Connecticut farmers in dire straits.
Some may have lost all of this
year's crops from rain totals,
causing the Connecticut River to overflow.
Today we hear from the Commissioner of the
Department of Agriculture, Brian Hurlburt,
about how this impacts already struggling
farmers and the state's farm industry,
plus safe and affordable child care.
It's a fundamental need for working parents,
but there's a mountain of challenges,
from costs to hiring and keeping employees.
The state and the nation now
taking it up as a policy priority.
Elected leaders came together for a child
care summit at the White House recently,
sharing ideas and working through
solutions for America's parents.
This morning,
State Representative Mary Wielander,
who represented Connecticut,
joins us.
It's all today on the real story.
Good morning and thank you for
joining us on the real story.
I'm Jen Bernstein.
Well, throughout the past few weeks,
communities across Connecticut have seen
flash flood warnings and for good reason.
A large amount of rain fell
from the skies and fast,
causing our waters and in particular
the Connecticut River to swell.
On top of that, Vermont saw devastating
flooding as that weather moved north.
And then all of that rain went down to us.
We've seen the images, farms in the region,
underwater crops some just
days away from being harvested,
ruined from that contaminated water.
Some of these farmers left with nothing to
sell as they struggle already financially.
A buildup of challenges so devastating
that farmers could lose everything,
even the farm itself,
many of them multi generational.
The state is keeping tabs and will hopefully
be able to aid some of these farmers.
So joining us this morning to find out
what the state can do is the commissioner
of the Department of Agriculture,
Brian Holbert,
who's joining us this morning.
Thanks so much for being here.
Thank you for having me. All
right. So you toured the damage
with other state leaders.
Tell us what you saw.
Well, it's really traumatic to see
the amount of water that came up and
flooded Connecticut's crop lands.
The Connecticut River Valley is some
of the finest soils in the world.
And so we take a lot of pride in the
crops that come off those lands.
And to know that the water reached
a point where it was 20 feet,
21 feet above normal,
which is 5 feet above the flood levels,
is really challenging for us
to manage as a state.
But then for the small business
men and women,
how do we help them recover and how
do we help them manage through this?
Connecticut's farmers,
I've been doing this for hundreds of years.
I have a lot of confidence that they
will do this for hundreds of more years,
but this is a particularly
challenging year for them.
How many acres do you think
affected and how many farms?
So we're estimating about 2000 acres.
We have a crop loss survey out
there and we're asking that farmers
report their losses into us.
Right now we've got about 1500
acres that have been reported,
but we know there are a couple of big
farms out there that have yet to get
their information and some of them are
still waiting for the water to recede
to get out there and do their assessment.
We're figuring about 50 to 100 farms
have been impacted at some level from
the Connecticut River Valley flooding.
The northwest corner is another situation
that you know had other flooding
events that we're trying to monitor
and get that assessment in as well.
But just too much water in general this year,
now 50 to 100 farms you're
estimating impacted how many
farms does Connecticut have.
Just to put it into contact,
put in to get perspective,
we have 5500 farms across the
state and they generate $4
billion to the state's economy.
Some of the largest farms though are
in that Connecticut River Valley.
And so it may seem like a smaller
number but the impact is is
disproportional to the to the number.
And importantly where the the
estimates that have come in,
it's about $20 million worth of
losses from the crops. That's
significant. Look,
it's been a tough year too.
We were just talking about this before
we did the segment we had a you were
saying you know mild winter we had
a late May frost which wasn't good
for some of the fruit crops, right.
I was reading and then we've
seen some extremes here.
As well, I mean, you had the wildfire smoke,
so we've been working outside was tough.
I was reading in one of the
articles hard to get outside and
then we have this extreme flooding.
So this has been a tough year all around.
It's been a really challenging year.
This is my fifth year as the Commissioner
of the Department of Agriculture.
This is the fifth time we're asking
for USDA to declare a disaster
in the state of Connecticut.
This is the first time that
we'll be asking for two disaster
declarations in the same crop season.
So we are looking at the state level
with our friends in the legislature,
nonprofits and trade organizations.
What can we do to better prepare
Connecticut's farmers for
these extreme weather events?
And how can we make sure that they
have the tools available to manage
through this so they're not put at
so much risk on an annual basis.
OK, So that's one piece, right?
