Some Relief Coming to San Diego Farmers Following a Tough Year

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published December 17, 2007 at 5:00 AM PST

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

San Diego County farmers who suffered damage in the October wildfires expect to get some money for their losses. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce has this update of the tough year for farmers.

San Diego County farmers who suffered damage in the October wildfires expect to get some money for their losses. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce has this update of the tough year for farmers.

County farmers are being denied low-interest federal loans because they're required to first apply for loans by traditional lenders, which charge higher rates. The property they own means they usually qualify for those loans. Farm groups are working to change that rule. In the meantime, some relief is coming to county farmers. Eric Larson is the executive director of the San Diego County Farm Bureau.

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Larson: We expect that a little over $6 million is going to be distributed to growers to replace irrigation systems, fences, clean up fire debris and do emergency erosion controls.

He says the loss to crops from the fires is $42 million. But that doesn't take into account other farm losses.

Larson: There's been substantial losses for irrigation equipment, packing sheds, tractors, equipment and such. So I think if all those numbers are added in, the number would be substantially higher.

Larson says the loss from the fires is not as great as the loss from the crop freeze earlier this year.

Larson: Between those two, I think it's easy to say that 2007 is probably the most disastrous year in history for San Diego County farmers.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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