Against the Grain Bonus EP 4: Farm Aid’s Disaster Response

Against the Grain brings the magic of Farm Aid's annual festival to listeners year-round. Hear from farmers and artists, advocates and food experts, activists and policymakers - all of whom are working towards building a more just and equitable farm and food system.

Click here to listen!

Bonus episode four guests

Learn about Farm Aid's disaster relief efforts

Episode Transcript

Against the Grain Bonus EP 4: Farm Aid's Disaster Response

KURN: Hello and welcome to Against the Grain: The Farm Aid Podcast. I'm Jessica Ilyse Kurn

FOLEY: And I'm Michael Stewart Foley.

KURN: This is a special bonus episode to update you on how Farm Aid is responding to farmers affected by hurricanes, Helene and Milton.

FOLEY: We'll hear from two of Farm Aid's hotline operators about some of the calls they're receiving and about our Family Farm Disaster Fund. But first, it might be worth providing a little historical context on the hotline because when Farm Aid began with a concert in 1985 the one phone number that went up on everyone's television screens was 1-800-FARM-AID. It was only supposed to be a phone number for folks to call in and make a donation to the cause of saving family farms. And many Americans did call - enough that that first Farm Aid concert raised more than seven million dollars for the family farm movement.

KURN: But then something unexpected happened as the days passed following the concert, the phone continued to ring and increasingly instead of donors calling, it was farmers and farmers spouses looking for help. Just as local and regional farm advocates put together their own hotlines to respond to the 1980s farm crisis. Farm Aid kept this phone number open to be used as a hotline ever since.

FOLEY: That's right. Over the years, Farm Aid staff continued to answer the phone for farmers and eventually a single person was hired to specialize as a hotline operator. But even then, the work was sometimes overwhelming for one person. Now, Farm Aid has six hotline operators spread out all over the country and one Spanish speaking hotline operator too, they all answered the line to support farmers across a wide range of situations.

KURN: We sat down with two of these hotline operators, Tony Glover and Lori Mercer who have been voices at the other end of the line for farmers calling in after these devastating storms.

According to the USDA, crop losses alone could trigger seven billion dollars in insurance payouts. And the associated press reports that damage to property could be as high as $26 billion.

FOLEY: I mean, that's a staggering amount of devastation and it speaks to the utter destruction that's been seen across the planet as a result of climate change. Storms are getting more frequent, more intense and as we see, much more costly.

GLOVER: My name is Tony Glover. I'm a Farm Aid hotline operator. I've been working with Farm Aid for almost four years now and I'm located in Coleman, Alabama, which is the northern part of the state of Alabama at the very end of the Appalachian Mountains.

MERCER: I'm Lori Mercer. I've been with Farm Aid as a Farm Aid hotline operator for oh, about three years. I'm located just outside of Seattle, Washington.

KURN: Why should someone call the hotline?

GLOVER: We get farmers that call for a myriad of reasons: from looking for funding to starting a farm. Those in financial crisis. For an existing farm that had maybe years of drought or poor prices or increased commodity prices and input costs. We get farmers to call that are in mental crisis where they really reach the end of the rope on maybe a financial situation on the farm. So just runs the gamut.

KURN: Can you talk about what you've been hearing related to the hurricanes?

MERCER: Yeah. As you can imagine it, it varies greatly from area to area. But we're hearing um some things are very specific like fence, you know, 3000 linear feet of fences down and so livestock has run amok disappeared, you know, roads are washed out so farmers can't get to services. They've lost greenhouses, hoop houses, all the infrastructure, cooling storage and some are just calling just flatly saying we've lost everything. I think one of the things that we don't always think about in this level of a crisis or a uh you know, natural disaster is the loss of the soil that is going to take decades to rebuild. That's something that not going to recover as quickly as soil.

One of the things we're really focusing on is preparing for those calls where people need funding and technical assistance to start doing that long recovery period for the soil.

FOLEY: Yeah, I saw one report a woman said that they'd lost six feet of top soil. I think this was in western North Carolina and she was like, we can't farm that land again. It's just gone.

MERCER: Yea, it will be untenable and that will have to be a decision also in and of itself going forward.

GLOVER: The hurricane issue has prompted lots of calls that have come about from word of mouth, but one farmer is talking to another and they've told them about Farm Aid. Uh and they're calling just trying to find out what we can offer them in terms of resources. One person that I responded to just today responded back to me and said, "hey, this list of resources is better than anything that I've found locally," and they were so appreciative, they could go and try to get assistance in various areas.

