Ways Farmers Can Help Each Other When Disaster Strikes

A floriculture industry friend of mine owned a garden center near the Texas Gulf Coast. Hurricane Rita came through and wiped him out back in 2005. Five weeks after the storm, he asked me to drive down and help him find plant sources. He grew most of his own annuals, and while most initially survived the storm, they didn’t survive not having irrigation for two weeks.

During the drive south, it shook me to see the damage. Forests looked like negligent logging crews swept through and left the downed trees behind. One house tilted into the air by an upturned tree’s roots.

But when I reached Roy’s garden center, the tidiness struck me as much as the empty plant yards.

He and his staff had been hard at work, and I asked him how he accomplished so much.

“I was despondent the day after the hurricane,” he told me. “Then I called a friend, who told me to call someone he knew in Florida, who had been through the same thing.”

That call helped him tremendously. From advising him to delay cleaning up until he photographed everything he could (documentation is central to successful insurance and government claims) to how to apply for emergency loans, the stranger in Florida eased him from despair into action.

A recent conversation with one of our most popular writers reminded me of that time. Anna Littman, a North Carolina grower who shares tips on growing for American Vegetable Grower, was hit by Hurricane Helene. The bridge onto her property was wiped out, as were two irrigation buildings and two growing fields. Flood waters carried away topsoil and gifted her thousands upon thousands of rocks.

She needs a great deal of financial support, but her main request was to talk to other growers who have dealt with similar disasters.

It’s not the first nor the last time someone I know will face daunting odds and roll up their sleeves. In fact, it seems to be happening much more often, whether it’s flooding, droughts, or hail. All growers save for bad years. But how does anyone weather several natural disasters in five years?

We’re looking at ways we can help these conversations on our end. But so much more needs to be done. I invite you to share your own experience or ideas of how we can help our fellow growers who face rebuilding.