Waitsfield, Vermont - January 24, 2012
Doug Turner of Simplicity Farm in Waitsfield feeds his cows organic hay. It is a precious commodity. He lost 128 round bales to flooding from Tropical Storm Irene. They were swept away by the Mad River.
The farm also lost 8.5 acres of corn and 5 acres of fields used to graze the cows. Some of that will have to be re-seeded in the spring. And the riverbanks have to be rebuilt as well.
"The 128 bales at that time represented about a third of the hay crop I put up and the 8 and a half acres of corn was probably 35 to 40 percent of the corn crop for the year," Turner said.
According to the Vermont Farm Service Agency, across the state Irene damaged over 7,000 acres of hay, over 6,000 acres of corn, and 2,000 acres of pasture land. And those numbers may be conservative. While the state does not have a final tally yet for crop losses and damage to farms, it is expected to exceed $10 million.
Turner, like many other dairy farmers affected by Irene, has had to scramble to find hay this winter.
"I have some hay down in Orwell that has been promised to me. I still have not seen it yet. And I bought 160 bales from Williamstown; the man put up a fourth cutting for me at a very reasonable price and I got those trucked over," he said.
Turner also bought some hay from Maine because an organic farming organization there picked up the cost of trucking, otherwise it would have been way too expensive. Having to buy feed is an added cost of Irene.
"Comes up to $180,000 and out of all that, we are still a good $90,000 short of what we need to get all the way back," Turner said.
Turner has received some private donations and two checks from the Vermont Community Foundation, a local community foundation, and a check from Northeast Organic Farming Association. He is waiting to hear about a second round of funding and grants.
This farm has been in the family for three generations. Now Turner's son is interested in taking over... maybe.
"I think he is waiting to see if we can put the farm back together before he tells me he will, and I don't blame him," Turner said. "It has got to be back together if we are going to make it."
Irene's flooding could not have come at a worse time for farmers because feed prices nationally have risen due to a hay shortage caused by a drought in the Southwest.
