(Photo: Farmers speak with agriculture officials at a town hall meeting to discuss different financial assistance programs. Kenny Goldberg/KPBS .)
It’s been a tough year for farmers in San Diego County. Last January, a record cold snap caused widespread crop damage. Now, growers throughout the region are trying to cope with destruction from the wildfires. Last Friday, agriculture officials held a town hall meeting to tell growers how they can apply for financial help. KPBS reporter Kenny Goldberg has the story.
It was a packed house at the San Diego County Farm Bureau .
More than 100 local growers came to hear what aid programs they could be eligible for.
Gary Collins owns Suncoast Botanicals. It’s a 300-acre flower farm close to the Wild Animal Park.
On October 22nd, the Witch Creek Fire whipped through San Pasqual Valley and burned 90 percent of his property.
Collins : Parts of the farm are burned completely to the ground, to the point in some of the sections you can’t even tell there was any vegetation or flowers there. And then other sections are partially burned, the trees are still somewhat intact, but they’re all black and brown, etc. You know, you can stand on the hill and look down, and it’s a pretty devastating sight to see.
Collins lost about $2 million worth of flowers in the fire. He doesn’t have crop insurance.
Collins says next year will be rough.
Collins : The 10 percent of the product that I do have left in the field is product that I can sell, so I will get some revenue over the next couple of months. But I’m looking at a period next year, probably five months, where I’m not gonna have any dollars coming in at all.
Dean Hesketh grows bananas and ficus trees in Rainbow. The Rice Fire came within spitting distance of his property, but didn’t burn it.
Hesketh : The big problem is, an awful lot of our plants are unsalable, because of ash and things like that. We’ve had zero sales this month, zero. So that’s a pretty tough deal. Hesketh and Collins would like some financial help from the government.
There are plenty of other San Diego County growers in the same boat. All told, the wildfires caused more than $46.5 million worth of damage to local farms. And that’s just crop losses. If you factor in equipment and burned out buildings, the tab is even higher.
This town hall meeting was the place for farmers to find how to get some assistance. Corey Calvert works for the U.S Department of Agriculture. She says her agency is offering a total of $6.5 million.
Calvert : We are assisting producers with irrigation systems, erosion control, wildlife habitat improvements, and restoration, as well as water quality. Through the FSA side, Farm Service Agency, they have a program called emergency conservation program, which addresses debris removal, and livestock fences.
It’s a cost-sharing program. For each project, the government will cover 75 percent of the bill, and the grower will pay the other 25 percent.
Applications are due by the end of the month.
The state says it’s ready to help, too. Growers may be eligible for up to 26 weeks of unemployment benefits. There’s also money to pay workers to clean up fire-damaged properties.
But what about farmers who need cash just to keep food on the table?
A.G. Kawamura is Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. He admits farmers who need money immediately need to look at non-governmental organizations.
A.G. Kawamura : The NGOs of the area, and of the state, may recognize that this kind of a local grown lifestyle that we have here in California, in San Diego, is an important investment for the funding that they might have. And they might be able to step forward as well, and provides some funds for those kind of growers that are really, really impacted and really have no place to go.
Grower Gary Collins says he’ll have to apply for some loans to keep his operation going.
Collins says farming is filled with ups and downs.
Collins : You know, you gotta be prepared mentally to weather that, and as you get going you have to be prepared a little bit financially that some of those hard times are going to come, too. So you have to manage your money and manage your expectations.
As if the fires weren’t bad enough, some growers have another headache to deal with.
Mexican Fruit Flies were recently discovered in Escondido. Boundaries for a quarantine should be set this week. Affected growers won’t be able to sell produce unless it’s been specially treated.
Kenny Goldberg, KPBS News.
