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Heavy rains have soaked California, with lots of the state’s key agricultural areas now battling a “catastrophic degree of water.”
These phrases come from Tricia Stever Blattler, government director of the Tulare County Farm Bureau. Blatter estimates that as many as 100,000 acres of San Joaquin Valley farmland are underwater, together with cropland used to develop staples like tomatoes, onions, and garlic. Issues are equally damp in areas like Watsonville and Salina, the place one-fifth of the area’s strawberry farms have been flooded.
“When the water recedes, what does the sector seem like — whether it is even a discipline anymore?” asks Jeff Cardinale, spokesperson for the California Strawberry Fee in Watsonsville. “It might simply be a muddy mess the place there’s nothing left.”
Final month, Governor Newsom responded to latest climate occasions — together with rainfall, heavy snowfall, and an atmospheric river — by declaring a state of emergency for southern California counties like San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Riverside, Orange, and Ventura. Along with offering some suggestions for storm security, Gov. Newsom additionally pledged his assist, stating that “California is prepared with a document variety of emergency property on the bottom to answer the impacts of this storm.”
The U.S. Division of Agriculture has now supplied its personal help, too. Growers and livestock producers are inspired to contact their native USDA workplace, report their losses, and study in regards to the division’s present choices for technical and monetary assist. These choices at the moment embody the Livestock Indemnity Program, the Tree Help Program, the Emergency Conservation Program, and Emergency Help for Livestock, Honey Bees, and Farm-raised Fish.
“USDA stands prepared to help California farmers, livestock producers, landowners, and communities clear up and restore farmland, forests, and watersheds within the aftermath of those devastating storms,” guarantees Robert Bonnie, the Underneath Secretary for Farm Manufacturing and Conservation at USDA.
Click on right here to search out your native USDA service heart and start researching your choices for weather-related monetary help.
Within the meantime, your pals on the nearest FGS provide retailer are standing by to provide you with any weather-related instruments for the job, together with tarps, sandbags, canopies, and rain gear. We’re only a quick drive away.
Keep dry!
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