his Senate confirmation this month Listen.

Vilsack, who served as President Barack Obama’s Agriculture Secretary for eight years, has also asked Congress to set up an advisory group of farmers to help build a carbon market and ensure farmers get the benefits.

The government’s drive to promote on-farm carbon sequestration could support an emerging on-farm emissions reduction market and the technological advances that help farmers improve soil health and participate in carbon trading markets.

An emerging market

Some farmers have partnered with non-profit environmental and political groups to work on environmental sustainability. The movement was also increasingly supported by private companies.

Indigo Ag, a start-up advocating regenerative farming practices, said companies like Barclays, JPMorgan Chase and Shopify have committed to buying agricultural carbon credits that will help farmers with transition costs.

Chris Harbourt, global director of carbon at Indigo Ag, said the company is working with growers to remove financial barriers during the transition and provide training on implementing regenerative farming practices like growing cover crops off-season or switching to no-till crops to offer.

“Growers who use regenerative practices see benefits that go well beyond financial ones,” said Harbourt. “The soil is healthier and more resilient, which creates more opportunities for profitable years, even in difficult weather conditions.”

More of CNBC environment::
Biden’s climate agenda will face major obstacles with an evenly divided Senate
Climate change has cost the US billions of dollars in flood damage

Erik Fyrwald, CEO of Syngenta, a Switzerland-based seed and crop protection company, said government policies must provide appropriate incentives for farmers to accelerate the transition to regenerative agriculture.

“The incentives must be sufficient and reliable enough to give farmers the confidence to make the necessary investments to implement these practices on their farm,” said Fyrwald.

Poncia, who has twice received government funding from the California Healthy Soil Program to implement sustainable practices on his ranch, hopes the administration can provide enough support to agriculture so that other people can achieve similar results.

“Agriculture wants to support this movement, but it needs help, education and the ability to reduce the risk,” said Poncia. “If the government supports the farmers who get good results, everyone else will follow.”

Katz’s Delicatessen in New York City has been around for more than a century and has grown into an iconic institution on the Lower East Side.

Owner Jake Dell told CNBC on Friday he was feeling the weight of family history as it tries to manage the uncertainty and disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

“This is technically our second pandemic for Katz. It’s my first,” Dell said in Squawk on the Street, referring to the 1918 pandemic flu. Katz’s, originally founded in 1888, moved up a year before that health crisis began its current location on Houston Street.

For this pandemic that has devastated the restaurant industry, Dell said it uses a “make-it-up-as-you-go” approach.

“Make the best decision we can make right now without losing touch with the nostalgia and tradition that really lies at the heart of Katz,” said Dell, a fifth generation owner.

While the pandemic is not over yet, Dell said the lessons Katz has learned over the past 11 months will help the delicatessen business thrive in the decades to come, such as website development. Strategic decisions Katz made in the years leading up to the coronavirus crisis helped keep her afloat, too, he said.

Dell’s comments came when restricted indoor dining was about to resume in New York restaurants after Governor Andrew Cuomo suspended it indefinitely in mid-December. Some health experts have questioned the timing, citing new coronavirus variants believed to be more communicable. But for many in the city’s food service industry, resuming indoor dining is welcomed as a much-needed way to increase revenue in the bitter winter.

Katz’s will have about 17 or 18 tables available to meet the 25% capacity limit, Dell said. The deli will revert to the health protocols it used in the fall when the city allowed indoor eating, he said.

Dell acknowledged Katz’s lucky because the size of the dining room makes the capacity 25% more sustainable than smaller restaurants. From a business perspective, most restaurants find it difficult to get by with just a quarter of the tables available, Dell said.

Katz’s Delicatessen will remain open for takeaway during the coronavirus pandemic on May 7, 2020 in New York City.

Ben Gabbe | Getty Images

Digital presence

“One thing that we really focused on was our website and our focus on bringing the customer experience to your door, the real Katz experience. You can’t make it to the Lower East Side. How do we bring it to you ? ” said Dell, who came to the restaurant in 2009. His father Alan was involved before him.

Fortunately, Katz’s experience of shipping groceries to the United States dates back to World War II, when the slogan “Send your boy in the army a salami,” said Dell. But when the pandemic hit last spring and brought New York tourism to a standstill and indoor dining shut down, Katz’s really needed to expand its logistics operation.

That meant training some staff, like dishwashers, on how to properly package mustard, pickles and knives so that the groceries can be shipped across the country, Dell said. “And that has grown enormously and we really hope it will continue when everything is back to normal.”

