It was clearly hard for Bay State farmer Jim Lattanzi to recount just how devastating unseasonal frost and ceaseless rains have been for businesses like his.

Lattanzi, flanked by Gov. Maura Healey, U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern and community group leaders, at times struggling to speak through his emotions, explained from inside his Hollis Hills Farm stand the damage done by mother nature this year and the unexpected response he received from the state and his community.

“As a farmer, you have to be resilient, but I’ll tell you it takes the wind out of your sails when you work so hard and watch it wash away,” he said. “To know that we have the support of our governor, our legislators, our business partners, to kind of come out of nowhere and say ‘hey, we’re here to help,’ it blows a little wind back in your sails. We can do this.”

In July, the Healey Administration joined United Way of Central Massachusetts in soliciting fund donations to help farmers impacted by flooding or unexpected cold snaps. So far, the Massachusetts Farm Resiliency Fund has raised over $3 million.

On Thursday, Tim Garvin, President and CEO of United Way of Central Massachusetts met Healey in Fitchburg to announce that donations from over 600 different people and businesses would be sent to 214 farms in the first of two rounds of fund distributions.

“Our goal with the Fund is to support farmers and communities by raising and distributing funds with urgency, as they are facing challenges right now,” Garvin said in a statement.

According to the Healey Administration, flooding from near historic rainfalls this year resulted in the loss of over 2,700 acres of crops, saddling 148 waterlogged farms with upwards of $15 million in product loss. Healey remarked on Thursday that she was the first governor, as far as she knew, to deal with as many tornadoes as has her administration this year.

Phase two of the fund rollout is scheduled for sometime this fall, with each fund recipient receiving an equal share of the donated money. Applicants are awarded funds based on a “minimum threshold for loss,” according to the governor’s staff.

Federal agriculture officials, at the end of July, declared a natural disaster in seven Massachusetts counties where farmers were impacted by flooding.

The declaration from the U.S. Department of Agriculture immediately opened up low-interest loans and the option to refinance existing loans for farmers that experienced losses caused by excessive rain and flooding from July 9 through July 16.

A disaster was declared in Berkshire, Bristol, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, Norfolk, and Worcester Counties. Bordering counties — Dukes, Middlesex, Plymouth, and Suffolk — are also eligible for the loans, including those in Connecticut, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont.