By Clint Thompson
A pair of March freeze events devastated fruit and vegetable crops in Alabama. Specialty crop producers in 51 counties in Alabama have been found eligible for disaster assistance from the Farm Service Agency (FSA).
The U.S. Department of Agriculture included 51 counties in its recent Crop Production Loss Disaster Declaration. Primary affected areas include Baldwin, Blount, Chilton, Clarke, Cullman, Elmore, Escambia, Etowah, Henry, Houston, Mobile, Montgomery, Morgan, Russell, Tallapoosa and Washington counties.
Contiguous counties include Autauga, Barbour, Bibb, Bullock, Calhoun, Chambers, Cherokee, Choctaw, Clay, Conecuh, Coosa, Covington, Crenshaw, Dale, Dallas, DeKalb, Geneva, Jefferson, Lawrence, Lee, Limestone, Lowndes, Macon, Madison, Marengo, Marshall, Monroe, Perry, Pike, Randolph, St. Clair, Shelby, Walker, Wilcox and Winston.
Blake Thaxton, executive director of the Alabama Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, discussed the importance of farmers receiving financial assistance.
“It just left a devastating amount of injury to the crop, especially in peaches and blueberries and also diminished yields in strawberries. It’s one of those times where you have to rely on some other resources,” Thaxton said. “We worked with the Department of Agriculture who worked with Governor (Kay) Ivey’s office to request the disaster declaration. That was granted by the Department of Ag, USDA. It’s really a beneficial thing that our growers have access to those emergency loans and also if any other disaster relief is granted by Congress because of the disaster declaration, they may have access to some of those funds as well.”
The freeze events were magnified because of the advanced stage of the crops. An unseasonably warm February allowed peach trees to bloom sooner than normal, which made the trees vulnerable to sub-freezing temperatures.
Farmers in the designated counties have eight months to apply for FSA emergency loans.