It's prevention. And then obviously
the piece is how do you help these
farmers financially right now?
Is that something that the state is
going to look to do or is that is it
a combination of state and federal?
It's a combination of a lot of tools.
And we have been going through
working with our sister agencies,
working with the federal government to
determine what tools are the right tools.
So the first thing is farmers
should report their losses to their
local USDA Farm Service Agency.
That helps us get the USDA disaster
declaration that can open up ad
hoc disaster relief programs
through the federal government.
So that's important for for farmers
to do where we'll be scheduling
one-on-one visits out to farmers.
You know, between DOE, AG,
USCANRCSFSACFBA, you name the acronym,
you know, I know what they mean.
But the average person and the person working
the farm doesn't know what they mean.
So we'll sit down with them,
we'll talk through, you know,
what their challenges are and
find the right programs for them.
We'll have a disaster grant relief program
that will be standing up later this fall.
So as people start to do their
assessment and figure out what
they need to do for next year,
they may be eligible for a
grant to help them with that.
And is that that's something the
legislature would had, would have
to approve or is that something
the legislature gave us
some authority last year.
So we'll be looking,
it's got to go through the bond
Commission to get the dollars,
but we want to set the program up so
that we're ready to go and release
those funds as soon as we can.
Obviously as you said,
farmers have done this for a very
long time and here in Connecticut too,
I would assume that they're used to,
we can assume.
Weather being an issue and whether
and their crops being weather
dependent in a lot of ways.
Tell me the role that like insurance
plays in this and then why obviously
we're seeing some extremes this year,
but how that's playing into it being even
more difficult for farmers this year.
Well, as you said, Connecticut farmers
have been around for hundreds of
years and if you look at of our Native
American tribes and their partners,
they've been doing this for
a lot longer than that even.
And so you know,
I always say that Connecticut
farmers have to be entrepreneurial
and they have to be innovative.
They've got to think of the
next way to meet the customer.
They've got to think about the next thing
that the Connecticut residents want.
So you know we'll be going through
that process with them on this.
What's challenging is the the
extreme swings that we see.
You know it used to be that you know
two to three years were good years and
then you would have an extreme event.
And then you'd have another
couple good years.
And so you could make money in the good
years and bounce it off knowing that,
you know,
the likelihood of a bad years
is maybe around the corner.
What we're seeing now is every year
has pretty significant challenges.
You know, last year was a drought,
2 years ago was a flood,
The year before that was a drought.
And so we,
we need to make sure that we're
thinking about what tools they need,
whether it be keeping water on the ground
when we need water during drought conditions.
Or moving water off the ground more quickly.
When we have these extreme rain events of
two to three inches of rain in a given hour,
That's part of it,
the late frost.
Are there ways that we can put
infrastructure on their farm that
protect them better against the frost?
An apple orchard in Connecticut
has windmills, you know,
that moves enough there to
prevent the frost from settling.
Should we be investing in windmills on farms?
You know,
these are kind of practical solutions.
That will make the difference
between a farm being around for
the next 5 or 10 years and being
around for the next 50 years.
No, that's fascinating.
Tell me about the fall and apple
picking. How is that looking?
Have you heard from farmers on that
so that the May frost was challenging
for for apple orchards across the state?
And and as we were just talking about,
you know, we're used to the weather changing.
The people that I talked to said
they have never seen a frost
this late that was this severe.
So it brought a different challenge of,
you know, what do we do?
How do we respond?
And we've got friends at UConn Extension
that have been out on the farmers working
with the farms to manage that crop
and make sure that they have a crop.
I'll tell you,
there's no better thing than going out and
doing some apple picking in the fall, right?
Beautiful weekend day, You know,
get some pumpkins if you're out.
There will be crops out there.
There will be apples and pears
and stone fruit out there,
just like we saw there were strawberries
and blueberries so far this season.
So I encourage people to go out there
and do a pick your own, you know,
spend some time on the farm.
I would also just say.
Check their website or their
Facebook page or their social media.
They may have different hours this year.
They may not be open on a Wednesday
afternoon because they're a little
bit short in the fields and they
want to give the the fruit a little
bit more time to ripen.
So just be mindful that they're
going through a lot of challenges,
but they're doing their best to make
sure that every family has a great
experience when they're at that farm.
Yeah, I was going to say,
what can people do to support
our farms here in Connecticut?
