It’s been a tough year for California farmers, with heavy storms causing flooding and crop damage. Local advocates and elected officials are asking Congress to pass a disaster relief package for affected farmers.
According to the US Department of Agriculture, over 900 California farms have filed for federal aid this year, with more than half of them located in the Central Coast.
Catie Field is the Deputy Executive Director of the San Luis Obispo County Farm Bureau, a grassroots organization supporting local agriculture. She said the storms devastated many Central Coast farms.
“There is some pretty severe damage,” Field said. “I've seen everything, from whole vineyards basically being washed away, to months and months of water just being accumulated on our vegetable fields that had to be pumped off.”
Field said Congressman Salud Carbajal and other representatives have worked closely with the Farm Bureau to request a new disaster recovery package for farmers.
“It’s just helpful that Carbajal is on that committee,” Field said. “He can advocate and was really open when he came to our office. We had a meeting here; he talked to different growers within our region.”
Carbajal said existing disaster aid programs have limitations that prevent farmers from receiving the help they need. They include technicalities that can force farmers to wait months to receive aid or even exclude them from aid altogether.
Carbajal’s pushing for a new disaster recovery aid package that would address these limitations.
“The Central Coast has been hit very hard, and as such, I felt it was important that we build on the initial assistance that the declarations provided, which was minimal compared to what our farmers really need to be able to stay afloat,” Carbajal said.
According to the California Department of Food and Agriculture, over a third of the country’s vegetables and three quarters of the country’s fruits and nuts are grown in California.
Carbajal said if California farmers aren’t given the aid they need soon, there may be lasting consequences across the nation.
“Everybody across the country will feel that at the grocery store- the cost increases,” Carbajal said.
Carbajal said he’s doing everything he can to speed up the process so that farmers can receive the aid they need as soon as possible.