According to Dell, Katz’s set up its own network a few years ago to avoid paying a “monstrous” fee to third-party providers like DoorDash and Uber Eats. “We just bit the bullet and built a giant [delivery] Factory a few years ago and it paid off, “said Dell.” We were lucky. We didn’t fire anyone during this pandemic, and I’m pretty grateful for that. “

Katz’s received a $ 1 million to $ 2 million loan under the Paycheck Protection Program. This comes from a database compiled by the non-profit journalists website ProPublica. The loan was approved on May 3rd and has helped save 143 jobs, the database shows.

When asked why Dell struggled to keep Katz open in the depths of the pandemic, he said, “Because you have to. You lower your head and move forward. You make a choice at a time.”

“When the pandemic started, we immediately started distributing soups to … low-income and senior neighborhood buildings. We have, I believe, distributed about 30,000 meals to over 30 hospitals in all five counties. Line workers,” added Dell added, saying Katz felt obliged to help as a family-run company. “The community takes care of you. You have to take care of them when they are in need.”

Even after being fully vaccinated against Covid, some public health precautions will still be needed before further data can be collected on the vaccines, said Dr. Kavita Patel told CNBC on Friday.

It is clear that Pfizer and Moderna’s two-shot vaccines are highly effective in preventing serious illness and death from Covid-19, Patel said in a “Squawk Box” interview. Currently, it is less known how well the vaccines reduce coronavirus transmission.

In other words, someone who has been vaccinated has greatly reduced their risk of actually getting the coronavirus, but Patel claims that precautions will still be needed in the coming months when a small group gathers and one person in this one Group was not vaccinated.

“When you are in a household with young children [who don’t yet qualify for the vaccine] or even children at increased risk … or even yourself, if you are at increased risk despite being vaccinated, you should take precautions indoors while wearing masks. If possible, stay outdoors with people, ”said Patel, a Washington, DC family doctor and non-resident of the Brookings Institution.

“The only reason I’m saying this is that we need more data to understand the risk of transmission,” she added.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week updated their quarantine guidelines for people who have been fully vaccinated. Both Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines require two doses for complete protection. The CDC now says people exposed to the coronavirus won’t need quarantine within three months of being fully vaccinated if they don’t develop symptoms.

Like Patel, the CDC recognizes that the risk of one vaccinated person passing the virus on to another is “uncertain”. The reason for the modified quarantine policy, according to the CDC, lies in the vaccines, which are highly effective in preventing the development of symptomatic Covid.

This is important because, according to the CDC, it is believed that people with Covid symptoms transmit the virus more than asymptomatic people. Because of this, the agency said a fully vaccinated person who shows no symptoms does not need to be quarantined.

The CDC defines full vaccination as two weeks after receiving the second vaccine with two doses, or two weeks after receiving a vaccine with a single vaccine. Johnson & Johnson has filed for emergency approval for its single-dose vaccine and an advisory panel will look into it at a meeting later this month.

Patel said she believes the CDC quarantine guide could be updated again if more Americans are vaccinated. But at this stage of the pandemic, she said, the US is in “an interim period.” Although she said roughly one in three Americans has either been vaccinated or developed natural antibodies to coronavirus because of a previous infection, “the other two people still have plenty of opportunities to encourage the virus to spread, especially given these more communicable variants. ” . “

To illustrate this, Patel offered insights into her personal approach to aspects of life after she was vaccinated. The former Obama administration official said she continues to wear a mask in public even though she is confident she will not get sick and die from Covid.

“I’m still doing all the things we’ve talked about – which we’re pretty tired of – until we have more data that I can’t give [the virus] someone who was not vaccinated, said Patel, who served as director of politics with the Obama White House Bureau of Interstate Affairs and Public Engagement, where she worked on health initiatives.

However, Patel said there are reasons to be optimistic and mentioned how she is thinking about the possibility of seeing her parents soon. “Because I’ve been vaccinated and after they went in a few weeks after that second dose, I’ll be more comfortable talking about risks because it’s not 100% that they don’t catch the virus, but I feel comfortable when I have a little meeting with them when we are all vaccinated together, “she said.

While vaccine availability is currently limited, Patel noted recent comments from Dr. Anthony Fauci on NBC’s “Today” show. The nation’s leading expert on infectious diseases expects it to be “open season” for Covid vaccinations by April. If Fauci’s forecast comes true, Patel believes that by the summer more Americans will be able to gather together safely.

“As the months go by, more people in your household, and possibly in another household, like your parents or grandparents, will be vaccinated, which could make smaller gatherings safer,” said Patel. “We can look forward to that because we’ve been holding back for over a year, some of us, to see older parents and relatives at high risk.”