
David Roland works on removing a layer of sand from the land he farms in Reedy Patch on Nov. 8, 2024. Only a small patch of vegetables remains from when Tropical Storm Helene came through in September. He lost all his vegetables, except this small patch, as well as losing crops that were planted across the street. (USA Today via Reuters)
Agricultural losses accounted for around $5 billion of the roughly $60 billion in Helene damage. Here’s how the federal government shutdown will make it harder for North Carolina farmers to recover.
Western North Carolina farmers are up against a pause in disaster recovery funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture as the federal government remains shut down after Congress failed to pass a spending bill.
The shutdown will affect a handful of Farm Service Agency programs, Kenny Barnwell, apple grower and chairman of the Henderson-Polk-Transylvania Farm Service Agency office, told the Hendersonville Times-News Oct. 2.
That includes the Emergency Conservation Program, a soil conservation program, the Emergency Forest Restoration Program, the Emergency Livestock Assistance Program and the Tree Assistance Program, meant to assist tree fruit growers.
“Any delay in getting money to our farmers just compounds their problems.”
All are reimbursement programs, meaning many farmers have already paid out of pocket for the work or resources that those programs are meant to cover.
Local growers are still recovering after historic flooding battered farms in low-lying river valleys last year in Tropical Storm Helene.
Read More: I visited western NC for the first time since Helene. Here are 10 things to do now that it’s reopening
Agricultural losses accounted for around $5 billion of the roughly $60 billion in Helene damage, out of a state industry worth $111 billion, North Carolina Department of Agriculture Sec. Steve Troxler said in September.
Henderson County’s agriculture community alone lost between $135 to $150 million, Henderson County Cooperative Extension Director Terry Kelley estimated in January.
A lot of disaster assistance has already been paid out but some is still pending, Kelley told the Times-News Oct. 3.
“Every day that goes by … (many farmers) are waiting on that money to pay bills from last year,” he said.
“Any delay in getting money to our farmers just compounds their problems,” he said.
USDA’s Sept. 30 lapse in funding plan calls for ceasing “implementation and processing of disaster assistance payments in support of significant weather-related disasters” along with technical assistance and cost-share assistance related to widespread disaster events like Helene.
Helene is the highest profile disaster affecting WNC farmers, but hail and drought over the past year have also seriously impacted them, according to previous Times-News reporting.
More than two thirds of FSA staff were expected to be furloughed, though some will remain on call to respond to potential natural disasters, the plan says.
The North Carolina FSA headquarters couldn’t be reached for comment Oct. 2.
The funding pause comes just two months after the application deadline ended for local growers and private forestland owners to seek financial help through two USDA cost-share programs.
“I call upon the administration to grant an exception for all WNC recovery-related efforts.
We cannot afford for dysfunction in Washington to disrupt this critical work,” Gov. Josh Stein said in an Oct. 1 post on Facebook.
The governor’s office declined to comment on the impact of a lapse in USDA funding on North Carolina farmers Oct. 2. Governor’s Office spokesperson Olivia Weidie told the Asheville Citizen Times Sept. 30 that, “The Governor is concerned about the impact of a potential government shutdown on North Carolinians across the state — particularly when it comes to rebuilding Western North Carolina.”
Spokespeople from the U.S. and North Carolina departments of agriculture didn’t provide answers to written questions by deadline.
Farmers also won’t be able to be approved for federal crop insurance through the Noninsured Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) during the shutdown, and the deadline to apply for it is November 20, Barnwell said.
Being insured through either NAP, the USDA Risk Management Agency or an independent federal contractor is a prerequisite for eligibility for other FSA programs, so not being able to get coverage could have implications even after FSA funding is restored, he said.
For growers of many specialty crops including berries, squash and peppers, NAP is the only way to get that insurance in Henderson County, where a federal policy for those crops isn’t otherwise available, he said.
Reporting by George Fabe Russell, Hendersonville Times-News / Hendersonville Times-News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

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