I'll chime in also on just the type calls that I've had of the type farms and, and I've kind of grouped them into two main categories. If they were on the mountains in the mountainous regions of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, especially Western North Carolina Virginia. These callers, if they're on the mountain sides, they probably would count farmers and they're telling me they've lost lots of their fencing trees down everywhere.
They need help with kind of just general cleanup. But because it's pastured ground, they didn't lose tons of topsoil.

But those that are in the bottom lands where they were near creeks and rivers or streams that became rivers overnight, they've, uh, were tilled ground for the most part with their fall crops just been planted and they've lost their crop. Everything's been washed away and also tons of topsoil, washed away down the river to never be recovered. Those are the probably the saddest situations because the recovery is going to be so much longer for them than putting up a new fence.

KURN: Tony, can you also talk about the issue of for those who didn't lose everything? There's still a loss of markets.

GLOVER: Yeah. Had one call this morning from a Western North Carolina farmer from Avery County and she said we had just got our fall crops started and we have some that were nearing harvest time if they were summer crops that were still in a period of harvest time. And she said number one, we've lost most of it. Number two, we don't have a market to go to because they've closed down. And in some instances, we can't get out from the area that we're in to try to find another market. You know, you're just hearing all of these different stories and it's really heartbreaking

MERCER: In one other kind of tragic part of the seasonality of this is that especially in North Carolina, Western North Carolina where it's leaf peeping season. This is a huge tourist opportunity and, and a good number of producers rely on this for a good portion of their income and so to not have the tourists coming in. Um that whole industry lost is, is is just a double whammy.

GLOVER: One situation was a farmer that lost his corn maize because he depended on his corn, maize for tourism for the fall. He'd lost a tremendous amount of hay that was already bail in the field and just washed down the the river, its entire corn maze was destroyed. So that's a big source of income that's gone. That would, that would have occurred over the next month. It, it is uh heartbreaking to hear these types of stories.

Having grown up as a small farmer on a small farm very similar to what uh I'm hearing from in the, in the Carolinas and Georgia. I know exactly how they feel because I've experienced that growing up or we would have extreme routes or whether it be in tornadoes that would take a crop out. And there is a feeling of hopelessness. And as you hear this from farmers, you kind of relive that and you know what they're feeling, it's difficult to hear it time after time after time and it's almost like I know the story they're gonna tell after we've heard it so many times, but each one is still heartbreaking.

KURN: The mental and psychological strain that these disasters create on farmers and farm families is immense. Like many of our hotline operators, Tony has a farming background which helps them understand what callers are going through and provide them with the support and services they need. Though, talking to farmers who are going through, this is not easy for hotline operators who function like front line responders.

MERCER: We understand the impact that farm stress has on producers across the country. And in recent years, how critical it is to take care of yourself. You know, we always say the farmer is the primary most important component of that farm. And so knowing how important it is to take care of yourself mentally, you know, self-care, um whatever you find is important to be able to function throughout the day on your operations. We would be hypocrite if we didn't do that ourselves hearing these stories. So it's very important, I think for all of us and we do practice that to uh figure out what we need to do ourselves to keep ourselves resilient and ready to take those calls.

FOLEY: Yeah, I was just gonna ask a question about like obviously we have this acute crisis right now because of the hurricanes. But at other times of year, there are other types of natural disasters. So I'm curious about if there's any differences in the kinds of calls that you get, you know, dependent on the type of natural disaster. But also what proportion would you say of all your calls are related to natural disaster?

GLOVER: I don't know exactly the percentage, but I would say would be safe to estimate that 20% to 25% of the call have some disaster related component to them. It can be, as we've mentioned, it can be drought that are region wide and the difference I think is with droughts, it's often kind of a slow roll disaster. It builds up over a period of time and we'll get callers said I've had two years of drought or three years of drought with bad crops each year and this disaster that we most recent disaster with hurricane Helene and now Milton is, these are such catastrophic sudden events that it's more of a shock.

FOLEY: The Farm Aid hotline is the only national hotline dedicated to farmers. And as you've heard, they speak farmer. The hotline is staffed by folks all over the country including a Spanish speaking hotline operator with Farm Aid. We have farmers covered as you've heard. This is really quite remarkable to have such brilliant, knowledgeable and kind people answering the phone when farmers call Farm Aid.

