“Not a Single Farm Has Been Lost”
In the 11 months since torrential rains wiped away entire farms worth of crops in the Pioneer Valley and Berkshires, “not a single farm has been lost” thanks to a public-private partnership that provided more than $20 million in relief, state Director of Rural Affairs Anne Gobi said.
The Healey administration and United Way of Central Massachusetts launched a fundraiser campaign, dubbed the “Massachusetts Farm Resiliency Fund,” last July to help farmers who sustained major damage in a series of flood-inducing storms. At least 75 local farms, primarily in central and western Massachusetts, were damaged by flooding, according to the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, and damage estimates suggested 2,000 acres of crops worth at least $15 million were lost as a result.
“The flooding was beyond belief and going out to areas in Deerfield and Conway and walking through what was left of the farms, of the fields, and to see entire crops — I don’t know if you have a garden like I have, a small garden at home. But I don’t have to feed my family with that garden. And I certainly don’t have to feed my community members. Those folks did,” Gobi said during an interview that aired Sunday on NBC 10’s “@Issue.”
The former state lawmaker, who left the Senate one year ago to take the newly-created job in the Healey administration, said the “wonderful public-private partnership” and the “good work of the Legislature” made more than $20 million in aid available to farmers.
“And you know what, Sue, not a single farm has been lost. That’s a success story,” Gobi told host Sue O’Connell.
Gov. Maura Healey this year proposed to divert a portion of excess capital gains tax revenue toward a proposed Disaster Relief Trust Fund, which could be tapped to help various sectors of the state’s economy respond to incidents like severe flooding and strong storms, which could become more frequent as the climate changes.
“We have to plan because, you’re right, these storms, they’re not what used to be called 100 year storms … 100 year storms happening every two years. And so we do need to prepare for that,” Gobi said. “And when you talk to farmers, even older farmers, they may not say climate change, but they know that there have been changes to the climate because they see it year in and year out between droughts, between heavy rains, and what’s happening with their soil, and with their crop production.”
