U.S. Rep John Larson holds roundtable discussion in Glastonbury about state’s flooded farms

In an effort to gather information and disseminate it to those affected, U.S. Rep. John Larson held a roundtable discussion at the Glastonbury Town Hall, on July 31, about what the state and federal government is doing to aid farms affected by the recent flooding, and what could be done better.

Several business people, town leaders, and farmers from several towns were in attendance.

“Farming isn’t a seasonal occupation,” Larson said. “Farming is 365 days out of the year. To suffer through an event like this, at the peak prime of the cash crops that support farms throughout this region were implicated, and the timing could not have been worse.”

According to Rebecca Eddy, marketing and inspection representative from the CT Department of Agriculture, 2,500 acres and $25 million in crop revenue has been lost to the flooding.

“That is significant for a small state like Connecticut,” she said.

Larson said that the government has a responsibility during natural disasters, as well as the difference between corporate-owned farms in the Midwest, and smaller farms in New England. He added that his purpose for the meeting is to hear from farmers about how existing aid could be improved.

“A lot of those programs, most notably, crop insurance and flood insurance, are geared not toward the small farmer, so therefore become cost-prohibitive and out of reach,” he said. “The bottom line is, both in terms of specific funding, and amending ad hoc monies to the emergency relief fund is what our focus is going to be, short-term. If an insurance is too cost-prohibitive, what’s the point of having it? If a loan program is too prohibitive and only makes you go further in debt, what’s the point of having it? There may be something that you hear, and you say, ‘Yeah, but if you could tweak that, or if you wrote the law differently, maybe you could do this.’ That’s what I’m interested in hearing, so that we’re able to change legislation so that it impacts the people we represent, as well as all citizens of the nation.”

Catherine Marx, Connecticut’s district director of the U.S. Small Business Administration, said the disaster declaration that happened after the freeze in May still exists. The SBA’s role is to work with the USDA to offer loans to farms affected by the flooding. A disaster declaration for the flooding is in progress and expected soon, which will open the loan program to flooded farms.

Emily Cole, state executive director of the USDA Farm Service Agency, said the data is still coming in about how much damage the flooding has caused, but the disaster declaration could come as soon as later in the week.

“There’s nothing delaying that. We’re just trying to make sure we hear from all of the farmers,” she said.

Marx added that one thing the SBA offers for free is counseling.

“I think that is where we can come in,” she said. “That includes counseling on working on your business plan. That includes counseling looking at your capital structure, as you are thinking about taking on these low-interest loans.”

Eddy said that her department has a new portal to help farmers will all types of disaster relief resources, portal.ct.gov/disaster, which has been built in conjunction with other agencies.  There is also a new Farmland Restoration Flood Response Grant, a $20,000 cash match grant, which can be found at ctgrown.gov/grants, which will help farmers get their land back to where it needs to be, to be productive.

“Some of the projects that would be eligible under this include repairs, replacement, and re-installation for fencing, well-heads, and irrigation pumps that may have been impacted, site reconstruction, drainage, culverts, farm road repair, as well as soil amendments that may be necessary so that you can get back out there planting,” she said.

Larson said that the aid systems for farms, large and small, need changing, because climate change is likely to keep creating more disasters and weather events.

“This is not just a Connecticut problem. This is not just a New England problem,” he said. “This is a nationwide problem, based on whatever catastrophic events, especially in this time of climate change, that will continue to be unpredictable, and yet consequential to the people who are hurt by this, and therefor consequential to the American citizen.”

“As we, unfortunately, have seen, over the last few years, [is] that we have been in a very repetitive cycle, where we have experienced drought, and then flooding, and then drought and then a freeze, and then flooding,” Eddy said. “There has been a disaster declaration requested and approved every single year for the last five years. This year has been the first year that we have put forward two disaster declarations.”

Larson said he would like another meeting, with only the farm owners, to better address their specific needs and concerns.

For more information, visit https://larson.house.gov/.