EASTHAMPTON — A series of torrential rains over the past two weeks caused roughly $15 million in damages to about 2,000 acres of farmland in Massachusetts, which the Healey administration hopes to help save with a private relief fund announced Thursday afternoon.
Farmers that have encountered multiple environmental setbacks this year, are now facing brunt of floods that left crops soaked right before harvest time. Gov. Maura Healey said she is “not holding” her breath for federal dollars and the newly created “Massachusetts Farm Resiliency Fund” is the best way to provide direct relief.
“If people think that there’s going to be a whole bunch of money coming from the federal government this way, I’m not holding my breath, none of us are and I want to be really clear about that,” Healey said.
Even as the governor cautioned against waiting for federal dollars, the state’s Congressional delegation pressured U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack and Farm Service Agency Administrator Zach Ducheneaux to declare a disaster in Western Massachusetts counties, a move that would open up an emergency loan program for farmers.
At Mountain View Farm in Easthampton, Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said philanthropic organizations and private donors have committed $100,000 to the newly-created private fund. Attorney General Andrea Campbell said her office would also chip in $10,000 from settlements reached by the state’s top prosecutor.
Healey said severe weather in Massachusetts, across the country, and around the world is “not surprising” given the effects of climate change. But storms have “real consequences” for farmers in the state, she said.
“The flooding resulted in tremendous devastation, devastation to farms, devastation to the crops, devastation to personnel and employees and payroll, devastation to infrastructure,” Healey said. “Coming at a time on the cusp of harvest for many, it really wipes out the ability to have a second season and really presents … real questions about what’s going to happen even next year given potential impact on the fields.”
The private fund will be administered by United Way of Central Massachusetts, which has set up an online donation link for people to contribute. United Way of Central Massachusetts CEO Tim Garvin said he wanted to make it “as simple as possible” to help farmers.
“What’s happened today for our farmers affects all of us. I think of four groups. It’s our farmers, their families, their employees, their livelihood. It’s the crops that we eat,” he said.
Lawmakers in Washington want the federal government to help out on top of local efforts.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey and U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern penned a letter Thursday to Vilsack and Ducheneaux that said farmers across Western Massachusetts “have expressed that they urgently need financial assistance and guidance for how to access available resources to aid in the recovery process.”
The federal legislators said a disaster designation in western counties would allow farmers to “quickly access funds.”
“In order to rapidly assist farmers and communities in need, we ask that you expeditiously process and approve the request and engage in public outreach,” the letter said.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Agriculture said the office is working with state officials and agricultural providers “to assess damage in Massachusetts and will continue conversations with the state, producers and stakeholder groups to help address recovery needs from this recent flooding event.”
“In addition to emergency loans, [USDA Farm Service Agency] provides a variety of direct and guaranteed farm loans, including operating loans, to producers who are unable to secure commercial financing,” the spokesperson said in a statement to the Herald. “These loans can help producers replace essential property, purchase inputs like livestock, equipment, feed and seed, cover family living expenses or refinance farm-related debts and other needs.”
Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources Commissioner Ashley Randle previously said USDA emergency loans may not even be helpful to farmers at this point given the timing of the floods and rains.
“A lot of the farmers were getting ready in the next few weeks to harvest their crop so they’re not able to replant for this year,” she told the Herald last week. “And so a loan would just add additional debt to their bottom line without being able to bring in income for the rest of the year.”
