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While small businesses and giant industries alike make headlines for the ways they are hurting during the coronavirus pandemic, America's farmers are caught up in a behind-the-scenes domino effect of schools, restaurants and tourist areas shutting down.

"Agriculture is taking just as big of a hit," Patty Edelburg, vice president of the National Farmers Union, told weather.com in a phone interview Tuesday.

"It's devastating for sure."

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The pandemic comes after several devastating blows to America's farmers in the past couple of years, including record flooding, heat waves and other extreme weather.

(MORE: Spring Flooding Plus Coronavirus Pandemic Could Equal Disaster)

Edelburg is a farmer herself. She and her husband run Front Page Holsteins in Amherst Junction, Wisconsin, a dairy operation with 120 cows.

She says dairy sales are down 23% nationwide, despite a rush at supermarkets.

"The demand on the grocery store level is huge … but we’re seeing a huge decline obviously in schools, restaurants and the hospitality industry."

Those three segments are the primary customers for America's dairy farmers, and other agricultural businesses as well. Edelburg said farmers are suffering across the nation.

Beef sales are down 25%, and futures prices for crops and livestock, including hogs, corn, wheat and soybeans, have all dropped in recent weeks.

R.C. Hatton Farm in South Florida was recently forced to mow down a million pounds of green beans because there are no restaurants, cruise ships, schools, airlines or theme parks to sell them to now, the Miami Herald reported.

"And I’ve got another one million I can’t harvest that’s going down in the next three days," R.C. Hatton president Paul Allen said.

The pandemic has also disrupted the growing season and the supply chain, making it harder for farmers to reach customers who are still buying.

"Mother Nature does not recognize coronavirus, she just marches on," Illinois farmer Chris Eckert told CBS News.

For the latest coronavirus information in your county and a full list of important resources to help you make the smartest decisions regarding the disease, check out our dedicated COVID-19 page.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.