KURN: Agreed. And before we go, there's one more part of our interview with Lori and Tony that I think we should get to. This is the part where Lori talks about the mental stress that folks are feeling after these disasters,

MERCER: We strive really hard to, to remove the barriers to the resources that they need-make sure we're referring to people who can help, who are empathetic, answer their phones. And also, just to make sure that we've got the farm stress or behavioral health resources available for folks. So if they need someone to just kind of, you know, an objective party to problem solve with, to just kind of process, you know, something as simple as her husband might say, "you know, we're so overwhelmed right now that my wife and I can hardly have a conversation without turning it into an argument." You know, just even getting tips about how to lower the temperature a little bit within a marital situation. So those are the types of things that we have to keep in mind for these immediate needs.

And then the long-term recovery, we start moving into the range of, um, where we know we're going to get calls for funding and for technical assistance and for, you know, conservation measures, things that are going to make farms more resilient down the line that we have those in place as well.

GLOVER: What I've been impressed with from these callers, particularly related to Hurricane Helene and the Carolinas and Georgia is the strange sense of gratefulness that they have somebody that they can actually talk to that answered the phone. And that wants to help them, even though we may not be able to solve all of their many problems that came about as a result of this storm. They're very grateful for just the fact that they, you had a person that they could talk to that understands and empathizes with what they're dealing with right now and wants to help them.

So that's really been a heartening to me and the fact that most of them without exception will mention the the local communities have pulled together to help in so many ways, neighbor, helping neighbor that is encouraging as well, that that spirit still exists out there. Even in the toughest of times when, even when their neighbors dealing with problems themselves, maybe they had a skid steer some piece of equipment that they could come and clear out a driveway where somebody could get out and, and go off, you know, to get supplies that they needed. So those sorts of things are really encouraging.

KURN: How can people reach you?

MERCER: We've got our hotline, 1-800-FARM-AID, which is also 1-800-327-6243. On our website, there's also a Farmer Resource Network, which is our clearinghouse that people can access any time to look up resources on their own volition. And we're constantly adding to that. We also wrote an article, "Resources for Farmers Affected by Hurricane Helene," where we're collating and updating resources under all sorts of categories for folks. And that's also on our website. And we also have a Spanish-speaking hotline operator. So folks who speak Spanish are also able to contact us. Folks can reach us at the hotline between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern, Monday through Fridays. And then the Spanish hotline is open eight hours a day. Mondays through Fridays.

KURN: Listening to these stories can be really overwhelming. There's a way you can support farmers and ranchers as they pick up the pieces and work to rebuild Farm Aid's Family Farm Disaster Fund passes money directly to farm families.

FOLEY: Weather disasters which are becoming more and more frequent can also damage houses, buildings and equipment that impact farms for years to come and deepen debt burdens for farm families. Few businesses are as vulnerable to natural disasters as farms where the loss of crops and livestock can also mean the loss of income for farm families for the year or even longer. That's what makes Farm Aid's Family Farm Disaster Fund so important.

KURN: Your donations are appreciated and it's good to know that 100% of donations made to the Family Farm Disaster Fund will reach farmers. If you want to donate, head to www.farmaid.org/FFDF.

FOLEY: Those donations really matter to farmers and their families. As always, we're grateful to you for your support and for listening.

KURN: Do you have questions for us or comments, email us at [email protected] or give us a shout out on Farm Aid social media, which is @FarmAid on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Threads. And don't forget to check out Youtube to listen to almost 40 years of performances and other content.

FOLEY: It means a lot to the podcast if you share it with your friends and subscribe on your podcast app of choice and give us a rating. Our next episode will take you back to Saratoga Springs where Farm Aid 2024 took place this summer. In case you missed the festival or you just wanna relive it, we've got you covered with behind the scenes, interviews, performances and our live panel with Nathaniel Rateliff and two of our farmer heroes. Keep an eye out for it and other podcast content at www.farmaid.org/podcast

Against the Grain was written and produced by us with sound editing by EndHousemedia and direction from Dawn Sorokin. And thanks as ever to Micah Nelson for our amazing theme music.

KURN: Also, thank you to Lori Mercer and Tony Glover and our entire hotline staff. You can reach them at 1-800-FARM-AID. And if you're able, please donate to the Family Farm Disaster Fund at www.farmaid.org/FFDF. Thank you as always to listening to Against the Grain.\

FOLEY: And a huge thank you to all the farmers out there. We'll talk to you next time.

Against the GrainaudioFamily Farm Disaster FundHurricane HeleneHurricane Milton