Tom Ikeda, a produce grower for the Pismo Oceano Vegetable Exchange (POVE) cooperative, is ready to wade through wet croplands and assess the damage caused when the Arroyo Grande Creek levee gave out.
“We got so much rain in a short amount of time with very little drying time,” he said. “A lot of the damage is from not being able to get into the fields to feed crops with our nutrient program.”
The levee—ruptured by record rainfall in San Luis Obispo County that started on Jan. 8—sent a deluge of water into farmland, washing away the possibilities of healthy produce and a decent fiscal year for much of the agricultural community. For POVE, that meant several hundred acres of soaked cropland and wrecked baby bok choy, parsley, and cover crops. Ikeda said that their soil is still wet and thinks that the monetary damage could reach more than $100,000 at a minimum.
“The big issue for us is the food safety factor,” Ikeda said. “We have to do things to mitigate [contamination]. That means holding off on planting and possibly testing to see if flood waters brought in anything that is a food safety risk like bacteria.”
Ikeda and his POVE peers are a few of the growers across the county who are feeling the financial pinch. Marc Lea, the county’s assistant agricultural commissioner, told New Times that the floods affected North County areas like Adelaida and Creston, the Edna Valley, and South County fields in Oceano and Nipomo.
“It’s interesting because typically we have freezes and droughts, and only certain crop types are impacted,” Lea said. “[Now,] there are flooded crops but there is a lot more damaged infrastructure like broken fencing. The damage has more to do with the geographic location.”
Lea said that his office doesn’t directly assist with financial compensation to the county’s farmers. But the SLO County agricultural commissioner’s department compares crop losses to the annual crop report to get an idea of what percentage of crops were lost in the county, and then figures out what state and federal programs affected individuals are eligible for. Through the Office of Emergency Services, the county’s gathering damage reports from growers via Twitter, where the office put out a call for information. So far, the county has received 30 entries.
“This is very unusual,” Lea said. “We’ve never been involved in a [crop damage] situation where FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] and a disaster declaration are also involved.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is participating in farm relief too. Its spokesperson, Brooke Raffaele, advised growers to contact the local USDA service center for financial help. Find those centers online at farmers.gov/working-with-us/service-center-locator.
“To expedite FSA [Farm Service Agency] disaster assistance, you will likely need to provide documents, such as farm records, herd inventory, receipts, and pictures of damages or losses,” she said.
Other resources are available, too. Landowners facing losses can visit farmers.gov and make use of the Disaster Assistance Discovery Tool, Disaster Assistance-at-a-Glance fact sheet, and Farm Loan Discovery Tool. Crop insurance agents can also help with claims. Raffaele added that people can learn more about FSA and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) programs at the USDA service center on 65 Main St., suite 106, in Templeton or call (805) 434-0396. South County farmers who are closer to Santa Barbara County can also visit the Santa Maria service center at 920 E. Stowell Road or call (805) 928-9269.
Ikeda and POVE are also looking into NRCS programs. But with the recents rains, Ikeda is optimistic.
“All the farmers understand that we need rain, maybe not that quickly and at that rate. But they understand that it’s better to get a lot than not enough,” he said. “It’s more inconvenient than unwelcome.”
This article appears in Health & Wellness 2023.
