Vermont farmers are taking stock after losing crops to flooding two years in a row

Barnett, Vt. — Exactly one year to the date of last year’s severe flooding in Vermont, Joe’s Brook Farm was once again inundated by the remnants of Hurricane Beryl.

This time it was worse. Workers were able to harvest some produce before last week’s floods, but the family-owned vegetable farm still lost 90 percent of its crop in fields and greenhouses.

“When we’ve been hit twice on the same day two years in a row, it’s pretty hard to recover,” said Mary Skovsted, who owns the farm with her husband.

Around the state, and especially in hard-hit central and northern Vermont, farmers are reassessing their losses and trying to figure out how to adapt and get through the season and next year.

“We’re going to have significant damage,” Vermont Agriculture Secretary Anson Tebbetts said. “You’re going to have areas that have been hit twice maybe three times in the last year.”

There is hope that some of the feed corn crop could return, but it depends on the weather, he said.

When Tebbetts visited Sparrow Arc Farm, a potato farm on the Connecticut River in Guildhall last weekend, farmer Matthew Linehan had to take him out in a canoe to see the fields still inundated by floodwaters days after the storm. The water has receded and the damage is worse than last year. Nineteen of the farm’s 52 acres were flooded, pushing the total loss to 36 percent, Linehan said.

“The crop just melted into the ground. It’s toast, absolute toast,” he said.

Fourteen acres were under 8 feet (2.4 meters) to 10 feet (3 meters) of water, and five acres were under 3 feet (nearly 1 meter) to 4 feet (1.2 meters) of water, he said he. Last July, they lost 20% of their crop and had to take out loans to cover the losses. They plant only a small percentage of their potatoes on low-lying land, knowing the risk of flooding, which is now more frequent.

“Honestly, in my opinion, two years is a trend and we’re not going to plant anything down next year because I’ll never be in this position again,” he said.

At Joe’s Brook Farm, Skovsted said he made some changes after the flooding last July. They planted cover crops near the river where flooding destroyed valuable field crops last summer. But last week, floodwaters from the river filled greenhouses full of blooming tomato and cucumber plants. They cannot sell produce that has been contaminated by flooding, but they can save some of the growth above that level.

A friend started a GoFundMe page to help the couple continue to pay their 10 employees until the end of August, including three men from Jamaica who are on seasonal work visas. One of the men lost the roof of his house and another suffered extensive damage to his own farm home during Hurricane Beryl – the same storm – the week before, Skovsted said.

“It’s especially hard for these guys because they were relying on the paycheck to make repairs to their homes,” she said. They would normally be working on the farm until October or November, but that will be cut off at the end of August, “because we can’t really foresee much work after that, we don’t have crops to bring in.” she. said.

The fundraising effort was a big relief because the couple’s first concern was how to take care of their employees, Skovsted said.

Another Barnet farm – an organic, pasture-based operation – also suffered devastating losses, according to an online fundraising page. Cross Farm needs help replacing roofs, hay and large amounts of fencing, as well as clearing mud, debris and boulders and rocks from the barn and pastures, according to the GoFundMe page. The farm lost 400 chickens when the barn flooded.

Nearby, at Joe’s Brook Farm, Skovsted and her husband are trying to figure out how to adapt to the extreme weather fueled by climate change.

They talked to other farmers who grow on higher ground, but also suffered damage and lost crops from the flooding, she said. They lost the topsoil and now it’s just settled at the base of their hills, Skovsted said.

The couple doesn’t want to move. She grew up nearby and they love the community, which she said has been very supportive.

“We want to adapt quickly, but we’re not sure how to do that,” she said.