One of them obviously is.
Being very aware of the conditions and
trying to support them by looking up
those hours and coming when they can,
are there other ways that people can help?
Be mindful of what the farms going through.
And that's why I think programs like this
are so important for us to get that message
out and explain to the public, you know,
might be a little bit different this year.
If you go to a farm stand,
talk to the person behind the
counter or a farmers market and say,
hey, what's going on here?
You know, I noticed you might not have this,
but you have this other thing.
What can I do with this?
You know, this vegetable as a, you know,
I usually come and buy green beans,
but there's no green beans today.
So what can I do with garlic scapes or,
you know, or give me a neat thing to do
with eggplant or squash or something?
If you go to a farm stand and they
don't have what you're planning on,
try to buy Maple syrup or honey or some
of the processed products that they have,
you know, keeping that money going through.
Farm stands and farmers markets
keeps their employees on.
Importantly,
Connecticut farms employ 22,000 people.
So we want to keep those people working.
We want to keep them busy.
We want to keep the farms.
I'm having that revenue.
So be flexible,
listen a little bit and and be
out there to support them.
No doubt
you've talked about and have
made a priority and a focus.
The stresses that farmers are dealing with,
it's a stressful career, right?
And important to recognize that
there are mental health challenges
that come with that kind of career.
Talk about some of the initiatives
that you have put in place to give
farmers the support that they need.
Well, farmer can.
Being a farmer can be very isolating,
but you're a part of a great community,
you know. But you don't always have as
much time to engage that community,
especially during peak season.
And when we're dealing with challenges
like these and it seems like, you know,
there's a hit after hit coming down,
we want to make sure that people can
balance their their business and the
work that they need to do in the field,
but also their personal well-being
in their mental health.
So we've set up a hotline,
833-897-2474, that's the the
Farm Stress Relief program that
we have farms and farm workers,
spouses can call, they can text.
And say, hey, need a little bit of help here,
Can I talk to somebody?
It can be anonymous. It can be.
You can set it up and call
yourself and identify who you are.
It's just a resource that people
should know that's out there.
Kind of like an EAP for
a traditional workplace.
If you don't want to make
the phone call or text,
and that's not your comfort level,
but you are interested in
seeing what's out there,
we also have the CT Farm
stressrelief.com website.
We have videos and some articles
that people can peruse through to
see what's out there to help them.
That might be the first way,
the most comfortable way for
somebody to access that.
But we want to make sure that people
have the mental capacity and are
bound so they can focus on making
sure their farm is successful this year.
But we don't want to lose sight that it.
It can be stressful for these
men and women in the fields and
we will make sure to have that information,
of course on our website.
If you know someone who needs to access it.
It's so important.
Even just sometimes I feel like
talking to someone who might be in
your same situation or understanding
that someone is going through
the same challenges that you
are can be a release in itself.
So I think it's great that
you guys are doing that
well. One of the other pieces that
we've set up is a marketplace.
Because sometimes farmers are isolated.
They don't necessarily have that same
network that you or I would have,
you know, colleagues in the
office that you bump into and say,
hey, let's get lunch.
And so one of the things that we've
heard from farmers is that they don't
know where to buy extra plants from.
You know that they,
they planted everything they bought,
but now they need new plants.
They want to get something in
the ground for a late harvest.
So we're trying to set up a
forum where we can connect the
people who have plants and crops
with the people who need them.
We just saw a Killam and Bessette
announced that they received 2000 pepper
plants from from another Connecticut
grower who heard that they were in need.
They also another farm donated a couple
£100.00 of pickling cucumbers to them.
So we know that the community
is there and we know that they
will support each other.
We just want to make sure that
there's a forum that they can do it,
make it easy for them so they can focus
on what needs to be done on the field.
But support them in this way as well.
Yeah. Helping connect them will
no doubt make a difference.
Commissioner Holbert,
thank you very much for coming
on the real story and talking
about the work that you are doing.
We love our farmers here in Connecticut.
And so everyone go out and apple pick
and go visit your local farm this
summer to see how you can support them.
Thank you. All right.
Still, to come up this morning
on the real story,
a Connecticut representative just got
back from the White House advocating
for better child care for parents
here in Connecticut and across the country.
We're hearing the new ideas and
solutions she's bringing back as
lawmakers try and tackle high
costs and provider shortages.